Phoenix Theatre (Indianapolis)

The Phoenix Theatre is a professional non-profit theatre located in downtown Indianapolis, on Park Avenue near Massachusetts Avenue. It was founded by Bryan D. Fonseca in 1983, initially to perform the three-part (three evening) science fiction play, "Warp!". It is housed in a church where Jim Jones once preached, a fact that was brought into their production of "Hedwig and the Angry Inch". The theatre continues to be run by Fonseca, whose mother continues to run the concession stand and coat room.

Fare at the Phoenix tends to be edgy, often with adult language and situations, violence, and even occasional nudity. They have often featured plays dealing with sexuality, homosexuality, women's issues, AIDS, African-American issues (they have done all of August Wilson's plays as they became available for regional theatre use), abuse, and mental disorders. They also have featured work by the Seattle-based comedy troup, Dos Fallopia

In 2002, they began using half-seasons, after a coup created by some scheduling problems allowed them to acquire the rights to "" before it would have been available to theatres with full seasons, thus they were the first regional theatre ever to perform the play.

The theatre also hosts the annual Festival of Emerging American Theatre (FEAT) Awards, originally an open but now a closed competition, which has resulted in productions of anywhere from one to four world premiere productions each season. Toni Press-Coffman, with two FEAT wins, became playwright-in-residence in 2000, not long after the second of these was chosen.

Production history

(*=world premiere production)

1983-1984

*"WARP! I,II, & III" by Stuart Gordon & Bury St. Edmond
*"Talking With…" by Jane Martin
*"Krapp’s Last Tape" by Samuel Beckett
*"How I Got That Story" by Amlin Gray
*"Plenty" by David Hare
*"Lemonade" by James Prideaux
*"Cloud Nine" by Caryl Churchill
*"Summer Lights"* by Sam Smiley
*"Escapes"* by David Stooks
*"The Legs on Charlie’s Car"* by John Sarno
*"Necessities"* by Kathy Fletcher & Rita Kohn
*"Sour Noodles"* by Jim Watt

1984-1985

*"Agnes of God" by John Pielmeier
*"Crimes of the Heart" by Beth Henley
*"The Lion in Winter" by James Goldman
*"Baby With the Bathwater" by Christopher Durang
*"March of the Falsettos" by William Finn
*"Dear John"* by Marcia Cebulska
*"True West" by Sam Shepard
*"Taking Steps" by Alan Ayckbourn
*"The Call"* by Bruce Gelfand
*"My Hand is Not My Heart"* by Jack Randall Earles
*"Prep Work"* by Bruce Gelfand
*"Porch Songs"* by Pearl Cleage
*"…And Stuff"* by Peter Dee

1985-1986

*"Stage Struck" by Simon Gray
*"Balm in Gilead" by Lanford Wilson
*"El Grande de Coca-Cola" by House, Andrews, Shearman, Willis, & White
*"As Is" by William F. Hoffman
*"A Soldier’s Play" by Charles Fuller
*"Accidental Death of an Anarchist" by Dario Fo
*"Waiting for the Parade" by John Murrell
*"The Madness of Lady Bright" by Lanford Wilson
*"Days of our Dumping"* by D.J.L. Neruda
*"Don’t Crush that Dwarf, Hand Me the Pliers" by Firesign Theatre
*"The Lesson" by Eugene Ionesco
*"Centaurs"* by Marcia Cebulska
*"Night Commander"* by Silas Jones
*"Replay"* by Bruce MacDonald
*"Prairie Sunset"* by Richard Sutherland

1986-1987

*"The Threepenny Opera" by Bertolt Brecht & Kurt Weill
*"Orphans" by Lyle Kessler
*"The Real Thing" by Tom Stoppard
*"Ma Rainey's Black Bottom" by August Wilson
*"Shivaree" by William Mastrosimone
*"Hurlyburly" by David Rabe
*"Hair" by Gerome Ragni, James Rado, & Galt MacDermot
*"Dreams"* by Nell Weatherwax
*"Pumpkin Pie, Sweet Potato Pie, and Other Cultural Differences" by Various Poets
*"Cowboy Mouth" by Sam Shepard
*"Nice People Dancing to Good Country Music" by Lee Blessing
*"Grendel!"* by John Gardner & Bart Simpson
*"Spell #7" by Ntozake Shange
*"Rap Master Ronnie" by Garry Trudeau & Elizabeth Swados
*"Not Funny"* by Douglas Anderson
*"Caril & Charlie"* by Gram Slaton
*"Ken’s Brain"* by Jim Mitchell

