Fort Wayne Civic Theatre: the Kahn years and the Colglazier era

1973–today

Growth: From a budget of $77,500 in 1966, the company grew to $807,670 by 2006. In 1988 Civic presented the world premiere of a musical Fahrenheit 451 — book by Ray Bradbury himself, lyrics by Georgia Bogardus Holof, music by David Mettee — which went on to New York's Off-Off-Broadway Wings Theatre. The same year it founded its In The Wings outreach program, which by its overview's count has provided more than 136,000 theatrical experiences to at-risk and disadvantaged youth and families, school and senior groups. Its alumni include Jane Lanier, who began on the Civic stage, was nominated for a 1989 Tony Award for Jerome Robbins' Broadway, and returned to direct Civic's Mary Poppins in 2015, and Heather Headley, who originated the role of Nala in Broadway's The Lion King and won the 2000 Tony Award for Aida.

The Colglazier era: Phillip H. Colglazier, who had first performed on the Civic stage at fifteen, became the company's 27th executive in 2000, taking over with a $90,000 deficit that he cleared within two years; the endowment grew on his watch from $10,000 to more than $3.5 million. He founded the Northeast Indiana Playwright Festival — established in 2009 under Civic's Growth Initiative Campaign and first held June 4–6, 2010, at the Allen County Public Library — and in 2015 launched Project Lights Up, sensory-friendly performances for individuals with disabilities and their families, and Operation Science Theatre for veterans and military families. Civic calls itself Indiana's second-largest community theatre and one of the nation's oldest, staging five to seven productions a season on the work of some 400 volunteers. In late 2025 the company announced Colglazier's retirement, effective June 30, 2026.

Sources:

1. Fort Wayne Civic Theatre, "A Brief Historic Overview" — budgets, Fahrenheit 451 premiere, In The Wings, Lanier and Headley, Colglazier biography.
2. BroadwayWorld, January 2010 and January 2011 — the Playwright Festival established 2009, first festival June 2010, second annual June 2011; Fort Wayne Civic Theatre, retirement announcement, October 2025 — the 2000 deficit, the endowment growth, the June 30, 2026 retirement.