Named one of the Top Ten Performing Arts Luminaries in central Indiana in 2022 by On the Aisle with Tom Alvarez, Marcia Eppich-Harris is the artistic director and founder of Southbank Theatre Company in Indianapolis. She holds a PhD in Shakespeare and Dramatic Literature and taught at the college level for over sixteen years. Her publications include plays, fiction, poetry, scholarship, interviews, and reviews. Her writing focuses thematically on politics, philosophy, the arts, gender, family, and culture. Her ten-minute plays have been produced nationwide and internationally, and performances of her full-length plays include Seneca and the Soul of Nero, The Profession, her musical adaptation of Shakespeare’s Troilus and Cressida, for which she wrote the music and lyrics, and Seeking Nietzsche, which was named the most impressive production of a drama by Daniel Shock in 2023 on A Seat on the Aisle. The Profession (2023) and Seneca and the Soul of Nero (2024) were both published by Next Stage Press.

 

CURRENT POSITIONS

  • Artistic Director, Southbank Theatre Company, 2021-present
  • Administrative Program Manager, Indiana University School of Medicine, Department of Psychiatry, April 2024-present

 

EDUCATION

  • Marquette University, PhD – English, Shakespeare and Dramatic Literature
  • Indiana State University, MA – English, Dramatic Literature and Creative Writing
  • Mary-of-the-Woods, BA – Music

 

ACADEMIC TEACHING POSITIONS

Visiting Assistant Professor of English

Butler University Fall 2023, Indianapolis, IN

  • Courses: Shakespeare, Early British Literature

Associate Professor of English (2018-2019), Assistant Professor of English (2011-2018)

Marian University, Indianapolis, IN

  • Courses: Shakespeare, Page to Stage: Dramatic Literature and Performance, Humanities: Literature, Art and Music; Modern Women Playwrights, Tudor and Stewart Drama (no Shakespeare), Senior Seminar, Composition, Written Analysis of Literature, Classical Mythology, Modern Drama, Honors courses: Shakespeare, History, and Ethics; Study Abroad: Shakespeare’s Italian and British Renaissance (Rome, Florence, Bath, Stratford-upon-Avon, York, and London), Stratford Shakespeare Festival (2011-2015)

Instructor

University of San Francisco, San Francisco, CA 2008-2009, 2010-2011

  • Courses: Interdisciplinary Research and Writing, Ethics and Society

Visiting Assistant Professor

Mills College, Oakland CA 2009-2010, Fall 2008, Fall 2007

  • Courses: Shakespeare, Composition

Instructor

Notre Dame de Namur University, Belmont, CA Fall 2006

  • Courses: Human Heritage, Freshman Seminar

Editorial Assistant

August 2002–August 2005 Renascence: Essays on Values in Literature, Marquette University Press, Milwaukee, WI

Urban Journalism Workshop Counselor

Summers 2004-2005 Marquette University, College of Communication

Instructor

Indiana State University, Terre Haute, IN, 2002

Teaching Assistantship

Indiana State University, Terre Haute, IN, 1999–2002

 

UNIVERSITY SERVICE

  • Personnel Policies Committee (2014-2019)
  • Study Abroad coordinator (England and Italy, 2016-2019)
  • Chair (interim), Department of English (2015-2016) 
  • English Department webmaster (2013-2017)
  • Stratford Festival trip coordinator and chaperone (Canada, 2011-2015)
  • Gender Studies Committee (2011-2018; interim chair, Fall 2013)
  • Instructional Technology Committee (2013-2015)
  • Student Conduct Committee (2012-2013)
  • Elections Committee (2012-2013)

 

ACADEMIC AWARDS AND RECOGNITION

  • Promotion to Associate Professor, Marian University 2018
  • McKinney Grant, Marian University, 2016 
  • Outstanding Contribution to Theatre as a Volunteer, Marian University, 2013 
  • Graduate Scholarship, Marquette University, 2002-2005 
  • James Richard Bash Award, Indiana State University, April 2002 
  • Educational Excellence Award, Indiana State University, April 2001 
  • Honor Society, Indiana State University, March 2001 

 

DIRECTING

  • Equivocation by Bill Cain, Southbank Theatre Company, September 2025
  • Seeking Nietzsche (Revival), Southbank Theatre Company co-production with JCC Indianapolis, October 2024
  • Shit Cake, Southbank Theatre Company, August 2024
  • Man of La Mancha, Southbank Theatre Company, March 2024
  • Troilus and Cressida, The Musical, Southbank Theatre Company, July 2023
  • Rabbit by Nina Raine, Southbank Theatre Company, December 2021
  • Voices Against Violence: A Monologue Showcase for Domestic Violence Awareness Month, IUPUC (online), October 2020

 

PROFESSIONAL MEMBERSHIPS

  • Dramatists Guild
  • Indiana Playwrights Circle
  • New Play Exchange (profile)
  • The Playwrights Center
  • Indiana Writers Center
  • Shakespeare Association of America

 

PLAYS

Full-Length:

Seneca and the Soul of Nero – Publication: Next Stage Press, 2024; Production: Southbank Theatre Company, Indianapolis, IN, September-October 2021; Quarter Finalist: Screencraft Stage Play Contest, 2020; Table Reads: Indiana Playwrights Circle, April 26, 2020; September 11, 2020.