1987-1988

*"Execution of Justice" by Emily Mann
*"…and when the bough breaks"* by Marcia Cebulska
*"Loot" by Joe Orton
*"Advice to the Players" by Bruce Bonafede
*"Sister Mary Ignatius Explains It All for You" by Christopher Durang
*"A Lie of the Mind" by Sam Shepard
*"Savage/Love" and "Tongues" by Sam Shepard
*"A…My Name is Alice" by Joan Micklin Silver & Julianne Boyd
*"Chug" by Ken Jenkins
*"Graceland" by Ellen Byron
*"The House of Blue Leaves" by John Guare
*"Cards & Beer"* by Jack Randall Earles
*"Rebels"* by Gary Williams & Steven Ridenour
*"Nightbreath"* by Dennis Clontz

1988-1989

*"Steel Magnolias" by Robert Harling
*"Miss Margarida’s Way" by Roberto Athayde
*"Bouncers" by John Godber
*"Dreamgirls" by Tom Eyen & Harry Krieger
*"Laughing Wild" by Christopher Durang
*"Frankie & Johnny in the Claire de Lune" by Terrence McNally
*"Coastal Disturbances" by Tina Howe
*"Beach Party Nuclear Protest"* by Jack Randall Earles & David Meek
*"Lloyd’s Prayer" by Kevin Kling
*"Aunt Dan & Lemon" by Wallace Shawn
*"Three Guys Naked from the Waist Down" by Jerry Colker & Michael Rupert
*"Mr. Right and Other Stories"* by Linda Carson
*"Mortal Risk"* by Ron Marks

1989-1990

*"Burn This" by Lanford Wilson
*"Beruit" by Alan Bowne
*"The Day Room" by Don DeLillo
*"Here I Am"* by David Meek (cabaret)
*"On the Verge (or The Geography of Yearning)" by Eric Overmyer
*"Some Things You Need to Know Before the World Ends (A Final Evening with the Illuminati)" by Larry Lawson & Levi Lee
*"The Rocky Horror Show" by Richard O’Brien
*"Fences" by August Wilson
*"The Marriage of Bette & Boo" by Christopher Durang
*"The Boys Next Door" by Tom Griffin
*"Su Me"* by Su Ours (cabaret)
*"Boy’s Life" by Howard Korder
*"Stiff Cuffs"* by Christina Cocek & John DiAguino
*"Elizabeth/Regina"* by Linda Carson

1990-1991

*Eastern Standard by Richard Greenberg
*T-Bone And Weasel by Jon Klein
*Split Second by Dennis McIntyre
*Vampire Lesbians of Sodom by Charles Busch
*Reckless by Craig Lucas
*Eleemossynary by Lee Blessing
*One Mo’ Time by Vernel Bagneris
*Kennedy’s Children by Robert Patrick
*Roosters by Milcha Sanchez Scott
*Woman in Mind by Alan Ayckbourn
*The Mystery of Irma Vep by Charles Ludlum
*Lady & the Clarinet by Michael Cristopher
*Dorothy Parker-A Symptom Recital* by Leo P. Carusone
*Dragon Slayers* by William Rough

1991-1992

*Other People’s Money by Jerry Sterner
*Lady Day at Emerson’s Bar & Grill by Lanie Robertson
*Square One by Steve Tesich
*The Cemetery Club by Ivan Menchell
*Only Kidding! by Jim Gehoghan
*4 AM America by Ping Chong
*Christmas on Mars by Harry Kondoleon
*The Heidi Chronicles by Wendy Wasserstien
*Angry Housewives by A.M. Collins & Chad Henry
*Joe Turner’s Come & Gone by August Wilson
*The Lisbon Traviata by Terrence McNally
*Womandingo* by Sterling Houston & Arnold Aprill
*Objects in the Mirror are Closer than They Appear* by Lester Purley & Mark Cryer
*hip my heart* by Paulette Licitra

