Austin Helm

Kids face difficult climb in Mathews play

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By John Lyle Belden

Once again, author and former journalist Garret Mathews draws from the deep well of his upbringing to bring us the new play, “No Hope Rope,” based on people and experiences in his high school in the 1960s in rural western Virginia coal-mining country.

Uber-nerds Rayburt (Max Gallagher) and Titus (Christian Perez) have only each other as they are popular with no one else in Dungannon High School. Rayburt is fascinated with words; Titus is fascinated with everything math, tech, and space – he was STEM long before that became a thing. Rayburt gets by, by laying low. Titus prefers to obnoxiously live in his own world, constantly consulting his imaginary computer and giving loud updates to NASA. One thing they share, though, is a lack of upper-body strength. This presents a problem in their senior year as it is announced by the principal, persuaded by football Coach Alexander, that all boys must complete the 40-foot rope climb to graduate.

For our young subjects, that rope in the corner of the gym may as well be 40 miles high.

Rayburt feels doomed, but Titus has a plan. The school weight room is open to all students, not just the athletes, and if they can learn to lift The Heavy Objects, they might be able to lift themselves up before the school year ends. On their first day, as Titus addresses the issues of cool nicknames and proper grunting, they encounter the quarterback of the State Champion Roughnecks, Charley Alexander (Austin Helm), prize son of “Coach Daddy” who is likely assured a scholarship with a Michigan college.

In this funny and heartwarming G-rated look at teen life in the Heartland, we see this is about more than climbing a length of rope. Climbing hand over hand to the top is easy for some, but not for many when the coal mine is a long way down. For the women, maybe they’ll marry the man who becomes foreman or works above ground. Rayburt wants out, likely to a career in journalism, but he feels the gravity. Titus sees his escape as a pathway to the stars. Charley is content working on small engines or his “funnies” – inspired by the comics on the Ed Sullivan show – but his choices bear the weight of family and community expectations. Our young actors embody the characters perfectly, hinting at bright futures themselves.

Mathews, who supplies the adult intercom voices, says the characters are based on himself and people he knew – he can name the know-it-alls he lovingly mashed up to make Titus – but especially for those of us who know rural America (I like to think of the culture of Mathews’ stories as “Hoosier adjacent”) we can all relate.

Aaron Henze gladly directs this production, hoping that works like this (and Mathews works like “Jubilee in the Rear View Mirror” and “Opening Hank Williams”) find a wider audience. As we post this, there is still time to catch “No Hope Rope” at the District Theatre, 627 Massachusetts Ave., Indianapolis, today at 2 and 7 p.m., or tomorrow at 4 p.m. (Oct. 14-15). Get tickets at indydistricttheatre.org.

‘Carol’ gets musical comedy treatment

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By John Lyle Belden

“Marley was dead to begin with…” truly is a downer opening, but things can only go up from there, especially when Charles Dickens gets the once-over by local theatrical genius Ben Asaykwee, who wrote and directed the musical “A Christmas Carol Comedy,” playing through this weekend at the District Theatre.

Asaykwee has another show (“ProZack” at the Phoenix) so entrusts a cast of young and old, veterans and newcomers, led by the versatile Matt Anderson as Ebenezer Scrooge (and the assistant director).

To set the irreverent tone, we have a batch of young urchins (Quincy Carman, Ellie Cooper, Zara Heck, Ethan Lee, Sam Lee, Judah Livingston, Esmond Livingston, and Calvin Meschi) providing narration and appearing as needed. Others play various roles, notably Jared Lee at Bob Cratchit, Emerson Black as Jacob Marley, Amanda Hummer as Christmas Past, Tiff Bridges as Christmas Present, Shelbi Barry as Christmas Future, and Maria Meschi as ol’ Fezziwig. In addition, we have the talents of Lisa Anderson, Jenni Carman, Reilly Crouse, Jessica Dickson, Austin Helm, Emily Jorgenson, Anna Lee, Noah Lee, Adriana Menefee, Kallen Ruston, Michelle Wafford, and Charlotte Wagner.

Drop all expectations of a faithful rendition of the holiday classic (we all know it already) and revel in the silliness as this gang has a ball bringing more joy to the season. The revelation of Tiny Tim must be seen to be believed. There are also song-and-dance numbers, as Dickens no doubt never intended – watch out for flying cast members.

Our evening’s viewing at the District (627 Massachusetts Ave., Indianapolis) was a sell-out; it will likely happen again. See indydistricttheatre.org.

CCP adds more girl power to ‘Pageant’

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By Wendy Carson

I remember in high school we had a huge problem picking out shows because 80 percent of our auditioners were female, up for only about a third of the roles. It seems that this gender disparity has not changed, because when Carmel Community Players held auditions for “The Best Christmas Pageant Ever,” most of the actors who turned up were female. So, in a brilliant casting twist, Director Lori Raffel decided to change the genders of several of the roles, mainly affecting the dreaded “Herdman clan” — it worked out beautifully.

The Herdman children, a grubby, ill-mannered, bunch of bullies, end up taking over all of the major roles in the church Christmas Pageant, much to everyone’s dismay.

Beth Bradley (Dana Hackney), our narrator, relates that her brother Charlie (Sam Vrtismarsh), whose favorite part of church is the fact that it is the one place without torture at the hands of the Herdmans, inadvertently causes this catastrophe to occur.

Stuck in the hospital from an accident, the pageant’s usual director, Mrs. Slocum (Lee Meyers) gives directing duties to Charlie’s mother, Grace (Deb Underwood), including constant phone calls “reassuring and advising” her.

Enter the Herdmans: Ruby (Jayda Glynn in the former “Ralph” role) takes the part of Joseph. Imogene (Maya Davis) usurps the role of Mary, which had always been played by Alice Wendleken (Avery Pierce) and relegating poor Alice to the Angel Choir. Loretta (Delaney Soper in “Leroy” role), Ellie (Ellianna Miles in “Ollie” role) and Claude (Austin Helm) grab the roles of the Wise Men. Rounding out their family unit, little Gladys (Abigail Smith) plays the Angel of the Lord bringing the good news to the shepherds – “Shazam!”

Add to these characters a couple of gossipy church women, Mrs. Armstrong (Ginger Home) and Mrs. McCarthy (Nikki Vrtis); the Pastor (Joe Meyers); and the petulant rest of the pageant cast – Maxine (Sophia McCoskey), Elma (Christina Whisman), and Hallie (Megan Holliday); not to mention Charlie’s ever-suffering Father (Steve Marsh), who keeps trying to get out of attending the pageant in the first place.

How this whole mess turns out, and changes those in attendance, is a Christmas miracle that has warmed audience hearts for years all over the country. It just looks a little different here.

While the cast on the whole does an admirable job, a few standouts that must be mentioned: Holliday’s dance solo was a delightful display of budding talent. Hackney did a nice job shifting her focus between telling the story and trying to survive the insanity all around her. Pierce excellently portrays her character’s “Holier than Thou” attitude throughout. Davis adds depth as Imogene finds connection with The Virgin’s plight. However, it is Smith’s turn as the fiercely indomitable Gladys Herdman that shines the brightest. I expect we will be seeing a lot more of her talents in the future.

There is one weekend left of “The Best Christmas Pageant Ever,” through Dec. 9. So, gather the whole family, scoot over to the Ji-Eun Lee Music Academy, 10029 E. 126th St. in Fishers, and enjoy a fun Christmas show. Get info and tickets at carmelplayers.org.

Also, make sure you bring a few extra dollars to purchase one of the lovely pasta angels handcrafted by the troupe. They are quite lovely and will make a wonderful accent to your tree for years to come.