Artwork design by Jake Lebowitz
A standing ovation for the arts
Great stories don’t just entertain — they inspire!
OneAmerica Financial ® is proud to stand behind the Indiana Repertory Theatre (IRT), season after season. Our sponsorship is amongst the longest running in community theater nationwide. It’s a legacy rooted in our belief that the arts make our community stronger and better connected.
As the curtain rises on the 2025–2026 season, let’s celebrate IRT’s enduring impact and look forward to another year of imagination and inspiration.
— Scott Davison Chairman, President and CEO
OUR MISSION & VISION
MISSION
Rooted in the heart of Indiana, Indiana Repertory Theatre is committed to building a vital, vibrant, and informed community through the transformational power of live theatre. The Indiana Repertory Theatre produces inclusive, top-quality, professional theatre and community programming to engage, surprise, challenge, and entertain members of the whole community.
VISION
The Indiana Repertory Theatre will welcome the whole community, becoming a place of belonging for an ever-expanding audience of all ages and backgrounds seeking meaningful and enjoyable experiences. Using theatre as a springboard for both personal reflection and community discussion, our productions and programs will inspire our neighbors to learn about themselves and others. As the largest non-profit theatre in the state of Indiana, IRT’s goal is to help make Indiana a dynamic home of cultural expression, economic vitality, and a diverse and engaged citizenry.
SUSTAINING A PROFESSIONAL, RESPECTFUL, INCLUSIVE, & CREATIVE ATMOSPHERE
• Producing diverse plays, we strive to provide insight and celebrate human relationships through the unique vision of the playwright.
• Employing professional artists of the highest quality, we nurture an environment that allows them to grow and thrive on our stages and in our communities.
• We foster a creative environment where arts, education, corporate, civic, and cultural organizations collaborate to benefit our community.
INCLUSION & BELONGING
• Our community thrives when diverse voices and peoples gather to make, watch, and support theatre.
• It is our responsibility as a community resource to open our doors wide, welcoming all to our high-quality, relevant art.
• To be an inclusive organization we must seek knowledge and understanding to identify discriminatory practices and increase cultural awareness in collaboration with, and learning directly from historically excluded communities.
PRUDENT STEWARDSHIP OF OUR RESOURCES
• As a public-benefit organization, we focus on community service, artistic integrity, and creating a range of ticket prices that allow all segments of our community to attend.
• Fiscal responsibility and financial security fuel our institutional sustainability.
• To ensure institutional longevity, we continue to grow our endowment fund as a resource for future development.
to union agreements, photography, video, and audio recording are not permitted during the performance. The videotaping of productions is a violation of United States Copyright Law and an actionable Federal Offense.
ACKNOWLEDGING THE LAND
Every community owes its existence and vitality to generations from around the world who contributed their hopes, dreams, and energy to making the history that led to this moment. Some were brought here or removed from here against their will, some were drawn to leave their distant homes in hope of a better life, and some have lived on this land for more generations than can be counted. Acknowledgment of the land which the IRT now occupies is critical to building mutual respect and connection across all barriers of heritage.
We want to acknowledge that what we now call Indiana is on the ancestral lands of many indigenous peoples including the Miami, Piankashaw, Wea, Potawatomi, Kickapoo, Delaware, and Shawnee. We pay respects to their elders past and present. Please take a moment to consider the many legacies of displacement, migration, violence, and settlement that bring us together here today.
This land acknowledgment was created in collaboration with Scott Shoemaker, PhD (Miami Tribe of Oklahoma). Portions of this acknowledgment come from the U.S. Department of Arts and Culture (usdac.us).
ACKNOWLEDGING OUR BUILDING’S HISTORY
The Indiana Repertory Theatre moved to its current site on Washington Street in 1980, renovating and reopening a building that had been shuttered for nearly a decade.
The historic Indiana Theatre was built in 1927, a time when the shameful practice of racial segregation was the standard in movie theatres and public buildings across the United States. The Indiana Theatre building was originally segregated and at some point in its history this practice ceased. Many Indiana residents and their families’ heritage stories recall being treated as less than equal citizens in this building, with some even being barred from entering. We cannot erase this history.
We honor and respect all those who have faced discrimination and harm in this building. We strive every day to make the IRT a place that welcomes all people.
INDIANA REPERTORY THEATRE:
Welcoming the whole community
We strive to celebrate and serve the diverse people and cultures that make up our whole community. The IRT is committed to creating and maintaining a theatre that is inclusive, safe, respectful, and accessible.
Whether you have been coming for years or are here for the first time—welcome to your Theatre!
VALUES
• It is our responsibility as a community resource to open our doors wide, eliminate historical barriers, and welcome all to our high-quality, relevant art.
• To be an inclusive organization, we must increase cultural awareness of different backgrounds and experiences.
• IRT thrives when diverse voices and peoples gather to make, watch, learn from, and support live theatre.
COMMITMENTS
• We will represent and engage the diverse people, experiences, cultures, and communities of central Indiana.
• We will focus on inclusive hiring practices and foster a culture of Belonging for artists, staff, board, and vendors.
• We will continue and deepen our commitment to Belonging through training for all board and staff.
• We will be accessible to all audiences, inviting those who have been unheard or unseen in the past.
If you would like to read more about our Inclusion & Belonging work, scan here:
The 2025-2026 IRT Ambassadors at orientation. Photo by Noelani Langille.
Welcome to the Indiana Repertory Theatre!
We are delighted to have you with us for our 53rd season. This year promises moments of laughter, reflection, and stirring music, and we are thrilled to share it with you.
In a busy world, your choice to spend time with us—and invest in live theatre—means so much. Thank you for purchasing a ticket and supporting the IRT.
If you enjoy today’s performance, bring a friend next time! And if you are not already a season ticket holder, we invite you to join our theatre family. Consider exploring our ticket packages or becoming a member of our Repertory Society to deepen your connection to the IRT.
Great art takes both enthusiastic artists and committed patrons. Thanks to you, it all comes to life.
Enjoy the show!
– Jill Lacy, IRT Board Chair
BOARD OF DIRECTORS
OFFICERS
CHAIR
Jill Lacy The Lacy Foundation
VICE CHAIR & CHAIR ELECT
Joy Kleinmaier Healthcare Executive
MEMBERS
Brad Briney Old National Bank
Kathy G. Cabello Cabello Associates
Megan Carrico
Indianapolis International Airport (IND)
Sujata Chugh Quarles & Brady LLP
F. Brooke Dunn
Faegre Drinker Biddle & Reath
Tom Froehle*
Faegre Drinker
Biddle & Reath
Ashley Garry
Clarivate PLC
Ron Gifford
RDG Strategies LLC
Julie Goodman The Cabaret
SECRETARY
Pat Gamble-Moore PNC
TREASURER
Troy Farmer Forvis Mazars
Michael Gottschlich Barnes & Thornburg
Ricardo L. Guimarães
Indiana University Kelley School of Business
Carrie Hagovsky
Fifth Third Bank
Brenda Horn
Ice Miller LLP, Retired
Rebecca Hutton
Leadership Indianapolis
Sarah Jenkins
Taft Law
Matt Jones KPMG LLP
Elisha Modisett Kemp
Corteva Agriscience
Nicholas C. Pappas
Frost Brown Todd
Rita Patel
Jane Pauley Health Center
BOARD EMERITUS
Robert Anker*^
Rollin Dick
Berkley Duck*
Dale Duncan*
James W. Freeman
Nadine Givens*
Michael Lee Gradison*^
Mike Harrington*
Margie Herald^
David Klapper
David Kleiman*
Sarah Lechleiter
E. Kirk McKinney Jr.^
Alan Mills
Michael Moriarty
Richard O. Morris*^
Jane Schlegel*
Wayne Schmidt^
IMMEDIATE PAST CHAIR
Andrew Michie* The Heritage Group
Brian Payne CARVE: Creative Strategies and Executive Coaching
Mary E. Phillips
Capital Group
Barath Raman
Lewis Wagner, LLP.
Peter N. Reist
Oxford Financial Group, Ltd.
Myra Selby
Ice Miller LLP
Darshan Shah
Central Indiana
Corporate Partnership
Shelly Smith
Ernst & Young LLP
Amy Waggoner
Salesforce, Inc.
Jerry Semler*^
Mark Shaffer*
Jack Shaw*
Mike Simmons
William E. Smith III*
Eugene R. Tempel*
L. Alan Whaley
David Whitman*
MARGOT LACY ECCLES WAS A LEADING PHILANTHROPIC SUPPORTER OF THE ARTS AND HUMANITIES. THE INDIANA REPERTORY THEATRE CHERISHES ITS HISTORY WITH MRS. ECCLES AS A SUBSCRIBER, BOARD MEMBER, DONOR, AND CHAMPION OF OUR ORGANIZATION IN BOTH ITS EDUCATIONAL AND ARTISTIC LEADERSHIP. IN RECOGNITION OF MRS. ECCLES’S LEGACY AS BENEFACTOR AND ADVISOR, THE INDIANA REPERTORY THEATRE IS PROUD TO HAVE NAMED ITS ARTISTIC DIRECTOR POSITION THE MARGOT LACY ECCLES ARTISTIC DIRECTOR.
