Indiana Players, Inc.- A Community Theater

Indiana Players, Inc., is a non-profit community theater group located in Indiana, Pennsylvania. Since the first show in 1977 (Harvey), the Indiana Players has continued to offer Western Pennsylvania audiences the best of dramas, mysteries, comedies, and musicals. Stressing community involvement, the Indiana Players strongly encourage anyone with an interest in theater to join or get involved with a show.

History of the Indiana Players

In our first thirteen years, the Indiana Players, a 501c3 nonprofit, totally volunteer community theater group, produced three to five family-oriented shows a year. When we moved to the Indiana Theater in 1990, we had $680 in the bank and about one hundred patrons.

During the following twelve years, we produced eighty-seven shows involving 520 adults, teens, and children. Within the first five years, our operating budget rose to $40,000 and the patron list climbed to nearly 2,500. It was obvious that our growth was due to the Players having continuous and sole access to a performance space affording us a permanent presence in the Indiana area.

When we left the Indiana Theater building in July, 2002, we stored our belongings, without charge, in one of Mr. Joseph Kovalchick's warehouses and embarked on a search for a suitable building or site for our new home.

In 2005, we bought the empty building on Philadelphia Street and began the process of converting it into a useable theater space. With the granting of our occupancy permit in June, 2006, the Philadelphia Street Playhouse was officially open for business!

Aside from providing quality theatrical entertainment to our community, the Indiana Players offers adults, teens, and children the opportunity to have their "moment upon the stage." Taking advantage of acting and technical workshops increases their skills and self-image. Community theater gives people the chance to work as a team toward a single goal, whether on stage or behind the scenes. Our members, especially the teens and children, have enhanced their social skills and learned to work with a diverse group of people while they hone their acting and technical abilities.

Most of our young people retain their interest in theater. In the past decade, eleven of our teen thespians were accepted into the Pennsylvania Governor's School for the Performing Arts. In addition, our Shakespeare Team consistently comes home from the annual Pittsburgh Public Theater's Shakespeare Monologue and Scene Contest with first or second place awards.

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