1992-1993

*M Butterfly by David Henry Hwang
*Dorothy Parker-A Symptom Recital* by Leo P. Carusone
*Lips Together, Teeth Apart by Terrence McNally
*The Promise by Jose Rivera
*Assassins by Stephen Sondheim & John Weidman
*Sight Unseen by Donald Margulies
*The Piano Lesson by August Wilson
*Blind Spot* by Michael Davis Sutton
*Candy Store Window* by Cherie Bennett

1993-1994

*The Good Times Are Killing Me by Lynda Barry
*Six Degrees of Separation by John Guare
*Su Ours: No E, No H, Noel* by Su Ours & Michael Klass (cabaret)
*Marvin’s Room by Scott McPherson
*Death & the Maiden by Ariel Dorfman
*Three Ways Home by Casey Kurtti
*Mama Drama by Leslie Ayvazian, Christine Farrell, Donna Dailey, Mariana Houston, Rita Nactmann, & Anne O’Sullivan
*Pretty Girls, Not too Bright* by Dos Fallopia (Peggy Platt & Lisa Koch)
*Heart Timers* by Stuart Warmflash
*Veronica’s Position* by Rich Orloff

1994-1995

*Falsettos by William Finn & James Lapine
*Keely & Du by Jane Martin
*Five Guys Named Moe by Clarke Peters
*Conversations With My Father by Herb Gardener
*All in the Timing by David Ives
*Jeffrey by Paul Rudnick
*Bewitched, Bothered & Bananas* by Dos Fallopia (Lisa Koch & Peggy Platt)
*Points of Deviation* by Scott Sandoe
*Scotland Road by Jeffery Hatcher

1995-1996

*The Search for Signs of Intelligent Life in the Universe by Jane Wagner
*If We Are Women by Joanna Glass
*The Holiday Survival Game Show* by Dos Fallopia (Lisa Koch & Peggy Platt)
*Six Women with Brain Death by Mark Houston
*Denial of the Fittest by Judith Sloan & Warren Leher
*Love! Valour! Compassion! by Terrence McNally
*Spike Heels by Theresa Rebeck
*Glengarry Glen Ross by David Mamet
*Pretty Girls, Not too Bright* by Dos Fallopia (Lisa Koch & Peggy Platt)
*The Katydid* by Michael Davis Sutton

1996-1997

*Whoop-Dee-Doo! by Howard Crabtree
*Three Viewings by Jeffery Hatcher
*The Holiday Survival Game Show* by Peggy Platt, Rick Rankin, & Lisa Koch
*A Tuna Christmas by Ed Howard, Joe Sears, & Jaston Williams
*Florida * by Marcia Cebulska
*Trick the Devil by Bill Harris
*Sylvia by AR Gurney
*All I Really Needed to Know I Learned in Kindergarten by Ernest Zulia, David Caldwell, & Robert Fulghum
*Worst of Dos Fallopia* by Dos Fallopia (Peggy Platt & Lisa Koch)
*Reading the Mind of God * by Pat Gabridge
*Girl Party * by David Dillion & Virginia Smiley

1997-1998

*The Old Settler by John Henry Redwood
*Poor Super Man by Brad Fraser
*The Holiday Survival Game Show* by Jack O’Hara
*Summer Games* by James Farrell
*Taking Sides by Ronald Harwood
*Durang/Durang by Christopher Durang
*Company by Stephen Sondheim & George Furth
*latitude* by Tony McDonald
*Party by David Dillon
*Bride of Dos Fallopia* by Dos Fallopia (Peggy Platt & Lisa Koch)
*Princess Warrior by Julie Goldman

1998-1999

*Angels in America: Millennium Approaches by Tony Kushner
*Angels in America: Perestroika by Tony Kushner
*The Holiday Survival Game Show* by Jack O’Hara
*How I Learned to Drive by Paula Vogel
*Mother Russia* by Jeffrey Hatcher
*No Way to Treat a Lady by Douglas J. Cohen
*Shakin the Mess Outta Misery by Shay Youngblood
*Gross Indecency: The Three Trials of Oscar Wilde by Moises Kaufman
*The Gene Pool by Christi Stewart-Brown
*As Bees in Honey Drown by Douglas Carter Beane
*Lisa Koch and Friends* by Lisa Koch
*Touch* by Toni Press-Coffman

