Phoenix Theatre to Present RIVER CITY, Begin. 1/8

Phoenix Theatre of Indianapolis announces River City opening January 8, 2015 on the Frank and Katrina Basile Stage. This production runs through February 1, 2015, with Dale McFadden serving as director. The production will be a National New Play Network (NNPN) Rolling World Premiere.

Mary, a mixed raced woman in an interracial marriage, is pregnant with her first child. She's grappling with how cultural barriers have affected her, and will affect her own children. After the death of her orphan father, who had long been reticent about his own background, Mary decides to get some answers and sets out on a journey to uncover three generations' worth of family secrets buried in the West End of Louisville. Humorous, but also telling in content, River City is political, cultural, and relevant to the changing dynamics of modern families. This story is all about finding your "people" when you check more than one box to define your cultural heritage.

"It's a very funny, moving play. It's a great journey that we go on with the central character-one that's filled with heart and a lot of humor. The play has an overall message of characters looking for where they fit in in this world; that's an issue that resonates with where we are as a community and as a society. We continue to have so many problems because people don't find the commonality amongst others of different races, religions, backgrounds, etc., and I think that River City helps us find what's a commonality amongst us all. The central character, Mary, searches for her own identity, and then realizes that she's part of all of these different communities." -Bryan Fonseca, Producing Director

The National New Play Network is the country's alliance of nonprofit theaters that champions the development, production, and continued life of new plays. We strive to pioneer, implement, and disseminate ideas and programs that revolutionize the way theatres collaborate to support new plays and playwrights.

NNPN's flagship initiative, the Continued Life of New Plays Fund (CLNPF), supports three or more theaters that choose to mount the same new play within a 12-month period. The result is an NNPN Rolling World Premiere, in which a playwright develops a new work with multiple creative teams in at least three different communities. The playwright is part of the process, working on the script and making adjustments based on what is learned from each production.

"The NNPN's Rolling World Premiere program is one we so strongly believe in-in the development of new plays in this country. We're so dedicated to the writing process in support of playwrights that when we see a script like this, it's a really easy leap to decide to produce it-absolutely on its own merits, but also because it's such a great program. We really believe we're investing in the future of great writers, and that's unquestionably true for Diana Grisanti. You'll hear more from her." -Bryan Fonseca, Producing Director of the Phoenix Theatre

National Endowment for the Arts (NEA) Chairman Jane Chu announced today that Phoenix Theatre is one of 919 nonprofit organizations nationwide to receive an NEA Art Works grant. Phoenix Theatre is recommended for a $10,000 grant to support their "Heritage" series.

"Heritage" is a series of plays by or about artists of color exploring the history, mythology, and cultural inheritance of people of different races and cultural backgrounds. River City is the first play of the series.

NEA Chairman Jane Chu said, "I'm pleased to be able to share the news of our support through Art Works including the award to Phoenix Theatre. The arts foster value, connection, creativity and innovation for the American people and these recommended grants demonstrate those attributes and affirm that the arts are part of our everyday lives."

"We felt instinctively when we heard the readings of River City and Dontrell, Who Kissed the Sea at the 2013 NNPN National Showcase of New Plays that these made for the beginning of a series. We saw similarities in them, and we couldn't decide which play we wanted to do more, so we decided to do both. Having made that decision, and knowing that we were developing a third play, it became very apparent we should do a series as all three plays reach out to underserved communities. And we called it a Heritage series. All of them speak to our mission of diversity and reaching out to communities. All of them are really strong plays, which is the first reason we choose them, and all of them are exciting projects unto themselves, regardless of the common theme." -Bryan Fonseca, Producing Director of the Phoenix Theatre

Art Works grants support the creation of art, public engagement with art, lifelong learning in the arts, and enhancement of the livability of communities through the arts. The NEA received 1,474 eligible applications under the Art Works category, requesting more than $75 million in funding. Of those applications, 919 are recommended for grants for a total of $26.6 million.

For a complete listing of projects recommended for Art Works grant support, please visit the NEA website at arts.gov. Follow the conversation about this and other NEA?funded projects on Twitter at #NEAFall2014.