Month: May 2025

Hyperion presents man’s ‘zero hour’

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By John Lyle Belden

BE ADVISED: This play explores heavy topics, including suicide.

What does the dark, serious comedy “Rocket Man” by Steven Dietz, performed for one weekend by Hyperion Players in Fishers, directed by Daniel Maloy, have to do with the 1972 hit song by Elton John and Bernie Taupin?

In my mind, absolutely nothing – and everything.

The song was reportedly inspired by a sci-fi story by Ray Bradbury about a time when being an astronaut will be just a regular job. The lyrics are less about the wonder of traveling in space and more about the ennui and loneliness of the very long commute.

In this play, Donny (Bailey Hunt), in his 40s, finds himself in a crisis he can’t just brush off as “midlife.” It’s a crisis of time and space. He’s “losing” time; hours and days seem to pass without his noticing. He plans a milestone birthday party for teenage daughter Trisha (Amelia Bostick), not realizing it was a week ago.

As for space, he’s been changing his relationship to it. Having quit his long-time successful job as a land surveyor and abandoned his past ambition to be a landscape architect, Donny cleared his house of all its objects – to the shock of Trisha, surprise of good friend and neighbor Buck (Greg Fiebig), and chagrin of his ex-wife Rita (Isabel Hunt) – except for the attic, in which he has reopened the skylight and set up his E-Z Boy recliner for stargazing.

Donny’s best friend and former survey partner Louise (Lauren Taylor) comes over as well. Her chronic insomnia has somehow led her to study at a seminary. Buck confides in her on a spiritual manner: he is sure he is hearing voices around his own house, telling him to build an ark (like in the biblical Noah story).

Rita contends with the consequences of her “year of being real,” in which she always told people what she thought of them – a factor in her and Donny’s divorce. Still, it is his unsettled mind that primarily drives him.

There is also a crosswalk sign, “terrible” cookies, the moon and stars, an umbrella, things not done, things not finished, the song, “Quiet Nights of Quiet Stars,” and some recognizable signs that a person is taking a one-way voyage.

However, once we reach that other world – where things are the same, yet different – the troubled feelings aren’t necessarily better.

This inventive look at loss and what-ifs is wonderfully presented and incredibly challenging. Hunt’s performance is of a man feeling the pressure of being between worlds – age, creativity, even literal planets – who only feels relief in a desperate plan. The others play well their unusual aspects, enriching the context for the story’s Bradbury-esque strangeness.

Fiebig also designed the excellent attic setting in which nearly all the action takes place.

This play has remaining performances tonight (as I post this) and Sunday, May 31-June 1, at The Switch theatre in Ji-Eun Lee Music Academy, 10029 126th St., Fishers. Info and tickets at hyperionplayers.com.

– – –

Can’t help but see the events of the pivotal moment between Acts in these lyrics:

“And I think it’s gonna be a long, long time
‘Til touchdown brings me ’round again to find
I’m not the man they think I am at home
Oh, no, no, no
I’m a rocket man
Rocket man
Burning out his fuse up here alone.”

Mysterious forces at work in ‘Oak’ at Phoenix Theatre

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By John Lyle Belden

During the new Terry Guest drama “Oak” at the Phoenix Theatre Cultural Center, you could ask, what’s happening? The simple answer is that children and teenagers routinely disappear near Odella Creek, deep in rural Georgia, and have for generations. The query then follows: How? And why?

To learn the legend, we meet local youngsters Pickle (Jadah Rowan), her little brother Big Man (Joshua Short), and their cousin Suga (Tracy Nakigozi). They each know a version of the two-century-old story of Odella, a slave girl who, not long after giving birth, found an opportunity to escape – alone. It was believed that she drowned in the creek that now bears her name, near the old oak.

The implied question becomes, is this a simple horror story of a disturbed ghost, a vengeful spirit preying on children? Or is this something different – a cryptid, wild animals, or even a human predator? However, the question that we hear, announced over public address systems, is “Do you know where your children are?”

Pickle and Big Man get home after the 7 p.m. curfew, which only adds to the annoyance of their mother, Peaches (Psywrn Simone), who prepares for her shift at Krystal (a Southern burger chain similar to White Castle). The kids must stay at home after dark, at least until “snatching season” ends in July. On the radio, an urgent report states that this time, a white girl has disappeared.

