Improbable Fiction Theatre Company entertains the Central Indiana community by presenting full-length plays (both published and original), writing and performing promotional shows, producing web shows, and performing improvisational comedy. We have over 40 years of live theatre experience — and we’re only getting started!

MEET THE TEAM

Christy Clinton

Founder

Asked about her theatre history, Christy replies, “Theatre was a foundational part of my life. I remember Junior Civic [Booth Tarkington Civic Theatre in Indianapolis] classes with my brother, my father’s voice lessons to become a better performer, and participation in uncountable productions in all kinds of roles all the way through high school. I enjoyed it, and was drawn to it, but still drifted into other interests as I went to college and built my life.”

So what brought her back? “My father had become very involved in a local theatre, and even met his wife there. When I moved back to the area, he talked me into ‘just trying out’ and I was quickly drawn back in to performing, crewing – well, all the grunt work that it takes to create theatre – and decided to try my hand at directing. After apprenticing (termed ‘ADing’ in the local parlance) with 5 different experienced directors on 6 different productions, I was ready for my directorial debut with a show called Greetings by Tom Dudzick. It was a show I was very pleased to present, and was very well-received. After that, there was no turning back. I’d found my passion.”

Since then, Christy has directed shows in a variety of venues and styles, including a melodrama (The Two Orphans, at the Belfry); As You Like It and Twelfth Night by William Shakespeare at Noblesville’s Shakespeare in the Park; a youth production of My Fair Lady for Christian Youth Theater (www.cytindy.org); and more award-winning productions of plays by Tom Dudzick, who has actually attended one of the performances. Christy continues to work on the daunting task of compiling the full résumé of all of her theatrical endeavors – a list of over 100 productions. Meanwhile, she has continued to act and work backstage, while also mentoring other budding directors, who themselves have gone on to find success in directing local theatre.

For Christy, the magic of theatre comes from the connections. Connections are made between the cast, the crew, the director and actors, and the tech team. And then comes the show itself – all of the work done by so many, seen and unseen, comes alive and brings connection between the audience and the cast and among the audience itself. That’s the life of theatre – what makes it breathe and pulse. Good theatre both describes and sparks those connections, forging stronger relationships and a strong community. Improbable Fiction is the next stage of building that vision.

Jeff Bick

Founder

Jeff has been active in the central Indiana theatre community for the last 15 years. He directed The Butler Did It; My Three Angels; and Bell, Book and Candle at the Belfry. For Noblesville’s Shakespeare in the Park, he recently codirected and produced Twelfth Night and was the producer for Romeo and Juliet, A Midsummer Night’s Dream, and As You Like It. Jeff’s other production credits include Fools, The Mousetrap, and The Desk Set at the Belfry. Also at the Belfry, he was the assistant director for Don’t Talk to the Actors and The Foreigner.

For Christian Youth Theater, he was the assistant director and stage manager for My Fair Lady. His most memorable time working as a director was with Betty Lou Kyle in her last directorship; he feels very lucky to have been one of her theatre protégés. He had been stage managing and producing for years, but it was working with her on The Perfume Shop that really formed his interest in and views as a director.

Jeff’s roles as an actor include Gonzalo in The Tempest, Abe Cutler in The Desk Set, Something Something Snetsky in Fools, and Tom Snout in A Midsummer Night’s Dream.

Jeff has worked the deck and been a stagehand in a wide variety of shows. He has been the stage manager for more shows than he can remember; being the stage manager is one of his favorite jobs in theatre. He enjoys helping the actors make the show come alive for the audience, and the need for structure and planning appeals to him. Favorite shows that he stage managed include The Producers, Titanic: The Musical, Little Shop of Horrors, and A Christmas Carol.

Jeff enjoys developing the characters in his shows. He has always been a fan of reading and telling stories and finds that theatre is a wonderful outlet for storytelling. Theatre is essentially storytelling with real people playing the characters. His hope is that by bringing real and relatable characters to a show that the audience will share in his love of stories and storytelling.

Ryan Shelton

Founder

When asked about the company, Ryan replies, “I envision the Improbable Fiction Theatre Company becoming synonymous with quality theatre that focuses on character. I see us using our knowledge to bring well-known theatre and new plays to our audience, and I hope to see us do musicals in the near future. The name of our company comes from a line in Twelfth Night: Fabian is amazed and blown away by what he has just seen and says, ‘If this were played upon a stage now, I could condemn it as an improbable fiction.’

One of my goals is to take our knowledge to astound audiences with our Shakespeare plays, but to also bring our experience and love of the Bard to new audiences through classes, workshops, and youth Shakespeare.”

Ryan’s first forays into performing included two silly plays in high school, playing Guard 8 and Lord 3 in college, and street performing (music, juggling, magic). His daughter’s interest in dance led him to playing Drosselmeyer and many other characters in ballet. Around the same time, Ryan, an elementary-school teacher, wrote and directed many plays for his school. The ballet teacher saw how much he loved kids and his knack for working with them, which led to Ryan becoming the acting teacher and later a director for Stone Soup Children’s Musical Theatre: “The first full-length musical I directed was Annie. It is still the highlight of my theatre life, because my daughter made a pretty awesome Annie.”

Getting the itch to act, Ryan turned to Noblesville’s community theatre, the Belfry. Often he played the fool or the idiot, and favorite roles of his include Piney in A Bad Year for Tomatoes (Belfry), Touchstone in As You Like It (Noblesville’s Shakespeare in the Park), and the stage manager character in the Farndale… Murder Mystery (Belfry). Ryan has also had a few bad guy roles: Curly in Of Mice and Men (CCP), Antonio in The Tempest (Shakespeare in the Park), and Juror 10 in 12 Angry Men. Ryan truly enjoys making an audience laugh, cry, or even frightened.

Over the course of these shows, Ryan helped Christy Clinton with her productions and then began directing himself at the Belfry: Fools, Titanic: The Musical, The Mouse That Roared, and A Christmas Carol. This led him to one of the best honors of his theatre career (at least so far!) – directing Shakespeare in the Park’s productions of A Midsummer Night’s Dream and Romeo and Juliet, which featured Jordan Donica and Brianna Handy in the lead roles: “Shakespeare is one of my favorite things to be involved with. Our company brings a reality and depth to our performances, making them accessible, moving, and fun for modern audiences.”

Ryan considers himself first and foremost a teacher; working with private students, Stone Soup, and Christian Youth Theatre has given him a chance to combine these two loves. He has directed musicals for CYT: Pridelands, Annie Jr., Secret Garden, Spring Version, Shrek Jr., and A Bridge to Terabithia: “CYT is a great organization, where kids and youth learn about life, faith, and theatre. I highly recommend it.”

Ryan designs the sets for shows he directs and sometimes for others. Another of his favorite activities involves doing basic fight choreography with wrestling, swords, and even pineapples.