BENJAMIN HANNA
Margot Lacy Eccles Artistic Director
SUZANNE SWEENEY Managing Director
IRT LEADERSHIP
Ben is in his third season as IRT’s Margot Lacy Eccles Artistic Director, following six years as the company’s Associate Artistic Director. At IRT he has directed ThePlayThatGoes Wrong,LittleShopofHorrors,Clue,Fahrenheit451,The BookClubPlay,AChristmasCarol, and Elephant&Piggie’s “WeAreinaPlay!,” among others. This season he directed The39Steps.
As a director, educator, and community engagement specialist, Ben is guided by the belief that access to high-quality theatre helps build creative, empathetic people and healthy communities. Across his career, he has focused on building the next generation of artists and audiences by creating and advocating for multigenerational, multi-cultural, and family-oriented programming. Prior to his role at IRT, he spent five years at Berkeley Repertory Theatre and directed shows at the Bay Area Children’s Theatre. In his native Minnesota, he served on the education staff of Penumbra Theatre Company and was an artistic associate at Children’s Theatre Company. He is the recipient of the prestigious Theatre Communications Group Leadership University Award funded by the Andrew W. Mellon Foundation and is a graduate of the Stanley K. Lacy Leadership Program— Class XLVI.
Ben holds a degree in theatre arts from the University of Minnesota Twin Cities. He fell in love with telling stories at the age of eleven at the Prairie Wind Players community theatre in rural Minnesota, and he continues to create for his favorite audience: his five nieces and nephews.
Suzanne is a 27-year veteran of the IRT and is excited to work with Benjamin Hanna as co-CEO of the company, where she oversees its administrative functions. During her tenure, the IRT has raised $20 million for its Front and Center campaign and another $5 million for the renaming of the Upperstage Theatre to the Janet Allen Stage, renovated the Upperstage Lobby and restrooms as well as the Artistic Administration offices, and secured a longterm lease for the building with the City of Indianapolis. Suzanne was elected Treasurer of the national League of Resident Theatres, where she serves as a board member. She has been a three-time panelist for Shakespeare in American Communities in cooperation with Arts Midwest. She was the treasurer of Irish Fest for nine years, a member of the board of directors and treasurer of the Day Nursery Association (now Early Learning Indiana) for three years, and treasurer of IndyFringe.
Suzanne is a graduate of the College of William & Mary and Indiana University. She has worked in finance in Washington DC, Texas, Germany, Hawaii, and New Zealand. She is an alum of the Stanley K. Lacy Leadership Program (Class XXXI). She lives in Lockerbie with her son, Jackson, and spends some of her downtime in Huntley, Illinois, with her partner, Todd Wiencek.
INDIANA REPERTORY THEATRE STAFF & ASSOCIATES
EXECUTIVE LEADERSHIP
Benjamin Hanna
Margot Lacy Eccles Artistic Director
Suzanne Sweeney
Managing Director
ADMINISTRATION
Drew Kowalkowski
Director of General Management and Special Projects
Jacob Lang
Executive & Artistic Assistant
ARTISTIC
cara hinh
Associate Artistic Director
Jessica Huang
Playwright-in-Residence
Hillary Martin
Company Manager
Seavor M Roach
Production Manager
Richard J Roberts
Resident Dramaturg
Becky Roeber
Production Coordinator
ASL INTERPRETERS
Jack London Randy Nicolai
Tara Parchman Robin Reid
AUDIO DESCRIBERS
Toni Bader Paul Drew
Edith McDonnel John Simmons
BUILDING SERVICES
Mark Dehn
Building Manager
Building Team
Tonika Miller Cedric Mitchell
Crystal Rogers Kendall Thompson
COSTUME SHOP
Bailey Lewis
Wardrobe Assistant
Kimberly Loya-Enriquez
First Hand/Stitcher
Rebecca Reyes
First Hand/Wardrobe Coordinator
Sarah Travis
Draper
Patrice N. Trower
Costume Shop Manager
DEVELOPMENT
Brady Clark
Development Systems
Nataly Lowder
Director of Development
Eric J. Olson
Institutional Giving Manager
Haley Paulin
Development Operations Manager
Steven Stolen
Corporate Strategies, Senior Advisor/Consultant
EDUCATION
Anna E. Barnett
Education Manager
Claire Wilcher
Education Coordinator
ELECTRICS
Aaron Burns
Electrician
Beth A. Nuzum
Lighting Supervisor
Meg Stockreef Lead Electrician
FINANCE ASSOCIATES
Crowe
External Auditors
Faegre Drinker
Legal Counsel
FINANCE
Jeffrey Bledsoe Director of Finance
Jen Carpenter
Payroll & Benefits Specialist
Amanda Keen
Business Manager
INCLUSION
Devon Ginn
Director of Inclusion & Community Partnerships
MARKETING
Geneva Denney-Moore
Design & Communications Manager
Danielle M. Dove
Director of Marketing & Sales
Megan Ebbeskotte
Audience Development Manager
Khaled Khlifi
Marketing Communications Manager
Noelani Langille
Multimedia & Design Manager
Doug Sims
Group Sales & Teleservices Manager
PAINT SHOP
Jessica Carlson
Assistant Charge Scenic Artist
Claire Dana
Charge Scenic Artist
Jim Schumacher
Scenic Artist
PATRON SERVICES
Katy Lee Thompson
House Manager
Assistant House Managers
Grace Branam
Stacy Brown
Preston Dildine
Henry Estes
Dieter Finn
Marilyn Hatcher
Sarah James
Logan Kimm
Tina Weaver
Bartender
Courtney Plummer
Alicia McClendon
Madison Pickering
Jeff Pigeon
Phoebe Rodgers
Kathy Sax
Karen Sipes
Sam Stucky
Senior Customer Service Representative
Chelsea Senibaldi
Ticket Office Manager
Molly Wible Sweets
Tessitura Administrator
Eric Wilburn
Senior Customer Service Representative
Customer Service Representatives
Lindsay Cart Ashlee Lancaster
Cara Wilson Emily Worrell
PRODUCTION
Lb Crash Clark
Ben Dobler
Louie Kaufman
Amanda Keen
PROPERTIES
Rachelle Martin
Dwayne Lewis
Samantha Lewis
Amanda Rooksberry
SHOP
Properties Shop Manager
Dan Tracy
Properties Shop Carpenter
SCENE SHOP
Chris Fretts
Technical Director
Andrew Hastings
Master Carpenter
Nick Kilgore
SceneShop/AutomationSupervisor
Eleanor Koch Carpenter
Samantha-Rae Oliver
Operations Carpenter
Jacob Spencer
Stage Operations Supervisor
SOUND & VIDEO
JT Langdon
Audio & Video Technician
Madilyn O’Neal
AudioEngineer/Technician
Timmy White
Audio & Video Lead
STAGE MANAGEMENT
Stage Managers
Becky Roeber
Josh-Andrew Wisdom
Erin Robson-Smith
Shiku Thou
Production Assistants
Isabella Garza
Amanda Rooksberry
Natalie Stigall
Rob Johansen in the IRT’s 2025 production of The Play That Goes Wrong.
Photo by Zach Rosing.
YOUR OWN 3)
• Customize your season and choose 3 different shows within our 2025-2026 Season
• Packages $220
• Best deal on pricing
• 25% discount off additional tickets
• Discounted valet
• Book into any night, any seat
Apply the cost of a ticket already purchased this season to a BYO3!
JAN 27 - FEB 22 a journey of self-discovery MAR 10 - APR 4 the power of language APR 7 - MAY 10 a remarkable true story of resilience
Hernán Angulo and Rob Johansen in the IRT’s 2025 production of A Christmas Carol. Photo by Zach Rosing.
presented by
presented by
AerielWilliamsintheIRT’s 2025production
YOU FOR SUPPORTING THE ARTS!
By enjoying this performance, you’re joining the 90% of Americans who believe that arts and culture programming are important to quality of life.*
Citizens Energy Group is proud to support local artists, new works, and our creative community.
of Nina Simone: Four Women. Photo by Zach Rosing.
Behind every performance is a stage full of unseen costs. From spotlights and sets to costumes and community programs, every detail adds up to create a world-class theatre experience for YOU!
Your general donation—whether a one-time contribution, a monthly pledge, or a planned gift—helps cover the greatest needs of the Theatre and ensures the show goes on for audiences of all ages.
• MAKE YOUR MARK
•
You can also make your mark on the next generation of students, actors, and artists by joining the Ovation Society and creating a legacy gift at the IRT. Ensuring a lasting impact on your community can be as simple as including the IRT in your estate plans. For more information visit irtlive.com/ovation.
Your support powers every performance— today and for years to come! Scan the QR Code to make your gift.
