Phoenix Theatre Announces FAIRFIELD

Phoenix Theatre is no stranger to edgy stories onstage, and it can't get much more outrageous than their final production in the Park Avenue location they've called home for 30 years. (Don't worry-Phoenix isn't closing down. They're moving to a fantastic new Cultural Centre at the corner of Illinois and Walnut Streets downtown.) Fairfield by Eric Coble is a bit of a riddle, as director Ansley Valentine puts it: "The biggest challenge I face as a director is working in the round. It is a fun challenge, really-to keep the play moving and changing so everyone in the audience gets the full effect no matter where they are sitting." And that full effect is something to behold. Fairfield is a twisted satire about an elementary school's attempt to celebrate diversity that goes horribly, horribly wrong-like, cops with guns defending the cafeteria wrong. Despite the big laughs and cheeky approach, the subject matter is close to home in this day and age. "Even though it was written in 2015, Fairfield is more immediate than ever. Just recently, a very similar story broke in Bloomington, IN as the schools struggle to find appropriate ways to discuss the racial history of our country."

This play is no history lesson or sociology lecture, though. Come prepared to laugh. "Humor disarms people," says actor Doug Powers. "When they're really laughing, they've let down their guard, and they're letting you see past their masks, if only for a moment. Shared laughter unites us, connects us, puts us in touch with our common humanity." After all, Phoenix Theatre's mission statement is to "challenge the mind, touch the heart, and inspire the human spirit." Coble's Fairfield manages to do all three. What a way for the theatre to close out a treasured home and leap into a fantastic new chapter of their history.

Fairfield features Milicent Wright, Mara Lefler, Dwuan Watson, LaKesha Lorene, Jean Arnold, and Doug Powers. Directed by Ansley Valentine. Scenic design by Zac Hunter. Lighting design by Laura Glover. Costume and properties design by Danielle Buckel. The stage manager is Melinda Arthur. Photos by Zach Rosing.

Fairfield runs March 8-April 1, 2018. Tickets are available by calling the box office at 317-635-7529 or going online at www.phoenixtheatre.org. Tickets are: $27 for regular Thursdays at 7pm, Fridays at 8pm, and Sundays at 2pm. Opening night Friday and Saturdays at 8pm are $33.

ABOUT The Phoenix Theatre

"The Phoenix Theatre has cornered the market on hip new works." - Chris Jones, Chicago Tribune

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 approximately 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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