Phoenix Theatre Announces THE OPEN HAND

Phoenix Theatre of Indianapolis announces the regional premiere of The Open Hand, which opens April 20, 2017 on the Livia and Steve Russell Stage. This production runs through May 14, 2017, with Dale McFadden serving as director.

Allison does not accept gifts. Not even on her birthday. Not even from her fiancé. But when she finds herself without a wallet and unable to pay for a rather expensive lunch, she is forced to accept a stranger's generosity. Allison goes to bizarre lengths to repay his kindness, and must ask herself... How much generosity can she take?

With quirky storytelling and eccentric characters, this urban comedy ventures into dark territory with wit and bite, observing the tensions between those with means and those with hopes, dreams, and disappointment.

Dale McFadden's work at the Phoenix Theatre includes Butler, River City, Seminar, This, Mauritius, Stuff Happens, Fat Pig, A Number, Lunching, Beauty Queen of Leenane, Florida, Woman in Mind and The Day Room. Other recent work: Coming To See Aunt Sophie presented at Chopin Theatre Chicago, Crossroads Repertory Theatre, TIG 7 Theatre, Mannheim, Germany followed by a three-city tour in Poland. Off-Broadway: Table 17 and Tweaked, 78th Street Theatre; Chicago: High Holidays, Victory Gardens Theater; Indiana Festival Theatre: The Gentleman from Indiana, The Miracle Worker, The Matchmaker, You Can't Take It With You, and Ah, Wilderness! Dale's productions have been the recipient of several of Chicago's Joseph Jefferson Awards and Nominations. He is Head of the Acting and Directing Program and Associate Chair in Theatre and Drama at IU - Bloomington. He is pleased to be continuing his association with the Phoenix Theatre which began in 1989.

For 34 years, Bryan Fonseca has served as the Producing Director of the Phoenix Theatre. He previously worked in Indianapolis as the Producing Director of the Broad Ripple Playhouse and the assistant to the Producing Director at the Civic Theatre of Indianapolis. He was a founder and first Artistic Director of The Company Players in his hometown of Gary, Indiana. Bryan has directed for the MFA Playwrights Workshop at the Kennedy Center, The Human Race Theatre, Indiana University, Ball State University, and the Civic Theatre of Indianapolis. Over the years, he has transferred six Phoenix shows to Chicago. Bryan has received an Achievement and Service award from the Indiana Theatre Association, two Artist Fellowship awards from the Indiana State Arts Commission and two Creative Renewal Fellowships from the Arts Council of Indianapolis/Lilly Endowment. He is the first recipient of the Transformational Impact Fellowship from the Arts Council of Indianapolis, with the generous funding support of Lilly Endowment Inc. In addition to his work at the Phoenix, he is an adjunct professor at IUPUI and lectures frequently at Butler University and the University of Indianapolis. He has served on the board of the National New Play Network and developed and served as the first president of the League of Indianapolis Theaters.

Robert Caisley is Associate Professor of Theatre & Film, and Head of the Dramatic Writing Program at the University of Idaho. He was named the 2011 Blaine Quarnstrom Visiting Playwright at the University of Southern Mississippi. His play Happy, presented at the 2011 National New Play Network (NNPN) Annual Showcase of New Plays, was a Finalist this year for both the Eugene O'Neill Theatre Center's New Play Conference and the Woodward/Newman Award for Drama at Bloomington Playwrights Project and was selected for a NNPN Rolling World Premiere in the 2012/13 season at New Theatre (Miami, FL), Montana Repertory Theatre, 6thStreet Playhouse (Santa Rosa, CA), and New Jersey Repertory. His other plays include Kissing (New Theatre, Coral Gables, FL), The Lake (Walnut Street Theatre, Philadelphia), Good Clean Fun (Montana Actors Theatre, Missoula), The 22-Day Adagio (Mill Mountain Theatre, Roanoke, VA), Front(developed at Sundance Playwright's Lab and published by Samuel French), Kite's Book (6thStreet Playhouse), Letters to an Alien (Mad Horse Theatre, Portland, ME), Santa Fe (StageWorks/Hudson, New York, Finalist for the Heideman Award), and Winter, which received its World Premiere at New Theatre in Miami in January, 2012.

The cast of The Open Hand features Leah Brenner as Allison, Jeremy Fisher as Todd, Chuck Goad as David, Jay Hemphill as Jack, andJulie Mauro as Freya.

Tickets for The Open Hand are on sale now. Tickets are $27.00 per person on Thursdays, and Sundays, $33.00 per person on Fridays and Saturdays, and $20.00 for anyone 21 & under. During CheapSeats Weekend, April 20-23, all tickets are $20. Tickets for The Open Handmay be purchased by calling the box office at 317-635-7529 or visiting phoenixtheatre.org. Curtain times for the production are: Thursdays at 7 pm, Fridays at 8 pm, Saturdays at 8 pm, and Sundays at 2 pm.

The Phoenix Theatre is Indiana's only professional contemporary theatre, and has presented productions to challenge and entertain the Indianapolis community for over 33 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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