The District Theatre

08/30/2026

Last chance to see The Griot - a Black Light Training & Development Production is today at 4pm!

By John Lyle Belden Here’s a homework project we can all learn from. Black Light Training & Development, a program of The District Theatre, presents “The Griot,” a new dramatic work in progress…

08/28/2026

What does it take to turn history into a play?

For "The Griot", it starts with research, storytelling, and a deep responsibility to the people and history at the center of the story.

Indianapolis playwright Celeste Williams and director Ronni Watts have brought Black Hoosier history to the stage through a story that asks how we remember the past, and what we carry forward.

Indianapolis Recorder's new feature takes us behind the making of *The Griot* and the history that inspired it. 🔗 https://indianapolisrecorder.com/the-griot-debuts-at-district-theatre-shines-light-on-black-hoosier-history/

Come see the story for yourself opening TONIGHT, Aug 28-30!

🎭 The Griot
🎟️ Tickets: $15 at IndyDistrictTheatre.org

“The Griot” a new play involving time travel, West African influences and the Indianapolis Recorder is set to debut at the District Theatre this month.

08/27/2026

When Malcolm and Rosa get a project on the Indianapolis Recorder Newspaper they expect another history report. Instead, they’re transported into the heart of Indianapolis’ Black history, where the past comes alive before their eyes.

📰 "The Griot" is a moving and joyful celebration of storytelling, music, laughter, and the power of preserving the stories that shape our city.

📰 At the center of it all is The Indianapolis Recorder, one of the nation’s longest-running Black newspapers and an important part of Indianapolis history.

🎭 "The Griot" from Black Light Training & Development
📍 The District Theatre
🎟️ $15 General Admission - IndyDistrictTheatre.org
📆 Aug 28, 29 and 30

Bring the whole family and come experience a piece of Indianapolis history on stage.

08/26/2026

Duncan Macmillan’s LUNGS follows a young couple wrestling with love, responsibility, climate anxiety, and one enormous question: Should we become parents?

Performed by Linsey Babrick-Christie and Nathan Erdel, this fast-moving, intimate two-person play puts a very personal question against a very uncertain world.

Presented by ZED Teatro at the District Theatre.

📅 September 11-13
🎭 Directed by Holly Hathaway-Thompson
🔞 18+. Explicit language and adult subject matter.
🎟 IndyDistrictTheatre.org

08/19/2026

By John Lyle Belden This is part of the annual Indianapolis Theatre Fringe Festival, a/k/a IndyFringe 2026, held Aug. 13-23 in venues around downtown Massachusetts Ave. Ticketing and other informat…

08/15/2026

08/14/2026

"CO***NE" is probably one of the most unexpected shows at this year’s .

Written in the early 1920s by Pendleton King, a young Black playwright who died only months after returning from World War I, this rarely performed one-act takes audiences inside a private moment they almost feel they should not be witnessing.

Raw, hypnotic and emotionally gripping, CO***NE is not a celebration of the drug—it is an unblinking look at addiction, withdrawal and the tragedy of lives caught in its grasp.

This is Fringe at its most unexpected: a nearly forgotten play, rediscovered and brought startlingly back to life.

Performances tonight, Saturday and Sunday at The District Theatre.

🎭 CO***NE (show # 402)
📍 The District Theatre, Brian Payne Theatre
🗓️ 8/14 at 8:00pm | 8/15 at 9:30pm | 8/16 at 8:00pm
🎟️ Get tickets: https://indyfringe.org/performance/402-cocaine-by-dustin-yocum/

08/14/2026

What started as a 10-minute play has grown into a full one-act that has been selected for !ELEVEN! Fringe festivals, including juried festivals, and earned a Producer’s Pick in a field of roughly 60 productions.

➡ "EMPTY NIGHT" show # 404 ⬅
ONLY three times to see this masterpiece:
8/14 at 9:30pm | 8/15 at 8:00pm | 8/16 at 3:30pm

👨‍🌾 🐅 The story is impossible to forget: a wounded farmer and a tiger meet on an empty stage. Both have lost their homes. Both are trying to feed their children. Neither expects to see themselves in the other.

⭐ “A beautiful and vulnerable story shared between enemies.” - BroadwayWorld

If you’re building your IndyFringe schedule and want the show you’ll still be thinking about after you leave, make room for this one...

🎭 EMPTY NIGHT # 404
📍 The District Theatre, Brian Payne Theatre
🎟️ Tickets: https://indyfringe.org/performance/404-empty-night-by-abishek-bhattcharya/

08/14/2026

21 years of weird, wonderful, unexpected theatre! As IndyFringe presented by Everwise Credit Union opens, we’re looking back at where it all began...

IndyStar recently shared a fantastic look back at 20 years of , from its early days to the festival it is today.

Two decades later, Fringe has become one of the city’s most beloved annual traditions, giving artists a place to take risks and audiences a reason to wander in and see what they find.

This year brings 63 shows, 500+ performers, six stages, and hundreds of hours of live performances across the Mass Ave Cultural Arts District. About 60% of this year’s acts are Indiana-based, with artists bringing theatre, comedy, dance, music, puppetry, storytelling and plenty of things we probably don't have a category for.

https://www.indystar.com/picture-gallery/entertainment/arts/2025/08/12/take-a-look-back-at-20-years-of-the-indyfringe-festival/85631420007/

Since 2005, the IndyFringe Festival has been bringing cutting-edge theater, magic, dance and more to Mass Ave.