Meanwhile, on the way to her house, Suga sees the glowing red eyes.

This chilling piece of Southern Gothic horror is a National New Play Network Rolling World Premiere. At each stop (this being the second between theatres in Florida and New York), the production takes on a different approach. For the Phoenix, Guest is joined by director Mikael Burke, who also worked on his “Magnolia Ballet” in 2022.

Conjuring the proper spooky atmosphere in a live performance is challenging, so the crew’s contributions are especially vital. The simple yet effective set design by Robert Koharchik, aided by lighting by Laura E. Glover and soundscape by Brian Grimm, put the action “in the round” with seating surrounding the floor of the black-box Basile stage. Aided by fog effects, well-played paranoia, and those “eyes,” the sense is not that we are surrounding the actors but that the setting has surrounded us with them.

Within this story is a memory best told as a fairy tale, “The Princess and the Wolf,” with excellent puppets by props artisan Kristin Renee Boyd.

Suspense grows, tempered with nervous humor – especially in the kids’ encounter with Simone as First Lady Temple, the shotgun-wielding old woman said to be the only survivor of whatever truly happens at Odella Creek.

Rowan, Short, and Nakigozi have not only the youthful look, but also deliver the right touch of childhood wonder, fear, and risk-taking appropriate to their young characters. Even at 16, Pickle still feels that childlike urge to believe what adults say is impossible – how else does she explain this world? With similar hopeful naivete, she and Suga feel that they will be safer if they move away to a big city.

Subtext is dense here, hanging thick as the moss around the stage or the Southern humidity you swear you can feel. The Black experience today and the burden of history are reflected in the horrors of Odella’s experience, the media’s different attitude towards a routine tragedy when inflicted on a white child, and an aspect of Paradise being where the taxis always stop for you. A reference to the Atlanta Ripper of the 1920s (an actual unsolved case) shows the history of public indifference when girls with dark skin vanish. The perils of escape – however it’s defined – are a constant motif.

We will get few answers here, and those received may haunt as much as those left unknown. Dare to find out what waits at the “Oak,” with performances through June 8 at 705 N. Illinois St., downtown Indianapolis. Get info and tickets at phoenixtheatre.org.

Getting help with all life’s ‘Stuff’

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By John Lyle Belden

It’s the easiest trap most of us fall into: You need to save this. You must hold on to that. I’m not finished reading this. I’ll get around to making something with that… Time passes, boxes stack up. And then there are the mementos – especially when they signify a time, place, and most importantly a person, no longer around.

Suddenly, people tell you that you have a problem.

Local playwright Jan White presents, with Actors Ink Theatre Company, her comic drama “Stufferage” at The District Theatre, directed by Sandra Gay, who founded Actors Ink decades ago, and now dedicates it to providing performance opportunities for “People Of a Certain Age.”

As White notes in the program, roughly six percent of people have some sort of hoarding disorder. This gets further complicated by aging as well as other likely mental issues. In the play, inspired in part by actual people and events, Marty (Chad Pirowski) persuades his aunt Georgia (Sheila Wright), a therapist, to come out of retirement to aid his mission-oriented business, Stop Stuffering, in honor of his recently-deceased mother (Georgia’s sister), a lifelong serious hoarder. His idea is to help others with similar issues to declutter and organize their stuff to better deal with their lives.

To seek interest, they set up a “Help for the Overwhelmed” Facebook group and in-person meeting. They already have one client, Barbara (Melody Ware), who refuses to leave her overflowing home so is ordered by a judge to at least attend via Zoom.

Arriving in person: Sarah (Mary Hardin) let things accumulate during the Covid isolation period and is still nervous about venturing out. Married couple Jim and Donna (Rob Young and Tina Nehrling) see each other as the problem – her overflowing craft room, his overstuffed garage – but with additional endless piles of mail and magazines, their adult children let them know it’s both of them. Mimi (Stephanie Reinert) is obsessed with puppets, but the ever-growing accumulation of pieces, projects, and finished figures has ironically taken control of her life. Darrell (Brian Shobe) misses his late wife and, after several months, can’t bear letting go of any of her possessions.

