About
React Youth Theatre offers theatre classes where students take part in research, devising, rehearsal, and performance. Participants work on creating original theatre, including site-specific theatre and pieces that use the Bouffant style of clowning.
• Ages: 5–18 years old
React Youth Theatre’s mission is to create original theatre with youth that reacts to social issues of the world, and it has been creating this kind of work with young people since 1976. The program describes its approach as theatre for everyone and offers theatre classes for any K–12th grader who loves creating, storytelling, and collaborating, including students who want to be center stage or behind the scenes. The work does not start with a script but with an idea, and each cast leans into its inspiration with research and uses devising, a global theatre technique that brings the whole cast together to create the show. Every student has a hand in shaping the story and creating their own character, and the result is an original play where everyone has a voice. Sometimes performances take place outside, with interactive sets, or with action that can spill out to the audience, and React’s ensemble theatre style brings stories to life for and with everyone. The program states that theatre is only part of the formula and that the outcome of the student outweighs the outcome of the performance.
React Youth Theatre has been creating original theatre with youth that reacts to social issues of the world since 1976 and is turning 50. Under Executive Director Justin Wade’s direction, React has grown from serving 60 to 1500 students annually and structurally evolved into its current model. Justin Wade has been the Executive Director of React since 2005, first took classes there in seventh grade in 1987, and has spent over 20,000 hours in the classroom teaching and learning theatre education. Artistic Director Georgeanna Smith Wade created and implemented The Court, a social-issues troupe that performed all over the state, and she has been Artistic Director since 2017, managing day-to-day operations and artistic programming. She is a cum laude with high honors graduate of the Jordan College of the Arts at Butler University and the Phoenix Theatre’s Meisner Training Program, is the former Executive Artistic Director of NoExit Performance, and is a co-founder of Summit Performance Indianapolis. She was named one of IndyStar's Top 15 to watch in 2015 and one of 2013’s “Most Compelling Performance Artists” by The Examiner, received the Indiana Arts Commission’s Arts in the Park grant in 2016, and studied in St. Petersburg, Russia, with director Alexander Anisimov. She has studied with Brian Bedford, Dan Kamin, Anne Bogart, Kristin Linklater, Joe Goode, and others, and trained at the Academy of Dance Arts, the Jordan Academy of Dance, Gary Geis Dance Company, and Gregory Hancock Dance Theatre. She is a published author in the IMTAL journal, a featured presenter at the International Museum Theatre Alliance conference, and has previously worked with students at Pike High School, Fishers High School, Heritage Christian School, the Project School, Christel House Academy, and Herron High School. Ryan Mullins is React’s Technical Director, Associate Artistic Director, and teaches classes at the Central State location; he is the Artistic Director of NoExit Performance, a professional in site-specific theatre and the Bouffant style of clowning, and has award-winning lighting design. Outreach Director Gara Gaines is also a managing director for NoExit Performance, received a Midsouth Regional Student Production Award in her junior year of high school, and teaches with React through the Christel DeHaan Teaching Artists Program. Managing Director Fiona Dwyer was a React student, worked as a teaching artist for theatres in Pennsylvania and Delaware, earned a bachelor’s degree in devised and ensemble based theatre in marginalized communities from Cornell College in Mt. Vernon, Iowa, and a master’s degree in collaborative theatre making from Rose Bruford College in London. Community Engagement Director Saige Broadwater teaches with React through the Christel DeHaan Teaching Artists Program, and Development Director Alethea Harnish is a performer and playwright. The leadership team includes Justin Wade (Executive Director), Georgeanna Smith Wade (Artistic Director), Ryan Mullins (Associate Artistic Director, Technical Director), Gara Gaines (Director, Outreach Director), Fiona Dwyer (Managing Director), Saige Broadwater (Community Engagement Director), and Alethea Harnish (Development Director). NoExit Performance, which is closely connected to several staff members, specializes in site-specific work and has been called “Indianapolis’ most adventurous theatre group” by NUVO.
React Youth Theatre collaborates with a “hefty handful” of other local theatres and connects students with other artists in the Indy community. The Court, the social-issues troupe created at React, performed all over the state, and React works with schools including Pike High School, Fishers High School, Heritage Christian School, the Project School, Christel House Academy, and Herron High School. According to student testimonials, long-term students describe gaining methods for coping, healthy competition, confidence, and life lessons, and they report feeling like they belonged and were able to shape their independence and creativity. Students also describe React as planting a seed of confidence that affected their lives and as a place where they could try new ideas, create their own style, and connect with other artists in the Indy community.