CICF is the community foundation for the Central Indiana region. We help people give to the causes they care about, and we support nonprof its so they can do their work more effectively. Visit
ONEAMERICA FINANCIAL STAGE
JANUARY 27FEBRUARY 22
CREATIVE TEAM
Directed by TIMOTHY DOUGLAS
Scenic Designer _____________________
Costume Designer _________________
TONY CISEK
KARA HARMON
Lighting Designer __________________
Sound Designer ____________
JASON LYNCH
CHRISTOPHER DARBASSIE
Wig Designer _________________
RUEBEN D. ECHOLES
Intimacy & Violence _________________
Movement & Cultural Consultant_____
Dramaturg ___________________
CHELS MORGAN
DANE FIGUEROA EDIDI
RICHARD J ROBERTS
Stage Manager _____________________
Assistant Stage Manager____________
Additional Casting_____________
SHIKU THUO*
REBECCA ROEBER*
BASS/VALLE CASTING
Share your review on social media by tagging us @IRTLIVE, using #IRTLIVE or by emailing REVIEWS@IRTLIVE.COM REVIEWS
SEASON SPONSOR
SEASON PARTNER
PRESENTING SPONSOR
ASSOCIATE SPONSOR
THE CAST
BENJAMIN HANNA
Margot Lacy Eccles
Artistic Director
(in order of appearance)
Seth Holly_______________________________________________________
SUZANNE SWEENEY Managing Director
KEITH RANDOLPH SMITH*
Bertha Holly_________________________________________________________
Bynum Walker______________________________________________________
STEPHANIE BERRY*
DeSHAWN HAROLD MITCHELL*
Rutherford Selig______________________________________________________________
Jeremy Furlow______________________________________________________
PETER BISGAIER*
JACQUES JEAN-MARY*
Herald Loomis__________________________________________________________
Zonia Loomis_______________________________________________________
SHANE TAYLOR*
KERAH LILY JACKSON
Mattie Campbell________________________________________________________
Reuben Mercer____________________________________________________
KAITLYN BOYER*
CHRISTIAN MAKAI LUCAS
Molly Cunningham__________________________________________________
DANE FIGUEROA EDIDI*
Martha Pentecost________________________________________________________
LILIAN A. OBEN*
SETTING
August, 1911.
A boardinghouse in Pittsburgh.
APPROXIMATE RUN TIME: 2 hours and 45 minutes, including one 15-minute intermission.
ADDITIONAL PRODUCTION PERSONNEL
Zonia Loomis Alternate: Amor Coleman
Rueben Mercer Alternate: Joshua Klaman
Production Assistant: Isabella Garza
Youth Actor Liaison: Natalie Stigall
Associate Lighting Designer: Andrew Vance
Originally Produced on Broadway by Elliot Martin, Vy Higginsen and Ken Wydro; produced in association with Yale Repertory Theatre (Lloyd Richards, Artistic Director; Benjamin Mordecai, Managing Director); associate producer, Jeffrey Steiner, Kery Davis and Charles Grantham.
World Premiere at Yale Repertory Theatre; Second Production at Huntington Theatre Company (Peter Altman, Producing Director; Michael Maso, Managing Director); Originally presented as a staged reading at the 1984 National Playwrights Conference at the Eugene O’Neill Theatre Center.
August Wilson’s Joe Turner’s Come and Gone is presented by arrangement with Concord Theatricals on behalf of Samuel French, Inc. concordtheatricals.com
Co-Producing Partner: Syracuse Stage
Robert Hupp, Artistic Director Carly DiFulvio Allen, Managing Director
AFFILIATIONS
* Members of Actors’ Equity Association, the Union of Professional Actors and Stage Managers in the United States.
The director is a member of the Society of Stage Directors and Choreographers, Inc., an independent national labor union.
The scenic, costume, lighting, and sound designers are represented by United Scenic Artists Local 829, IATSE. PhotographyandrecordingareforbiddenintheTheatre. ThevideotapingofthisproductionisaviolationofUnited StatesCopyrightLawandanactionableFederalOffense.
Indiana Repertory Theatre is a member of the League of Resident Theatres (LORT), a nationwide association of not-forprofit theatres.
LEGACY
by Timothy Douglas, Director
The enduring legacy of the gifted and unparalleled August Wilson was heralded by the arrival in 1982 of his electrifying Ma Rainey’s Black Bottom (set in the 1920s), followed soon by the transformative Fences (set in the 1950s). However it wasn’t until he brought forth his revelatory Joe Turner’s Come and Gone (set in the 1910s) that the legendary poet/dramatist realized he was in the midst of chronicling the authenticity of Black American Life one play at a time for each decade of the 20th Century. This series of ten plays was later to become officially known as The American Century Cycle.
As an acting student at the Yale School of Drama, I served as an understudy on these first three Cycle offerings during their respective world premieres at Yale Repertory Theatre. As a young artist, such proximity to August’s genius exponentially deepened the development of my craft. Thus, for me, the birth of this series was an act of fate. It was an extreme privilege to be among those on the receiving end of Wilson’s audacious announcement of this self-imposed, monumental, and ancestrally inspired task. Looking back, I recall his whole being seemingly ablaze, much like the shiny man described in Joe Turner Since then, after making the transition to director, my career has repeatedly been anchored by multiple productions of all (but one) of Wilson’s plays, culminating with midwifing the world premiere of the final play of the cycle, Radio Golf (set in the 1990s), also at Yale Rep.
It is most definitely not lost on me that Wilson’s vividly complicated and revealing characters, as well as the man himself, reflect the totality of me as a creative being. That identity includes my multihyphened existence as a Black man in America, my beautiful burden as the son of a Black woman, the embodiment of my melanin-infused use of language and expression, the guiding assurance of diasporic ancestral truths coursing through me, and the alchemical wisdom of generational pain. All of these rivers flow through me to offer healing, insight, and genuine wisdom: first for the actors who channel the work, and then for those audiences willing to receive—a parallel journey to that of the character of Bynum.
And just as this play’s central figure, Herald Loomis, discovers, our stolen humanity—to the degree that we are willing to bear witness to the spiritual undertow of Wilson’s great opus—will be restored and manifested through the song we sing, compelling us to “shine like new money.”
—TIMOTHY DOUGLAS, Director: Gem of the Ocean (6 productions); Joe Turner’s Come and Gone (2); Ma Rainey’s Black Bottom (0); The Piano Lesson (1); Seven Guitars (2); Fences (6); Two Trains Running (2); Jitney (4); King Hedley II (2); Radio Golf (2)
FROM THE PLAYWRIGHT AUGUST WILSON
It is August in Pittsburgh, 1911. The sun falls out of heaven like a stone. The fires of the steel mill rage with a combined sense of industry and progress. Barges loaded with coal and iron ore trudge up the river to the mill towns that dot the Monongahela and return with fresh, hard, gleaming steel. The city flexes its muscles. Men throw countless bridges across the rivers, lay roads, and carve tunnels through the hills sprouting with houses.
From the deep and the near South the sons and daughters of newly freed African slaves wander into the city. Isolated, cut off from memory, having forgotten the names of the gods and only guessing at their faces, they arrive dazed and stunned, their heart kicking in their chest with a song worth singing. They arrive carrying Bibles and guitars, their pockets lined with dust and fresh hope, marked men and women seeking to scrape from the narrow, crooked cobbles and the fiery blasts of the coke furnace a way of bludgeoning and shaping the malleable parts of themselves into a new identity as free men of definite and sincere worth.
Foreigners in a strange land, they carry as part and parcel of their baggage a long line of separation and dispersement which informs their sensibilities and marks their conduct as they search for ways to reconnect, to reassemble, to give clear and luminous meaning to the song which is both a wail and a whelp of joy.
Scan to learn more about August Wilson and Joe Turner’s Come and Gone in the IRT’s study guide for the play, which features:
- Pittsburgh & the Hill District - The American Century Cycle at the IRT - Who Is Joe Turner? - Hoodoo - Interactive Civil Rights Timeline - & much more!
Playwright August Wilson. Photo by David Cooper.
AUGUST WILSON PLAYWRIGHT
August Wilson was born Frederick August Kittel in 1945 in the Hill District of Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, which would later be the setting for most of his plays. His father was a white German immigrant; his mother was Black. Wilson later stated that the “nurturing, the learning” of his life were “all Black ideas about the world that I learned from my mother. My mother’s a very strong woman. My female characters come in large part from my mother.”
In the late 1950s, August’s family moved to Hazelwood, a predominantly white suburb of Pittsburgh. Wilson attended Gladstone High School until 1961, when he dropped out at age fifteen. “I was bored,” he later said. “I was confused, I was disappointed in myself, and I didn’t do any work until my history teacher assigned us to write a paper on a historical personage.” Wilson chose Napoleon because he had always been fascinated with the “self-made emperor.” It was a twenty-page paper, and Wilson’s sister typed it up on a rented typewriter.
Since Wilson had previously done no work in class, his instructor found it hard to believe that it was his own work. He wrote both an A+ and then an F on the paper. If Wilson couldn’t prove that the paper was his own, he would receive the failing grade. “Unless you call everybody in here and have all the people prove they wrote them, even the ones that went and copied out of the encyclopedia word for word, I don’t feel I
should have to prove anything,” replied Wilson. He took the failing grade, tore up the paper, threw it in his teacher’s wastebasket, and walked out of school.
“The next morning, I got up and played basketball right underneath the principal’s window. As I look back on it, I see I wanted him to come and say, ‘Why aren’t you in school?’ so I could tell someone. And he never came out.” Rather than tell his mother he had dropped out, Wilson spent every school day at the public library, reading some 300 books over the next four years. His reading eventually led him to pursue a career as a writer.
Wilson spent years “hanging out on street corners, following old men around, working odd jobs.” Then he discovered a place called Pat’s Cigar Store in Pittsburgh. “It was the same place that Claude McKay mentioned in his book Home to Harlem. When I found out about that, I said, ‘This is part of history,’ and I ran down there to where all the old men in the community would congregate.”
Wilson channeled his early literary efforts into poetry, saving his nickels for a $20 used typewriter when he was 19. Around that same time, he bought a recording of blues singer Bessie Smith, and hearing this music for the first time changed his life. Later he wrote that hearing Smith’s voice led to an “awakening.” He began to see himself as a messenger, a link in the
chain of African American culture, and he assumed the responsibility of passing stories and ideas from the past to the future. The idea of the blues as a vessel for the African American experience is one that appears frequently in Wilson’s work, along with a given character searching for his song—his own personal legacy and his path in life.