Rick Northam is handy as various supporting roles, crew director, and the foley for an opening scene that, with awkward humor, gives us a sense of how bad things get for the “stuffering” and those who love them.

The narrative shows us the various ways these characters work through their issues, both the accumulated objects in their homes and learning to “clear the clutter from your heart.” There are varying degrees of success, with Barbara – “I have a right to my stuff!” – being the most difficult, her unsettled personality nearly as colorful as the exploded flea market of her front yard. The excellent scenic design, including piles and stacks capable of moving on and off stage as needed, is by Carlos Teeters.

We get compelling performances all around. Pirowski and Wright portray sincere empathy – hers more professionally, his with the sense of a son who wishes he had helped his mother more. Hardin and Shobe each pull our heartstrings. Young and Nehrling add more humor than rancor to their couple who seem to have arguing as a love language. Reinert is endearing and an inspiration to crafters everywhere as Mimi strives to actually make some puppets! Ware takes on the most complex role with appropriate gusto while keeping Barbara’s mental issues true to life.

A light-hearted and hopeful look at a serious problem, experience “Stufferage” Thursday through Sunday at The District Theatre, 627 Massachusetts Ave., downtown Indianapolis. Get tickets at indydistricttheatre.org.

‘Laramie Project’ at IF Theatre

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By John Lyle Belden

Twenty-seven years, this October.

That is how long it has been since the murder of Matthew Shepard. About five years longer than he was alive.

The memory of that life, how the gay college student was brutally beaten and left to die tied to a wooden fence, and how the aftermath changed a town and affected the world were captured by the Tectonic Theatre Project, led by Moises Kaufman, in “The Laramie Project.” This play – more like a staged documentary derived from actual interviews and journal entries – is presented by Picture It! Players at IF Theatre through Sunday (May 18).

Directed by Molly Bellner, the cast of Austin Uebelhor, Thom Turner, Adam Phillips, Ryan Moskalick, Amelia Tryon, Cass Knowling, Susan Yeaw, Mary-Margaret Sweeney, and James LaMonte portray both the project interviewers and the people of Laramie, Wyoming, whom they talked to.

Among various roles, Uebelhor plays Kaufman and a priest who organized the candlelight vigil while Shepard was in a coma; Turner is the overwhelmed police sergeant tasked with the case as well as the E.R. doctor who initially treated Shepard, and, coincidentally, one of his attackers; Phillips plays the bartender who was among the last to see Shepard before his attack, as well as a minister preaching against homosexuality; Moskalick’s roles include a theatre student whose perspective widens and one of the attackers, dodging the death penalty by pleading guilty; Tryon relates being the police officer on the scene cutting the cords binding a bloody body, while Yeaw is her concerned mother; Knowling plays a close female friend of “Matt” as well as the teen cyclist who found him dying in the Wyoming countryside; Sweeney gives the view of the head of the University of Wyoming theatre department as well as a local newspaper reporter; LaMonte gives us the empathetic Sheriff’s department investigator as well as the infamously cruel Fred Phelps.

This is an important piece of theatre, an examination of a life, a senseless sadistic crime, and of the rest of us – how we deal with what happened as well as our attitudes and beliefs.

We had seen a production before, on the 20th anniversary of Shepard’s death in 2018. I knew what to expect, however, this time I was struck by the degree of appropriately measured humor in this play. The awkward interactions that come from strangers from a New York theatre coming out West to talk to folks about this absolute worst thing that had happened does set up a few gentle laughs. Upon reflection of the kind of love for life Matt Shepard was known to exhibit this bit of levity is welcome, humanizing the many people dealing with this trauma in their own way. On the other hand, knowing this is based on true events, it didn’t take stage trickery to bring real tears to the actors’ eyes.

Only two performances, 7:30 p.m. Saturday and 3 p.m. Sunday, remain as I post this. It’s on the IF Theatre Basile main stage, 719 E. St. Clair St., downtown Indianapolis; get tickets at indyfringe.org.

Jewish Theatre of Bloomington: Herzog play goes the distance

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By John Lyle Belden

How far would you go for a friend? For someone you love?

The Jewish Theatre of Bloomington presents “4000 Miles,” the 2013 Pulitzer finalist dramatic comedy by Amy Herzog.