The Profession – Publication: New Stage Press, 2023; Production: Southbank Theatre Company (Indianapolis, IN), 2022; Staged Reading Epiphanies New Works Festival, Wild Imaginings, Waco, TX, 2021; Finalist Epiphanies New Works Festival, Wild Imaginings, Waco, TX, 2021; Semi-finalist, Plays in Progress, Athena Project, Colorado, 2021; Reading (Zoom), Storefront Theatre, Indianapolis, 2021; (Canceled due to coronavirus) Chosen for the Indianapolis New Play Festival, Fat Turtle Theatre Company, IndyFringe, 2020; Semi-Finalist: Campfire Theatre Festival, Boise, ID, 2020; Table Read: Indiana Playwrights Circle, September 29, 2019

Seeking Nietzsche – Production: Southbank Theatre Company, September 2023, September 2024 (revival); Staged Reading: Southbank Theatre Company, 2022; Table Read: Indiana Playwrights Circle, August 31, 2021

Troilus and Cressida, The Musical – Production: Southbank Theatre Company, 2023; Workshop: Indiana Playwrights Circle, 2022

One Act:

Shit Cake – one hour – Production: Southbank Theatre Company at the IndyFringe Theatre Festival, 2024; Reading (Zoom), Indiana Playwrights Circle, 2020, 2023

Ado – An adaptation of Much Ado about Nothing – one hour – Production: Marian University, 2012

Short Plays (1-10 minutes):

Aloha Apocalypse – Publication: The Best Ten-Minute Plays 2022, Smith and Krauss, New York, 2022. Productions: Very Rascals Theatre (London, UK), 2021; Indiana Ten Minute Play Festival (Indianapolis, IN), 2020; Spark Creative Works Women’s Writing Festival (New York, NY), 2020

Confessions of the Big Bad Wolf – Production: Fonseca Theatre’s Boo-la-la (Indianapolis, IN), 2022; Production: Rainy Day Artistic Collective (Online), 2022

Eight Drafts of a Letter Never Sent – Lakeshore Players Theatre 19th Annual 10 Minute Play Festival, 2023; Workshop: Indiana Playwrights Circle, Scene Night, 2022

Étude – Online Production: Orange Players (Orange, CT), 2021

Five Things – Workshop: Indiana Playwrights Circle, Scene Night, 2020

Hauntingly Ever After – Production: Fonseca Theatre’s Boo-la-la Festival, October 2025; Workshop: Indiana Playwrights Circle, Scene Night 2025

Naturalized – Production: Robinson Players at Bates College (Lewiston, ME), 2022; Production: First Run Theatre, Spectrum Festival (St. Louis, MO), 2022; Commissioned by Cardinal Stages (Bloomington, IN), 2020

No Clients in Baseball – Reading: National Playwright Symposium, Cape May Stage, 2022; Reading: Indiana Playwrights Circle, 2022

O, Commi-Tree – Workshop: Indiana Playwrights Circle, Scene Night, 2020

Once upon a Train – Production: Fat Turtle Theatre Company, 2020

Owning Shakespeare – Production: The Burloak Theatre Group (Canada), 2022

Scavengers – Production: Indiana Ten Minute Play Festival, 2021; Finalist Lakeshore Players Ten-Minute Playwriting Contest, 2020

She Fed the Devil – Workshop: Indiana Playwrights Circle, Scene Night, 2020

Sisyphus’s Interview – 1-minute play – Publication: Fresh Words Literary Magazine, 2023; Production: Stage Left Fast and Furious Festival, 2022

Squared – Production: First Run Theatre, Spectrum Festival, 2023

The Wedding Recessional I Imagine My Parents Had in 1971 – Reading: National Playwrights Symposium, Cape May Stage, 2022; Workshop: Indiana Playwrights Circle, 2022

The Window – Workshop: Indiana Playwrights Circle, Scene Night, 2022

Woo Like a King – Online Production: Twobies! 10 Minutes a Month Playwriting Collective, United Kingdom, 2021

 

MONOLOGUES

Cassandra – 2-minute monologue

  • Publication: The Best Women’s Monologues 2024, Smith and Krauss, New York, 2024. Excerpt from Shit Cake

