Indianapolis Performing Arts
Whether you enjoy musical theater, modern dance, orchestra, pop music, or live blues, Indy will satisfy your thirst for culture. And, best of all, students and faculty enjoy discounted tickets to many venues.
American Cabaret Theater
401 E. Michigan Street, (317) 631-0334
The American Cabaret Theatre (ACT) relocated to Indianapolis from New York and opened its first season in 1990. This professional theatrical company produces original musical revues and broadway shows. For its original revues, ACT incorporates a unique blend of music, song, dance and visuals. ACT is located in the renovated 450-seat ballroom of the century-old Athenaeum building downtown.
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Ballet Internationale Indianapolis
Indiana’s only professional ballet company, under the direction of Artistic Director Eldar Aliev, has earned an international reputation for excellence. Ballet international boasts an outstanding repertoire featuring the finest in classical and contemporary ballet and influence of the world’s finest designers, teachers and artisans.
Locally, Ballet Internationale presents a September-April season at downtown’s historic Murat Centre and operates a pre-professional dance academy. The company also performs for more than 20,000 Indianapolis area students each year as part of Dancing for the Future, the company’s educational outreach program. Ballet Internationale’s annual performance of "The Nutcracker" has been hailed as one of the best in the nation.
Beef & Boards Dinner Theater
9301 Michigan Road, (317) 872-9664
Beef & Boards Dinner Theatre is Indianapolis' only year-round Equity theater. Since 1973, Beef & Boards has produced Broadway shows and musicals and presented national concert acts. The 500-seat theater presents seven Broadway shows each season along with its annual "Christmas Spectacular," a holiday tradition. Beef & Boards produces all of its shows, recruiting actors locally, as well as from Chicago and New York. Broadway shows run Tuesday through Sunday evenings with matinees on Sundays, Wednesdays and select Thursdays. A live theatre for kids, The Pyramid Players, is offered each spring and fall on weekdays and Saturday matinee times.
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Dance Kaleidoscope
Dance Kaleidoscope, Indiana's premier contemporary dance ensemble, is a nationally-acclaimed company of 10 professional dancers trained in classical ballet and Graham Technique. Now in its 30th season, the company has an internationally renowed artistic staff, headed by Artistic Director David Hochoy, a former Martha Graham Company soloist. From October through April, Dance Kaleidoscope offers four public performances and collaborates with a number of other arts organizations, including the Indianapolis Symphony Orchestra, Indianapolis Museum of Art, Indianapolis Civic Theatre, American Cabaret Theatre, Indianapolis Men's Chorus and American Pianists Association.
Indiana Repertory Theatre (IRT)
140 W. Washington Street, (317) 635-5252
The Indiana Repertory Theatre (IRT) is Indiana's premier professional, resident and not-for-profit theatre. Established in 1972, the IRT was named the state's "theatre laureate" as designated by the General Assembly in 1991. The IRT presents the best in classic and contemporary theatre, comedy and drama.
During its October to May season, the theatre produces a six-play Signature Series, a holiday production and a Discovery Series aimed at middle and high school students. The IRT serves more than 40,000 students annually with special student matinees, post-show discussions and study guides. Since 1980, the IRT has been housed in the Indiana Theatre building, an opulent renovated 1927 movie palace that features distinctive Spanish Baroque architecture. The building boasts a three-theater complex -- the 607-seat Mainstage, the 314-seat Upperstage and the 150-seat Cabaret -- as well as complete production and administrative facilities.
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Morris-Butler House
1204 N. Park Avenue, (317) 636-5409
The Morris-Butler House an 1865 Victorian landmark in Indianapolis offers fascinating tours focused on architecture, decorative arts and family life in the Victorian era.
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Indianapolis Civic Theatre
3200 Cold Spring Road, (317) 923-4597
Indianapolis Civic Theatre, the nation's oldest continuously operating community theatre, has been a vital part of Indianapolis since 1914, providing outstanding entertainment and unmatched opportunities for professional, avocational and educational growth. Each season, the Indianapolis Civic Theatre entertains nearly 50,000 patrons with its mainstage productions, while simultaneously serving as a community resource for local theatre artists, technicians, volunteers and aspiring students of the performing arts.
More than 7,000 students attend school-time performances of a mainstage production annually. Junior Civic offers unique, theatre-based educational program for children of all ages, including year-round workshops, performances and recitals. The Junior Civic Mainstage Musical has become the highlight of summer activities for young thespians from all over Indiana.
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Indianapolis Opera
The Indianapolis Opera, in its 28th season, is Indiana's professional, regional opera company. The opera presents four productions each season at Clowes Memorial Hall on the campus of Butler University. All performances feature renowned singers and the Indianapolis Symphony Orchestra or the Indianapolis Chamber Orchestra along with the Indianapolis Opera Chorus. Indianapolis Opera also has a multi-faceted educational program that reaches more than 50,000 students across the Midwest.
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Indianapolis Symphony Orchestra
45 Monument Circle, (317) 639-4300
Founded in 1930, the Indianapolis Symphony Orchestra (ISO) has earned national and international recognition for its development into one of America’s most skilled musical ensembles. The 87-member Orchestra is made up of resident artists from all parts of the world and now performs a year-round schedule of 200 classical, pops, education, holiday and summer concerts to an audience of 500,000 people annually.
The Orchestra owns and maintains its own downtown concert hall, the Hilbert Circle Theatre. Built in 1916 as a classic movie palace, the Hilbert Circle Theatre was renovated in the early 1980s into an acoustically superb concert hall and has been a catalyst in both the revitalization of the downtown as well as the Orchestra’s artistic growth since its move to the heart of the city in 1984.
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