Author: PWJW_Indy

IndyFringe: ‘Hers is the Head of a Wolf’

PWJW_Indy IndyFringe, Reviews, Stage , , , , , , , ,

This show is part of the 14th Annual Indianapolis Theatre Fringe Festival, a/k/a IndyFringe, Aug. 16-26, 2018 on Mass Ave downtown. Info, etc., at www.IndyFringe.org.

By Wendy Carson

First of all, let me tell you that this show is about Schizophrenia. It’s initial scene makes that unclear and there is the ambiguity of the situation where it could be about something else (read: lycanthropy). Now that you know this, lets talk about the show.

This show is powerful and amazing. It does a great job of giving insight to the real struggle of a victim of this disease and those around them who are either trying to help them or just be a part of their life.

I was especially impressed by the portrayal of Danny, who starts as her tutor and then begins to turn into a boyfriend. His character is not white-washed wholesome nor entirely cut-and-dried sympathetic. He gets angry and loud at times but is tender and concerned at others which is a much more realistic look at how one would be in the real world.

The therapist, Dr. Hamilton, is genuinely concerned and clearly doing his best to help guide his patient through learning to cope with this debilitating disease. However, even at his most earnest, his voice and advice does sound a bit patronizing.

Then of course, there is our heroine(?) Elise. She literally strips herself bare and exposes her fear, vulnerability, and sheer revulsion at her plight. She struggles to overcome her demons (whose voices we eventually hear for ourselves). She didn’t ask to be like this. She doesn’t want to be like this. She just wants to feel safe for once in her life.
What becomes of each of our players is for you to witness and by all means, you really should witness this. Just know that the show is gut-wrenching and can be overwhelming (much like the condition it portrays).
One performance remains, 9 p.m. Tuesday, Aug. 21, at the IndyFringe Indy Eleven Theatre, 719 E. St. Clair, just east of the Mass Ave. and College intersection.

IndyFringe: ‘The Pope Walks Into A Bar, Father Ned!’

PWJW_Indy IndyFringe, Reviews, Stage , , , , , , , , ,

This show is part of the 14th Annual Indianapolis Theatre Fringe Festival, a/k/a IndyFringe, Aug. 16-26, 2018 on Mass Ave downtown. Info, etc., at www.IndyFringe.org.

By Wendy Carson

Whether you are a hardcore fan of the British television sitcom, “Father Ted,” or have never even heard of it, you will enjoy this show.

The residents of the tiny island of Perpendicular are an odd lot. They consist of 75 humans and 450 sheep; the most popular pastime is rock stacking; and their primary industry is a wonky Viagra factory which leaks fumes — much to the delight of many inhabitants (one whiff will get you stiff). They are blessed with a cadre of three misfit priests, Father Finn Flannagan (who is crass, lustful and perpetually drunk), Father Dermott McDermott (who is woefully naive and daft), and the eternally put-upon Father Ned (who does his best to oversee this circus). Add to this a dotty (and possibly murderous) housekeeper and you have the setting for a delightful farce.

The story centers on the impending visit to the island by His Holiness himself, The Pope. He is visiting the far-flung parishes across the globe and has decided that Perpendicular Island would be a fitting representation of the Irish. The Bishop then shows up to try to get this madhouse in order and not disgrace his position, or the church as a whole.
There is also the arrival of an ad agency to name Father Flannagan as their spokesperson since he is the primary consumer of their product, Boggy Dew Whiskey, as well as a spunky young reporter from the area news show. Of course, hilarity ensues.
So, avail yourself of the offerings of The District Theater’s bar, sit back and prepare to laugh yer feckin’ arse off.
Presented by Clerical Error Productions, performances are on the Cabaret stage of the District Theatre (formerly Theatre on the Square), 627 Mass Ave.

IndyFringe: ‘Paper Swords: A Musical’

PWJW_Indy IndyFringe, Reviews, Stage , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , ,

This show is part of the 14th Annual Indianapolis Theatre Fringe Festival, a/k/a IndyFringe, Aug. 16-26, 2018 on Mass Ave downtown. Info, etc., at www.IndyFringe.org.

By Wendy Carson

First, a definition for those of you who do not travel in such circles: “LARP” stands for Live Action Role-Playing. This is very similar to when you played make-believe as a child but in this case, everyone involved is playing a game and they are all using the same rules. Now, to the show —

Our story begins with a bunch of Knights battling it out in the Kingdom of Elerin. They represent two distinct factions, Silvermore (who wear green tabards) and Ferndray (who wear blue tabards).

Our hero, Avery, is of Ferndray and one of the best fighters. A new girl in the kingdom, Elena, catches his eye and, even though she is part of the rival group, he pursues her and they end up dating (out of game, in the real world).