Roland – 2-minute monologue

  • Publication: The Best Men’s Monologues 2024, Smith and Krauss, New York, 2024. Excerpt from Shit Cake

Nero – 2-minute monologue

  • Publication: The Best Men’s Monologues 2022, Smith and Krauss, New York, 2022. Excerpt from Seneca and the Soul of Nero

Breaking the Cycle – 7-minute monologue

  • Production: IUPUC, Voices Against Violence: A Monologue Showcase for Domestic Violence Awareness Month, 2020 (Online)

Vicarious Son – 3-minute monologue

  • Production: Fat Turtle Theatre Company Quaranteeny Mono Festival, 2020 (Online)

Down to a Science – 3-minute monologue

  • Production: Fat Turtle Theatre Company Quaranteeny Mono Festival, 2020 (Online)

Uncut – 1 minute monologue

  • Production: New Deal Creative Arts March Monologue Challenge, Hyde Park, NY, 2021 (Online)

 

PUBLISHED FICTION

  • “The Penance of Reverend Gastrell” (Short Story) Scarlet Leaf Review, June 2020
  • “Alter Iago” (Short Story) Adelaid Literary Magazine, Issue 33, February 2020
  • “Lemon Pledge” (Short Story) Furtive Dalliance Jun 15, 2018
  • “The Fist” (Short Story) The Breakroom Stories (audiojournal) · Jan 23, 2018
  • “Squared” (Short Story) The Bookends Review Jan 8, 2018
  • “Scavengers” (Short Story) Mused Sep 22, 2017
  • “Carpool” (short story) Down in the Dirt Magazine Feb 1, 2017
  • “One Last Kiss for Karl” (short story) So It Goes – the Literary Journal of the Kurt Vonnegut Memorial Library Nov 1, 2016
  • “Play Ball” (Short Story) Across the Margin Sep 1, 2016
  • “Once upon a Train” (Short Story) Spelk Jul 1, 2016
  • “The Shadow of Perfection” (Short Story) The Avenue Jun 1, 2016
  • “In the Absence of a Translator” (Short Story) Johnny America Feb 1, 2016
  • “The Devil in Our Own Backyard” (Short Story) Quintessence, 2005
  • “Being a Woman” (Short Story) Quintessence, 2004
  • “Eight Drafts of a Letter Never Sent” (Short Story) Quintessence, 2003

 

PUBLISHED POETRY

  • “That which Does Not Kill Him,” North Meridian Review, December 2024
  • “Cravings,” Rat’s Ass Review, April 2017
  • “My Would-be Lavinia,” Quintessence 3, 2005
  • “A Henry in the Bushes,” Quintessence 3, 2005
  • “Regrettably Elusive,” Quintessence 3, 2005
  • “Window Watching,” The Incandescent Jungle, 2001

 

PUBLISHED SCHOLARSHIP

 

PUBLISHED LONG-FORM THEATRE REVIEWS

 