In 1968, Wilson co-founded Pittsburgh’s Black Horizon Theatre Company. He began writing one-act plays during the height of the Black Power Movement as a way “to politicize the community and raise consciousness.” He always maintained that the “one thing that has best served me as a playwright is my background in poetry.” His move to Minnesota in the early 1970s served as a catalyst, permitting both the colloquial voices of his youth and his burgeoning skills as a dramatist to flourish at a remove from their geographical source.
Wilson did not think of himself as a playwright, however, until he received his first writing grant in the late 1970s. “I walked in,” he remembered of his first encounter at the Playwright’s Center, “and there were sixteen playwrights. It was the first time I had dinner with other playwrights. It was the first time I began to think of myself as one.”
It was this grant that allowed Wilson to rework a oneact about a blues recording session into what became the full-length Ma Rainey’s Black Bottom. The play caught the attention of Lloyd Richards, artistic director of the Eugene O’Neill Theatre Center and dean of the Yale School of Drama. Richards directed Ma Rainey and many of Wilson’s subsequent dramas. When Ma Rainey ran on Broadway for ten months in 1984, it was the first profitable Broadway play by a black writer since Lorraine Hansberry’s A Raisin in the Sun in 1959. Wilson’s successful career opened doors for many other talented writers.
Around this time, Wilson conceived of a truly grandscale project: The American Century Cycle. He would write ten plays, one for each decade of the twentieth century, each focusing on a particular issue that challenged the African American community at that time. Over the next 20 years, Wilson faced this challenge at the stand-up desk in his basement, where he wrote and rewrote each play in longhand on legal pads. Along the way he won two Pulitzer Prizes, for Fences and The Piano Lesson. Wilson finished his cycle with two plays focused on the beginning of the century—Gem of the Ocean—and the end of the century—Radio Golf.
Wilson died of liver cancer in 2005. Two weeks after his death, Broadway’s Virginia Theatre in New York City was renamed the August Wilson Theatre, becoming the first Broadway theatre to be named for an African American. Today August Wilson is considered one of the greatest American playwrights of our time.
Above: Portrait by James Gayles. Right:Playwright August Wilson at the Yale Repertory Theatre in New Haven, Connecticut, May 4, 1985. Photo by Bob Child AP.
THE COMPANY
STEPHANIE BERRY | Bertha Holly Stephanie was seen in The Gospel at Colonus at Little Island. She appeared in Gem of the Ocean at Two River Theatre, Staff Meal at Playwrights Horizon, and as Olivia in Classical Theatre of Harlem’s production of Malvolio. She is the 2023 recipient of an Obie Award for Performance for her role in On Sugarland at the New York Theatre Workshop, and an Obie Award for her solo show, The Shaneequa Chronicles: The Making of a Black Woman. Selected film and TV credits include Fantasy Island, O.G., The Last O.G., Bull, Blue Bloods, Blacklist, and Law and Order.
PETER BISGAIER | Rutherford Selig Off-Broadway: Reservoir Dogs, Roberto Zucco (Empire Theatre Co.); Patience (Boomerang). Regional: McCarter Theater, Arden Theater, Cincinnati Playhouse, Syracuse Stage, Bristol Riverside, InterACT, Act2 Playhouse, Quintessence, Montgomery Theater, Delaware Theatre Co., Pegasus Theatre Co., The Fulton, Passage Theater, Horse Cave Theater, Phoenix Theater, Stella Adler Theatre, and Lincoln Amphitheatre. Film: Sparkle: A Unicorn Tale. Peter is Co-Artistic Director of Pegasus Theatre Company in New Jersey and a member of the improv team Peter & Matt. “Thank you to Corinna, Milo, Monica, and Mom.”
KAITLYN BOYER (she/her) | Mattie Campbell Kaitlyn is thrilled to join the cast of Joe Turner’s Come and Gone and make her Indiana Repertory Theatre debut! Some favorites include Dracula! A Comedy of Terrors (Off-Broadway); Nine Night (Round House Theater); School Girls; or, The African American Mean Girls Play (Cincinnati Playhouse in the Park); Cyrano de Bergerac (Guthrie Theater); A Christmas Carol (Actors Theatre of Louisville); Elsbeth (CBS). Kaitlyn received her B.F.A. from the University of Minnesota/Guthrie Theater Actor Training Program. kaitlynboyer.com
DANE FIGUEROA EDIDI (she/her) | Molly Cunningham, Movement & Cultural Consultant Lady Dane is an award-winning playwright, choreographer, filmmaker, writer, and actor. Some of her roles include Ruby in Seven Guitars (Arena Stage), Ruby/ Rebecca in Ghost/Writer (Rep Stage), Priestess/Klytmnestra in Klytmnestra: An Epic Slam Poem (Theatre Alliance), and Faith in Wig Out! (Studio Theatre), as well as Patra in the web series King Ester, Woman in the short film Home, and Dr. Grace Grace in the web series I Need Space. A producer and director, her short film A New Creation Story is making the festival rounds. She is an Artistic Ensemble member of Long Wharf Theatre.
KERAH JACKSON | Zonia Loomis Kerah has attended IRT Summer Camp for the past three summers. She has worked with REACT theatre as the Narrator in their adaptation of The Wizard of Oz and with Summer Stock Stage where she performed in a musical production of Disney’s Descendants. She has been training in the dance styles of Jazz, Hip Hop, and Ballet since the age of four. She currently attends Mahogany Contemporary dance academy. Kerah loves reading, writing stories, and painting, and spending time with her family and friends. Kerah looks forward to her continuing growth and opportunities in her developing career as a performer.
JACQUES JEAN-MARY | Jeremy Furlow Jacques is thrilled to join Joe Turner’s Come and Gone at IRT! A Brooklyn native and NYC-based actor, Jacques earned his B.F.A. in Acting from Howard University and continued honing his craft at the British American Drama Academy in Oxford, England. His most recent credits include The Hot Wing King at Denver Center and Exception to the Rule at Studio Theatre. “I strive to explore the beauty and complexity of the human experience, drawing inspiration from life, history, and my roots. I give special thanks to God, IRT, and Timothy Douglas for this incredible opportunity!”
CHRISTIAN MAKAI LUCAS | Reuben Mercer is proud to make his debut at the Indianapolis Repertory Theatre in Joe Turner’s Come and Gone. He is 12 years old and has previously appeared on stages at the Goodman Theatre (A Christmas Carol), Metropolis Performing Arts Centre (A Christmas Carol), and the Lyric Opera of Chicago (Factotum, Cavalleria Rusticana). Christian has trained at Second City Chicago and Interlochen Arts Camp. When he is not performing, he enjoys cooking, crochet, choir, and dance.
DESHAWN HAROLD MITCHELL (he/him) | Bynum Walker Broadway: George in All My Sons (Roundabout Theatre Company). Regional Theatre: Kenneth in Primary Trust, Flip in Stick Fly (Repertory Theatre of St. Louis); Robert in Nicole Clark Is Having a Baby (Actors Theatre of Louisville); Bassanio in The Merchant of Venice (New Swan Shakespeare Festival). Film: Double Dope in Highest 2 Lowest (A Spike Lee Joint), The Preppie Connection, Air Jordan. Television: Godfather of Harlem, Mike, WeCrashed, FBI: Most Wanted, Orange Is the New Black, Run the World, That Damn Michael Che, Blindspot. IMDb: DeShawn Harold Mitchell. @Soulfisticatedfunk
LILIAN A. OBEN | Martha Pentecost Primary Trust (McCarter Theatre, Cincinnati Playhouse); Mud Row (Gulfshore Playhouse); Nine Night (Round House Theatre); Murder on the Orient Express (Everyman Theatre); Intimate Apparel (Orlando Shakes); The Crucible (Olney Theatre); The Second Shepherds’ Play (Folger Theatre). Film: The Noel Diaries. Writing: NYT Modern Love; Now Casting, Aether (Keegan Theatre, Festival); Olympus (Semi-Finalist, Red Bull Theater). M.S., Boston University; B.A., Middlesex University (UK); Studio Theatre Acting Conservatory; The Barrow School. Awards: 2023 HH Award Nominee-Outstanding Lead Performer. lilianoben.com
KEITH RANDOLPH SMITH | Seth Holly IRT: Les Trois Dumas. Broadway: Jitney; Piano Lesson; King Hedley II; Fences; Come Back Little Sheba; Salomé; American Psycho. Off-Broadway: Paradise Blue (Signature); what the end will be (Roundabout); Tamburlaine (TFANA); Lockdown (Rattlestick); Holiday Heart (MTC). Regional: Old Globe; Mark Taper Forum; Goodman; Alliance; Seattle Rep; Yale Rep. TV/Film: The Good Fight; Law & Order; NY Undercover; Malcolm X; Girl Six. Alumnus of The American Academy of Dramatic Arts; The Actors Center NY, and Quick Silver Theater Company; recipient of the Fox Fellowship and the Lunt-Fontanne Fellowship for Acting.
