Arkansas

Exploring the degree we ‘Flex’ to fulfill dreams

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By John Lyle Belden

I am in a unique position to review the play “Flex” by Candrice Jones, presented by Summit Performance Indianapolis at the Phoenix Theatre Cultural Centre. At the time and place of this fictional drama – late 1990s in rural southeastern Arkansas – I was a small-town reporter covering sports in that region. I also grew up in a tiny town where basketball was practically the only school sport, and to have a player noticed at all by college scouts was a miracle.

Starra Jones (Shelby Marie Edwards) is the star point guard of the Plano, Ark., (pronounced “Plain Ol’ Arkansas”) High School Lady Train. The daughter of a promising woman baller from pre-WNBA days, she practices on a packed-dirt court by her home. Fellow senior teammates are Sidney Brown (Maggie Kryszyn), who recently moved from California, bringing with her attention from Division-1 scouts; Cherise Howard (Marissa Emerson), a devout newly-minted youth minister who wants baptism to wash away her feelings for…; Donna Cunningham (Enjoli Desiree), who will use an academic scholarship to escape small-town life; and April Jenkins (Kelli Thomas), whose unplanned pregnancy will likely get her benched by no-nonsense Coach Pace (Alicia K. Sims) just as the Train are State Tournament bound.

Starra was brought up in a take-charge ethos as powerful as her talent, calling the shots in a traditional 1-3-1 offense. Coach finally feels, with two star players in a tightly knit squad, she can run the “Flex” offense she has developed for years. This calls for frequent passing to overwhelm opponents – a lot more sharing than Starra is used to, on top of seeing Sidney’s stats and status rise. Meanwhile, April has a plan to get back on the court, involving a secret road trip across the Mississippi River. Desperate measures are being taken, putting these girls’ futures and perhaps even their souls at risk.

Directed by A.J. Baldwin, the play excellently portrays both the closeness of small-town life, developing tight bonds and pride, and the desperate urges of youth to kick the dirt off your feet for good, getting out to find bigger opportunities far away from Plano. These five mesh as a team and both fight and support one another like sisters. Edwards, our principal narrator, gets much of the focus (like her character) but this squad all give brilliant performances, bringing out their dreams, struggles, and pain for us all to share – making triumph all the more sweet.

Sims mainly plays the mentor but adds layers as Coach Pace also finds she, too, has lessons to learn. The title comes to mean more than a basketball strategy, as all figure out when in life one should – and shouldn’t – be flexible.

I was also impressed that this story was not critical of the role of evangelical Christianity in the girls’ lives, letting it be a source of comfort and even healing in Charise’s unsure yet faithful hands.

SMALL SPOILER: I did have one concern about the script, in that a stumble in the tournament, while essential to the plot, did not eliminate them from the Finals. Please allow some dramatic license here.

Inventive set design by Maggie Jackson puts a basketball court flowing into a rural highway at the center of the black box Basile Stage, with seating on both sides giving a good close view to all. Stage managers are Becky Roeber and Chandra Lynch, who also appear as referees.

With a real hoop at regulation height, the most impressive aspect was how well-practiced the actors were, as there are a number of moments in which shots had to be made. At our performance, every swoosh was right on cue.

Experience small-town hoop dreams with “Flex,” through Feb. 2 at 705 N. Illinois St., Indianapolis. Get info and tickets at phoenixtheatre.org.

ATI: Sentimental song sojourn sheds light on Man in Black

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By John Lyle Belden

In the lowlands along the Mississippi River in Northeast Arkansas, they still grow cotton. We see the big bales in the fields when we drive through the area about once a year to visit relatives near Little Rock. Not much around but farmland, tiny crossroads towns, and rural churches. In pre-mechanized days, cotton farming was incredibly hard; consider what a life of growing and harvesting that crop can do to a family, to a man.

One of those men was John R. “Johnny” Cash, one of the greatest singer-songwriters to come out of the 1950s Memphis music scene. Actors Theatre of Indiana presents a fresh telling of his decades-old story in “Ring of Fire: The Music of Johnny Cash” by Richard Maltby Jr. and William Meade. The series of songs presented make this a musical journey from his boyhood farm to nearby Memphis, Tennessee, then on to Nashville and – as Johnny put it – “everywhere, man.”  

