Spooktacular and Night of the Living Dead

Please click here for information on our Halloween Spooktacular event and Night of the Living Dead performances.

2010-2011 Membership Drive

The curtain is going up and the spotlight is on you!

Footlite Musicals has started our 2010-11 membership drive and we would love to have you join us! The membership prices haven’t changed – still $25.00 for a Voting membership*, $15.00 for a non-voting Associate membership, $50.00 for Family membership, $500.00 for Business membership, and $1000.00 for Lifetime membership. These dues go directly to the financial efforts to increase Footlite’s recognition in the Indianapolis area.

Each Footlite member receives a subscription to our newsletter, Center Stage, and a membership card complete with discounts to various business establishments listed on the back of the card. Voting members have the right to vote on important items such as our mainstage season of shows and our Board of Directors. Again this year, each member will receive $2.00 off one ticket for each show when you present your membership card at the box office.

The memberships start July 1 and last thru June 30, 2011. So come on and join us for a wonderful season of musicals at Footlite! Thank you for your support. Please send your check to Footlite Musicals, 1847 N. Alabama Street, Indianapolis, IN 46204 If you have any questions, please contact Rich Baker, Membership Chairman, or any member of the Board of Directors.

*Voting Members must be age 18 and over. Associate members can be any age. A Family Membership includes 2 voting members, and all of their dependents.

Footlite Spotlights New Stage Rigging and Railing

Footlite Musicals has a new counterweight system on its stage. The system features aluminum guide tracks for the counterweights, dimmable lighting, and a hard-wired plug strip for the first electric rail. It allows curtains and drops to fly in and out of a scene with precision and ease. The system provides additional safety and conforms to the latest standards. It is being used for the first time in Footlite’s production of Oliver!

Aerial Arts, Inc. (AAI), the Indiana professional theatrical rigging company that installed it, also did installations in Hilbert Circle Theatre, the Athenaeum, and Lucas Oil Stadium, as well as other work at the Artsgarden, the Mainstage at IRT and the Murat.

The old system at Footlite Musical’s Hedback Theater was cobbled together components from some older Indianapolis theaters, perhaps the Keith or Lyric. “But there can be no denying that it delivered good service for 60 years,” Herb Dwyer, President of AAI said. “The old system was, perhaps, installed by Thomas Brothers, the precursor to Indianapolis Stage. One of the Thomas’ names is on a beam. According to another ‘tag’ on one of the steel beams, Joe Quinn in 1951 also helped put in the system. Joe was the stage manager for ISO for many, many years later in his career.”

The new rigging and railing system was supported by a $250,000 grant from Lilly Endowment.

Announcing our 2010-2011 Season!

All Shook Up
July 8, 9, 10, 11, 15, 16, 17 and 18, 2010.

This rollicking musical, set in the Midwest during the 1950s, kicks summer and Footlite’s new season. All about mistaken identities, youthful rebellion and love, the musical features such Elvis Presley classics as “All Shook Up,” “Jailhouse Rock,” “Love Me Tender,” “Blue Suede Shoes,” “Don’t Be Cruel,” and many more. All Shook Up is Footlite Musicals’ Young Adults Production, featuring performers ages 18 to 25.

Book by Joe DiPietro Music by Elvis Presley and various artists Based on William Shakespeare’s “Twelfth Night.”

Into The Woods
August 12, 13, 14, 15, 19, 20, 21 and 22, 2010.

This Tony Award winning musical brings to life Cinderella, Jack and the Beanstalk, Little Red Riding Hood and other well-known fairy-tale characters, but with unexpected twists on their original storylines. Their stories reflect the complications of living in modern society and the difficulties we encounter on the path of life. Into The Woods is Footlite Musicals’ Young Artists Production, featuring performers ages 13 to18.

Book by James Lapine Music and lyrics by Stephen Sondheim

The Producers
September 17, 18, 24, 25, 26 and October 1, 2 and 3, 2010.

Outrageous, hilarious, a teeny bit offensive, off the wall, and the winner of a record 12 Tony Awards are just ways to describe The Producers. Theatrical producers Max Bialystock and Leo Bloom sing and dance their way through the greatest show biz scam that there ever was! A musical for mature audiences, Footlite Musicals’ production will be only the second community theatre production in the Indianapolis area.

Book by Mel Brooks and Thomas Meehan Music and lyrics by Mel Brooks Based on the Brooks’ movie comedy of the same name.

Annie
November 19, 20, 26, 27, 28 and December 3, 4 and 5, 2010.

Annie, a spunky depression-era orphan, is determined to find her parents who abandoned her years ago on the doorstep of an orphanage run by the cruel, embittered Miss Hannigan. In adventure after fun-filled adventure, Annie foils Miss Hannigan’s evil machinations, befriends President Franklin D. Roosevelt and finds a new family and home of Oliver Warbucks, his secretary Grace Farrell and a lovable mutt named Sandy.

