Resident Companies

Booth Tarkington Civic Theatre

The Tarkington Resident Theater

Booth Tarkington Civic Theatre is the largest of more than 70 Indiana community theatres and one of the ten largest of over 7,000 active community theatres in the United States. Civic also is considered to be the nation's longest continuously operating community theatre. Founded in 1915, Booth Tarkington Civic Theatre has been a vital part of the city's cultural landscape for nearly a century, providing quality live theatrical entertainment for a broad-based audience.

Civic represents a unique blend of avocational actors, technicians and professional staff, and offers a wide variety of educational and community outreach programs. In addition to the Mainstage Season, the Theatre's Education Program provides a comprehensive theatre-based youth program for for children and youth ages 4-21 as well as for adults, including year-round workshops, performances and recitals.

Carmel Symphony Orchestra

The Palladium Resident Orchestra

In addition to creative and artistically excellent performances, the Carmel Symphony Orchestra values and maintains a strong educational presence in the community. The CSO believes that educating our community musically both promotes and sustains cultural growth – even for the youngest of listeners. Whether “Classical” or “Pops,” the Carmel Symphony aims to perform in a relaxed, family-friendly atmosphere.

Gregory Hancock Dance Theatre

Gregory Hancock Dance Theatre is a professional form of dance dedicated to the exploration and presentation of thought-provoking issues. With the ability of dance to transcend the barriers that divide our world, we strive to enlighten, educate and entertain audiences of all ages. GHDT is a contemporary dance company, but as the name implies, the company performs in a wide variety of styles that combine modern dance, ballet, pointe, ethnic dance forms and theatre to create a unique style of movement and sense of drama. GHDT has created a large repertoire of over 100 pieces, rich in contrasts, which appeals to a broad-based and eclectic audience. In addition to the repertoire pieces, the company presents full-length contemporary ballets such as The Gypsy Vampires of Drakov, The Hunchback of Notre Dame, SUPERHERO; the story of a man called Jesus and Alice and Her Bizarre Adventures in Wonderland, and Romeo and Juliet at the Disco.

Actors Theatre of Indiana

In 2005 Cynthia Collins, Don Farrell and Judy Fitzgerald, three professional performers moved from New York City to Indiana and founded Actors Theatre of Indiana. With over sixty years of combined experience ranging from Off Broadway, National & International tours, symphony orchestras, regional, summer stock, dinner theatre…they have had the opportunity to work in some of the finest theatres in the country with some of the most respected people in the business.

Actors Theatre of Indiana (ATI) is Hamilton County’s only professional equity theatre company and is the City of Carmel’s Resident Professional Theatre Company, setting the highest artistic standards, creating the powerful experience of shared theatre for its community. Actors Theatre of Indiana celebrates the power of theatre and contributes to life in central indiana by offering high quality professional theatre performances and programs that engage, inspire, educate, and entertain.

Carmel Repertory Theatre

Carmel Repertory Theatre is a non-profit community arts collective that encourages self-expression through theater, music and dance. We believe that art is an essential part of any thriving community. We believe that arts lift the spirit and raise the collective consciousness of the citizens of Carmel. We collaborate with artists and artistic organizations in an effort to facilitate mutual support, recognition, and the exchanging of ideas. We work to encourage a thriving community of artists and appreciation of art within Carmel. We facilitate classes, lectures, performances, and exhibits in an effort to enrich the lives of all citizens of Carmel. The Carmel Repertory Theatre strives to unleash the artistic potential of every community member.

Central Indiana Dance Ensemble

The Central Indiana Dance Ensemble strives to bring the joy and art of dance to Central Indiana. With programming that celebrates the grand tradition of classical ballet as well as innovative, contemporary works, CIDE‘s season includes 3 professionally produced shows and many community performances. CIDE’s full-length classical version of Tchaikovsky’s The Nutcracker is a beloved, holiday tradition. The annual late-winter concert showcases the company’s exciting range of repertoire including works by nationally known choreographers in classical ballet, pointe, contemporary ballet and modern. The season ends with a classical storybook ballet each May. Working with professional guest artists, professional and emerging choreographers, CIDE’s versatile, pre-professional dancers make high quality dance accessible to local audiences. As a resident ballet company the Central Indiana Dance Ensemble will bring its unique mix of classical and contemporary work to the Center for the Performing Arts.

Indiana Wind Symphony

The Indiana Wind Symphony, Indiana's premiere adult concert band, has as its mission the presentation of artistic performances of significant music for band and wind ensemble to the Central Indiana community. The ensemble is made up of around 70 members, and includes professional musicians, music educators, and serious avocational musicians. The IWS has presented the premiere performances of Czech composer Jiri Laburda's Symphony #2, David Sartor's Veni Emmanuel, Daniel Gall's chamber work Melancholy and two works of Hoosier composer Dr. David Mruzek, The Boy Scout Centennial and Variations on a Welsh Folksong.