In a secondary plot, Avery’s best friends Will (a clumsy, guy who has more heart than brain) and Liz (his the ever-present best friend who keeps him safe) awkwardly fall in love.

Now that things are going well in the kingdom, enter the King. After his hysterical solo, “I’m the King and You’re Not,” he declares that the kingdom (in real-world terms, land he owns) is too small to support the growing number of LARPers that are playing in it. Therefore, the two groups must oppose each other in a great battle — the champions get to stay, while the losers must find another land. He also decrees that if neither side battles, both groups will be banished from the Kingdom. Needless to say, this puts our hero’s relationship in peril.

In the weeks building up to the battle, both groups train endlessly, straining Avery and Elena’s relationship. Then, when Avery shows up to Elena’s house, he secretly learns the King is her father! Drama naturally ensues.

All are tested in the climactic battle. Will our knights have a place where they can be truly accepted as themselves and that they consider home? Can good will be enough to cover taxes and insurance on the lot? And why are they suddenly looking out from the stage at us?

The actors — including Donovan Whitney (Avery), Alicia Hamaker (Elena), Jordan Brown (Liz), Clarke Remmers (Will), Sarah Tam (Bren, leader of Silvermore), and Ethan Mathias (the King) — do a stellar job portraying their roles in a manner that shows their individual characters without slipping into self-parody. The script — book by Kelsey Tharp, songs by Matt Day — respects the hobby as much as the people who enjoy it, keeping the emphasis on the characters and the drama they feel.

My overall thoughts on the show are that with a bit of a rewrite and more polish, this show could be the runaway hit of next year’s GenCon. See it here first, on the third floor of the Firehouse union hall, 748 Mass Ave.

IndyFringe: ‘Atlanta Burning, Sherman’s Shadows’

PWJW_Indy IndyFringe, Reviews, Stage , , , , , , , , , , ,

This show is part of the 14th Annual Indianapolis Theatre Fringe Festival, a/k/a IndyFringe, Aug. 16-26, 2018 on Mass Ave downtown. Info, etc., at www.IndyFringe.org.

By John Lyle Belden

“I do what I must, rather than what I wish,” laments Gen. William Tecumseh Sherman, a Union commander during the Civil War (in)famous for his scorched-earth March to the Sea in 1864, an effort to shorten the war (which did end the next year) by bringing its horrors to the civilian population of Georgia.

Playwright Lance Sherman Belville, a descendant of the general, presents an insight into the man’s thinking as he relates his plans to a trusted assistant and his general staff shortly before his fiery assault on Atlanta. We learn of his past relationship with Robert E. Lee (a classmate at West Point), his longing for his lost son, and his desire to not repeat what he saw as the greater tragedy of the siege of Vicksburg.

The show’s director, Lynn Lohr, plays the Major who Sherman uses as his sounding board, his “fool” to tell him what is wrong with the plans he is nevertheless determined to execute.

We also have a young Private, portrayed by Connor Buhl — who also plays a Union soldier in reenactments and at Connor Prairie. This, plus being the only player in full period uniform, makes him the most interesting and compelling character. He plays harmonica, and engages the audience without breaking character before the show, leading us in songs of the era.

The playwright plays his great-great uncle, holding and reading from the script that he (as Beville) says he is “still revising.” It’s a curious and brave choice, but he often stumbles over his own words, marring what is otherwise a highly-recommended living history lesson.

If you can ignore the papers in the playwright’s hand, or at least see them as reports or correspondence or maps in Gen. Sherman’s, sit back with some hardtack (provided) and get a new perspective on the story you may only know from a long-ago high school lesson or scene from “Gone With the Wind.” Performances are at the Indyfringe Basile (main) Stage at 719 St. Clair St., near the intersection of Mass Ave. and College.

IndyFringe: ‘The Supersonic Suffrage Story You Never Heard in School’

PWJW_Indy IndyFringe, Reviews, Stage , , , , , , , , , , ,

This show is part of the 14th Annual Indianapolis Theatre Fringe Festival, a/k/a IndyFringe, Aug. 16-26, 2018 on Mass Ave downtown. Info, etc., at www.IndyFringe.org.

By Wendy Carson

Can you name just five women who were part of the American Suffrage movement? Probably not. Sally Perkins couldn’t do it either.

However, rather than memorizing a few names for herself, she decided to do something to remedy this situation: Welcome to a whirlwind lesson on the history of the Suffrage movement, complete with all of the modern technology you can think of.

Incorporating anachronistic references to texting and Twitter and other tech is not only amusing, but also helps you appreciate today’s instantaneous communication options as we identify with the plight of these women in their struggles to gain basic human rights.

