Phoenix Theatre Partners with JCC for One-Night-Only AN ACT OF GOD

The Phoenix Theatre and the Indianapolis JCC will present a special partnership performance of An Act of God, by David Javerbaum. This divine comedy travels from the Phoenix Theatre to the JCC for one night only, March 7, 2017 at 7 p.m. Reserve your tickets by calling 317-251-9467.

Following a tremendously successful 2014 collaboration on Old Jews Telling Jokes, the JCC and the Phoenix Theatre will make this new production the launch pad for an expanded partnership focused on community service and artistic excellence!

In His infinite wisdom, The Lord has come to offer a few amendments to the Ten Commandments... He's grown a bit bored with the first draft.

And, in a delightful twist of fate, He has chosen to appear on the Phoenix stage - and at the JCC - in the guise of none other than Indy favorite Scot Greenwell. (An excellent choice, if we may say so.)

With a divine sense of humor and the help of His devoted archangels, God is ready to take on the twenty-first century, hashtags and selfies included. The stage play is adapted from Javerbaum's The Last Testament: A Memoir By God, which itself began as "a series of Tweets."

The cast of An Act of God includes Scot Greenwell as God, Joshua Coomer as Michael, and Michael Hosp as Gabriel.

The performance will take place at the Indianapolis JCC, located at 6701 Hoover Road, Indianapolis, IN 46260.

William Fisher is pleased to return the Phoenix to direct An Act of God after great experiences directing The Lyons and Freud's Last Session. This season he directed a reading of Kurt Vonnegut Jr.'s Happy Birthday Wanda June for the Indy Opera, and It Can't Happen Here, in the nationwide reading of Sinclair Lewis' 1937 novel about the election of an authoritarian president of the United States.

William has directed at the Croatian International Festival of Youth Theatre, the Dubrovnik Festival, The Vienna Theatre Festival, Kampnagel in Hamburg, Monomoy Theatre in Chatham, MA, LACE, Zeta Collective (downtown Los Angeles) where he was founding artistic director. He was a Fulbright Fellow in the Theory and Practice program (Theatre) at the Icelandic Academy of the Arts in Reykjavik.

William trained in Paris as Etienne Decroux's assistant and joined the faculty of the Butler University Department of Theater in 2010 after 19 years at Ohio University where he was Director of the School of Theater. At Butler Theatre he has directed and devised more than 20 productions including Terminal, Mad Forest, Small Lives / Big Dreams, Lunar Revolution 2.0, SEVEN, 8 Songs in for a Mad King (opera) and The End of Al Capone (opera starring Steven Stolen), reading of The Exonerated with members of the HART, and most recently Chamber Music by Arthur Kopit. He is directing another Caryl Churchill play, Love and Information that will play in April during the Butler ArtsFest. William also directs Butler intensive, off-campus study programs open to university any student in NYC and London.

For 33 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.

David Javerbaum is a 13-time Emmy-winning former head writer and executive producer of "The Daily Show with Jon Stewart. "He is the co-author of that show's bestsellers America: The Book and Earth: The Book, and the sole author of The Last Testament: A Memoir by God and What to Expect When You're Expected: A Fetus's Guide to the First Three Trimesters. His Twitter account @TheTweetOfGod has nearly two million followers. He is also a Tony-nominated lyricist whose collaborations with songwriter Adam Schlesinger include the Broadway musical Cry-Baby, the Grammy-winning songs for Stephen Colbert's Christmas special The Greatest Gift of All, and Neil Patrick Harris' opening number for the 2011 Tony Awards, "Broadway Is Not Just for Gays Anymore". He created the talk show No, You Shut Up! with Henson Studios for Fusion. He is currently a producer for The Late Late Show with James Corden. He lives with his wife and children in California.

Tickets for this one-time-only spiritual experience are $30.00 and can be purchased by calling 317-251-9467.

For the past 100 years, the JCC has been a neighborhood and community resource in Indianapolis. From its start in 1914 at 23rd and Meridian to its current location on Hoover Road, the JCC has been dedicated to serving the Indianapolis community and responsive to its needs through programming and resource availability. For the past century, the JCC has created a multi-generational, inclusive environment where all people can live, learn, play and connect. One hundred years after its modest beginnings, the JCC continues to serve the community with its holistic approach to wellness- optimal healthy living for the mind, body and spirit. The JCC of Indianapolis enriches the community by perpetuating Jewish tradition and heritage while celebrating diversity of beliefs through arts, education, and health & wellness programs.

The Phoenix Theatre is Indiana's only professional contemporary theatre, and has presented productions to challenge and entertain the Indianapolis community for over 32 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 91 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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