Month: November 2025

4th Wall: The depths of ‘Heights’

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By John Lyle Belden

November’s chill extends the desolate feeling of the Halloween season, a perfect time to indulge in the haunting story of “Wuthering Heights,” presented by 4th Wall Players in Irvington.

Founding member Alan Keith has adapted Emily Brontë’s gothic novel by taking a keen scalpel to the complex story of life and death on the Yorkshire moors of northern England in the late 1700s. His focus is on the dysfunctional, tragic relationship between Catherine Earnshaw and the orphan Heathcliff, with sufficient other adult characters to tell the story.

Katie Endres plays housekeeper Nelly Dean, whose role as narrator in the novel is reflected in her being a mainstay throughout the play, witness to all while unable to affect the course of events. Her compassion helps us to care for the damaged souls she serves.

We open with a series of scenes to establish the upbringing of siblings Catherine (Sarah Powell) and Hindley (Albert F. Lahrman III), along with Heathcliff (Alec Cole), whom Mr. Earnshaw (Stephen Taylor) found in Liverpool and raises with his children. From the start Catherine and Heathcliff become devoted to one another, enraging Hindley, who, upon returning from university to take over Wuthering Heights after their father’s death, banishes Heathcliff to the servant’s quarters. Hindley and his wife Francine (Isabel Moore) are continually abusive, which – on top of a boyhood humiliation at the hands of Hindley and neighbor Edgar Linton (Luke Proctor) – fuels Heathcliff’s simmering desire for revenge.

As for Catherine, she is to become Edgar’s bride. Overhearing her telling Nelly she must accept the proposal, Heathcliff sees this as betrayal and leaves. He returns, three years later, as a gentleman – but his intentions are not gentle as he seduces and marries Edgar’s sister Isabella (Ellie Hooven).   

Emotions and unresolved angst are heavy as the mist upon the moors, where ghosts will walk when this story is done.  Note this drama also contains violence, abuse, and suicide.

The cast portray a whole catalogue of psychological issues. Cole gives a poignant portrayal of a person so focused on vengeance he cannot accept the successes of his life, instead sacrificing them as tools towards his dark vision of justice. His blend of wronged hero and conspiring villain evokes both pity and fear. As for perpetually immature Catherine, Powell gives us the girl who wants both the adventure of Heathcliff and reliability of Edgar, without fully committing to either. Playing with others’ emotions wears on her own, critically endangering her health.

Hooven is exceptional as a woman caught in the middle of these dark doings, bearing up as best she can, her only redemption being in survival.

As for men who could have been so much better people, Lahrman gives us a Hindley so used to having to demand respect, he squanders his inherited moral high ground with his anger and addictive vices.  Meanwhile, Proctor’s Edgar is the man who would be rather dashing and happy in an Austen novel – alas, this is Brontë, and here his airs come off as spineless, doomed to find only misery.

An excellent edit of a classic story, “Wuthering Heights” has three more performances, Friday through Sunday, Nov. 14-16, at The Backlot Theatre (formerly Stage Door), 5635 Bonna Ave., Indianapolis. Information and tickets at 4thwallplayers.org.

‘Strange Things Happening’ at IRT

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By John Lyle Belden

I first encountered Sister Rosetta Tharpe the way I’m sure a lot of people these days have – on the Internet.

Several years ago, among the must-see viral videos, there was black and white footage of a black woman dressed for church, but playing a Gibson electric guitar with wild rocking riffs, in the 1940s. Her musicianship and dedication to bringing life to gospel music and spirit to pop left an incredible legacy. While it can be said that without Sister Rosetta, there may not have been a Tina Turner or Beyoncè, that can also be extended to Eric Clapton, Keith Richards, Jimi Hendrix, Meat Loaf, and Prince – to name but a few. While she had no children of her own, she provided the mitochondrial DNA of Rock ‘n’ Roll.

Now you can see her on the Janet Allen Stage in the upper floors of the Indiana Repertory Theatre, in “Marie and Rosetta.”

Directed by Christina Angeles, who admitted she had to do some “intense Googling” to get to know Tharpe’s music and life story, we find where “This Train” of life has led Rosetta (Cherish Love). In a funeral home in Mississippi, undisturbed and with a handy piano, this will be her rehearsal space before heading to whatever barn or warehouse local Black folks feel safe to gather in to hear her perform. Her meal will be whatever the local church provides. As for her bed, “I’m kind of a casket girl, myself,” she jokes.

