Indiana Repertory Theatre opens 50th Anniversary Season with treasured classic
Beloved artists join new talents to bring to life Jane Austen’s Sense and Sensibility 

Indianapolis, Ind.— The Indiana Repertory Theatre kicks off their celebratory 50th Anniversary Season with Jane Austen’s beloved romance Sense and Sensibility. Directed by Peter Amster and featuring the return of longtime IRT artist Priscilla Lindsay, the season opener runs September 14 – October 9 on the OneAmerica Mainstage. The IRT invites patrons to indulge in the wit and wisdom, the beauty and charm, of Jane Austen with an enduring and endearing tale of family, women’s rights, responsibility, good sense, and clever sensitivity.

This production, which was originally slated for the end of the 2019-2020 season, will feature a talented mix of longtime IRT partners and new faces for a multicultural cast and design team. Leading the group is Director Peter Amster, who has made 22 productions at IRT, including 2004’s Pride and Prejudice. The design team includes Scenic Designer Ann Sheffield (20 productions), Costume Designer Tracy Dorman (16 productions), and Composer Michael Keck (13 productions). Notably, actor Priscilla Lindsay, a 35-year veteran of more than 60 IRT productions and a former IRT associate artistic director, returns to the stage as Mrs. Jennings. Adding to the design team is relevant newcomer Projections Designer Mike Tutaj and Lighting Designer Dawn Chiang, who is working with the IRT for the first time.

“In this 50th Season, we are focused on reviewing the past and presaging the future, by the return of beloved artists whose work has fueled the IRT, and introducing new faces and talents to work alongside them,” said Margot Lacy Eccles Artistic Director Janet Allen. “We celebrate this fusion of artists, artisans, and administrators as we lift the IRT into its second half century.”

In this cherished story set in the regency period—recently made popular again thanks to Bridgerton (Netflix) and Sanditon (Prime)—three sisters and their widowed mother lose their family home and must create new lives for themselves in a tiny seaside cottage. Along the way, they face kindness and cruelty, duty and deception, as they try to navigate the complex social rules for proper young ladies. The story asks patrons to consider what can lead to lasting happiness and true love: practical good sense or following the sensibility of your heart?

“It is deeply satisfying to be back in the company of Jane Austen, especially here at IRT, where my love affair with her novels first moved from page to stage,” said Director Peter Amster. “Sense and Sensibility was written by a backyard genius who never married nor was celebrated in her lifetime—endures. And now, thanks to this splendid new adaptation by Jessica Swale, it takes the stage.”

Tickets are available now for Jane Austen’s beloved romance! 

DETAILS

WHERE: Indiana Repertory Theatre, 140 W. Washington Street, OneAmerica Mainstage

RUN DATES:  September 14 – October 9, various times. Jane Austen’s Sense and Sensibility is approximately 2 hours and 45 minutes, including an intermission. Tickets and performance schedule available at IRTlive.com. 

TICKETS: Tickets start at $25. Click to buy. 

CAST & CREATIVE TEAM:

LA SHAWN BANKS | Colonel Brandon
CEREYNA JADE BOUGOUNEAU | Marianne Dashwood
CAROLINE CHU | Lucy Steele, Servant, Gossip
CASEY HOEKSTRA | Edward Ferrars, Robert Ferrars, Thomas Palmer
CLAIRE KASHMAN | Margaret Dashwood
ELIZABETH LAIDLAW | Mrs. Dashwood
HELEN JOO LEE | Elinor Dashwood
PRISCILLA LINDSAY | Mrs. Jennings
DEVAN MATHIAS | Fanny Dashwood, Charlotte Palmer, Sophia Grey, Gossip
RON E. RAINS | John Dashwood, Thomas, Sir John Middleton, Mr. Perks, Doctor
NATE SANTANA | John Willoughby

JESSICA SWALE | Playwright 
PETER AMSTER | Director
RICHARD J ROBERTS | Assistant Director and Dramaturg
ANN SHEFFIELD | Scenic Designer
TRACY DORMAN | Costume Designer
DAWN CHIANG | Lighting Designer
MIKE TUTAJ | Projections Designer
MICHAEL KECK | Composer
NATHAN GARRISON | Stage Manager
BECKY ROEBER | Assistant Stage Manager


For more information contact Kerry Barmann, Associate Director of Marketing, at kbarmann@irtlive.com or 317.916.4824.
​
###

ABOUT THE IRT
Founded in 1971, the Indiana Repertory Theatre (IRT) is the largest professional not-for-profit theatre in the state and one of the leading regional theatres in the country. The mission of the Indiana Repertory Theatre is to produce top-quality, professional theatre and related activities, providing experiences that will engage, surprise, challenge, and entertain people throughout their lifetimes, helping us build a vital and vibrant community.

Inclusion, Diversity, Equity, and Access (IDEA): The IRT strives to celebrate and serve the diverse people and cultures that make up our whole community. The IRT is committed to providing access for all; to creating and maintaining an antiracist theatre that is inclusive, safe, and respectful.