THE COMPANY
SHANE TAYLOR (he/him) | Herald Loomis IRT: Jitney. Off-Broadway: Knives in Hens (The Shop Theater/59E59), 50th Anniversary Production of In White America (New Federal), Romeo and Juliet (Lincoln Center Institute). Regional: The Billie Holiday Theatre, Pennsylvania Shakespeare Festival, Orlando Shakespeare Theatre, Round House Theatre, Actors Theatre of Louisville, Berkshire Theatre Festival, Milwaukee Rep, Cincinnati Playhouse in the Park, Williamstown Theatre Festival, Berkeley Rep, and McCarter Theater. FILM/TV: God’s Forgotten House, Sarbane’s Oxley, King of the Bingo Game. Education: M.F.A. from Rutgers University.
AMOR COLEMAN | Zonia Loomis Alternate is a native of Atlanta, GA. Now residing in Indianapolis, this 5th grader is thrilled for her Indiana Repertory Theatre acting debut in Joe Turner’s Come and Gone.
JOSHUA KLAMAN | Reuben Mercer Alternate is honored to make his professional debut with the IRT in Joe Turner’s Come and Gone. A student at Sycamore School, he has appeared in Alice in Wonderland the Musical, Frozen, and other school productions. Joshua enjoys exploring theatre, playing instruments, singing, and spending time with friends and family.
TIMOTHY DOUGLAS | Director IRT: Jitney, Intimate Apparel, Gem of the Ocean, A Raisin in the Sun. Primary Trust (Cincinnati Playhouse in the Park); Frankenstein (CSC); She Who Dared (Chicago Opera Theater); The Color Purple (Denver Center); Blue (New Orleans Opera); Father Comes Home From the Wars, (Roundhouse); The Crucible (Syracuse Stage); Champion (Boston Lyric Opera); King Hedley II (Arena Stage), and the world premiere of Radio Golf. (Yale Rep). Also Guthrie, Signature, Great Theatre of China, Juilliard School, Kennedy Center, Steppenwolf, Folger Shakespeare, Mark Taper Forum, and many others.
TONY CISEK | Scenic Designer Tony has collaborated with Timothy Douglas on over 50 productions including A Raisin in the Sun, Gem of the Ocean, Intimate Apparel, and Jitney here at IRT; Blue with New Orleans Opera; The Hot Wing King and The Color Purple at Denver Center Theatre Company; Primary Trust for Cincinnati Playhouse and McCarter Theatre; and productions at Alliance Theatre, Guthrie Theater, Arena Stage, the Kennedy Center, Milwaukee Rep, South Coast Rep, Portland Center Stage, Syracuse Stage, Round House Theatre, Signature Theatre, and Folger Theatre, among others. tonycisek.com
KARA HARMON | Costume Designer Select Off-Broadway: The Other Americans, The Public Theatre; The Great Privation, Soho Rep; Watch Night, Perelman PAC. Select Regional credits include: I&You the Musical, McCarter Theatre; We Are Gathered, Arena Stage; The Penelopiad, Goodman Theatre; The Three Musketeers, OSF; 42nd Street, Goodspeed Musicals (CT Critics Circle Outstanding Costume Design Award); Diary of a Wimpy Kid, The Children’s Theatre Company; Shutter Sisters, Old Globe; Guys and Dolls, Guthrie Theater; The Wiz, Ford’s Theatre (Helen Hayes Award); Barbecue, Geffen Playhouse (NAACP Award). KaraHarmonDesign.com
JASON LYNCH (he/him)| Lighting Designer Jason is a Chicago-based lighting designer and returns to IRT where he has designed MarieandRosetta,ThePlayThatGoesWrong, and Fannie: The Music and Life of Fannie Lou Hamer. Regional: Alley Theatre, Berkeley Repertory Theatre, Chicago Shakespeare Theater, Geva Theatre Center, Goodman Theatre, The Guthrie Theater, The Old Globe, Oregon Shakespeare Festival, Steppenwolf Theatre Company, among others. Awards: Outstanding Achievement in Lighting Design (International Black Theatre Festival), one Joseph Jefferson, two Black Theater Alliance/Ira Aldridge Awards, Michael Maggio Emerging Designer. Jason is represented by the Gersh Agency. jasondlynch.com | @jasonlynch.design
CHRISTOPHER DARBASSIE | Sound Designer Off-Boadway (select): TheAntiquities,Amusements (Playwrights Horizons); The Counter (Roundabout); Caroline,Table17 (MCC); Six Characters (LCT3); Grangeville,ABrightNew Boise,ACasefortheExistenceOfGod (Signature NYC); TheApiary,CampSiegfried,Patience (2ST); I’m Almost There (Audible @ Minetta Lane/Francesca Moody Productions @ Edinburgh Fringe); This Beautiful Future (Cherry Lane); Heaux Church (Ars Nova); and work at Petzel Gallery, the Goodman Theater, the Alliance Theater, Playmakers Rep, the Brooklyn Museum, the Studio Museum, and more.
RUEBEN D. ECHOLES (he/him) | Wig Designer Rueben is an accomplished costume and wig designer, author, director, choreographer and illustrator, who served as Associate Artistic Director of Black Ensemble Theater in Chicago for 17 years. Wig and hair designs include She Who Dared (Chicago Opera Theatre); Fat Ham (Cleveland Play House); Metamorphoses (Folger Theatre); The Lion in Winter, Antigone, Rosencrantz and Guildenstern Are Dead, Stokely (Court); Hello, Dolly!, Fela (Olney); In the Heights, Rent (Muny); Dreamgirls (Paramount); Pump Boys and Dinettes (Porchlight); Women of Soul, Sister Act (Mercury); and Day of Absence (Congo Square).
CHELS MORGAN (they/them) | Intimacy and Violence
Chels is an intimacy, violence, and movement director, theatre educator, an AASECT Certified Sexuality Educator, adjunct professor at DePaul University, and the Director of Accessibility and Inclusion at the Intimacy Professionals Education Collective (IPEC). Off-Broadway: How to Defend Yourself (New York Theatre Workshop). Regional: Chicago Shakespeare Theater, Centre Theater Group, the Old Globe Theater, American Conservatory Theater, Shakespeare Theater Company, Bucks County Playhouse, among others. Television: Lace (AllBlk Network). Education: M.F.A. in Directing, Loyola Marymount University.
THE COMPANY
RICHARD J ROBERTS | Dramaturg This is Richard’s 36th season with the IRT, and his 28th as resident dramaturg. He has also been a dramaturg for the New Harmony Project, Write Now, and the Hotchner Playwriting Festival. He has directed IRT productions of A Christmas Carol, Bridge & Tunnel, The Night Watcher, Neat, Pretty Fire, The Cay, The Giver, The Power of One, and Twelfth Night. He has also directed for Actors Theatre of Indiana, the Indianapolis Chamber Orchestra, and others. Richard studied music at DePauw University and theatre at Indiana University and was awarded a Creative Renewal Arts Fellowship from the Arts Council of Indianapolis.
SHIKU THUO (any/all) | Stage Manager Shiku Thuo is an artist hailing from Southern California, but taking residency in New York. Their most recent works include: HEAUX CHURCH (Ars Nova), BUST (Alliance/ Goodman Theatre), Table 17 (MCC), Sunset Baby (Signature Theater), Fabulation or the RE-Education of Undine (Billie Holiday), ‘Bov Water (Northern Stage). A vivid day dreamer, lover of kindle unlimited, and really REALLY good food. “For Mama Bui, always, and for the liberation of us all.”
REBECCA ROEBER | Assistant Stage Manager Becky is a local AEA stage manager, originally from the Pocono Mountains, but now calling Indianapolis home. They are proud to call IRT their artistic home for their ninth season. They also can be found working with Summer Stock Stage, Phoenix Theatre, Indy Shakes, and Summit. “I am grateful for the opportunity to work with so many incredible theatre artists in this city, and I am thankful for the support of my friends and family!”
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Each season, some of our donors choose to celebrate the artistry of the IRT by recognizing our amazing artists, both onstage and behind the scenes. This exclusive reimagined giving opportunity is a benefit for Repertory Society members in the Artist, Director, Playwright Circle, and Spotlight Circles. Whether you’ve been with us for years or are just beginning your journey with the IRT, this is your chance to connect more deeply with the art and the artists who make it all possible.
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ARTSGARDEN EVENTS + RENTALS
Iconic event space in the heart of Indy
Owned and operated by the Indy Arts Council, the Indianapolis Artsgarden is a striking, seven-story glass and steel structure located in the heart of downtown Indianapolis. Since opening in 1996, it has served as an iconic venue offering 360-degree views of the city and hosting unforgettable private events, weddings, and community gatherings.
BOOK YOUR EXPERIENCE AT INDYARTS.ORG WEDDINGS | CORPORATE | SPECIAL EVENTS
Photo Credits: Jessica Strickland, Indy Arts Council
APRIL 7 - MAY 10
7,000 stranded airline passengers are welcomed to one small town in Newfoundland in the wake of September 11, 2001. Tensions run high and cultures clash, but uncertainty turns into trust while music, dance, and laughter fill the night. A joyous celebration of how even the worst tragedy can be countered with kindness, generosity, and simple human compassion. a remarkable true story of resilience
CREATIVE TEAM
Directed by AZAR KAZEMI
Scenic Designer _________
RIW RAKKULCHON
Costume Designer ________
CAMILLE DEERING
Lighting Designer __________
Sound Designer___________
Dialect Coach________
DAWN CHIANG
WILLOW JAMES
JOY LANCETA CORONEL
Production Dramaturg______
Stage Manager________
Casting_____________
JACOB C. SHULER
ERIN ROBSON-SMITH
CLAIRE YENSON, CSA
MARCH 10APRIL 4 JANET ALLEN STAGE
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THE CAST
SETTING
2008. Karaj, Iran. A classroom.
APPROXIMATE RUN TIME: 1 hour and 30 minutes, with no intermission.
