Phoenix Theatre Announces the First Three Shows of its Remarkable 2017-2018 Season

Phoenix Theatre of Indianapolis is thrilled to announce the first three shows of its final season at 749 Park Avenue!

The 2017-2018 Season will be split into two stages, facilitating and reflecting the transition of the Phoenix itself as we leave our current home and move to fill our new one. To celebrate not only our future in a new space, but our long and exciting history, the Phoenix is bringing back founders and talent from its earliest days to participate in production.

The first three shows (announced below) illustrate the need and ability of the human spirit to grow, evolve, and flourish, not only in spite of adversity, but as a direct result of it.

Challenges confront each and every one of us every day--everything from parking problems to confronting mortality--and it is when we embrace our struggles, accept a little help, and determine a course of action that we truly thrive!

We at the Phoenix couldn't be more excited about the challenges awaiting us--both on and off-stage--and we hope you'll join us in tackling each one!

ABOUT THE SHOWS

Fun Home

adapted by Lisa Kron and Jeanine Tesori

from Alison Bechdel's 2006 graphic memoir

September 14-October 22, 2017

Directed by Phoenix Founder Suzanne Fleenor

Winner of 5 2015 Tony Awards, including Best Musical

In this startlingly candid production, we meet Alison at three different ages, revealing memories of growing up in a uniquely twisted household centered around the family funeral home (or "fun home," as she and her brothers have named it).

Alison's father is a third-generation funeral home director, high school English teacher, distant parent, and closeted gay man who is involved with his male students and family babysitter. Through storytelling that is both darkly funny and fiercely heartbreaking, we are drawn into a young woman's journey of self-discovery and a daughter's determination to connect with her unpredictable and brilliant father.

Fun Home is a brilliant portrayal of seeing your parents through grown-up eyes, marked by love, grief, and, ultimately... acceptance.

Halftime With Don

by Ken Weitzman

October 26-November 19, 2017

A National New Play Network Rolling World Premiere

Retired NFL great Don Devers has had more surgeries than he can remember, experiences violent outbursts, and relies on swarms of Post-It notes to offset a memory ravaged by a traumatic brain injury.

Just when things seem their darkest, a devoted and desperate fan, Ed Ryan, appears on his doorstep...

With the help of Don's daughter and Ed's wife, both pregnant and plotting from the sidelines, a series of events is put into motion that just might bring Don out of isolation and reclaim his life.

A Very Phoenix Xmas 12

By Various Artists

November 24-December 23

A Very Phoenix Xmas is back and better than ever! In addition to a brand new batch of holiday music and mayhem, we've arranged a visit from the ghost of Phoenix Xmas past!

Over the past eleven years, A Very Phoenix Xmas has brought both naughty and nice to the stage, and this year, we're asking you to vote for the naughtiest and the nicest. We're making a list of songs and sketches, and once we've checked it twice, we'll open it up for voting. You can vote for your favorite bits of holiday cheer (or sass!) by donating in their favor--in the true commercial spirit of the holiday season!

Play a role in shaping Indy's most irreverent holiday tradition and help us wrap up the final Xmas in our current home!

TICKETS AND SHOWTIMES

The rest of the 2017-2018 Season will be announced at the end of Summer 2017. Tickets for Phoenix Theatre's 2017-2018 Season will be on sale in the Fall of 2017. Tickets may be purchased by calling the box office at 317.635.7529 or visiting phoenixtheatre.org. Curtain times for productions are: Thursdays at 7 pm, Fridays at 8 pm, Saturdays at 8 pm, and Sundays at 2 pm. Curtain time for Wednesday performances of A Very Phoenix Xmas 12 is 7 pm.

THE NATIONAL NEW PLAY NETWORK

The National New Play Network (NNPN) is the country's alliance of non-profit professional theaters dedicated to the development, production, and continued life of new plays. Since its founding in 1998, NNPN has supported more than 150 productions nationwide through its innovative National New Play Network Rolling World Premiere program, which provides playwright and production support for new works. Additional programs - its annual National Conference, National Showcase of New Plays, and MFA Playwrights Workshop; the NNPN Annual and Smith Prize commissions; its residencies for playwrights, producers and directors; and the organization's member accessed Collaboration, Festival, and Travel banks, and online information sessions - have helped cement the Network's position as a vital force in the regional theater landscape. NNPN's programming allows its members and their affiliated artists to create, grow, and share new work across the country and around the world, and it strives to pioneer, implement, and disseminate ideas and programs that revolutionize the way theaters collaborate to support new plays and playwrights. Its most recent project, The New Play Exchange (www.newplayexchange.org), launched in January of 2015, is already changing the way playwrights share their work and others discover it. NNPN's 31 Core and more than 65 Associate and University Members - along with the more than 250 affiliated artists who are its alumni, the thousands of artists and artisans employed annually by its member theaters, and the hundreds of thousands of audience members who see its supported works each year - are creating the new American theater. For more information please visit www.nnpn.org.

ABOUT THE Phoenix Theatre

The Phoenix Theatre is Indiana's only professional contemporary theatre, and has presented productions to challenge and entertain the Indianapolis community for over 34 years. An Equity house, the Phoenix presents the Midwest and Indiana premieres of many popular Broadway and Off-Broadway plays, and has presented nearly 100 world premieres. The Phoenix operates the 130-seat proscenium Livia and Steve Russell Stage as well as the 75-seat cabaret-style black box Frank and Katrina Basile Stage. Both venues are housed along with administrative offices in a renovated 1907 church in downtown Indianapolis' historic Chatham Arch neighborhood, part of the Mass Ave Arts and Culture District. The Phoenix Theatre is a founding member of the National New Play Network and the League of Indianapolis Theatres, and is supported by the Indiana Arts Commission, the Arts Council of Indianapolis, and the National Endowment for the Arts, as well as local corporate and foundation funders and more than 400 individual donors.

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