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 – Hell’s Belle by Amalia Howard. This year, Southbank hosted our first playwriting contest: MAKING  HISTORY, in which we asked playwrights to submit a play about Indiana history. Hell’s Belle is our winner! It chronicles the unbelievably true story of Indiana’s first serial killer. True Crime lovers will get a kick out of Hell’s Belle!