While she presents us with an intimidating amount of data, it is presented in a cheery light and it is not until the end of the show that you realize how much you have actually just learned.

So, what do Sherlock Holmes, Lady Gaga, Melissa McCarthy, and Julie Andrews have to do with the Suffrage movement — and why did it take almost 100 years for women to finally win the right to vote?

You will have to come see this delightful show to learn these answers and more. Performances are Tuesday, Thursday and Saturday at the Firehouse union hall, third floor, 748 Mass Ave.

IndyFringe: ‘Why Be Normal?’

PWJW_Indy IndyFringe, Reviews, Stage , , , , , , , ,

This show is part of the 14th Annual Indianapolis Theatre Fringe Festival, a/k/a IndyFringe, Aug. 16-26, 2018 on Mass Ave downtown. Info, etc., at www.IndyFringe.org.

By Wendy Carson

Elizabeth Young Collins has lived a very interesting life. She shares some of its highlights with us, punctuated by snippets of songs.

She grew up in a large non-Catholic family (which was so quirky that it was featured in a copy of Life magazine shortly before she was born).

She was an exchange student in France, attended a prestigious Finishing School and had a nervous breakdown in her teens. She even competes in a Junior Miss pageant, but loses out because she is considered to be too fat.

After earning a college degree in French, she moves to New York and becomes a school teacher. After a while she ends up as a financial analyst with Merrill Lynch. However, she quits that job to pursue her dream of performing on Broadway. She got a role or two, but it didn’t work out.

A few years later she is on a vacation with her girlfriends when they enter her in a singing competition. Not only does she end up winning it, she gets a singing job with the resort band. A good deal of networking later, she is, at the age of 40, a legitimate singer. At 47, she ends up marrying the handsome guy who’s been carrying her equipment around. Women’s World then does an article on her about never giving up on your dreams.

This offering is quirky and sweetly sentimental. While it is suitable for all ages, it will more strongly appeal to the Baby Boomer generation.

Elizabeth presents her story at ComedySportz, 721 Mass Ave.

 

 

IndyFringe: ‘The Truth*’

PWJW_Indy IndyFringe, Reviews, Stage , , , , , , , , ,

This show is part of the 14th Annual Indianapolis Theatre Fringe Festival, a/k/a IndyFringe, Aug. 16-26, 2018 on Mass Ave downtown. Info, etc., at www.IndyFringe.org.

By John Lyle Belden

To tell The Truth: Will the real benevolent dictator please stand up?

The clowns of A Muse Zoo are the kind of red-nose folks who speak, telling their Truth with jesters’ license. One puts on the furrowed brow of a professor, relating the True story of an imaginary land:

You may not know of the country of Kundnanibonbar, as it was just discovered. Four different neighboring tyrants looked over their border with it and each decided to take the land and its resources for his or her own purposes…

But this lecture is often interrupted, as the teacher leaves the room, allowing each ruler in turn to step in and tell us their Truth.

So, whose Truth will prevail: the flower girl, the cheese smuggler, the mole-person, or the boy prince?

(Aside: In an appropriately bizarre coincidence, during the weekend we are presented with this comic allegory of how history is written by the victors, there are reports that the President’s lawyer is declaring that every person has their own Truth, so what is The Truth anyway?)

In the Fringe show, “The Truth*,” aside from all the thinky content, we get very funny and entertaining performances, with all manner of silliness from whimsy to slapstick to melodrama. Note the bees are not real, but there is use of a strobe light. – So, that’s my Truth.

Therefore be careful with your soup, and listen to the turtle on your shoulder when he tells you to see A Muse Zoo at 9 p.m. tonight (Monday, Aug. 20) at the IndyFringe Indy Eleven Theatre, 719 E. St. Clair, just off Mass Ave. and College, in their last show before returning to Oregon.

And that’s The Truth.

Indyfringe: ‘Too Old to be This Young’

PWJW_Indy IndyFringe, Reviews, Stage , , , , , , , , , ,

This show is part of the 14th Annual Indianapolis Theatre Fringe Festival, a/k/a IndyFringe, Aug. 16-26, 2018 on Mass Ave downtown. Info, etc., at www.IndyFringe.org.

By John Lyle Belden

Laura Hedli recounts for us the year she lost her virginity – at age 26.

She hadn’t intended to wait so long. She just wanted the big moment to mean something, and other aspects of her life took up her time. Her writing career, for instance, which with a full-time part-time gig finally made her a ghost writer – to a ghost writer – to her boss. But behold, this job also comes with a hot coworker, and he is very interested in her. Though he seems like a bit of a tool to us listening to Laura’s story, he is just the thing to fix her undamaged virtue.