ADDITIONAL PRODUCTION PERSONNEL
Production Assistant: Amanda Rooksberry
In 2020, English received the L. Arnold Weissberger Award for Playwrighting, jointly administered by the Anna L. Weissberger Foundations and Williamstown Theatre Festival.
English is presented by arrangement with Concord Theatricals on behalf of Samuel French, Inc. concordtheatricals.com
AFFILIATIONS
The actors and stage managers in this production are members of Actors’ Equity Association, the Union of Professional Actors and Stage Managers in the United States.
The director is a member of the Society of Stage Directors and Choreographers, Inc., an independent national labor union.
The scenic, costume, lighting, and sound designers are represented by United Scenic Artists Local 829, IATSE.
Indiana Repertory Theatre is a member of the League of Resident Theatres (LORT), a nationwide association of not-forprofit theatres.
Photographyandrecordingare forbiddenintheTheatre.The videotapingofthisproductionisa violationofUnitedStatesCopyright LawandanactionableFederalOffense.
TO FEEL UNDERSTOOD
by Azar Kazemi, Director
In March of 2022 I flew from Chicago to NYC to see the world premiere of Sanaz Toossi’s English. It didn’t seem real that a soldout show at a major Off-Broadway theater could be a play about Iranians. As a first-generation Iranian American, I was both excited and nervous because stories about our people are rare and, at times, misrepresentative of our culture and history. It was unfair to expect a play or a playwright to fulfill all the hopes I had for authenticity on stage, yet as I left the theatre that night I felt as if a miracle had happened. It was a play only for us and at the same time a play for everyone.
Toossi sets English in 2008 in Karaj, Iran (a suburb outside Tehran), inside a classroom where students are preparing for the TOEFL (Test of English as a Foreign Language) exam. We meet the teacher, Marjan, and her four students: Elham, Roya, Goli, and Omid. The premise is deceptively simple in how the story is revealed to the audience. We follow their progress throughout the six-week course in short intimate scenes that add up to a powerful whole. The play is as funny as it is poignant, as playful as it is profound. Its vehicle is learning a new language and the challenges faced when trying to be understood. Its heartbeat is an exploration of identity and belonging: to learn to belong, to long to belong, to lose oneself, and perhaps to find oneself again.
I dedicate this production to my father, who is the greatest teacher I’ve ever had. He taught me the importance of knowing where I come from and still reads me Persian poetry every chance he gets. He took me to Iran when I was eleven years old, and for the first time, I felt a sense of belonging. I will never fully understand what it cost my parents to leave their homeland. What I do understand is the depth of sorrow that separation brings. It is my honor and privilege to direct English, a play that embodies the dignity, humanity, and resilience of the Iranian people. A story that centers the experience of emigration at a time when we need it most. Thank you for joining us, or as we say in Farsi, khosh amadid.
SPEAKING WITH MEANING
by Jacob C. Shuler, Production Dramaturg
In Sanaz Toossi’s English, five Iranians study English: four students and the teacher tasked with equipping them with tools to take the TOEFL (Test of English as a Foreign Language). For each, learning English offers opportunities through emigration. But by leaving their home, they risk leaving behind more than just their language. The stakes of learning another language are profound—both political and personal. As the characters balance their identities between languages, their confidence and abilities are shaped by language origins, rules, learning styles, test dynamics, and the complex ways in which we use language to express meaning.
Forming Language
Human language likely stemmed from a common root more than 100,000 years ago. Some scientists believe that spoken language formed from a gradual standardization of individual gestures and utterances into a shared understanding of meaning. The first written record of language comes from 5,000 years ago: financial transactions embedded on cuneiform tablets from ancient Mesopotamia (modern day Iraq) in the Sumerian language. But Sumerian isn’t spoken there today (or anywhere; the language is no longer in use). As people
and cultures have moved and diversified over time, so too has language. Since its origin, that common source has branched into more than 7,000 distinct languages. English and Farsi (or Persian, as it is more widely known by non-native speakers) are two such languages; both Indo-European in origin, but separated by millennia of transformation. Today, English has close to 400 million first-language speakers, while Farsi has around 100 million, largely concentrated in Iran. Arabic is an Afroasiatic language, more distantly separated from Farsi than English. Yet Farsi today is written in a modified Arabic script that was adopted during the land’s 10th century Islamic conquest. Culture carries language, but language also carries culture.
Constructing Language
Language is composed of vocabulary: the words themselves. Grammar is an established set of rules by which those words are combined to create more complex meaning. These rules are further organized into five components: syntax (order), morphology (form), phonology (sound), semantics (context), and pragmatics (use). Rules, however, are meant to be broken.
Poetry, humor, and idioms all abstract the standard use of language to express meaning that is more complex than straightforward vocabulary and grammar. Poetry is inherent in Iranian history and the Farsi language. Where English is direct, a single word in Farsi may represent a full phrase, connected to a story or a song, informed by history and tradition. These cultural distinctions can make different languages all the more difficult to learn.
Learning Language
Language is easiest to acquire at a young age, as a part of our early growth and development. Around the age of 18, the brain becomes less malleable, and social circumstances further infringe on our ability to process second-language learning. Classroom settings can work best when instruction is supplemented with practical conversation and immersion. Today, apps like Duolingo gamify the language-learning experience, reaching close to a billion cumulative downloads since 2013. And while studies show that such apps are effective at facilitating a surface-level understanding of vocabulary and grammar, users can fall short of achieving full fluency. (Farsi, of note, isn’t available on Duolingo). For all that language enables, it can also be a barrier.
Examining Language
The TOEFL is a standardized exam recognized by nearly 200 countries to evaluate English proficiency for academic admissions and employment. The test is structured in four sections: reading, listening, speaking, and writing. Each section is evenly weighted at 30 points for a total possible score of 120 points. There is no fixed threshold to pass or fail. Rather, each institution sets their own mark for acceptance, often somewhere between 70 and 100. In 2024, the average score of all TOEFL takers was 86; this average was 92 from native Farsi speakers. Language proficiency can be evaluated, but complex meaning can be difficult to capture.
Using Language
Playwright SANAZ TOOSSI was born in Orange County, California, in 1992. Her parents met in the United States after immigrating from Iran. Toossi grew up speaking Farsi at home with her parents, but spoke predominantly English outside of the home. She decided to pursue playwriting during a post-undergrad trip to her grandmother’s home in Iran, where she was compelled to
explore her own identity as an Iranian and an American. This exploration is evident in English, her M.F.A. thesis play, which went on to premiere professionally at Atlantic Theatre Company in 2022. The play won the Pulitzer Prize for Drama in 2023 and earned five Tony nominations for its Broadway run in 2025 (including Best Play for Toossi herself). In English, Sanaz Toossi uses the English language to represent both of her identities. Where the characters speak English with an accent, they are truly speaking English. Where they speak without accent, however, their fluid words represent Farsi. This poetic device allows Toossi to express a depth and dichotomy to identity that transcends words and rules. The playwright empowers her characters with a complexity of language (poetry, humor, and idioms) that represents both a very specific Iranian experience and something universal about the human need to communicate and to be understood on a personal level. “I’m funny,” she says, “and I want my work to be funny, because I want to insist on my own individualism.”
Scan to access our audience notes for more information on Iran, English, learning, and identity.
THE COMPANY
NATASHA BEHNAM | Elham Natasha is a first-generation Iranian American actress, comedian, and writer. You can see her starring in the final season of Netflix’s hit show You, and also HBO Max’s original show The Girls on the Bus. Most recently, you can see her alongside Elisabeth Moss and Kerry Washington in Apple TV’s Imperfect Women. She has two feature films premiering in 2026, CognAItive and Napa Boys. Her other feature credits include American Pie: Girls Rules (Netflix/Universal), Cupid for Christmas (Hulu), and Diamond in the Rough (Amazon). “I am honored to bring life to the rich and nuanced experience of being Iranian American, and I hope to continue being a part of work that touches on the inherent oneness within the human experience.”