Kent M. Lewis, who has performed this show elsewhere, took on the trifecta of director, choreographer and performer, lending his tone-perfect Cash voice as primary vocalist. Brandon Alstott, who has played Cash in “Million Dollar Quartet,” easily takes on the character of young Johnny and lends his own vocal lead and harmony contributions. Matt McClure gets in some vocals as well, and while Lewis and Alstott pick acoustic guitars, McClure straps on an electric, providing the distinctive churning rhythm attributed to Cash bandmate Luther Perkins.

Multi-talented Sarah Hund fits in naturally, adept at anything with strings – especially fiddle – and helping sing and tell the story as characters including Cash’s mother as well as collaborator and eventual wife June Carter. Jordan Simmons plays stand-up bass and gets in a few lines; music director Nathan Perry also has a role, mainly performing at the piano or on accordion.

As a “jukebox musical,” revised in 2013 from the original 2006 Broadway version, this is an excellent revue for fans of old-time Country and Gospel music, as well as Cash’s hits, presented with entertaining flair that engages the audience of the intimate Studio Theater in Carmel’s Center for the Performing Arts. Don’t look for an in-depth biography, though. Maltby is reported to say that he saw in Cash’s music and life “the story of America,” and thus we get a fairly simple outline of a complicated man.

His feelings for the downtrodden are expressed in his song/poem “Man in Black” and we see them shown in his prison concerts (despite his “outlaw” image, he never did hard time himself) and frequently returning to hope in faith. He also found himself leaning on little white pills to keep up his tour schedule, he wryly confesses, but the narrative doesn’t dwell much on this aspect of his life. Still, Cash admits in a regretful tone that without raising a hand to anyone, he still hurt many who loved him.

In the end – his passing in 2003 gently hinted at – Johnny Cash leaves us wanting more, which Lewis and company provide in a brief encore with one of the Man in Black’s most fun songs.

Opening night had everyone in the full house buzzing with how much they enjoyed this show. Word will likely get around, so make a reservation to see “Ring of Fire” before the ATI run ends on Sept. 29. Get info and tickets at atistage.org or thecenterpresents.org.

IndyFringe: ‘There Ain’t No More!’

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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

Commonly portrayals of “hillbilly” culture are presented ironically or mockingly — you’ll have none of that here. This one-person drama of an old folk singer raging against the dying of the light presents the Ozarks of Arkansas, dirt roads and all, with utmost respect.

One would expect nothing less from Fayetteville, Ark., resident Willi Carlisle, a University of Arkansas graduate who has performed at the Ozark Folk Center, as well as numerous folk and Fringe events. In “There Ain’t No More!” he shows his mastery of guitar, banjo, fiddle, harmonica and accordion as his dying alter ego looks back on and relives his eventful life.

A young man falls in love with the music as much as the girls at a square dance, then pursues the music of rural America all the way to Vietnam, where his efforts to entertain the troops confront the horrors of war that greet his USO band. Concluding his days in the hills of the Heartland, the folkie wonders what kind of legacy he will leave, terrified the music will die with him. And that pisses him off.

No doubt you’ve seen word of the Best of Fringe awards he garnered elsewhere. Well, this is one show that lives up to the hype. A local actor seated behind me told her companion after the show: “That right there is the whole ball of wax!”

Carlisle — the nicest person to meet offstage — is a towering talent (and not just because he’s six-foot tall) who still connects with audiences practically on a soul level. You experience the story as much as see and hear it, aided by his part-time use of a mask and a clever scroll he unwinds to help tell his tale.

I find myself at a loss to describe better how and why this show is so awesome, and not just because I’m from Arkansas, too (did feel a little homesick, I’ll admit). Don’t just take my word for it, ask the crowds that have seen it, or are gathering for the remaining performances at the IndyFringe Basile (mainstage) Theatre, 719 E. St. Clair St.