Bill Simmons, who directed the Indiana premiere in 2012, is at the helm again. He said that the time that passed between these productions has given him better perspective on the main characters, 21-year-old Leo (Ryan Eller) and his 91-year-old grandmother Vera (Martha Jacobs, who was also in the 2012 Phoenix Theatre production).

Leo arrives unexpectedly around midnight at Vera’s New York apartment. He is excitable with hair-trigger moods, while she is patient and understanding, though a bit bewildered. He brings in his bicycle, having ridden not from his family’s home in St. Paul, Minn., but all the way from Seattle. He does not want his mother to know where he is.

Through 10 emotional scenes we learn what has brought Leo here, and the feelings and issues he must work through. This includes his relationship with Bec (Sofia Salgado), also in New York to attend college. One night, he brings home a young woman he just met, Amanda (Laura Rong), who resembles his adopted sister Lily (Rebecca Von Kirk). He has a lot to deal with, along with a sense that others believe he’s handling it all wrong. Meanwhile, Vera is dealing with her own feelings of things slipping away, including the passing of a dear friend in her “octogenarian club.”

The sharp script, excellent acting, and Simmons’ touch combine to make these strangers feel familiar, like people whose pain we don’t mind sharing. The generation gap and Vera’s feisty attitude generate a good amount of welcome laughs as a little absurdity finds its way into even the most serious situations. Beneath the problems is a genuine sense of feeling and connection, which leads to a hopeful outcome we can all feel as the play concludes.

Travel the much-shorter distance (from Indy) to experience “4000 Miles,” Thursday, Saturday, and Sunday, May 15-17-18, at the Waldron Art Center Rose Firebay, 122 S. Walnut St. (ground floor off 4th Street), Bloomington. Get tickets and info at jewishtheatrebloomington.com.

Mud Creek goes ‘Barefoot’

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By John Lyle Belden

Seeing a comedy by Neil Simon is kind of like treating yourself to a really nice meal. It just feels so good and satisfying. This is certainly true with the highly-quotable silly-even-when-serious fun of “Barefoot in the Park,” presented by Mud Creek Players, directed by Michelle Moore.

In the anything can happen time and place of 1960s New York, newlyweds Paul and Corie Bratter (Matthew Blandford and Piper Williams) move into their first apartment – a fifth-floor walk-up. Corie eagerly awaits a delayed furniture delivery, but the only arrival is the phone company man (Kevin Smith), who feels every step of the five flights (plus stoop). Soon Paul arrives from his job as a lawyer and while his wife giddily accepts their new place, he can’t help but see its many flaws.

Next to ascend the eternal stairs is Corie’s mother, Ethel (Barb Weaver). To see the apartment after it’s furnished, she agrees to return that Friday for dinner.

Paul is also annoyed – while Corie is pleased – to find that their brownstone is full of eccentric tenants, especially their upstairs (attic) neighbor, aging worldly raconteur Victor Velasco (Chris Otterman). Feeling her mom could use some spice in her life, Corie invites him to dinner Friday as well. And that weekend, things get very spicy.

Simon likes to throw together odd couples, and Williams and Blandford portray well their tested love in a comic clash between one who leaps into life and one who prefers to just sit and get some work done. Corie gets almost too manic, yet that overwhelming nature plays into the second-act antics as Paul finds himself literally on the edge. Weaver nicely plays the woman feeling her adventurous years were behind her, finding herself in her wildest one yet. Otterman’s Victor is a gentlemanly force of nature, not so much chewing the scenery as serving it up with the perfect seasoning.

Smith gets to be charming while his AT&T tech catches his breath. In addition, Jackson Hawkins plays the Delivery Man, who not only finally brings furniture at the end of the first scene, but also appears at major scene changes to summon the stage crew – including Alexandra Sarell and stage manager Dallas Ganz – to move things around as needed.

So feast your senses (and “don’t forget to ‘pop’ it!”) at “Barefoot in the Park,” Thursday through Saturday, May 15-17, at Mud Creek Players “Barn,” 9740 E. 86th St., Indianapolis. Get tickets at mudcreekplayers.org.

Omigod you guys(?) – Indy Drag goes to law school

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By John Lyle Belden

(Note: Out of respect for the art form and its performers, they are identified by their Drag names as given in the show program.)