Fortunately, her bus driver is white, a big asset in the Jim Crow South.

With her is her new co-star, Marie Knight (Jaela Cheeks-Lomax). Marie had been a backup singer for gospel superstar Mahalia Jackson but upon seeing her talent, Rosetta immediately signed her for her own tour. As the rehearsal gets under way, Marie comes to understand that this isn’t a back-up gig. Sister Rosetta considers them equals, not just as God’s children, but as musicians and singers, with Marie’s piano proficiency complementing Rosetta’s guitar, and their voices sharing in duets, call-and-response and harmony. With affection and often-tested patience, Rosetta gets Marie to loosen up and accept that God doesn’t mind humor, or even a spirited boogie-woogie beat.

Throughout this performance, we see Rosetta with her flat-top and electric guitars and Marie at the keyboard treating us to a dozen hits including “Rock Me,” “Tall Skinny Papa,” and “Strange Things Happening Every Day.” As these women get to know each other, we get their stories as well, gently educating us on a life it feels like we should have already known.

Love embodies Sister Rosetta with a sense of genuine Christian love coupled with the strength of a woman who knows herself well and sees where she believes The Lord wants her to go. Cheeks-Lomax gives us a Marie who is endearing but still unsure of herself, having been consigned to a backup role prior to this moment. We see her emerging into the star she will become (both in this tour and as a solo gospel performer in coming years).  This is one of those shows that when I look back on it, I have to remind myself these are actors, speaking from a script by George Brant.

Though Sister Rosetta Tharpe now resides in Heaven, it seems I have encountered her spirit again. See and hear “Marie and Rosetta” through Nov. 23 at the IRT, 140 W. Washington St. in the heart of downtown Indianapolis. Get info and tickets at irtlive.com.

Poe’s ‘muse’ inspires new play

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By John Lyle Belden

For this year’s Halloween festivities in Irvington, local playwright Breanna Helms took on an intriguing question: What if the “Lenore” in Edgar Allan Poe’s poems was an actual woman? The result is the short play, “The Silent Muse,” presented by 4th Wall Players in late October, directed by Josh Gibson.

Poe published the poem “Lenore” in 1843, and more famously, “The Raven,” in which the dead Lenore is longed for, in 1845. They were carefully crafted literary works allegedly not inspired by any singular person, but that death came easily for many in the 19th century, including many of Edgar’s relatives, and soon his sickly young wife, Virginia.

In this alternate history, Poe as a young struggling writer (played by Jy’Ierre Jones) is acquainted with sisters Lenore (Emma Gedig) and Annabelle (Alice Graves the first weekend, Helms during the second), as well as their Mother (Tracy Herring).

Asked his opinion by Annabelle, Edgar romantically likens her to a calm pond that has become a wild sea (a hint towards how she would inspire her own poem). To his surprise, he finds Lenore lurking in a hollow tree that she likes to climb. Calling her a wood nymph, he proceeds to flirt with her in earnest – she being the unmarried sister.  

Soon, however, Mother brings around Guy de Vere (Kyvaille Edge), a proper wealthy suitor for Lenore’s hand. Seeing her place in society as inevitable, she agrees to his proposal.

True to an Edgar Allan Poe story, the marriage is not happy and our ending is tragic. Still, Helms makes this story beautiful and engaging enough for us to believe these events could inspire a masterpiece. There are even a few hints at the poem dropped through the narrative. The script is a neatly-written half-hour, which I feel could be revised to Fringe length (45-50 minutes) with no obvious padding. (This is why I’m keeping to my usual policy of avoiding spoilers).

Performances brought the story to life nicely. Jones shows great energy and potential with his acting journey getting under way; his restless Edgar longs for love and a better life and chafes at being seen as not worthy of the social circle he lives in. Gedig gives us a gem with facets including the “nymph” with her aura of unruly magic; the dutiful daughter and wife; and a soul somehow aware of the shadow of her limited future.

Hopefully, we will see “The Silent Muse” return, and more creative work by Helms in the future.

For now, 4th Wall dives back into the gloom with Emily Bronte’s “Wuthering Heights,” adapted and directed by Alan Keith, opening this weekend and running Nov. 7-16 at Backlot Makerspace and Venue (formerly Stage Door), 5235 Bonna Ave. Indianapolis (in historic Irvington).

Get info and tickets at 4thwallplayers.org.