WHAT HAPPENS ONSTAGE WHEN THE MARQUEE GOes DARK?

Hollis Resnik, Jerry Richardson, and Robert Neal in IRT's 2018 production of Noises Off.

During the 2017-2018 IRT season, the theatre produced nine remarkable shows full of countless characters. With your generous support, our artisans created sets, costumes, and props that brought new places to life the moment you walked through the theatre doors and took your seat. But what happens after the final curtain call of the season, when the audience leaves and the IRTís marquee lights go dark?
 
Of course, we welcome 70 students to our conservatory programs and prepare to send out tickets for the upcoming season. But what about our professional artisans?
 
During the summer, some production staff head across the country to work at summer festivals or other programs, but others stay right here at the IRT. These artisans are getting a head start on the upcoming season and upgrading theatre infrastructure and equipment, all in an effort to improve your IRT experience when you return in September.
 
If you saw a show at the IRT last season, you saw our previous summer work in action. Past projects have included:

• Re-leveling the OneAmerica Mainstage. While the leveling of the mainstage theatre floor may not sound thrilling, the difference of 3/4 of an inch made the 360 degree rotating set in Noises Off possible! Even the slightest variation in the stage floor would have prevented the set from moving on its axis to reveal each side of the show.

• Adding lighting positions to the Cabaret. The new lighting grid in the Cabaret improved what is likely the first theatre experience for our youngest audience members who attended The Town Mouse and The Country Mouse. The new grid created more options for lighting design and made the space even more inviting.
• Upgrading our video systems. Upgraded projection and video equipment was integral for The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-Time and Appoggiatura, both new plays for our Indiana audiences.

 
So what are we doing from June to September, and how does it impact you? This coming summer, we will tackle a particularly massive project: completing the upgrade of our 15 year old hydraulic system. By investing in this new automation equipment, we can improve our overall design quality and execute production designs that are more cutting-edge than those currently achievable on our stages. This project will upgrade the sophistication of our designs, allowing us to continually raise the bar of artistic quality.
 
The new hydraulics involved in this upgrade will mean that we can move multiple elevators simultaneously, while we also fly in a chandelier and track walls across the stage, similar to what you might see in a Broadway production.  Productions like The Great Gatsby and The Hound of the Baskervilles would have been even more spectacular if we had this ability at the time.  This upgrade raises our level of production values above what is expected by our audiences and allows us to fulfill the new and clever ideas coming from our creative teams.
 
And you thought the IRT wasn't busy during the summer! Everything we do in the summer months enables our design teams to realize remarkable sets featuring props, projections, and sound effects that make your IRT experience even more exciting and surprising.  Your support of the IRT makes all of these projects possible, resulting in the world-class theatre you expect at the IRT. Without your generosity all season long, our artists wouldn't be able to work on these projects in the off-season. Thank you for playing such a key role in our producing cast!