INDIANAPOLIS (WISH) — The role Indiana played in one of baseball’s most important legacies, the Negro Leagues, was discussed Thursday night in Indianapolis.

It was part of the monthly series called Conversations on Indiana: African American History and Culture.

The nonprofit Freetown Village hosts the series.

Two visitors talked Thursday morning about the series on “Daybreak.” Clete Ladd is a historian, and Rodney Scott is one of the best players ever to come out of Indianapolis. Scott is an Arlington alum who went on to star in Major League Baseball.

This story was created from a script aired on WISH-TV.

A weeklong celebration of new works is coming to Indianapolis in the form of PlayFest Indy. 

The New Harmony Project, in partnership with eight local professional theater companies, is hosting the first PlayFest Indy, which aims to highlight Indianapolis as a hub for playwrights to come create, develop and showcase new works. PlayFest Indy is set for Sept. 9-15 and will premier new works and readings of eight American playwrights in venues around downtown Indianapolis. 

“PlayFest Indy is an incredibly exciting initiative for The New Harmony Project, and I am thrilled to bring these eight innovative playwrights to Indianapolis to collaborate with our vibrant local theatre companies,” Jenni Werner, executive artistic director of New Harmony Project, said in a statement. “Plays start out as the spark of an idea in the mind of a writer, and audiences aren’t usually invited into the process of developing those ideas into what you see produced onstage. But that’s our invitation to you — join us to see a story no one’s ever seen before, and help the writers bring their plays to life.” 

PlayFest Indy officially kicks off with free, concert-style readings Sept. 13-15 in venues such as American Lives Theatre, Fonseca Theatre Company, Indiana Repertory Theatre, Indianapolis Shakespeare Company, Naptown African American Theatre Collective, Phoenix Theatre and Storefront Theatre of Indianapolis and Summit Performance. 

READ MORE: Indiana Repertory Theatre welcomes new associate directors

Following each reading, guests will be invited to stay for a post-performance discussion with the playwright 

However, earlier in the week, on Sept. 9-10, each PlayFest Indy writer and their teams will have a chance to start their creative journeys with a two-day retreat at the Athenaeum. During the retreat, playwrights, dramaturgs and directors will come together for in-depth script development workshops inspired by The New Harmony Project’s method of nurturing writers in a collaborative environment 

The workshops on Sept. 11-13 will instead focus on the actors, featuring rehearsals where they will learn to utilize local and national acting talent to bring the scripts to life. 

The festival concludes on Sept. 15 with a closing party at 9:30 p.m. where attendees and participants can reflect on the week while looking forward to the future play development in Indianapolis. 

All plays are free to attend, but reservations are strongly suggested. For more information about PlayFest Indy or to reserve tickets to any of the live readings, visit newharmonyproject.org/pfi. 

Contact Arts & Culture Reporter Chloe McGowan at 317-762-7848. Follow her on X @chloe_mcgowanxx.

INDIANAPOLIS (WISH) — A few strong storms are possible late Thursday

This morning:

​Conditions are a bit warmer and more muggy this morning as an approaching system moves in from the west. We’re also tracking a complex of showers and thunderstorms lining up along the Mississippi River here early this morning.

Thursday:

Look for showers to move into Indiana by the early to mid-morning hours. Rain will most likely be fairly light and mostly confined to western Indiana in terms of measurable rainfall. As we head into the late morning hours and early afternoon, look for mostly cloudy and muggy conditions, but we should remain relatively dry. Scattered showers and thunderstorms will likely start to roll in by the latter portions of the afternoon.

High temperatures will top out into the low to mid 80s, with dew point temperatures into the mid 60s, making it feel a bit more uncomfortable this afternoon.

Thursday night:

Another round of showers and thunderstorms will move in for the evening and overnight hours. This complex is expected to be a bit stronger, posing the risk of some severe storms with damaging winds as the primary concern.

There’s also the chance that we could see some heavy rain, although it appears the heaviest rainfall access will likely be southwest of Indiana into southern Illinois.

Overnight lows will fall to the upper 60s to around 70°.

Friday:

Scattered showers and thunderstorms look to continue during pre-day break hours on Friday. Again, a few strong storms could be possible, with damaging winds being the primary concern, along with some heavy rainfall. Precipitation chances will decrease as we head later on into the afternoon, with only spotty showers and thunderstorms expected for the second half of our Friday.

Highs top out into the middle 80s.

This weekend:

A second front will move through late Friday night into early Saturday morning, bringing scattered showers and thunderstorms to the area before daybreak Saturday. Much of our Saturday daytime hours should be dry, with partly to mostly cloudy skies. There could be an isolated shower thunderstorm developing with the heating of the afternoon. Highs topped out in the lower 80s.

Sunday should be relatively quiet but still muggy, with highs into the lower 80s through the afternoon.

7 day forecast:

Quiet weather as we head into the new work week with highs into the low to mid 80s on Monday, Tuesday, and Wednesday. It does appear that the humidity will drop significantly for the first half of the work week as well.

The 8- to 14-day outlook, which takes us to the end of the month, calls for a good chance for below-average temperatures to continue.