1950s

Hyperion hosts good zombie play

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By John Lyle Belden

Local performer Brad Staggs said he took it as a challenge when several years ago his wife said, “There’s no such thing as a good play about zombies.” While the silver screen has stories of these undead of varying quality, and television the acclaimed “Walking Dead” (based on a brilliant comic book), this actually was in the realm of possibility.

In “I Love My Zombie,” which Staggs wrote, directed, and took a role in on June 6-9 at Theater at the Fort in Lawrence, he manages not only an entertaining zombie-centered comic drama, but also a tribute to the golden age of television and thinly-disguised tribute to the bold character of the legendary Lucille Ball.

In the Hyperion Players production, Becky Schlomann plays this parallel-America’s TV star June Burns, who, like Ball in our world, runs the production company that makes the number-one 1950s sitcom, “I Love My Wife,” starring her and her husband, Jimmy Teague (Ron May), who happens to be a zombie.

In the last days of World War II, the Nazis released an experimental gas as they retreated, which the Allied soldiers and civilian aid workers did not feel the effects of for a few years. In varying states of decay, yet fully active, the turned zombies, recognizable by sickly colored skin, were designated Stage One, like Jimmy, physically and mentally intact; Stage Two, like comic Sy Greenblaum (Jerry Robbins), losing body parts that can be simply reattached to regain function; Stage Three, largely mute and slow of mind but physically strong; and Stage Four, the kind you really don’t want to meet.

Carl Cooper (Robert Fimreite), another Stage One, is president of the Zombie Actors Union, which looks out for performers like Jimmy, as well as the Stage Three stagehands (Lauren Lotzow and Natalie George). June and Jimmy’s human costar Madeline Blonstein (Veronique Duprey) has grown weary of working with the undead; she commiserates with production assistant Michael Eastman (Brynn Lee), who is influenced by the letters published in the paper attributed to the mysterious “Mr. Kaplan,” who calls all zombies a dangerous menace that should be removed from regular human society.

Meanwhile, Gary (David Muller), the Director of “I Love My Wife,” apparently lives in his production booth and we only hear his voice.

This story is narrated to us by LAPD Detective Sam Cutty (Staggs), who tells it during a 1972 police seminar, with the help of his groovy young niece Tammy (Sydney Adams). Cutty was there in 1952 when he was called in to investigate a murder involving the aforementioned characters, leading to a bigger and more sinister plot.

I won’t spoil this, because hopefully this play will return at a later date. Staggs crafted an interesting mystery with lots of fun comic elements, featuring creatures who are not necessarily the bad guys, and not nearly as “mindless” as the attitudes of certain humans. The moral codes of the 1950s add to the atmosphere of discrimination as America deals with another easily misunderstood minority. June takes a stand as a voice for decency, rallying our sympathies as well as her castmates.

Sydney Jackson was assistant director. Beth Fike designed the sets. Ash Dykstra did the un-lifelike makeup.

From our perspective, we say “mission accomplished” for Staggs – a good zombie play with good zombies. This also shows Hyperion further establishing itself as another quality local theatre company. It starts its next season in September with “An Inspector Calls” by J.B. Priestley, directed by Nicole Amsler. See HyperionPlayers.com for details.

Belfry details plight of ‘Father of the Bride’

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By John Lyle Belden

Of all the challenges a man may face, this is one of the most daunting. He must have the strength of Spencer Tracy, with the good humor of Steve Martin, to withstand this ordeal with sanity (and, maybe, bank account) intact. Beware, lest one day you, too, become the “Father of the Bride.”

The 1950s family comedy by Caroline Francke, based (as were the Tracy and Martin films) on the novel by Edward Streeter, is presented by The Belfry Theatre in Noblesville, directed by Barcia Miller Alejos.

