INDIANAPOLIS—The University of Indianapolis Department of Theatre kicks off the Fall 2021 semester with an exciting line-up for the MainStage Season.
From September 9-11 in the Ransburg Auditorium, the Department will bring back Greg Allen’s classicToo Much Light Makes the Baby Go Blind.Having opened in 1988 and known as the longest-running show in Chicago history, Too Much Light Makes The Baby Go Blind is an ensemble experiment in presenting “30 Plays in 60 Minutes.” Each two-minute play is performed in random order with an interactive audience. An onstage 60-minute timer keeps everyone honest. This collection of 90 comic, tragic, political, personal, and abstract plays gives you the chance to program your own evening of 24 Neo-Futurist plays to reflect the lives and experiences of your own ensemble. Produced by special arrangement with Playscripts, Inc. (www.playscripts.com).
In October, audiences will be treated to Grant Williams’ adaptation of Shakespeare’s The Taming of the Shrew, with a clever gender twist. This fierce, energetic comedy of gender and materialism is turned on its head to offer a fresh perspective on its portrayal of hierarchy and power. This adaptation is set in the 60s heyday of Andy Warhol’s Factory amid a backdrop of leather, rock, and androgyny. Performance dates: 8 p.m., Oct. 22-24 & 28-30, 2021, Ransburg Auditorium.
For Spring 2022, the Department will offer WORKING A Musical (2012 Revised Version) from the book by Studs Terkel, adapted by Stephen Schwartz and Nina Faso with additional contributions by Gordon Greenberg. This examination of 26 people from all walks of life proves that it’s more than just a job for the average working American. Based on Terkel’s best-selling book of interviews with American workers, WORKING paints a vivid portrait of the men and women that the world so often takes for granted: the schoolteacher, the phone operator, the waitress, the millworker, the mason, and the housewife, just to name a few. Nominated for six Tony Awards, this classic has been updated for a modern age, featuring new songs by Tony Award-winning Lin-Manuel Miranda, as well as favorites by Craig Carnelia, Micki Grant, Mary Rodgers and Susan Birkenhead, Stephen Schwartz, and James Taylor. Performance dates: 8 p.m., Feb. 25-26 & March 3-5, 2022; 3 p.m., Feb. 27, 2022. Ransburg Auditorium. Presented through special arrangement with Music Theatre International (MTI) mtishows.com.
To close the MainStage Season, Theatre students will perform The Last Days of Judas Iscariot by Stephen Adly Guirgis. (Originally produced by the LAByrinth Theater Company, Philip Seymour Hoffman and John Ortiz, co-artistic directors, and the Public Theater; executive director Mara Manus and producer George C. Wolfe in February 2005.) Set in a time-bending, darkly comic world between heaven and hell, The Last Days of Judas Iscariot reexamines the plight and fate of the New Testament’s most infamous and unexplained sinner. Performance dates: 8 p.m., April 22-24 & 28-30, 2022, Ransburg Auditorium. The Last Days of Judas Iscariot is presented by special arrangement with Dramatists Play Service, Inc., New York.
The UIndy Theatre Underground Season includes five performances in the Studio Theatre:
Within the Shadows
By Scott Shallenbarger
Directed by Cora Parker ’22
8 p.m., Nov. 12-13, 2021
Church and State
By Jason Odell Williams
Directed by Kyle Jeanor ’22
8 p.m., Dec. 3-4, 2021
Gruesome Playground Injuries
By Rajiv Joseph
Directed & designed by Kristen Newlin ’22
8 p.m., Dec. 10-11, 2021
A Rubik’s Cube
A Stand-up Comedy Show
Created and performed by Nicholas Finch ’22
8 p.m., Jan. 28-29, 2022
Check events.uindy.edu for ticketing information and updates.