NEAGHEEN HOMAIFAR (she/her) | Marjan Neagheen Homaifar is an Iranian-American actor, writer, and Harvard University honors graduate whose theatre credits include English (Long Wharf Theater, TheaterWorks Hartford, Cincinnati Playhouse in the Park), Selling Kabul (Signature Theatre), and Scorched (ExPats Theatre). Highlights of her film and TV credits include Me (AppleTV+), Killing It (Peacock), The Resident (Fox), and Before Dawn, Kabul Time (Hulu), a short film that premiered at Tribeca Festival and qualified for Best Live Action Short consideration at the 95th Academy Awards. Neagheen co-hosted the award-winning comedy podcast Best Friends Back, Alright! with Mythical Entertainment. @neagheen
LEYLA MODIRZADEH | Roya Indiana Repertory Theatre debut. Off-Broadway: I Am Gordafarid and The Palace at 4 A.M. (New York Theatre Workshop); Secret Histories (Clarke Theatre, Lincoln Center). Off-Off-Broadway: La Mama Experimental Theatre Club, Dixon Place, HERE Arts Center. Regional: The Kennedy Center, Wisdom Bridge Theatre, SpeakEasy Stage, A Contemporary Theatre, Group Theatre, Bridge Street Theatre, Golden Thread Productions, Laughing Horse, SPARC. Education: M.F.A. in Acting from the University of Washington, M.F.A. in Visual Arts from Pratt Institute. leylamodirzadeh.com
EMELIA MARYAM MOSAY | Goli is a first-generation Iranian and Armenian American actress and writer currently studying at NYU’s Tisch School of the Arts. She studied for six years at the FirstTake Acting School and for three years at the Stella Adler Studio of Acting. Emelia’s stage credits include Top Girls (Patient Griselda), Richard II (Duke of Aumerle), and Cloud 9 (Victoria) at the Stella Adler Studio. This production marks Emelia’s debut at a repertory theatere. “I am deeply grateful for the opportunity to help share such a beautiful story with audiences.” @emelia_maryam
REVON YOUSIF | Omid Revon is a first-generation Chaldean American actor from Detroit, Michigan, and a recent graduate of the M.F.A. acting program at Columbia University in New York City. Prior to moving to New York in 2021, Revon lived in Chicago working on productions like Fox’s Empire and Promethean Theatre Ensemble’s Blue Stockings, where he and the cast earned a Jeff Award nomination for Best Ensemble. Revon’s most recent credits include Disclosure Day (Universal Pictures), The Better Sister (Amazon Prime Video), and Divine Blood (Lynx Point Pictures). @revonyousif
THE COMPANY
AZAR KAZEMI (she/her) | Director Azar is first-generation Persian American and a freelance director and educator based in Chicago. She directs socially charged plays where the political and personal collide, giving voice to those the world chooses to ignore. Earlier this season she directed the Chicago premiere of Sanaz Toossi’s play Wish You Were Here to rave reviews. Azar is an Equity Jeff-nominated director for her work on the world premiere of Motherhouse by Tuckie White. She holds an M.F.A. from The Theatre School at DePaul University, where she is also on faculty and received the 2021 Excellence in Teaching Award. Azar is thrilled to be making her Indiana Repertory debut. To learn more please visit: AzarKazemi.com
RIW RAKKULCHON (he/they)| Scenic Designer Riw (pronounced Ree-you) is a set and costume designer, animator, and chef from Bangkok, Thailand. He has worked at Yale Repertory Theatre, Berkeley Rep, Hartford Stage, Syracuse Stage, The Old Globe, Asolo Rep, Cleveland Play House, Alley Theatre, Theatre Squared, Maltz Jupiter Theatre, KCRep, Primary Stages, The Public Theatre, Audible Theatre, and Brooklyn Academy of Music, amongst others. Broadway Associate Set Design: PassOver,&Juliet,Parade. Member of USA 829. Board member of WithAll, a non-profit Organization on a fight to end eating disorders. @riwrdesign
CAMILLE DEERING | Costume Designer Camille has designed costumes for Wad for the New Harmony Project and served as Assistant Costume Designer for TheMarriageofFigaro for Santa Fe Opera. She contributed to the world premiere ballet StarontheRise:LaBayadère,Reimagined! Camille assisted in the design for Yuletide and had her work featured at the University of Michigan. Throughout her career, she has collaborated with industry icons like Ann Roth and participated in productions at the Los Angeles Opera, Boston Lyric Opera, and New York Theatre Workshop. Her designs have been highlighted in the New York Times.
DAWN CHIANG | Lighting Designer Dawn has designed King James, Little Shop of Horrors, Shakespeare’s Will, and Sense and Sensibility at the IRT. Broadway: Zoot Suit and co-designer for Tango Pasión Off Broadway: Manhattan Theatre Club, Roundabout Theatre; Encores! Concert Musicals, co-designer. Opera: resident lighting designer, New York City Opera. Regional: Guthrie Theater, Mark Taper Forum, Oregon Shakespeare Festival, South Coast Repertory, Syracuse Stage, Denver Center Theatre Company, and many more. Awards: One Broadway World award, two Syracuse Area Live Theatre Awards, two DramaLogue Awards, and USITT Distinguished Achievement Award. Mentor for Theater Development Fund’s “Wendy Wasserstein Project” outreach program for New York City high school students.
WILLOW JAMES | Sound Designer Willow is a Chicago-based arts leader, DJ, and multidisciplinary artist working in photography, sound design, and composition. He uses art as a platform for community healing and work that uplifts Black identity—building spaces where art and purpose meet. He serves as Civic Engagement Director at Definition Theatre, where he is also an ensemble member. Chicago: You Will Get Sick (Steppenwolf); Fat Ham (Goodman/Definition); A Raisin in the Sun (Court Theatre); Hot Wing King (Writers); Hymn (Chicago Shakespeare). Regional: American Players, TheatreSquared, Next Act, Alleyway, and others.
JOY LANCETA CORONEL (she/her) | Dialect Coach Joy is a coach, writer, and theatre artist. New York (selected): What Became of Us, The Great Leap (Atlantic Theatre Co); Among the Dead, Once upon a (Korean) Time (Ma-Yi Theatre). Regional (selected): Sense and Sensibility (American Players Theatre); King John, Dracula (Actors Theatre of Louisville); A Christmas Carol, Dial M for Murder, Stones in His Pockets (Theatre Squared); The Heart Sellers (The Guthrie, Milwaukee Rep, The Huntington); The Far Country (Berkeley Rep). B.F.A. from University of Cincinnati-College Conservatory of Music. M.F.A. from Central School of Speech and Drama.
JACOB C. SHULER (he/him) | Production Dramaturg Jacob is a 2012 graduate of The Theatre School at DePaul University where he achieved a B.F.A. in Playwriting. There, he authored The Death of Gaia Divine, which merited a staged production through the school’s New Playwright Series. Jacob is the founder of Momentary Theatre, which curates stories that record, reveal, and react to human progress over time. From 9 to 5, Jacob works at Chicago’s Field Museum where he wrote and produced the Museum’s first ever drag show. Most recently, Jacob dramaturged Remy Bumppo’s production of Sanaz Toossi’s Wish You Were Here, directed by Azar Kazemi.
ERIN ROBSON-SMITH (she/her) | Stage Manager Since moving to Indianapolis, Erin has had the pleasure of working with IRT and its incredible staff. Favorite local and regional productions include A Christmas Carol, The Paper Dreams of Harry Chin with IRT; The Hotel Nepenthe and Love Bird with Phoenix Theatre; The Convent with Summit Performance; Julius Caesar with Indy Shakes; The Magnificent Fall with JoJo TomBilBen; Sometimes a Great Notion with Portland Center Stage. Erin spent the summers of 2008 and 2009 working with the JAW Festival at Portland Center Stage and in 2024, stage managed for the New Harmony Project’s inaugural PlayFest Indy.
CLAIRE YENSON, CSA (she/her) | Casting Director Claire is a New York-based casting director who works in film, TV, and theatre. She is the resident casting director at New York Theatre Workshop and Playwrights Realm. Additional theatre credits include Audible’s Minetta Lane Theatre, The Acting Company, Edinburgh Fringe, the Public Theater, Studio Theatre, and Shakespeare Theatre. IRT: The Glass Menagerie. Film/TV includes XO, Kitty (Netflix); Pachinko (Apple TV+); Fleishman Is in Trouble (FX); Sharper (A24); and Modern Love (Amazon).
BETSY DYKSTRA
SEASON SUPPORTER OF SUZANNE SWEENEY
Managing Director
Playwright-in-Residence THANK
SUSAN & CHARLIE GOLDEN SEASON SUPPORTERS OF ROB JOHANSEN
ANDREW & AMY MICHIE
SEASON SUPPORTERS OF BENJAMIN HANNA
Margot Lacy Eccles
Artistic Director
SARAH & JOHN LECHLEITER
SEASON SUPPORTERS OF JESSICA HUANG
THE SUPPORTING CAST
INDIANA
REPERTORY THEATRE DONORS
Ticket revenue covers just half of what it costs to produce world-class professional theatre at the Indiana Repertory Theatre. The IRT gratefully acknowledges the remarkable support we receive from our generous and committed donors whose contributions ensure that the show does go on!
* denotes Sustaining Member | ^denotes Deceased
CIRCLE $10,000+ ANNUAL CAMPAIGN GIFT $1,500+ | JULY 1, 2025 – JANUARY 13, 2026
Bob & Toni Bader
David & Jackie Barrett
Scott & Lorraine Davison
Rollie^ & Cheri Dick
The Michael Dinius & Jeannie
Regan-Dinius Family Fund, a fund of the Indianapolis Foundation
Nancy & Berkley Duck
Betsy Dykstra
Mary A. Findling & John C. Hurt
David & Ann Frick
Tom & Jenny Froehle
Future Keys Foundation
Susan & Charlie Golden
Mike & Judy Harrington
Phil & Colleen Kenney
Sarah & John Lechleiter
Bill & Susie Macias
Andrew & Amy Michie
David & Leslie Morgan
Jackie Nytes
Dr. Christine Phillips
Marguerite K. Shepard, M.D.
