From the moment they walk on campus, Franklin College students find themselves playing important roles in theatre productions and in the program’s decision-making process. We are a dynamic program, producing four shows a year which explore a variety of genres, including dramas, comedies, musicals, historic classics and cutting-edge contemporary plays. Theatre at Franklin is different than at larger institutions. Students get to perform more roles because of our smaller size, and they aren’t competing with graduate students.

They not only play lead roles in productions but also participate in set and prop construction, lighting and sound design and operation, costume design and construction, stage management and publicity. Our size (typically between five and 15 students in a course) fosters meaningful, close relationships between students and professors—in the classroom as well as on stage.

The program is housed in the Johnson Center for Fine Arts. At the heart of the facility is Théâtre Margot, a flexible black box theatre seating 125-150 audience members. In addition, the Johnson Center contains makeup and dressing rooms, a costume shop, a scene shop, state-of-the-art lighting and sound systems, multimedia classrooms, a painting and drawing studio, and lobby gallery and performance space.

Also, students will take a variety of theatre courses within the liberal arts curriculum to prepare them for graduate school or careers in professional theatre.

Click here to learn about the professors

2010 - 2011 Season Productions & Tickets

Production: The Philadelphia Story by Philip Barry
Directed by: Robin Roberts
Dates: October 6 - 9 at 8 p.m. & October 10 at 2 p.m.
Tickets: $12 general admission; $8 students and seniors (over 55); Free with valid Franklin College ID.
Click here to purchase General Admission Tickets online!

Haughty divorced socialite Tracy Lord is preparing for her second marriage. Enter Dexter Haven, her first husband, and Macaulay Connor, a reporter with a distrust of the wealthy. What follows is a rapid-fire war of words as the two men try to help Tracy discover the heart beneath her holier-than-thou exterior. This classic Ameri-can comedy was the basis for the Oscar-winning film starring Katharine Hepburn, Cary Grant and Jimmy Stewart.

Production: A Festival of Short Plays
Dates: November 17 - 20 at 8 p.m. & November 21 at 2 p.m.
Tickets: $12 general admission; $8 students and seniors (over 55); Free with valid Franklin College ID.
Click here to purchase General Admission Tickets online!

Franklin College student directors take center stage in this eclectic mix of short plays. There will be something to satisfy every taste as comedy and drama come together in a showcase of some of the best contemporary theatre.
NOTE: Audience discretion is advised.

Production: Gypsy by Arthur Laurents
Directed by: Robin Roberts
Dates: March 16 - 19 at 8 p.m. & March 20 at 2 p.m.
Tickets: $12 general admission; $8 students and seniors (over 55); Free with valid Franklin College ID.
Click here to purchase General Admission Tickets online!

Based on the memoirs of stripper Gypsy Rose Lee, this classic American musical tells the story of the quintessential stage mother, Rose, who pushes her daughters into show business to fulfill the dream of stardom she never achieved herself. The award-winning score features “Everything’s Coming Up Roses,” “You Gotta Have a Gimmick,” “Together (Wherever We Go)” and “Let Me Entertain You.”

Production: Dead Man's Cell Phone by Sarah Ruhl
Directed by: Nicolas Crisafulli
Dates: May 4 - 7 at 8 p.m. & May 8 at 2 p.m.
Tickets: $12 general admission; $8 students and seniors (over 55); Free with valid Franklin College ID.
Click here to purchase General Admission Tickets online!

An incessantly ringing cell phone in a quiet café, a stranger at the next table who has had enough, and a dead man with lots of loose ends. So begins this wildly imagina-tive new comedy about how we memorialize the dead and how that remembering changes us. A woman is forced to confront her own assumptions about mortality, redemption and the need to connect in a technologically obsessed world.
NOTE: Audience discretion is advised.

Click here to download the production brochure as a .pdf.

Past Productions

Franklin College explores a wide variety of genres each year, ranging from drama to historic classics and comedies to cutting-edge, modern plays. The Theatre Department also offers musicals once every other year.

Departmental Highlights

Franklin College Theatre is eagerly waiting to give you the opportunity of a lifetime. We offer a variety of academic classes, opportunities to perform, or to simply greet guests as they arrive! Even though there are so many options, one thing is for sure—you can always find a passion here in the Franklin theatre department

Awards

Incoming students who audition or interview successfully might be given a Fine Arts Achievement Award as part of their financial aid package.

• Fine Arts Achievement Awards are competitive awards given to a limited number of students who choose to major in theatre. This award is $5,000 per academic year and may be renewed. Recipients are required to maintain their academic major/minor and good academic standing.
• Fine Arts Grants are need-based awards and may be given for up to $6,000 to students with continuous enrollment in fine arts courses. These grants require a completed FAFSA form submitted by March 10.
• Performance Awards in the amount of $500 per academic year are available to students who participate in one or more theatre productions per semester.

Internships

Winter Term, which takes place every year during January, is an excellent opportunity for students to gain pre-professional experience through an internship. These internships, arranged through Franklin College’s Career Services Office, allow students to gain valuable experience by observing and experiencing what happens on a daily basis in the field of their choosing. Many of these internships are available in nearby Indianapolis. However, students may arrange to do their internships anywhere they would like. Our students have worked with the Indiana Repertory Theatre, the Phoenix Theatre, the Indianapolis Civic Theatre, the Beef and Boards Theatre, and the Indianapolis Ballet.