Belfry Theatre

From fake fruit to real feelings: Belfry delivers Simon classic

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By John Lyle Belden

You can’t go wrong with a comedy play by Neil Simon, and The Belfry Theatre presents the one that started his incredible run of Broadway and film hits.

“Come Blow Your Horn” is not a musical, but more about blasting one’s own achievements. In this case 1960s swinging single Alan Baker (Josh Gibson), in a nice Manhattan apartment with constant female companionship. He’s been having fun with aspiring actress Peggy (Adriana Menefee), who stretches being “bad with names” to comic lengths. However, his more regular companion, Connie (Alyssa Lay), has come home from her singing tour early.

Meanwhile, Alan’s younger brother, Buddy (Jeff Haber), has arrived to stay with him, finally escaping living with their parents – neurotic and overbearing Mother (Vickie Phipps), and hot-tempered Father (Chris Otterman), who varies from passive-aggressive to aggressive-aggressive. The family owns a wax-fruit factory where the father employs both sons, though he rails at “the bum” Alan’s slacking.

Alan seeks to make Buddy more irresponsible like him, while, ironically, he finds himself having authentic feelings for Connie. But when the playboy antics get too complex, Father’s reaction could rename this show “Come Blow Your Top.”

This comedy shows hints of Simon’s linguistic mastery and knack for wacky situations that reach perfection in his later shows. On its own merits, it’s wildly enjoyable, and you can tell the cast are having fun with it as well. Gibson is great at projecting cheeky confidence, so is in his element here. Haber delivers a perfect contrast, as a man perpetually unsure of himself. After intermission, the two switch demeanors, adding dimension to their characters, as well as more laughs.

Lay is adorable as usual and shows both her and her performer character’s range in her efforts to get Alan to mature. In roles inspired by Simon’s own parents, Phipps and Otterman shine as the Mom and Dad who seem to never be happy, yet still get across that they love their kids – infuriating as they are. Menefee plays Peggy as more nice than smart, elevating a rather limited role. Katherine Gibson has a memorable cameo as Aunt Gussie.

Veteran director Lori Raffel, who has handled plenty of wackiness in various central Indiana companies, delivers an endearing take on this classic. Performances are Friday through Sunday, Sept. 26-28, at The Switch Theatre, 10029 126th St., Fishers. Info and tickets at thebelfrytheatre.com.

Belfry blesses us with ‘Little Women’

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By John Lyle Belden

“When you feel discontented, think on your blessings.”

This mother’s advice to her four daughters lends a theme to Louisa May Alcott’s classic autobiographical novel, “Little Women.” The Belfry Theatre, as part of its 60th season, presents the book’s adaptation by John Ravold at First UMC in Noblesville.

In December, 1862, we meet the Marsh sisters in their modest Massachusetts home: headstrong tomboy Jo (Emily Haus); kind, nurturing Meg (Emma Gedig); proud, self-centered Amy (Natalie Piggush); and shy “Mousie” Beth (Lizzie Schultz). Jo (patterned after Alcott herself) is also a writer, and leads her siblings in rehearsing a melodramatic play with an audience of supportive mother Marmee (Mary Garner) and young neighbor Laurie (Gideon Roark) who has brought his slightly-older tutor John Brooke (Samuel Smith). Slipping in at the back of the parlor is the very strict, proper, and wealthy Aunt March (Christina Burch).

This play-within-the-play involves some brilliant “acting” by the girls, including Jo in a wild mustache, providing a scene of comedy that alone is worth your ticket to the Belfry show. But moods soon change as a telegram arrives from Father (away at Washington, DC, as a chaplain to the Union Army), and Marmee must depart to be with him.

The second of three acts (intermission comes between II and III) gives the bulk of the original novel, including the arrival of Father (Rob Lawson) and another bit of awkward comedy as Meg and John sort out their feelings for each other. We also get a hot-tempered clash between Amy and Jo, and Beth’s tragically declining health.

The third act, set later, includes part of the “Good Wives” second part of the novel and introduces Professor Bhaer (James Semmelroth Darnell), Jo’s German friend arriving from New York.

Directed by Barcia Alejos, assisted by her son, Daniel Alejos, this production is charming and beautifully presented. Haus is outstanding as Jo, bringing all the aspects of a young woman ahead of her time, yet very much in the spirit of new ideas endemic to mid-1800s New England and changes brought by the Civil War era. Gedig, Piggush, and Schultz also bring life to their archetypes, helping us feel for their individual struggles. Roark is good-natured and Smith dashing, even the characters seeming content to be supporting roles in this feminine world. Garner and Lawson make parenting almost look care-free. As for Burch, her stoic portrayal reflects a woman who has learned only one way for a woman to be strong in their society, and dares not let her nieces stray from it – still, we get hints that there is a heart under that rigid corset.

The story we see does differ a bit from Alcott’s writings, resulting in unfamiliar scenes. Unfortunately, Ravold’s liberties in adaptation also include a couple of anachronisms. They can be ignored, and shouldn’t take away from the excellent work of cast and crew.

“Little Women” has another weekend of performances, Thursday (with special pricing) and Friday at 8 p.m., Saturday and Sunday at 2 p.m., at 2051 Monument St. (enter at Door 2 on the north side, not main church entrance). Get tickets at the thebelfrytheatre.com.

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.

Belfry: One ticket to double over laughing

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By John Lyle Belden

When it comes to the comedy “One Man, Two Guvnors,” presented through Sunday at Fishers’ Switch Theatre by The Belfry Theatre, you don’t have to know that it’s the play that helped bring James Corden to international acclaim.

