This page (UNDER CONSTRUCTION) will be used to highlight partnerships within Applied Theatre. Check back soon for final contents!
What does it mean to be working with mission-aligned partners (such as arts organizations, non-profits, theatre companies, and/or teaching artists) from the greater Indianapolis metro area, as part of this community-engaged degree program?
Robert Edmund Jones, a lauded American stage designer and essayist from the 1940’s once wrote in his classical text The Dramatic Imagination, that: The theatre is a school. We shall never have done with studying and learning. In the theatre, as in life, we try (first of all) to free ourselves as far as we can, from our own limitations. Then we can begin to practice this “noble and magical art.” Then we may begin to dream.
While pursuing the Applied Theatre Concentration, students will be connected to a selected cohort of local practitioners, that are perfectly poised to model this philosophy and the ways in which theatre can educate, liberate, and help envision better futures in a variety of settings. These collaborators have strong investment in the program’s curriculum, informed methodologies, and learning outcomes. Many of the organizations that our program considers strong allies, have language in their mission and goal statements that are right in step with these key ideas. Much in the same way, the term “applied” defines the kind of theatre education participants receive here in at the IU-Indianapolis School of Liberal Arts, their missions define the types of work these entities do, the services they offer and the projects they consider, develop and execute artistically. All these partners champion the work of applied theatre, with the types of programming they provide, the stories they uplift and bring to the stage, the settings and/or populations they co-create and make art with, the techniques they use, the skills of facilitation they employ, and the dialogues they ignite in hopes of sparking change.
Our JAG PAWS are drawn for our amazing community partners! In FA22, CREATIVE DRAMATICS students had an ongoing dialogue with seasoned theatre teaching artists from greater Indianapolis. (Teaching Artists Pictured in the Front Row from Left to Right are: Javier Cardona Otero, Deborah Asante, Georgeanna Smith-Wade, Morgan Morton, and Zacariah Stonerock).
Who are some of the mission-aligned partners in the greater Indianapolis area that the Applied Theatre Concentration frequently collaborates with “in and out of” the classroom?
This list highlights some of the organizations and theatre companies that are presently engaged with our program:
The following list showcases the names of individual teaching artists or artist practitioners that are presently engaged with our program:
How will these organizations and/or artists be activated into curricular and/or extra-curricular experiences to develop theatre artistry, career readiness, and offer mentorship and opportunities as you pursue your degree?
Since the Applied Theatre Concentration’s official launch in the fall of 2021, these organizations and individuals have contributed multitudes by offering their insights, networks and talents to IU Indianapolis students. Some individuals have taught as professors in such courses as Acting, Directing, Playwriting or Theatre History. Other artists or organizations have been primary hosts for field observations in applied theatre related to curriculum and coursework. Many have provided guest lectures, or in class workshops to both our students and faculty members in our department. Several have drawn from our student pool as a primary source for project-based internships, summer employment, generous sharing of production resources, and other events relevant to the needs and interests of the students in our program. As the program has steadily grown, so have the many ways in which they have contributed to the growth of our students as budding artists, developing facilitators, and emerging arts administrators and programming specialists.
Pictured left, IUI Applied Theatre Junior D’yshe Mansfield (’26) takes a moment to celebrate with PTO practitioner Evren Wilder-Elliott (pictured right) after the successful culmination of “Imagining Home”. Held at Fonseca Theatre Company, this project used forum theatre to investigate housing security and homelessness in Indianapolis.
What are recent examples of IU-Indianapolis students enrolled in the Theatre Certificate, or the Applied Theatre Concentration who have been provided career-developing opportunities with these partners?
Pictured center, Applied Theatre graduate Micah Rayburn (’25) celebrates the performance of his high school ensemble’s devised work, alongside the leadership of REACT Theatre Executive Director Justin Wade (left) and Georgeanna Smith Wade at the Athenaeum Theatre.
