About
React Youth Theatre focuses on creating original theatre with youth that reacts to social issues of the world. Participants take part in theatre classes that include research, devising, rehearsal, and performance, with every student having a hand in shaping the story and creating their own character. The program’s work does not start with a script but with an idea, and casts may create site-specific theatre that sometimes takes place outside, with interactive sets and action that can spill out to the audience, as well as work in the Bouffant style of clowning.
• Ages: 5–18 years old
React Youth Theatre describes its approach as theatre for everyone and original youth theatre, offering a place for K–12th graders to be center stage or behind the scenes. The program views theatre as a means to an end focused on the improvement of the individual, and states that the outcome of the student outweighs the outcome of the performance. Its mission is to create original theatre with youth that reacts to social issues of the world, and it has been creating original theatre with youth that reacts to social issues of the world since 1976.
Under Executive Director Justin Wade, React structurally evolved into its current model, growing from serving 60 to 1500 students annually and increasing its operating budget over 40 times. Justin has been Executive Director since 2005, began as a student 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 managed day-to-day operations and artistic programming since 2017. 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, is a co-founder of Summit Performance Indianapolis, and has studied with multiple theatre artists including Brian Bedford, Dan Kamin, Anne Bogart, Kristin Linklater, Joe Goode, and more. She studied in St. Petersburg, Russia, with director Alexander Anisimov, is a certified Pilates instructor, and holds a second-degree Black Belt in Taekwondo.
Technical Director Ryan Mullins, who has been with the company since 2016, is a professional in site-specific theatre and the Bouffant style of clowning and teaches classes at the Central State location. Outreach Director Gara Gaines teaches with React through the Christel DeHaan Teaching Artists Program, serves as a managing director for NoExit Performance, and received a Midsouth Regional Student Production Award in her junior year of high school. Managing Director Fiona Dwyer previously worked as a teaching artist for theatres in Pennsylvania and Delaware and holds a bachelor’s degree in devised and ensemble-based theatre in marginalized communities from Cornell College 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. React states that its staff is chosen carefully as real-life role models and are described as Indianapolis all stars, respected in and out of the classroom as artists, educators, and leaders.
React connects with other artists in the Indy community and collaborates with a hefty handful of other local theatres. The organization works with schools including Pike High School, Fishers High School, Heritage Christian School, the Project School, Christel House Academy, and Herron High School. Gara connects with donors and sponsors as part of React’s community involvement. NoExit Performance, with which React leadership is involved, has been called “Indianapolis’ most adventurous theatre group” by NUVO.
React reports that it is turning 50. Its leadership and teaching artists have received multiple recognitions, including Georgeanna Smith Wade being named one of IndyStar’s Top 15 to watch in 2015 and one of 2013’s “Most Compelling Performance Artists” by The Examiner, as well as receiving the Indiana Arts Commission’s Arts in the Park grant in 2016, and Gara Gaines receiving a Midsouth Regional Student Production Award.
Students describe their experiences in testimonials, including a student of seven years who said React gave them a family and methods for coping, healthy competition, confidence, and other life lessons. Another student of eight years said they never felt like they did not belong and that the experience shaped them into an independent, creative, self-driven, free person who learned to work under pressure and with time boundaries while using creativity and discipline. A student of four years said React planted a seed of confidence that allowed them to go after anything they want and that React changed their life. A student of nine years said that through React they were able to try new ideas, create their own style, grow as an artist, and connect with other artists in the Indy community, which led to more opportunities to explore their craft.
Last updated May 12, 2026.
• Ages: 5–18 years old
React Youth Theatre describes its approach as theatre for everyone and original youth theatre, offering a place for K–12th graders to be center stage or behind the scenes. The program views theatre as a means to an end focused on the improvement of the individual, and states that the outcome of the student outweighs the outcome of the performance. Its mission is to create original theatre with youth that reacts to social issues of the world, and it has been creating original theatre with youth that reacts to social issues of the world since 1976.
Under Executive Director Justin Wade, React structurally evolved into its current model, growing from serving 60 to 1500 students annually and increasing its operating budget over 40 times. Justin has been Executive Director since 2005, began as a student 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 managed day-to-day operations and artistic programming since 2017. 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, is a co-founder of Summit Performance Indianapolis, and has studied with multiple theatre artists including Brian Bedford, Dan Kamin, Anne Bogart, Kristin Linklater, Joe Goode, and more. She studied in St. Petersburg, Russia, with director Alexander Anisimov, is a certified Pilates instructor, and holds a second-degree Black Belt in Taekwondo.
Technical Director Ryan Mullins, who has been with the company since 2016, is a professional in site-specific theatre and the Bouffant style of clowning and teaches classes at the Central State location. Outreach Director Gara Gaines teaches with React through the Christel DeHaan Teaching Artists Program, serves as a managing director for NoExit Performance, and received a Midsouth Regional Student Production Award in her junior year of high school. Managing Director Fiona Dwyer previously worked as a teaching artist for theatres in Pennsylvania and Delaware and holds a bachelor’s degree in devised and ensemble-based theatre in marginalized communities from Cornell College 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. React states that its staff is chosen carefully as real-life role models and are described as Indianapolis all stars, respected in and out of the classroom as artists, educators, and leaders.
React connects with other artists in the Indy community and collaborates with a hefty handful of other local theatres. The organization works with schools including Pike High School, Fishers High School, Heritage Christian School, the Project School, Christel House Academy, and Herron High School. Gara connects with donors and sponsors as part of React’s community involvement. NoExit Performance, with which React leadership is involved, has been called “Indianapolis’ most adventurous theatre group” by NUVO.
React reports that it is turning 50. Its leadership and teaching artists have received multiple recognitions, including Georgeanna Smith Wade being named one of IndyStar’s Top 15 to watch in 2015 and one of 2013’s “Most Compelling Performance Artists” by The Examiner, as well as receiving the Indiana Arts Commission’s Arts in the Park grant in 2016, and Gara Gaines receiving a Midsouth Regional Student Production Award.
Students describe their experiences in testimonials, including a student of seven years who said React gave them a family and methods for coping, healthy competition, confidence, and other life lessons. Another student of eight years said they never felt like they did not belong and that the experience shaped them into an independent, creative, self-driven, free person who learned to work under pressure and with time boundaries while using creativity and discipline. A student of four years said React planted a seed of confidence that allowed them to go after anything they want and that React changed their life. A student of nine years said that through React they were able to try new ideas, create their own style, grow as an artist, and connect with other artists in the Indy community, which led to more opportunities to explore their craft.
Last updated May 12, 2026.
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