Many of us are familiar with the 2001 film “Legally Blonde,” and perhaps with the 2007 stage musical, however for Indy Drag Theatre, it was a parody tribute to this fun comedy in 2022 that got the company rolling. Now, this clever melding of both movie and Broadway – acted, danced and neatly lip-synched by local Drag Queens and Kings – has returned to The District Theatre.

Also notable as an actor in conventional musicals, Parker Taylor makes a stunning transformation into Honey Bunn, who plays our blonde heroine, Elle Woods. To win back the love of her ex-boyfriend Warner (played by Cadence), she leaves UCLA to enter Harvard Law School. Needless to say, it won’t be easy for her but very funny and entertaining for us. In Boston, Elle gets help from teaching assistant Emmett (Eli Rose) and local beautician Paulette (Sydnie Blair), but no help from Vivienne (Kalinda), who is with Warner now.

Elle finally gets to prove herself as part of a team of interns for Professor Callahan (Kristen N. Peterson), who is defending a famous fitness expert Brooke Wyndham (Vera Vanderwoude St. Clair) charged with murder.

The cast includes Axel Brozie as classmate Enid, and AJ Thoma, Kitt St. Clair, and B.B. Rosè as Elle’s Delta Nu sisters Margot, Serena, and Pilar, who appear as her literal Greek Chorus. Sean Seager is dog-gone cute as anthropomorphic pooch Bruiser, as well as hot UPS man Kyle.

A tip of the wig also to Ilana a la Mode, Madison Avenue, Kami Kamora, RoDick Heffley, Josè Dos Santos, Ellen Vander Missen, DeLuLu De Vant, Justin Sheedy, Sophie Sweany, Tiffany Rae, and CiCi Pasion.

Directed by IDT co-founders Blair St. Clair and April Rosè (who choreographed), stage manager is Natalie Port-Ma’am, with costumes by Alish Forner, makeup by St. Pussifer, wigs by Hair By Blair and sturdy sets by Josh Vander Missen.

While the Queens usually get the attention in these shows, it takes all kinds to make the magic work, and I must note the stellar King performance by Peterson as conniving, cruel creep Callahan.

With its energy, flair, and embrace of all things pink and shiny, this musical meshes perfectly with the Drag Theatre format, providing a wonderful experience all around. Get “Legally Blonde(r)” this Thursday through Sunday, May 15-18, at the District Theatre, 627 Massachusetts Ave., Indianapolis. Get tickets at indydistricttheatre.org.

Fringe alert: Get real weird with a real scientist

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By John Lyle Belden

Some scientific studies sound too bizarre or silly but do have real-world applications. Other times, you hear “according to this study,” yet on a closer look you have to say, “Really?!”

Dr. Rob Pyatt, PhD., tackles both kinds of actual research in his lectures. A self-proclaimed “stand-up scientist” (we’d say this is backwards: he’s fact-based first, with a wild sense of humor), he has hosted a popular real-world Weird Science program (no relation to the film or song) at sci-fi conventions and other events for 20-plus years, plus other STEM education programs and initiatives in several states. An Indiana University graduate with Masters from Purdue and Doctorate from Ohio State, he has also worked at the University of South Dakota, Sioux Falls; and Kean University, Union, N.J.

Aside from serious credentials, Rob is seriously entertaining, whether elaborating on a rather deviant duck, the importance of what bathroom stall you use is to facility planning, or discussing anything Godzilla. He lets audiences know how the science is made, often involving us in quirky surveys which can be mined for data, both accurate and misleading.

Our research shows that he loves Indianapolis.

He will appear live at his regular haunt, InConJunction Sci-Fi Convention, July 4-6, with his Weird Science on the evening of Saturday, July 5, at the Wyndham Indianapolis Airport, 2544 Executive Drive. He presents real, published case studies, research, and incidents explored for – if not useful information – at least, a lot of laughs. And be ready to do an offbeat questionnaire – past surveys include the above restroom preference, or if you can tell a “pit bull” from other breeds by sight (harder than you think!). Part of a big nerd-tastic experience on Indy’s west side, get info (including Saturday-only tickets, if you prefer) at inconjunction.org.