Catherine M. Turner*
John & Kathy Vahle
Cheryl Gruber Waldman
Dave Whitman & Donna Reynolds
DIRECTOR CIRCLE
$5,000 - $9,999
Anonymous
A.J. Allen
Joel Blum
Gary Denney & Louise Bakker
Dr. Cherryl Friedman
Dr. and Mrs. Gregory & Erin Gaich
Marta Gross & Richard M. Barnes
Ann Hinson
John & Laura Ludwig
David & Robin Miner
Kim & Weezie Morris
Joan Perelman
Mary & Noel Phillips*
Carol Phipps & Cliff Williams
Paul Pickett & William A. Powell
Drs. A. Eric Schultze & Marcia Kolvitz
Jeff & Janet Stroebel
Charles & Susan Taliercio
Linda & James Wesley
Dr. Christian Wolf & Elaine Holden
Charitable Fund
ARTIST CIRCLE
$3,000 - $4,999
Katy & Tim Allen
Paul & Renee Cacchillo
Don & Dolly Craft
Julie & Jeff Eggert
Dick & Brenda Freije
Patricia Gamble-Moore
Mr. Jim Gawne*
Kathy & Gene Gentili
Charles Goad & James Kincannon
Brenda Horn
Drs. Meredith & Kathleen Hull
Daniel T. Jensen & Steven Follis
Pegg & Mike Kennedy
Max Kime
David Kleiman & Susan Jacobs
Joy Kleinmaier
John & Susan Kline
Kevin Krulewitch & Rosanne Ammirati*
Jill & Peter Lacy
Janet K. Markham
Rob & Sara Norris
Mr. Stephen Owen Sr. & Dr. Cheryl Torok Owen
Gail & William Plater
N. Clay & Amy McConkey Robbins
Tim & Karen Seiler
Joe & Jill Tanner
Jeff & Benita Thomasson
Lynne & Alex Timmermans
Amy Waggoner*
Carol Weiss
Bob & Dana Wilson
PATRON CIRCLE
$1,500 - $2,999
David & Mary Allen
Janet Allen & Joel Grynheim*
The Todd A. Andritsch Family Fund
Anonymous (3)
Anonymous Fund of Hamilton County Community Foundation
Daniel & Rita Blay
Sheila Barton Bosron & Bill Bosron
Dan Bradburn & Jane Robison
Victoria Broadie
Kathy G. Cabello
Megan Carrico
Sujata Chugh
Shaun Healy Clifford
Alan & Linda Cohen Family Foundation
Daniel & Catherine Cunningham
Mike & Irene Curry
Frank & Norah Deane
Dr. Gregory Dedinsky & Dr. Cherri Hobgood
Fred W. Dennerline
Paul & Glenda Drew
Dr. & Mrs. John & Sheryn Ellis*
TO VIEW FULL LIST SCAN THE QR CODE!
Troy D. Farmer
Drs. Richard & Rebecca Feldman
Mary L. Forster, M.D.
Eric & Hayley Frandsen
Peter Furno & Pamela Steed
Brian & Lorene Furrer
Dorothea & Philip Genetos
Ron & Kathy Gifford
Julie & Ed Goodman*
Michael & Suzanne Gottschlich
John & Mary Ann Grogan
Walter & Janet Gross
Bill & Phyllis Groth*
Chad & Kelli Grothen
Ricardo & Beatriz Guimarães
Tom & Susie Hacker
Emily F. (Cramer) Hancock*
Benjamin Hanna
Jeffrey Harrison
The Hedges-Dillman Family
X & S Hinh
William & Patricia Hirsch
Randy & Becky Horton
Dr. Ronald & Mrs. Brenda Iacocca
The Indianapolis Fellows Fund, a fund of The Indianapolis Foundation
Colette Irwin-Knott & Gary Knott
Sarah Jenkins
Tom & Kathy Jenkins
Anita & Henry Johnson
Andrew & Brianna Johnson
Mrs. Janet Johnson
Denny & Judi Jones
Elisha Modisett Kemp
Ted & Betsy Kleinmaier
Mary & Rick Kortokrax
Dr. Michael & Molly Kraus
Kurt & Judy Kroenke
Dr. & Mrs. Alan Ladd
Edward & Ann M. Ledford
James & Sara Lootens
Nataly & Jonathan Lowder
Barbara MacDougall
Kathryn Maeglin
Marlene & Bob Marchesani
Kellie S. McCarthy
Sharon R. Merriman
Lawren Mills & Brad Rateike*
Michael D. Moriarty
Stephen & Deanna Nash
Tammie L Nelson & David McCaskill
Nick & Tracy Pappas
Rita Patel & Suresh Mukherji
Larry & Louise Paxton
The Payne Family Foundation, a fund of CICF
Bob & Kathi Postlethwait
Phil & Joyce Probst
Scott Putney & Susan Sawyer
Roger & Anna Radue
Barath Raman*
Peter & Karen Reist
Ken & Debra Renkens
Karen & Dick Ristine
Diane & Randy Rowland
Chip & Jane Rutledge
Paula F. Santa
Jane W. Schlegel
Robert & Alice Schloss
Tom & Barbara Schoellkopf
Mark & Gerri Shaffer
George & Mary Slenski
The Michael L. Smith and Susan L. Smith Family Fund, a fund of Hamilton County Community Foundation
Cheryl & Bob Sparks
Edward & Susann Stahl
Ed & Jane Stephenson
Robert & Barbara Stevens
Jim & Cheryl Strain
Suzanne Sweeney & Todd Wiencek
Diane Thompson & Donald Knebel
John & Deborah Thornburgh
Jennifer C. Turner
Larry and Nancy VanArendonk
Angela Walker
Dorothy Webb
Dr. Rosalind Webb
Alan & Elizabeth Whaley
John & Margaret Wilson
Frederick & Jacquelyn Winters
William Witchger, II & Kimberly Witchger
UNRESTRICTED GENERAL DONATIONS
$1,500+
Anonymous A.J. Allen
Dr. and Mrs. Gregory & Erin Gaich
Bruce & Noelle King
Jackie Nytes & Patrick O’Brien
Dr. Betty Routledge
Thomas Whittaker
OVATION SOCIETY
Gary Addison
Janet Allen & Joel Grynheim*
Pat Anker
Bob & Toni Bader
Frank & Katrina Basile
Charlie & Cary Boswell
Ron & Julia Carpenter
John R. Carr (in memoriam)
John & Mary Challman
Megan McKinney Cooper & Doug Cooper
Sergej R. Cotton
Thomas & Susan Dapp
Nancy Davis & Robert Robinson
Rollie & Cheri Dick
Nancy & Berkley Duck
Dale & Karen Duncan
Troy D. Farmer
Jim & Julie Freeman
Dr. Cherryl Friedman
Tom & Jenny Froehle
Meg Gammage-Tucker
David A. & Dee Garrett (in memoriam)
Michael Gradison (in memoriam)
Marta Gross & Richard M. Barnes
Emily F. (Cramer) Hancock*
Mike & Judy Harrington
Michael N. & Karen E. Heaton
Bruce Hetrick & Cheri O’Neill
Tom & Nora Hiatt
Brenda Horn
Bill & Nancy Hunt
David Kleiman & Susan Jacobs
Frank & Jacqueline La Vista
THE SUPPORTING CAST
INDIANA REPERTORY THEATRE DONORS
Barry Landy
Andra Liepa Charitable Fund, a fund of
The Indianapolis Foundation
Barbara MacDougall
Donald & Ruth Ann MacPherson
Stuart L. Main (in memoriam)
Michael R. Maine
Sharon R. Merriman
David & Leslie Morgan
Michael D. Moriarty
Richard & Lila Morris
Mutter Marines--Jim & Carol
Rob & Sara Norris
Deena J. Nystrom
Marcia O’Brien (in memoriam)
The Payne Family Foundation, a fund of CICF
George & Olive Rhodes (in memoriam)
Pat Garrett Rooney
Jane W. Schlegel
Myra C. Selby & Bruce Curry
Michael Skehan
Jeff & Janet Stroebel
Michael Suit (in memoriam)
Suzanne Sweeney & Todd Wiencek
Gene & Mary Tempel
Jeff & Benita Thomasson
Christopher J. Tolzmann
Alan & Elizabeth Whaley
John & Margaret Wilson
CORPORATE, FOUNDATION, & GOVERNMENT
CORPORATE
Candlewood Suites
Corteva Agriscience
Elliott Company of Indianapolis, Inc.
F.A. Wilhelm Construction Co., Inc.
Faegre Drinker Biddle & Reath
Frost Brown Todd
Glick Philanthropies
The Indianapolis Foundation, a CICF affiliate
KPMG LLP
OneAmerica Financial Partners
Oxford Financial Group, Ltd.
PNC
Printing Partners
Schmidt Associates, Inc.
Star Financial Group
STEELENCOUNTERS
Taft Stettinius & Hollister LLP
FOUNDATION
The Ackerman Family Foundation
Anonymous
Elba L. & Gene Portteus
Branigin Foundation, Inc.
Capital Group
Allen Whitehill Clowes
Charitable Foundation
The Margot L. Eccles Arts & Culture
Fund, a fund of CICF
The Glick Family Foundation
The John F. Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts
Lacy Foundation
Lilly Endowment Inc.
The Arthur Jordan Foundation
The Joyce Foundation
Nicholas H. Noyes Jr. Memorial Foundation, Inc.
The Penrod Society
The Shubert Foundation
Women’s Fund of Central Indiana, a CICF Fund
GOVERNMENT
Indy Arts Council and the City of Indianapolis
IN KIND DONATION
DeBrand Fine Chocolates
Indianapolis Indians
Krannert School of Physical Therapy
LAZ Parking
National Institute of Fitness & Sport
