Flanner Fringe Lab Returns | February 5-7 at Flanner House
This community-centric new play development program won the 2025 ARTI Award for Community Partnership and provides FREE opportunities for audiences to experience theatre in Indy's near Northwest, while reducing barriers for artists to participate in iconic cultural events like the IndyFringe Festival and OnyxFest.
A Partnership Between:
About Flanner Fringe Lab
ABOUT THE LAB:
This partnership works 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, an “arts desert.”
Participating playwrights spend 6 months learning how to write a new play, under the guidance of Flanner House Arts; Stage Academy (FHASA) artistic director, Dr. Austin Dean Ashford. The scripts are workshopped with assistance from the staff at IF Theatre, as well as past cohort members before being presented for FREE across the Flanner House campus in a weekend-long festival of new plays.
3 of the plays, chosen by a jury of local theatre professionals including both IF Theatre and the FHASA, will be guaranteed a place in the IndyFringe Festival, with additional opportunities that may available in OnyxFest or IF Theatre’ Spotlight Season.
Current Cohort of Playwrights
Reserve Your Festival Pass:
2026 Festival - February 6-7
HOW PASSES WORK:
Your Flanner Fringe Lab Festival Pass is free and will allow you to see as many of the Flanner Fringe Lab readings as you wish.
Seating at some venues is limited and is accommodated on a first-come, first-served basis. Some standing room will be available in all venues. Please be kind and courteous to patrons as we celebrate these artists’ work together.
WHERE IS THE EVENT?
Readings will take place in the following three locations:
1) Ujamaa Community Bookstore – 2424 Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. St
2) Cleo’s Bodega – 2432 Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. St.
3) Morningstar – 2307 Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. St. (please note that the room where plays are being read is not handicap-accessible, but a livestream will be available in the accessible community room above).
WHERE DO I PARK?
Parking is plentiful and free at the Flanner House campus, and all venues are within a city block of one another.
