Student-Directed Productions (October)
Anyone Can Dance by Sean Baker/ Through Stained Glass by Axel Osborne
October 2 – 4 @ 7pm, Studio Theatre
Rae Cook (They/Them) – Director / Stage Manager
Rae is a Senior Theatre Major.
Their previous onstage experience at UIndy includes: Brooklyn De’Wolfe in God’s of Comedy, Lane/Merriman in The Importance of Being Earnest, and Marty in Circle Mirror Transformation.
Their backstage experience includes: Run Crew Head for Nora: A Doll’s House, Assistant Stage Manager for Evil Dead: The Musical and Tick..Tick..BOOM!, and Stage Manager for 2pm in Faith, Nebraska.
They have also worked with Creative Grounds Fine Arts Academy, being hired as a Stage Manager for their productions, Aladdin: Kids, and Oliver! The Musical
Valyn Davis (She/They) – Samantha
Valyn is a Freshman English Education Major. This is their first experience with UIndyTheatre!
Maeve Rosario (She/Him) – Joe
Maeve is a Junior Communication Major with a Theatre Concentration. This is his first experience with UIndyTheatre!
Natalie Sayer (She/Her) – Director / Stage Manager
Natalie is a Junior Theatre Major. Her previous onstage experience includes:
Lauren in Circle Mirror Transformation, and Rosa Stevens in Tick..Tick..BOOM!
Her backstage experience includes Assistant Stage Management for The Importance of Being Earnest and Sound Board/Costumes Crew for 2pm in Faith Nebraska.
Ki Elio (He/Him) – Will
Ki is a Sophomore Creative Writing Major, his previous onstage experience at UIndy is playing Rocky in UTSC’s annual Rocky Horror Picture Show Shadowcast, and performing “Noel’s Lament” in Cabaret: An Artists Showcase.
Eli Bridges (He/Him) – Adino
Eli is a Sophomore History Education Major and this is his first experience with UIndy Theatre.
Kaitlynn Miner(She/Her) – Choreographer / Hair + Makeup Artist
Kaitlynn is a Junior Theatre Major with a Double Minor in Music and Performing Arts. You’ve seen her onstage in Tick.. Tick.. BOOM! as Jon’s Mom and Ensemble. Backstage she’s helped us in Circle Mirror Transformation as the Wardrobe Supervisor, 2PM in Faith, Nebraska as Backstage Wardrobe Crew and The Importance of Being Earnest as Wardrobe crew and Asst. Makeup Artist
Pidge May(They/Them) – Lighting Designer / Light Board Operator
A Welcome from UIndy Theatre Director
On behalf of UIndy Theatre and the Department of Communication, I’d like to welcome you to the start of our 2025-26 season. We have some amazing offerings this semester and we hope that you’ll be back to experience them all. Our first show is a double-bill under our Student-Directed Productions (SDPs). For many years, SDPs were done every other year and gave aspiring student directors to try their hand at directing their own show. It also allowed artists and designers to show their creativity on their own away from the creative control of faculty and hired-in designers. The last time SDPs were staged was in 2020. We are happy to bring this student-driven endeavor and hope that you enjoy the work that they have done.
Our first show tonight is a play called Anyone Can Dance by British playwright Sean Baker. It puts a couple together in their apartment wondering about the various ways they might or might not have met. It is directed by Theatre senior Rae Cook and features Valyn Davis and Maeve Rosario, both dipping their toes in UIndy Theatre for the first time. Our second piece is Through Stained Glass, which is about a growing love interest between an unlikely pairing. It was written by Theatre senior Axel Osborne and is directed by Theatre junior Natalie Sayer. It features Eli Bridges, a sophomore in History, and Ki Elio, a sophomore in Creative Writing.
We’d like to thank Pidge May for their artful lighting design, Axel Osborne for assisting with Design/Tech elements, Kaitlynn Miner for assisting with choreography in Anyone Can Dance, and alum Abigail Wittenmyer for their intimacy coordination.
I do hope you enjoy the show!
–Grant Williams, PhD
Assistant Professor of Theatre
Directors’ Notes
Anyone Can Dance is originally a Male/Female cast however to make this set of shows stand out, we opted for Female/Female to mirror Through Stained Glass‘s Male/Male cast. Right now those who identify as LGBTQ+ face a lot of backlash and are still fighting to be seen as “normal”. They are either uplifted as divine or brought down to be subhuman. However, that isn’t the case for humanity. We are neither inherently good or inherently bad, we are just people trying to survive; and homosexual relationships are just as real as heterosexual ones. They laugh and fight, discuss their dreams and express their regrets of the past just like you and I do. I want the audience to not focus on “two girls in a relationship” but rather, two people telling their story. I hope you find as much endearment in their love as we’ve found creating it.
Through Stained Glass is a piece that deals with our past. As queer people, we have faced external and internal pressure to conform and hide for decades. Countless losses in the LGBTQ+ community have created a need for support and love across generations. And this is universal. All people love, grieve, and hope for a better future. With this show, I want to highlight the moments of joy and love we get to experience in our lives, no matter how difficult or short-lived those lives may be. I want to celebrate self expression and the power of hope – what it means to look back on where we came from, and ahead to where we could be. Thank you to my dear friend Axel for writing this beautiful play and letting me direct it, as well as to all of you for coming!
Check out the rest of our
2025-26 UIndy Theatre Season