Also, a new show, “Grad School Sucks,” featuring Rob Pyatt, will premiere at the 20th Annual IndyFringe Festival, in which, he declares, “Comedy meets science in this show exploring strange scientific studies.” The festival runs Aug. 14-24 on and around Mass Avenue in downtown Indianapolis. See IndyFringe.org in the coming weeks for details on specific showtimes and venues.

In the meantime, you can also find him hosting the “Weird Science with Rob Pyatt” group on Facebook.

Footlite gets ‘Kinky’ in the best way

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By John Lyle Belden

With among its many lessons that you should be willing to pull together to try something wild with great potential, the all-volunteer cast and crew of Footlite Musicals present the fun and funny hit, “Kinky Boots.”

With book by Broadway legend Harvey Fierstein and songs by equally iconic Cyndi Lauper (making her the first woman to win a Tony for solo songwriting), the 2013 Broadway musical is adapted from the 2005 British film of the same name, in turn inspired by a true story from the 1990s. Set in that 20-ish year ago era in Northampton, England, a man who has inherited a failing shoe factory seeks to save it by filling an unmet need – sturdy but sexy boots for drag queens.

Charlie Price (Alexander Bast) had planned to move to London and take a lucrative marketing job alongside his fiancé Nicola (Nicole Sherlock) but is called back home when his father (Ted Jacobs) passes away. The shoes are well-made, but in a highly competitive market, nobody seems to want them. While seeking to strike a deal with a family friend (Derek Savick-Hesser) Charlie encounters Lola (Kevin Bell), the drag queen star of her own show. He notices her stilettos won’t hold up a man’s body and, after Price & Sons employee Lauren (Mara Fowler) – who secretly has a crush on him – suggests he find “an underserved niche market” to stay in business, gets the idea to make what will be known as Kinky Boots.

Reactions are mixed at the factory, though most buy in as the alternative is unemployment. Factory manager George (Ryan Bridges) is eager and creates a steel-reinforced heel. Foreman Don (Drew Kempin) considers himself a “man’s man” and openly mocks Lola, who is brought on board as designer. In three weeks, there will be a major fashion show in Milan that will make or break the enterprise, as well as the people involved.

We also meet, in the opening number, Charlie and Simon (who will become Lola) as boys, played by Sam Houghland and Ryan Thomas, respectively, as well as Simon’s disapproving father (Jerry Davis).  The cast includes Shari Jacobs, Awbrey Brosseit, Jessica Hackenberg, Logan Laflin, Louis Soria, Ruby Waliser, Jennifer Zotz, and Tom Zotz, who also cameos as Richard, Nicola’s boss.

Lola is backed by her cloud of fabulous Angels, performed by drag artists Conner Becker-Chamberlin, a/k/a Darcy Sparks; Leon Benbow-Blomberg / Miss Dominixxx; Caleb Francis / Penny Loafers; Cameron Grant / Anita Richard; Shawn Hunt / Artemis Da Goddess; Dalen Jordan / Donleigh Delights; Paige Penry / Bella DeBall; and Kenan Tinnin / Body Miss Morphia.

Joyfully directed by Jerry Beasley, we get a (much-needed these days) uplifting story of grit and acceptance. The characters are fairly complex – not just the obvious multitudes in Lola, brought out in glorious voice and expression by Bell. Bast gives us a Charlie who is well-meaning, sometimes off-base, yet easy to root for. Kempin’s Don is mostly bluster, a bloke who literally gets sense knocked into him. Sherlock plays Nicola as one who feels certain of her direction, coming to learn that Charlie doesn’t see success her way. Fowler makes her regular young woman Lauren, who goes from slinging shoes on a factory floor to being “executized” to help make the new line,   appropriately adorable.

Among the volunteers putting this spectacle together are set designers Ted Jacobs and Mary Lich, choreographer Thomas Mason, vocal director Ben Rose, and stage manager Melissa Yurechko. Costumer for the queens is Angel Olivera, assisted by Katie Van Den Heuvel and Michael Morrow. Jeremy Kaylor leads the orchestra.

EDITED TO ADD: Beasley messaged me this – “I would like to add that Claire Olvey Slaven also costumed The Angels as well as assistant directed, and Ben Jones created their hair and makeup look! The Price & Son workers costumes were designed by Edith Burton-Bandy.”

