Phoenix Theatre Announces TRIBES Post-Play Discussions and ASL Performances, Now thru 2/9

Phoenix Theatre of Indianapolis announces four post-play discussions following Nina Raine's Tribes. Dates for these discussions are listed below and will be moderated by Purdue University Professor and Coordinator of Undergraduate Theatre Studies, Richard Rand, who also directed the play.

In addition to Richard Rand, members of the cast will be in attendance at the Post-play discussions, along with Tribes dramaturg and production team member Grace Ingraham. Post-Play discussions are an important part of the Phoenix mission and have been offered throughout the theatre's 31-year history.

Post-Play Discussions immediately following these performances of Tribes:

Tonight, January 23, 2014 - Curtain time: 7:00 pm; discussion start time approximately 9:15 pm

Sunday, January 26, 2014 - Curtain time: 2:00 pm; discussion start time approximately 4:15 pm

Thursday, February 6, 2014 - Curtain time: 7:00 pm; discussion start time approximately 9:15 pm

Sunday, February 9, 2014 - Curtain time: 2:00 pm; discussion start time approximately 4:15 pm

The following performances of Tribes: will include an ASL interpreters:

Saturday, February 8, 2014 - Curtain time: 8:00 pm

Sunday, February 9, 2014 - Curtain time: 2:00 pm

ABOUT THE MODERATORS:

Richard Rand, Tribes director and Purdue University Professor and Coordinator of Undergraduate Theatre Studies, has an extensive acting and directing career, including: Helen Hayes Theatre, New York Shakespeare Festival, La MaMa ETC, Provincetown Playhouse, NADA, Asolo, Cincinnati Playhouse, University of Minnesota Guthrie Theater, A Contemporary Theatre, Chicago Dramatists, Stage Left, City Lit and festivals throughout the USA, Canada, and Europe. Phoenix Theatre: Stuff Happens, Jericho, August: Osage County and fight choreography for numerous productions.

Grace Ingraham, Tribes dramaturg, is currently finishing her degree in Theatre at Butler University. Previous credits in dramaturgy include The Love of Don Perlimplin, Pigeons, and Lunar Revolution 2.0 for Butler Theatre.

ABOUT THE PLAY: Billy's intellectual and proudly eccentric English family is its own tiny empire: private languages, in-jokes and fiery arguments. Billy, deaf since birth, is the only one who truly listens. When he meets his girlfriend Sylvia, he is introduced to a larger Deaf community, which sparks a struggle for self-identity and rebellion against his family. Tribes is a sharp, witty story about finding the place where you can be heard and a family - or tribe - that feels like home.

ABOUT PLAYWRIGHT Nina Raine: After graduating from Oxford, Nina Raine began her career as a trainee director at The Royal Court Theatre. She dramaturged and directed the hard-hitting verbatim play Unprotected at the Liverpool Everyman, for which she won both the TMA best Director Award and the Amnesty International Freedom of Expression Award for an Outstanding Production on a Human Rights Theme. Her debut play, Rabbit, premiered at the Old Red Lion Theatre in 2006 and after a sellout run transferred to the Trafalgar Studios in the West End before being produced as part of the Brits Off Broadway festival in New York. The play earned her the Charles Wintour Evening Standard Award for Most Promising Playwright as well as the Critics Circle Award for most Promising Playwright.

Tickets for Tribes are on sale now. The entire first weekend are CheapSeats performances, so tickets are just $18.00 per person. All performances after that are $28.00 per person. Tickets for Tribes may be purchased by calling the box office at 317.635.7529 or may be purchased on-line at phoenixtheatre.org. Group rates are available for this show - contact Sales Director Ryan O'Shea at 317.635.2381 or roshea@phoenixtheatre.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 31 years. An Equity house, the Phoenix presents the Midwest and Indiana premieres of many popular Broadway and Off-Broadway plays, and has presented more than 85 world premieres. The Phoenix operates the 130-seat proscenium Livia and Steve Russell Theatre as well as the 65-seat cabaret-style black box Frank and Katrina Basile Stage. The Phoenix Theatre serves beer, wine, coffee, soft drinks, water, and treats. Patrons may take all refreshments into either theatre. 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 Theatre District. The Phoenix Theatre is a 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.