IRT’s Janet Allen announces retirement after four decades of service
Margot Lacy Eccles Artistic Director to retire after the 50th Anniversary Season

Indianapolis, Ind.—After a forty-year career at the Indiana Repertory Theatre, Janet Allen will retire from her position as the Margot Lacy Eccles Artistic Director on June 30, 2023, after the 2022–2023 Season. Allen’s final season will also be the IRT’s 50th Anniversary Season, resulting in a union of celebration, reflection, and anticipation for the future.

“After nearly 40 years of service to the IRT, it’s time for change, both for me and the institution,” said Allen. “I have had one of the most wonderful jobs on the planet—making art with amazing professionals from around the country, and sharing that art with the place I call home: central Indiana and its communities of all ages, backgrounds and viewpoints.”

Janet Allen started with the IRT in 1980 as the IRT’s Dramaturg/Literary Manager shortly after the organization moved to its current location in the Indiana Theatre. After a few years, Allen moved to New York City and then returned in the late 1980s as the Associate Artistic Director. After a decade in that role, Allen was promoted to Artistic Director in 1996 and has led the organization artistically and as the Co-CEO for more than 25 years.

Managing Director Suzanne Sweeney, Janet Allen’s Co-CEO for close to a decade, noted that the IRT will dearly miss Janet and recognizes the immeasurable impact that Janet has had on the organization, adding that her work will continue to propel the IRT into the future.

“Janet has been an amazing colleague and collaborator who opens her heart to all of us–from Board members to artists, from staff to patrons. We all will miss her inspirational enthusiasm for the art, and I will personally miss her mentorship, her friendship, and her larger-than-life presence,” Sweeney said.

For four of the five decades of the IRT’s existence, Janet Allen has been at the forefront of guiding the Theatre in its mission to provide inclusive, top-quality, professional theatre and community programming to engage, surprise, challenge and entertain.

“It’s so powerful to be celebrating the longevity of this amazing institution that I have been honored to co-lead, to watch artists rise to the occasion of challenging plays, and to witness audiences fall into stories that will stay with them long after they leave the Theatre,” Allen added.

Co-leading the Theatre for more than half the IRT’s history, Allen has been instrumental in its programmatic and institutional growth, creating work that reaches a racially and culturally diverse, multigenerational audience throughout Indiana and the Midwest. During Allen’s tenure, the Theatre has more than doubled the budget while quadrupling the Theatre’s endowment. Her passion for education has solidified a commitment to welcoming children to experience life-changing literature onstage, growing student matinee attendance to 40% of the Theatre’s service. Allen’s vision also inspired the creation of multiple new play development programs including the Indiana Series, the establishment of an endowed playwright-in-residence position, and a youth playwriting program. 

Allen has helped to lead two major capital campaigns which have supported renovations to every public area of the IRT’s historic, 3-venue building, in addition to upgrading theatrical equipment and significant contributions to the Theatre’s endowment fund. To honor and celebrate her work for and in the community, the family of Margot Lacy Eccles, a beloved local philanthropist and long-time supporter of Allen’s career, named and endowed the Artistic Director position.

Allen’s commitment to community has led to an exponential increase in the cultivation and hiring of local talent, truly making the IRT a gathering place for celebration and a launch pad for artists’ careers. IRT’s commitment to Inclusion, Diversity, Equity, and Access has significantly deepened and broadened. This includes the creation of the INclusion Series which gives voice to playwrights of color and invites audiences into conversations around issues of historic injustice, making the IRT a place where civic debate grows out of art-making.

Through all of the institution’s successes and challenges, Allen’s focus has always been on the sustainability of the IRT. While her retirement approaches, the vibrancy, connectivity, and vitality of her tenure and the IRT’s commitment to Indiana will continue into the next 50 years.

“I’m looking forward to seeing the IRT blossom in its next chapter knowing that its base is strong and its staff and Board remarkable,” said Allen. “There is so much to look forward to in IRT’s future as we build on the 50 years of its strength and history.”

IRT Board Chair Mark Shaffer shared the Board’s enormous gratitude for Janet’s leadership and artistry.  “The IRT would not be where it is today if it weren’t for Janet’s contributions. Her legacy is profound, and while we will all feel her absence, we are excited to continue to move the IRT forward. Perhaps one of Janet’s greatest legacies is her stewardship, ensuring the Theatre is in a good place to welcome a new leader, and setting that individual up for future success.”

The IRT Board has hired a search firm to conduct an equitable national search to name the IRT’s next Margot Lacy Eccles Artistic Director. The successor is expected to be announced in early 2023.

###

ABOUT THE IRT
Founded in 1971 and rooted in the heart of Indiana, the 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. irtlive.com

Inclusion, Diversity, Equity, and Access (IDEA): The IRT strives to celebrate and serve the diverse people and cultures that make up our whole community. The IRT is committed to providing access for all; to creating and maintaining an antiracist theatre that is inclusive, safe, and respectful.