As a counter to current controversies, we get a reminder that for its community Drag is not just a lifestyle, but an essential part of life. Let the spirit of “Kinky Boots” raise you up, and remember: “You can change the world, when you change your mind.”

Performances are Thursdays through Sundays through May 18 at Footlite Musicals, 1847 N. Alabama St., Indianapolis. Get tickets (which have been selling fast) at footlite.org.

ATI employs legendary workplace comedy

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By John Lyle Belden

The corporate glass ceiling has a few more openings these days, but women still relate to the frustration of the 1980 movie, “9 to 5,” which made lifelong friends of its stars Jane Fonda, Lily Tomlin, and Dolly Parton, who wrote and performed its iconic theme.

The story, which Fonda brought to film after hearing the plight of admins in the ‘70s, got new life as a Broadway musical by Patricia Resnick with more songs by Parton in 2009. And now, Actors Theatre of Indiana have put it to work at the Studio Theatre in Carmel through May 11.

Set mainly in the offices of mythical Consolidated Industries in 1979, and keeping the plot beats of the original film, Judy Bernley (Devan Mathias [Fonda’s role]) is enduring her first day at work – ever, thanks to being dumped by her philandering husband. She is put under the tutelage of supervisor Violet Newstead (Judy Fitzgerald [Tomlin]), who is still considered “just a secretary” despite seniority over many of the men, including “sexist, egotistical, lying, hypocritical bigot” company VP Franklin Hart (J. Stuart Mill). The tyrannical Mr. Hart is served by personal assistant Roz Keith (Cynthia Collins), an obsessively devoted toady who spies on the others for him, and secretary Doralee Rhodes (Abigail Storm [Dolly]), who constantly deflects but puts up with his blatantly sexist shenanigans while getting no respect from others due to her “backwoods Barbie” accent and looks, but mostly from the rumor she’s banging the boss.  

To set the scene, Ms. Parton herself appears on a screen to introduce the show and its principal trio. The opening number is a breakdown of the theme song, energetically propelling us into their “way to make a living.”

We also meet Grace Villegas, Jaddy Ciucci, and choreographer Carol Worcel as secretaries Maria, Kathy, and Margaret (the “old lush”). Deb Wims is Hart’s oblivious wife Missy, and plays a member of the secretarial pool. Tim Hunt is accountant Joe, who is sweet on Violet. Kenny Shepard portrays Dick (appropriately), Judy’s ex, while Fletcher Hooten is Josh, Violet’s teenage son; Shepard and Hooten also appear as members of the company’s all-male executives, along with Peter Scharbrough as rising star Bob. Scharbrough later cameos as the Chairman of the Board. Jacob A. Butler plays Dwayne, Doralee’s sweet and supportive husband.

The plot brings Judy, Violet, and Doralee together in their mutual hatred of Hart, and after a then-illicit evening with a rather strong dose of pot during which they relate – and we see gloriously performed – their revenge fantasies, they inadvertently find themselves actually acting them out. So, at intermission, Hart is chained away in his own home by the women, who next must figure out how to keep the company running with him gone (the easy part) while working out the means to keep their own freedom (hilarity ensues).

Mathias and Fitzgerald make familiar roles their own while Storm adds her go-getter spark to the lady in the big blonde hair and support bra. Mill takes his tyrant up a comedic notch from the film, aided by his hilariously cheesy company photograph (props design by Casey Clouser). Collins nails the role of Roz. Hunt is sweet as smitten Joe, who helps save the day but gives credit where due.

Indy area stage legend Suzanne Fleenor directs. Stage managers are Duane McDevitt, assisted by Kayla Richardson. Guy Clark’s costume design evokes the era without edging into loud fashion. Jay Ganz designed a clever and functional modular set that allowed for smooth desktop transitions.

The fairly daring-for-its-time show that set the standard for modern workplace comedy is a still-relatable joy and gentle reminder to value everyone who has to punch in at 9 (or, from my experience, 8) to 5. Performances are at the Studio Theatre in the Allied Solutions Center for the Performing Arts in downtown Carmel. Info and tickets at atistage.org and thecenterpresents.org.