Southbank Theatre Company Unveils 2025–26 Season Featuring EQUIVOCATION, THE CRUCIBLE, MACHINAL, and a World Premiere
Fifth season includes history-inspired plays and the winning work from the “Making History” playwriting contest.
By: A.A. Cristi Jul. 21, 2025
Southbank Theatre Company has announced its 2025–2026 season, marking its fifth year of presenting bold, history-inspired theatre in Indianapolis.
The season will feature three acclaimed mainstage works—Equivocation by Bill Cain, The Crucible by Arthur Miller, and Machinal by Sophie Treadwell—alongside the world premiere of a new play selected through Southbank’s “Making History” playwriting contest. All performances will take place at Shelton Auditorium on the Butler University campus.
The season opens September 11–21, 2025, with Equivocation, Bill Cain’s inventive and fast-paced political thriller in which William Shakespeare is asked to dramatize the Gunpowder Plot. As he investigates the official narrative, Shakespeare faces dangerous questions of censorship, truth, and artistic responsibility.
Next up is Arthur Miller’s The Crucible, running October 23–November 2, 2025. Set during the Salem witch trials and written as an allegory for McCarthyism, Miller’s iconic play explores mass hysteria, moral panic, and the peril of political scapegoating.
In the spring, Southbank will present Machinal by Sophie Treadwell from March 12–22, 2026. Inspired by the real-life case of Ruth Snyder, this expressionist drama offers a chilling portrait of a woman crushed by the social and domestic expectations of her time. First produced in 1928, Machinal remains a landmark of feminist theatre.
The season will conclude with a world premiere production running April 23–May 3, 2026, selected from Southbank’s “Making History” contest. Finalists include Hell’s Bell by Amalia Howard, The Last Days of the Franklinton Historical Village and Shoppe by Ron Burch, and The Brain Thief by Tom Horan. The winning play will be announced in August.
“In the past, our season themes have been guided by our response to our political and cultural landscape, and this season is no different,” said Artistic Director Marcia Eppich-Harris. “Season 5 reflects our ongoing commitment to stories inspired by history and the impact those stories can have on our current moment.”
All performances will run Thursday through Sunday at Shelton Auditorium. Ticket information will be available soon at southbanktheatre.org.
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