And the book that she is ghost-ghost writing? It’s on “age management medicine” for middle-aged and older men, especially testosterone therapy. This, naturally, leads to necessary research (including interviews) and writing on sex – you know, that thing she finally got to experience two days ago.

She also notes that the stable of writers she’s in hires young, and that as she approaches 30, she could “age out” of the age management business.

All this makes what could have been a mildly interesting workplace anecdote into an engaging hour of storytelling, with Laura slipping into a couple of characters including her boss, a randy Swedish man, and her beau, the man she calls “Broken.” It makes for a unique perspective on aging and how we confront and defy it. Come listen and see how well she expresses herself under her own name, as we explore whether a year of one’s life is worth reaching a significant personal milestone – and six words in a book’s Acknowledgements.

Laura relates her story one more time for us, 6 p.m. Monday, Aug. 20, at the IndyFringe Indy Eleven Theatre, 719 E. St. Clair, just off Mass Ave. and College.

IndyFringe: ‘Betsy Carmichael’s BINGO Palace’

PWJW_Indy Games, IndyFringe, Reviews, Stage , , , , , , , , , ,

This show is part of the 14th Annual Indianapolis Theatre Fringe Festival, a/k/a IndyFringe, Aug. 16-26, 2018 on Mass Ave downtown. Info, etc., at www.IndyFringe.org.

By John Lyle Belden

Heavens to Betsy! Talk about a limited engagement, the Bingo Palace has only one more day in Indianapolis — today, Sunday, Aug. 19, at the Parish Hall also known as the IndyFringe Indy Eleven theatre.

For the lucky souls who see this in time, here’s what you can expect: A lovely lady (some call her a drag, but she’s plenty upbeat to me) who hosts an event of actual Bingo games with actual prizes, as well as fun interludes including a couple of audience members making their own good-luck charms. As her ex-brother-in-law calls out the numbers, she adds the traditional Bingo Hall call-and-responses, in which we must all join in. Just remember, it’s not “G 54, Where are You,” but G (Studio) 54, the Ellen-style dance break. And on other numbers ending in 4, watch out for “candy store”!

Interactive theatre is rarely this fun; it would be a shame to miss it.

(Here’s the review of her 2017 appearance.)

 

IndyFringe: ‘Arcade Fire! The Redemption of Billy Mitchell’

PWJW_Indy IndyFringe, Reviews, Stage , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , ,

This show is part of the 14th Annual Indianapolis Theatre Fringe Festival, a/k/a IndyFringe, Aug. 16-26, 2018 on Mass Ave downtown. Info, etc., at www.IndyFringe.org.

By John Lyle Belden

(*With bonus hot sauce review!)

To be clear, this is not about Arcade Fire, the band, but about redemption, and a proud man who doesn’t want to be known just for awesome hot sauce (see below) but also for being the King of Kong, able to best any game in the arcade.

Quirky playwright and Fringe regular Casey Ross got the idea not long ago to take the story of Billy Mitchell, whose record high score on Donkey Kong was unquestioned until a popular documentary alleged that he somehow cheated, and make it into a musical. This brought out Billy himself — not to stop her, but to give his hearty trademark thumbs-up. If you come to the show today (Sunday, Aug. 19), he will be there in the audience and available for your admiration after.

The musical, written by Ross with clever rousing songs by Christopher McNeely, is based on true events and people, including the frustrated middle-school teacher who challenged Mitchell’s record. Our Billy is selling his sauce at his pizza joint in Florida, when he discovers that the Internet is dissing him. He fights fire with fire by going on a podcast and challenging his detractors to a Kong-Off. Who will smash through the barrels and climb to the top, and who will fall?

A cast of fine local actors bring the story to life, including Luke McConnell as Mitchell (an excellent likeness), Anthony Nathan as rival Steve Wiebe, Jim Banta as Donkey Kong’s “Number Two” Brian Kuh, Ryan Powell as arcade referee Walter Day, and Kayla Lee as Steve’s longsuffering wife Nicole. As to their singing and dancing — well, did I mention they are fine actors? Still the moves they bust just add to the fun as we all take so seriously what is literally a two-bit hobby (at least before games cost more than a quarter to play).

Full disclosure: We’re very good friends with Ross, but when you experience “ArcadeFire!” presented by her Catalyst Repertory at the Firehouse union hall, third floor, you’ll want to be her pals, too.

*Among the Billy Mitchell swag is his signature hot sauce (which he will sign if you ask). Wendy and I tried it on some roast beef, and it is excellent, with rich flavors reminiscent of Cholula, but with a little more kick. It has sweet with the heat, so is fine for moderate spice users — though it might disappoint those who want something that sets their heads on fire (what’s up with you people?!). Later at the beer tent I saw some Fringers shaking a little into their beer, and they said it was good that way. To each their own.