Stanley Banks (Dave Hoffman) and Ellie (Debbie Underwood) are parents to teen sons Ben (Gideon Roark) and Tommy (Drake Lockwood), as well as 21-year-old Kay (Lizzie Schultz), who announces her intention to marry 23-year-old Buckley Dunstan (Daniel Alejos). Pops does not take this well at first, but Buckley relates how they want a wedding so small and simple, it’s practically an elopement – Stanley and his pocketbook sigh with relief. But realizing this means no formal ceremony, Kay balks, and confesses her true nuptial desires.

There will be a small wedding ceremony – only a few (hundred) people at most.

The story skips along through the weeks that follow, featuring important preparations including sorting the invitations with the help of Stanley’s secretary (Dana Lesh), and negotiating the reception arrangements with the caterers (scene-stealing Rob Lawson and posh Jericho Franke). Meanwhile the maid Delilah (Kim Schourten O’Mara) tries not to cry at the thought of the ceremony, or to throttle the furniture mover (Robert Fimreite) who is messing up her house during set-up. Ben’s girlfriend Peggy (Grace McKinnies) is just hoping to catch the bouquet. The cast also features Beth Popplewell as the bride’s dressmaker.

Through it all Hoffman has our titular character stoically grin and bear each little crisis and unexpected expense, never fully flustered, at least on the outside. Buckley, on the other hand, isn’t taking it very well, but Alejos manages to play nervous, naïve, and fearful in a way that doesn’t make him a total jerk – we can still see what Kay sees in him. Schultz takes her character on all the twists and turns of this emotional ride with impressive fortitude, and on the big day, stunning beauty. Lockwood is also impressive as the boy caught up in all these grown-up goings-on, striving not to mess up too much.

The whole production of this classic feel-good comedy embraces the wedding theme, with usher Cavan Doyle dressed as a Groomsman to seat audience members, and some era-appropriate love songs nicely sung by Addie McMillan before the show. There are even little cakes for sale in concessions.

(Edit to add:) Kudos to costumer Gail Sanders and the company for the gorgeous bridal dress; the veil was from director Barcia Alejos’s own wedding.

Conveniently staged at a church, Noblesville First United Methodist, 2051 Monument St., “Father of the Bride” has performances Thursday through Sunday, May 2-5. Get info and tickets at thebelfrytheatre.com.

Take a ride with Civic’s ‘Miss Daisy’

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By John Lyle Belden

Sometimes, it’s nice to have the entertainment equivalent of comfort food.

Booth Tarkington Civic Theatre presents “Driving Miss Daisy,” the Pulitzer-winning play by Alfred Uhry, directed by Civic executive artistic director Michael J. Lasley. It’s a familiar story, thanks to both it being a heartwarming hit that’s easy to stage with three actors, and its adaptation into an Oscar-winning movie.

It also has the familiar feeling from being based on Uhry’s own relatives and including events that occurred in Atlanta in the 1950s and 1960s. The plot’s not complicated: Seventy-two year old Daisy (Ellen Kingston) has crashed her new automobile, and her son Boolie (David Wood) insists she no longer be allowed to drive. She stubbornly refuses to hire a driver, so he does – Hoke (Antoine Demmings), a middle-aged man of varied driving experience. What follows is the growing friendship between the old Jewish woman set in her ways and her Black driver with unflagging good nature and saintlike patience.

What makes this worth your ticket are the performances. Wood keeps Boolie genuine in his love for his mother and respect for Hoke, and his voice maintains a nice Georgia lilt that enhances his moments on the stage.  Kingston embodies Daisy with persistent toughness that never goes bitter, like a beloved grandma.

As for Demmings, his Hoke presents the big smile and easy manner that keeps him in good stead with White folks of that place and time, yet it’s genuine pleasure, not a stereotypical “Uncle” put-on. Still, he is his own capable man, and quick to gently say so if he feels it necessary.

The story flows easily, thanks in part to the scenic and lighting designs of Ryan Koharchik. Jay Hemphill is assistant director, and Nicole Cooper is stage manager.

The ride is not always smooth, but the journey is sentimental, with an interesting view. Come along at the Studio Theater at the Center for the Performing Arts in downtown Carmel, through March 30. Get info and tickets at civictheatre.org or thecenterpresents.org.

