August 29, 2026
- Indiana Players
- Aug 29
- 2 min read
Want to catch theatre history in the making?
Come see the second fully-stage production of C.S. Wyatt's A New Death - only at the Philadelphia Street Playhouse!
What's the show about?
A clerical error, and a pushy mother, results in Harlan Howe, an out-of-work salesman, being called in to interview for the position of Messenger of Death. Through a series of mishaps, Regional Death 143 is required to hire Harlan and train him for the position. The first play in the “Heaven, Incorporated” series, A New Death humorously imagines how Heaven and the divine might work as a typical corporation, asking questions about why humans die and the nature of the Creator’s plan. Was the hiring of Harlan a simple mistake, or are all events part of a greater order we cannot comprehend?
From the Director's Chair
A New Death was commissioned by Throughline Theatre as a new work in 2014. I was fortunate enough to play several minor characters in that original production. From time to time since then I have reflected on how clever I found the play and thought about suggesting that the Indiana
Players produce it. I did not follow through on that idea, however, until recently. Earlier this year I contacted the playwright. He explained that after seeing that production he had intended to edit the script a bit and possibly submit it for publication, but life intervened and he never got
around to doing so. He was excited to hear that we were thinking about doing the play and used that as motivation for doing the editing he had meant to do years before. I believe he got a small group together to test those edits, but this is only the second fully staged production of the play.
I hope the audience enjoys seeing as much as we have enjoyed pulling it together.
John Henry Steelman (Director, A New Death, IPI 2026)
Philadelphia Street Playhouse
725 Philadelphia Street
Indiana, PA 15701
Indiana Players, Inc.
PO Box 333
Indiana, PA 15701
Phone: (724) 464-0725
Web: indianaplayers.com
Email: info@indianaplayers.com
Comments