CONFERENCES AND INVITED PRESENTATIONS

  • “‘…sadism’s really a twisted empathy’: Ways of Seeing Revenge and Justice in Nina Raine’s Consent,” (presented paper) PAMLA Conference, November 2017.
  • “Humoring the Body Politic: Kings and Humors,” (presented paper) in conjunction with Hackelmeier Memorial Library’s exhibit, “And There’s the Humor of It”: Shakespeare and the Four Humors, Marian University, October 2017. PowerPoint associated with the talk can be found here: Humoring the Body Politic: Kings and Humors (PowerPoint).
  • “One Last Kiss for Karl,” (short story published in So It Goes, the literary journal of the Kurt Vonnegut Memorial Library) Reading at the Kurt Vonnegut Memorial Library, Indianapolis, IN, November 2016.
  • “Hubert’s Encounters with the Succession in King John,” (presented paper) Ohio Valley Shakespeare Conference, Dayton, OH, October 2016.
  • “The Trouble with Partial Continuity: Close Reading and The Hollow Crown,” Shakespeare Association of America seminar on Close Reading, March 2016.
  • “Profound Mimesis: A Defense of Literature,” Last Lecture Series, Marian University, December 11, 2015. Last Lecture Transcript
  • “Whoring Shakespeare: The Commodification of the Bard.” Shakespeare Association of America seminar on Marxist Shakespeare, April 2015.
  • “A Brave Judge”: Hotspur’s Role in the Prodigality Narrative.” Shakespeare Association of America seminar on Judgment in Shakespeare, April 2014.
  • “Resurrect Your Darlings: Falstaff’s Death(s), Resurrection(s), and Lasting Influence,” (presented paper) PAMLA Conference, November 2013.
  • “Shakespeare’s (Un)Natural World: Henry VI, Part 3,” (invited paper presentation) Scholar’s Presentations, Marian University, October 2013. (Slides) 
  • “Rabbits, Ducks, or Janus? Generational Implications and Henry V,” Shakespeare Association of America seminar on Henry V, March 2013.
  • “Reclaiming Women’s Pleasure in The Vagina Monologues,” (invited paper presentation) Dinner and Discussion, sponsored by Gender Studies, Marian University, January 2013.
  • “Julie Newdoll’s Painted Series Shakespeare: The Mirror Up to Science: Hamlet, Apoptosis, and the Mise en Abyme,” (invited paper presentation) Scholar’s Presentations, Marian University, January 2013.
  • “Thy Digressing Son”: Prodigality and Debt in The Henriad,” (presented paper) Midwest Modern Language Association, Shakespeare panel, November 2012.
  • “Julie Newdoll’s Painted Series Shakespeare: The Mirror Up to Science: Hamlet, Apoptosis, and the Mise en Abyme.” Shakespeare Association of America seminar on Shakespeare and the Plastic Arts, Boston, April 2012.
  • Midwest Modern Language Association Conference in St. Louis, MO, attended, November 2011.
  • “Being a Woman,” Moon News Bookstore, Creative Writer’s reading night, Half Moon Bay, California, February 2008
  • “Eight Drafts of a Letter Never Sent,” Moon News Bookstore, Creative Writer’s reading night, Half Moon Bay, California, September 2007.
  • “In the Absence of a Translator,” Moon News Bookstore, Creative Writer’s reading night, Half Moon Bay, California, February 2007.
  • “Engendered Narratives: Gertrude and Ophelia’s Narrative Contributions in Hamlet,” (presented paper) Women in Creativity Conference at Marquette University, March 2005.
  • “The English and French Polemic: Shakespeare’s Henry V,” (presented paper) MMLA Conference in St. Louis, MO, November 2004.
  • “Do-s and Don’t-s: A Chronicle of Teaching Shakespeare to Freshmen Non-English Majors,” (presented paper) Southwest Texas Popular Culture Association Conference in Albuquerque, February 2003.
  • “Revelation of Self in Marsha Norman’s ‘Night Mother and Getting Out,” (presented paper) Indiana State University Research Showcase, Terre Haute, April 2002.
  • “Revelation of Self in Marsha Norman’s ‘Night Mother and Getting Out,” (presented paper) Always on Friday Lecture Series: “Outstanding Student Papers.” Indiana State University Department of English, April 2002

 

ACTING

College and high school productions:

  • Harcourt, Anything Goes
  • Ethel Toffelmier, The Music Man
  • Chorus, Godspell
  • Narrator, Joseph and the Amazing Technicolor Dreamcoat

 

BOARD EXPERIENCE

  • Southbank Theatre Company – President (2021-present)
  • North Meridian Review – Editorial Board (2022-present)
  • Steering Committee, Indiana Playwrights Circle (2019-2023)
  • Garfield Shakespeare Company – Secretary (2020-2022)
  • Fat Turtle Theatre Company – Secretary (2018-2020)
  • The Children’s House – Board Member (2012-2016)

 

ARTISTIC AWARDS AND RECOGNITION

  • Most Impressive Production of a Drama – Community Theatre, A Seat on the Aisle -Daniel Shock, Seeking Nietzsche, 2023
  • Named one of the Top Ten Performing Arts Luminaries in Indiana for 2022 in On the Aisle with Tom Alvarez
  • Finalist Epiphanies New Works Festival, Wild Imaginings Theatre, The Profession, 2021
  • Semi-finalist, Plays in Progress, the Athena Project, The Profession, 2021
  • Finalist, Lakeshore Players’ 16th Annual Ten-Minute Playwriting Contest, 2020
  • Quarter Finalist, Screencraft Stage Play Contest, Seneca and the Soul of Nero, 2020
  • Semi-finalist, Campfire Theatre Festival, Boise, ID, The Profession, 2020
  • Top 10 Book Editors in Indiana, Writing Tips Oasis, 2019
  • Best of Across the Margin, Fiction, 2016. Short story, “Play Ball,” was recognized as one of fifteen “finest fiction” publications in Across the Margin, 2016.

 

ADDITIONAL EXPERIENCE

  • Panelist:
    • Indiana Repertory Theatre: Dismantling the Binary, post-show discussion for Shakespeare’s Will, 2023
    • Indiana University, invited panelist: New Plays in Indiana, 2023
  • Producer
  • Sound design (Adobe Audition, RX8, QLab)
  • Stage management
  • Freelance Editor, Writer, Web Developer, Creative Director