Book by Thomas Meehan Music by Charles Strouse and lyrics by Martin Charnin Based on comic strip, “Little Orphan Annie”

The Fantasticks
January 14, 15, 16, 21, 22 and 23, 2011.

The longest running musical in theatre history, The Fantasticks combines two teenage lovers, two parents, two old actors, two protagonists and two musicians to create a simple but beautiful story of the quintessential celebration of love in all its gorgeous simplicity and heartbreaking complexity. You will identify with the characters and leave the theatre humming the tunes.

Book by Tom Jones Music by Harvey Schmidt Lyrics by Tom Jones

The Pajama Game
March 11, 12, 18, 19, 20, 25, 26 and 27, 2011.

The dangers workplace romance is explored to hysterical levels in this 1954 romantic comedy. Conditions at the Sleep-Tite Pajama Factory are anything but peaceful, as sparks fly between the new superintendent and leader of the union grievance committee. Their stormy relationship comes to a head when the workers strike for a 7 1/2-cent pay increase, setting off not only a conflict between management and labor, but a battle of the sexes as well.

Book by George Abbott and Richard Bissell Music and lyrics by Richard Adler and Jerry Ross Based on the novel “7 1/2 Cents” by Richard Bissell

The King & I
May 6, 7, 13, 14, 15, 20, 21 and 22, 2011.

East versus West makes for a dramatic, ultimately uplifting tale and a truly unique love story. It is 1862 in Siam and English widow, Anna Leonowens, and her young son are summoned by the King to Royal Palace in Bangkok to serve as tutor to his many children and wives. Considered to be a barbarian by those in the West, the King seeks Anna’s assistance in changing his image, if not his ways.

Book and lyrics by Oscar Hammerstein II Music by Richard Rodgers Based on the novel “Anna and the King” by Margaret Landon

Footlite Musicals Receives Federal Grant

Footlite Musicals will restore the exterior of the historic building at the southeast corner of 19th and Alabama Streets as one of 16 federal historic preservation grant recipients in the state. The project is to preserve the exterior masonry, decorative metal balconies and fire escape within the next year. Sitting close to the intersection, the attractive 1896 three-story red brick building features a cutaway corner entrance, a rounded turret above, and rough-cut limestone lintels and sills.

The building, also known as the Pearson Building and home of Epilogue Theatre, is 113 years old. Footlite Musicals is now in its 54th season and has owned this building and the 84 year-old Hedback Theater that make up the Hedback Community Arts Center since 1976.

The Hedback Community Arts Center is situated on land originally deeded to Samuel Henderson, first mayor of Indianapolis, in 1821. The site also was home to the state fairgrounds starting in 1861, Camp Morton and 7,000 Union troops during the Civil War, a federal prisoner camp, and eventually part of the Herron-Morton Place neighborhood.

Footlite Musicals currently presents eight musicals a year–four main stage productions, a smaller cabaret show, a show by high school students, one by college-age students, and a summer workshop for children ages 6 to 12. Leasing its space from Footlite Musicals, Epilogue Players presents six comedy, drama, or musical shows a year using the talents of the over-50 crowd.

Footlite Musicals also recently purchased the parking lot southeast of the complex, thanks to a $350,000 grant from the Allen Whitehill Clowes Charitable Foundation.

This project will be funded in part by the $36,750 grant from the U.S. Department of the Interior, National Park Service’s Historic Preservation Fund administered by the Indiana Department of Natural Resources, Division of Historic Preservation and Archeology, and also by Footlite’s “Hedback to the Future” fund, by a grant from the Central Indiana Community Foundation and Historic Landmarks Foundation of Indiana, and by a grant from the Local Initiatives Support Corporation (LISC), the City of Indianapolis, and King Park Area Development Corporation.

Footlite Musicals purchases its parking lot through generous grant

The board of directors of Footlite Musicals is happy to announce the purchase of the paved parking lot behind its home theatre, the Hedback Community Theater at 1847 North Alabama Street in Indianapolis, IN. The lot was purchased last week from Warwick & Associates, LLC, through a generous grant from the Allen Whitehill Clowes Charitable Foundation, Inc.

Footlite has been using the parking lot, which also fronts on North New Jersey Street, since the Hedback became the theatre’s home in 1974. The 83-year building was the original home of the Indianapolis Civic Theater before its move to the grounds of the Indianapolis Museum of Art.

The late Indianapolis businessman Phil Hedback and his wife Betty purchased the building for Footlite, but had not sold the group the parking lot at the time of his death. The purchase of the lot secures ample parking in the future for Footlite’s patrons and those of the adjacent Epilogue Players.