Good examination of ‘Bad Seed’

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By John Lyle Belden

The story that shockingly brought the question of nature vs. nurture in human evil to popular culture, “The Bad Seed,” is brought splendidly to the stage in an adaptation by Indianapolis’s own James Capps, produced and directed by Callie Burk-Hartz for Betty Rage Productions at the downtown Scottish Rite Cathedral.

Time brings a notable perspective to this drama. We, as a society, have learned an incredible amount in the decades since the 1954 novel by William March, which became a play that year and a hit movie in 1956. Since then, especially with the Criminal Minds and Hannibal Lecter books, films and TV series, as well as True Crime shows and podcasts, the average person is at least casually aware of the signs a person is a “born” psychopath or sociopath.

This sense of “if we only knew then what we know now” adds a deeper level of suspense and dread to the Capps play, placed firmly in the Eisenhower era, when the nature of criminality is only starting to be understood. Being born bad is a fringe theory, with juvenile acts chalked up to bad backgrounds. So, of course, 10-year-old Rhoda Penmark (played by 11-year-old Greta Shambarger) couldn’t be anything more than the perfect little girl adults take her to be.

She gets excellent care from doting parents Christine (Christine Zavakos) and Col. Kenneth Penmark (Lukas Schoolar) in their beautiful Tallahassee apartment. Col. Penmark gives Rhoda extra gifts and “baskets of hugs” to compensate for leaving on assignment to the Pentagon. Meanwhile, the girl is off to a school picnic, while Christine hosts lunch for friend and criminologist author Reginald Tasker (Tristin Ross) and landlady and upstairs neighbor Monica Breedlove (Shannon Samson), who is fascinated with Freudian psychotherapy.

The day turns tragic as Rhoda’s classmate Claude Daigle – whom she had been furious at for winning a Penmanship Medal she felt she had deserved – “accidentally” drowns during the school outing. Our girl then blithely skips home and quietly slips something into her keepsake box.

While coldly clever, Rhoda is still only as smart as her age, but goes far on charm, flattery, and, at turns, tantrums. Still, there are suspicions. Her teacher Miss Fern (Alyce Penny) is impressed at her academic prowess but concerned at her inability to get along with peers, or to accept setbacks. The apartment building caretaker Leroy (Austin Hookfin), having a simple yet complex mind of his own, senses her constant deceit, and calls her out on it. Claude’s distraught mother, Mrs. Esther Daigle (Jenni White), is positive there is more than what she’s been told, but her excessive drinking blunts efforts to get at the truth.

Christine increasingly realizes what has been going on, and with the help of her father, former radio star and investigative journalist Richard Bravo (Ronnie Johnstone), digs at a deeper secret.

Performances are nicely delivered with a touch of melodrama appropriate to a 50s film, tension builds as revelations and bodies fall. Zavakos is touching as a devoted mother, afraid the blame could be partly hers, driven to extreme measures. Samson and Ross ably portray the know-it-alls who miss the big clue because they can’t see past the smile and pigtails – a pity they never asked Leroy, who Hookfin plays with a wink to his aw-shucks manner. White brings out the full tragedy of survivorship without support. Johnstone gives a case study on internal conflict, struggling against the inevitable pain to himself and others.

Shambarger, being a gifted young actress, makes you want to not let her near sharp objects until she’s at least in high school. She manages the layered expression of a person without emotion presenting emotion, a caught animal coldly calculating a way out, or a machine-like stare.

The timeless wood-trimmed auditorium of the Scottish Rite compliments the cozy living room set by Christian McKinny. Gigi Jennewein is assistant director; Kallen Ruston is stage manager, assisted by Jamie Rich.

As this is posted, there are performances tonight, Saturday afternoon and evening and Sunday matinee, March 1-3, at the Scottish Rite, 650 N. Meridian (entrance and parking in the back), Indianapolis. Get tickets at bettyrageproductions.com.