Claude McNeal Productions

Our Story

Claude McNeal’s Musical Theatre Training Program, Inc. (d.b.a.) Claude McNeal Productions, a not-for-profit corporation, was incorporated in Indiana on October 25, 2005. The organization’s history, however, goes back much further, to Claude McNeal’s many years in theatre administration in New York and Connecticut. McNeal came to Indianapolis in 1990 with a reputation as a master of contemporary cabaret and a visionary playwright. He used his East Coast experience to establish the American Cabaret Theatre here but gave it a distinctively Indiana orientation. When he retired as artistic director in 2005, he formed this new nonprofit entity with a mission: to inspire and transform lives and cultural organizations through the energizing power of theatre and of theatre-related educational programming, while creating original works, enhancing and stimulating the performing arts in the city of Indianapolis.

Under the umbrella of Claude McNeal Productions are four educational theatre programs: the ACT OUT Ensemble; Youth and the Arts; student matinees in the Humanities and the Indiana Performing Arts Initiative (a new expanded apprenticeship and internship arts training program which began in the summer of 2016, incorporating professional Summer Stock shows.) Claude McNeal Productions’ staff has over 20 years of expertise in alternative theatre education and social-issue related programming.

Serving over 18,000 program participants annually, the bulk of our programming falls under arts education. We serve a community of artists, schools and communities to bring alternative educational theatre experiences to children and adults, and partner with schools and community organizations to provide these experiences; inspiring future artists and patrons.