As we embark upon unprecedented times in America, Southbank is responding with some of the most political works we’ve ever produced. Our fifth season will include:

Equivocation by Bill Cain. England, 1605: A terrorist plot to assassinate King James I and Parliament has been thwarted. Shakespeare is commissioned to write the “true historie” of the plot and is confronted with the ultimate moral and artistic dilemma: Speak truth to power—and perhaps lose his head, or take the money and lie. Is there a third option—equivocation? A high-stakes political thriller with contemporary resonances.

The Crucible by Arthur Miller. This timeless classic challenges American ideas of power, intolerance, and justice. In the Puritan community of Salem, Massachusetts, a servant girl accuses a farmer’s wife of witchcraft. One accusation spirals into many, uncovering a web of bigotry and deceit that changes their lives forever. The Crucible is both a gripping historical drama and an evergreen parable about contemporary society.

Machinal by Sophie Treadwell. An expressionist parable about an ordinary young woman who lives in a mechanized, materialistic world. A modern Everywoman, Helen works in a boring office, marries her boss who offers her financial security, finds motherhood oppressive, and has a lover who abandons her. Machinal presents the life of a young woman who asks an impersonal society, “Is nothing mine?”

Contest winner – This year, Southbank has hosted our first playwriting contest: MAKING  HISTORY, in which we asked playwrights to submit a play about Indiana history. Now at the finalist stage, we will host staged readings of three plays this summer at Phoenix Theatre: Hell’s Belle by Amalia Howard (directed by Doug Powers), The Brain Thief by Tom Horan (directed by Carrie Schlatter), and The Last Days of the Franklinton Historical Village and Shoppe by Ron Burch (directed by Rachel Serago). One of these finalists will have a full production as our fourth play of Season 5, based on the development of the play, audience reactions, and director and actor feedback.