1999-2000

*Three Days of Rain by Richard Greenberg
*The Woman in Black by Stephen Mallatratt
*The Most Fabulous Story Ever Told by Paul Rudnick
*The Holiday Millennium Game Show* by Jack O’Hara
*Jackie: An American Life by Gip Hoppe
*The Beauty Queen of Leenane by Martin McDonagh
*Wit by Margaret Edson
*Beautiful Thing by Jonathan Harvey
*Journal of Ordinary Thought by David Barr
*Resident Alien by Stuart Spencer

2000-2001

*Snakebit by David Marshall Grant
*The Gathering by Will Power
*Tongue of a Bird by Ellen McLaughlin
*"The Santaland Diaries" by David Sedaris
*Uh, Oh - Here Comes Christmas by Ernie Zulia, David Caldwell
*Bluff by Jeffrey Sweet
*The Vagina Monologues by Eve Ensler
*Fuddy Meers by David Lindsey Abaire
*Another American: Asking and Telling by Marc Wolf
*Bodies and Hearts in the Face of the Monster* by Toni Press-Coffman
*Woody and Me* by Brad Erickson
*Seven Guitars by August Wilson

2001-2002

*The Laramie Project by Moises Kaufman
*Two Trains Running by August Wilson
*Ham for the Holidays by Dos Fallopia (Lisa Koch & Peggy Platt)
*Dirty Blonde by Claudia Shear
*This is our Youth by Kenneth Lonergan
*True to Scale* by Wendy Beldon
*savant* by Tony McDonald
*Goats* by Alan Berks
*Born to Goof* by Kevin Burke
*Lunching by Alan Gross
*Bat Boy: The Musical by Keythe Farley, Brian Flemming, & Laurence O’Keefe
*The Action Against Sol Schumann by Jeffrey Sweet

2002 - 2003

*Proof by David Auburn
*Flow by Will Power
*Hedwig and the Angry Inch by Stephen Trask & John Cameron Mitchell - starring Blaine Hogan, Jessica Benge, Jimmy Sizemore, Royston Lloyd, Steve Hayes and Ryan
*Over the Tavern by Tom Dudzick
*Praying for Rain by Robert Lewis Vaughan
*Stones in his Pockets by Marie Jones
*The Washington-Sarajevo Talks by Carla Seaquist
*The Home Team* by Kim Carney
*La Sangre Llama* by Toni Press-Coffman & Tony Artis
*Phideas8* by Mike Whistler
*Spain by Jim Knable
*The Handler by Robert Schenkkan

2003-2004

*The Goat, or Who is Sylvia? by Edward Albee
*Trucker Rhapsody* by Toni Press-Coffman
*Circumference of a Squirrel by John Walch
*Sophie Tucker: American Legend by Jack Fournier & Kathy Halenda
*Boston Marriage by David Mamet
*Curanderas by Elaine Romero
*Loving Lucy by Philip blue owl Hooser
*Take Me Out by Richard Greenberg
*Top Dog/Underdog by Suzan-Lori Parks
*"Naked Boys Singing!" by Robert Schrock
*And/Or* by Andrew Barrett

2004-2005

*The Exonerated by Jessica Blank & Erik Jensen
*Crowns by Regina Taylor
*Mrs. Bob Cratchit's Wild Christmas Binge by Christopher Durang
*Running With Scissors by Michael McKeever
*Blown Sideways Through Life by Claudia Shear
*Frozen by Bryony Lavery
*This Is My Body by Amy Fortoul
*Rounding Third by Richard Dresser
*Cabfare for the Common Man* by Mark Harvey Levine
*Further Mo' by Vernel Bagneris
*Bug by Tracy Letts

2005-2006

*Urinetown: the Musical by Greg Kotis & Mark Hollmann
*I Am My Own Wife by Doug Wright
*Every Christmas Story Ever Told!! by Michael Carleton, John Alvarez, & Jim Fitzgerald
*A Number by Caryl Churchill
*From My Hometown conceived by Lee Summers and written by Lee Summers, Ty Stephens, & Herbert Rawlings, Jr.
*The Marijuana-logues by Arj Barker, Doug Benson, & Tony Camin
*Orson's Shadow by Austin Pendleton
*The Pillowman by Martin McDonagh
*The Sugar Bean Sisters by Nathan Sanders
*The Ice-Breaker by David Rambo

External links

* [http://www.phoenixtheatre.org The Phoenix Theatre Official Site]