Last updated May 12, 2026.
• Ages: 5–18 years old
React Youth Theatre’s mission is to create original theatre with youth that reacts to social issues of the world, and it has been creating this kind of work with young people since 1976. The program describes its approach as theatre for everyone and offers theatre classes for any K–12th grader who loves creating, storytelling, and collaborating, including students who want to be center stage or behind the scenes. The work does not start with a script but with an idea, and each cast leans into its inspiration with research and uses devising, a global theatre technique that brings the whole cast together to create the show. Every student has a hand in shaping the story and creating their own character, and the result is an original play where everyone has a voice. Sometimes performances take place outside, with interactive sets, or with action that can spill out to the audience, and React’s ensemble theatre style brings stories to life for and with everyone. The program states that theatre is only part of the formula and that the outcome of the student outweighs the outcome of the performance.
React Youth Theatre has been creating original theatre with youth that reacts to social issues of the world since 1976 and is turning 50. Under Executive Director Justin Wade’s direction, React has grown from serving 60 to 1500 students annually and structurally evolved into its current model. Justin Wade has been the Executive Director of React since 2005, first took classes there in seventh grade in 1987, and has spent over 20,000 hours in the classroom teaching and learning theatre education. Artistic Director Georgeanna Smith Wade created and implemented The Court, a social-issues troupe that performed all over the state, and she has been Artistic Director since 2017, managing day-to-day operations and artistic programming. She is a cum laude with high honors graduate of the Jordan College of the Arts at Butler University and the Phoenix Theatre’s Meisner Training Program, is the former Executive Artistic Director of NoExit Performance, and is a co-founder of Summit Performance Indianapolis. She was named one of IndyStar's Top 15 to watch in 2015 and one of 2013’s “Most Compelling Performance Artists” by The Examiner, received the Indiana Arts Commission’s Arts in the Park grant in 2016, and studied in St. Petersburg, Russia, with director Alexander Anisimov. She has studied with Brian Bedford, Dan Kamin, Anne Bogart, Kristin Linklater, Joe Goode, and others, and trained at the Academy of Dance Arts, the Jordan Academy of Dance, Gary Geis Dance Company, and Gregory Hancock Dance Theatre. She is a published author in the IMTAL journal, a featured presenter at the International Museum Theatre Alliance conference, and has previously worked with students at Pike High School, Fishers High School, Heritage Christian School, the Project School, Christel House Academy, and Herron High School. Ryan Mullins is React’s Technical Director, Associate Artistic Director, and teaches classes at the Central State location; he is the Artistic Director of NoExit Performance, a professional in site-specific theatre and the Bouffant style of clowning, and has award-winning lighting design. Outreach Director Gara Gaines is also a managing director for NoExit Performance, received a Midsouth Regional Student Production Award in her junior year of high school, and teaches with React through the Christel DeHaan Teaching Artists Program. Managing Director Fiona Dwyer was a React student, worked as a teaching artist for theatres in Pennsylvania and Delaware, earned a bachelor’s degree in devised and ensemble based theatre in marginalized communities from Cornell College in Mt. Vernon, Iowa, and a master’s degree in collaborative theatre making from Rose Bruford College in London. Community Engagement Director Saige Broadwater teaches with React through the Christel DeHaan Teaching Artists Program, and Development Director Alethea Harnish is a performer and playwright. The leadership team includes Justin Wade (Executive Director), Georgeanna Smith Wade (Artistic Director), Ryan Mullins (Associate Artistic Director, Technical Director), Gara Gaines (Director, Outreach Director), Fiona Dwyer (Managing Director), Saige Broadwater (Community Engagement Director), and Alethea Harnish (Development Director). NoExit Performance, which is closely connected to several staff members, specializes in site-specific work and has been called “Indianapolis’ most adventurous theatre group” by NUVO.
React Youth Theatre collaborates with a “hefty handful” of other local theatres and connects students with other artists in the Indy community. The Court, the social-issues troupe created at React, performed all over the state, and React works with schools including Pike High School, Fishers High School, Heritage Christian School, the Project School, Christel House Academy, and Herron High School. According to student testimonials, long-term students describe gaining methods for coping, healthy competition, confidence, and life lessons, and they report feeling like they belonged and were able to shape their independence and creativity. Students also describe React as planting a seed of confidence that affected their lives and as a place where they could try new ideas, create their own style, and connect with other artists in the Indy community.
Last updated May 12, 2026.
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