ARTI-Award Winning Flanner Fringe Lab Returns for Second Year

Joey Amato
4 days ago
2 min read

In 2025, IF Theatre and the Flanner House Arts; Stage Academy came together to work towards two essential goals: reducing the barriers for BIPOC hoosiers to receive an arts education and participate in local cultural initiatives like the IndyFringe Festival and OnyxFest, and to create both free and low-cost theatrical experiences for residents on the Northwest side of Indianapolis. This partnership was recognized by Indy Arts Council with their Community Partnership ARTI award.

In its sophomore year, the lab will present 9 new plays by 10 emerging creatives from across the country and will be entirely free for those wishing to attend in a two-day festival of staged readings. “The Lab isn’t a landing,” says Flanner House Arts; Stage Academy artistic director Dr. Austin Dean Ashford. “It’s a blastoff! And the February readings are your opportunity to get on the ship before it takes off.”

Since last year’s lab, students have gone on to stage full productions of their plays in the IndyFringe Festival and beyond, teach workshops for high school students, and go on national tours. The past participants remain a vital part of the operation of the program by giving notes to the writers and managing the run-of-show in each of the event’s three venues on the Flanner House campus (Ujamaa Bookstore, Cleo’s Bodega, and Morningstar’s Cloud Underground).

“Great stories can come from anywhere,” says Paul Daily, the executive director of IF theatre. “And they belong to everyone. That’s what the Flanner Fringe Lab is about: equipping artists of all backgrounds with the tools they need to tell their great stories in the creative market.”

Participants and guests alike will experience a community-centered approach to making and improving new plays with opportunities for discussion, dining, theatre education, and an awards ceremony where 2-3 participants in the 2026 Flanner Fringe Lab will be chosen for curated slots in the 2026 IndyFringe Festival, running August 13-23 on Mass Ave. Additional opportunities may exist for projects to continue on to OnyxFest or IF Theatre’s Spotlight Season (like Josiah Ray McCruiston’s upcoming production of Folks from last year’s event).

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