Finding Home: Indiana at 200, playing now at the Indiana Repertory Theatre, is a collaboration of more than 30 Indiana writers fiction writers, poets, journalists, historians and playwrights from across the state coming together to celebrate the state’s birthday. Interwoven with songs performed by Hoosier singer-songwriter Tim Grimm, this production allows you to delve into Indiana?s beloved icons and hidden gems. Author Ray Boomhower, interim senior director of IHS Press, and Ben Ayers, IHS museum theater actor, contributed pieces.
“For the past 30 years, I have written about notable people from Indiana, from astronauts and World War II aces, to journalists and women?s rights pioneers,” says Ray. “When Janet Allen, executive artistic director at the Indiana Repertory Theatre, asked me to be one of the writers who contributed to this production, I could find no one better to represent the Hoosier ideal than the state?s own Renaissance man, Lew Wallace soldier, diplomat, lawyer, inventor, politician and best-selling author.”
Rich in content similar to an anthology, the material is split into two evenings? blue and gold. Each production is a complete theatrical experience and contains approximately 70 percent unique stories about our home state from Princess Mishawaka to Madam C.J. Walker. Audience members will journey back in time with Abe Lincoln as he takes his first steps towards becoming a lawyer and with James Dean as he visits his high school drama teacher. Share in the memories of a middle-aged man recalling what it was like going to high school with Ryan White and eavesdrop on a conversation between William Henry Harrison and one of his descendants eight generations later. Finding Home is engaging and rooted in our shared history as Hoosiers.
“The mix of authors and subjects gathered for Finding Home should prove to be a potent brew for those wishing to discover what makes the Hoosier State special,” says Ray.
Stay after your performance on Oct. 22 at 5 p.m. or Oct. 23 at 6 p.m. and listen to noted historian and IHS Trustee James Madison as he covers a variety of topics, which include comparing and contrasting how Finding Home: Indiana at 200 relates to Indiana?s history. See all dates and showtimes below.
Tickets are $25 and up and available at www.irtlive.com or (317) 635-5252. IHS members can receive $5 off by using the promo code IHSHOME.
Finding Home is a Spirit and Place program, presented by Indiana Repertory Theatre and Indiana Historical Society
See you in the audience!
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