You don’t even have to know that the script by Richard Bean is adapted from the commedia dell’arte play “The Servant of Two Masters,” by Carlo Goldoni, though that helps to understand the broad comic style with characters that fit satirical and absurd archetypes, updated with British cheekiness including wink-wink-nudge-nudge asides to the audience and at least one woman dressed as a man. I sat in the very back row, and to me all the slapstick gestures were as big as life and twice as funny.

If you sit in the very front row – perhaps something you should be aware of – don’t be surprised if you become part of the show.

What’s important is that this community production of the London/Broadway hit is hilarious and sharply served up, especially by our central servant Francis (Mason Odle), who – because food costs money and he’s starving – takes on employment from two well-to-do gents.

Set in the English seaside resort town of Brighton in 1963 (which was to London like Miami Beach was to New York, a place for underworld types to relax), Francis arrives as “Minder” for Roscoe Crabbe (Rylee Odle), who is to marry Pauline (Anabella Lazarides), daughter of Charlie the Duck (Eric Bowman). But she is in love with passionate (over)actor Alan Dangle (Josh Rooks), which would work if the rumor of Roscoe’s death were true.

To give us our properly convoluted plot, Roscoe arrives, but is really (shh!) his “identical” twin sister
Rachel in disguise! Also at the hotel is upperclass twit Stanley Stubbers (Bailey Hunt), who (1) arrived from London hoping to lay low after accidently multiple-stabbing Roscoe, (2) has had a secret relationship with Rachel, and (3) is just daft enough for Francis to take on secretly as a second employer – easy money, right?

Also along on this romp are Laura Wertz; Malcolm Marshall; Dwayne Lewis; Amy Buell; Tom Burek; Nikki Lynch as Dolly, Charlie’s feminist bookkeeper and object of Francis’s affection; and Trever Brown as Alfie, the nearly-deaf, doddering 87-year-old waiter who’s having a painfully bad day.

I’m not British so the accents sounded all right to me, including Marshall’s sweet Jamaican lilt, and the Program includes a glossary to local jargon. In any tone, the jokes all land in one uproarious situation after another. Mason Odle’s Francis is appropriately happy-go-lucky, staying just ahead of Brown’s scene-stealing antics and Hunt’s silly bluster, as well as Rylee Odle’s cleverness and comic timing. And Rooks, is an ACTOR!

Director Andrea Odle delivers a spectacle of smart comedy with this bunch who collectively lower the average IQ in Brighton. Francis keeps confusing his two Guvnors’ letters and personal items, true love is endangered at every turn, Alan desires to literally fight a gangster for Pauline’s hand, and Alfie has fallen down again – best you come see how all this mess turns out.

Performances are Thursday through Sunday at Switch Theatre at Ji-Eun Lee Music Academy, 10029 E. 126th St., Fishers. Get info and tickets at TheBelfryTheatre.com.

Belfry serves up hilarious ‘Dinner’

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By John Lyle Belden

It’s that time of year, when many of us have been, or had to put up with, houseguests.

In a small Ohio city in early December 1939, Sheridan Whiteside – famed writer, lecturer, radio personality, and the toast of any town – visited the home of factory owner Ernest Stanley. It was to be only for dinner, but a slip on a patch of ice left the injured celebrity guest recovering at the Stanley home for the rest of the month.

This fictional incident is the basis for “The Man Who Came To Dinner,” a comedy that Moss Hart and George S. Kaufman based on numerous showbiz personalities whom they knew. This play comes to life in Noblesville courtesy of The Belfry Theatre, directed by Eric Matters.

Two weeks into his convalescence, Whiteside (Robert C. Boston Jr.) decides to take charge of the Stanleys’ living room for his business needs, threatening to increase the amount of his pending lawsuit against Mr. and Mrs. Stanley (Tom Smith and Kim O’Mara) if they don’t yield. As for the hosts, he is more than fed up while she is still a bit starstruck. Ernest’s sister Harriet Stanley (Janet Borcherding) regards their guest with a strange fascination.

While “Sherri” Whiteside is an absolute pill to the elder Stanleys, as well as Dr. Bradley (Gene Burnett) and nurse Miss Preen (Chloe Vann), he is friendly to the nearly-grown Stanley children June (Anabella Lazarides) and Richard (Jericho Franke), as well as the butler John (Aaron Budde) and talented cook Sarah (Grace McKinnies). Faithful secretary Maggie Cutler (Amanda Falcone) seems immune to his verbal jabs and handles work details which mainly involve frequent contact with numerous celebrities. Aside from the characters written to appear in the play, an avalanche of real names from the era are dropped throughout the show.

Local newspaper reporter Bert Jefferson (Eric Dixon) matches Whiteside in a verbal joust, earning respect and an interview, and entry to Maggie’s heart. As it turns out, Jefferson is also a promising playwright.

The plot then largely turns on Whiteside’s efforts to keep the local journalist from taking his secretary, involving various showbiz people who come by the house including ambitious actress Lorraine Sheldon (Hannah Partridge), suave acclaimed actor Beverly Carlton (Drake Walker Smith), and Marx Brother-inspired comic Banjo (Daniel Dale Clymer).  Some actors take more than one role; Melissa Reid rounds out the cast. A few children (unlisted in the program) make a cameo.

Add to all the human foibles the presence of a “Roach City” in the living room, an octopus in the basement, and penguins in the library, and you have the fun makings for a classic comedy, a rather unique take on the Christmas season.

Boston excellently portrays Whiteside much like a wily housecat, presenting charming softness or sharp claws (or both) to any person he wishes, with engaging wit that makes his personal celebrity and connections believable. Falcone presents a savvy sweetness that is endearing and worthy of respect. Dixon convincingly plays intelligent with unflappable Midwest charm. Partridge is a force of nature as a B-list actor feeling entitled to A-plus accommodations.

This wild and entertaining farce with sly insight into the rich and famous of the mid-20th century has another weekend, Thursday, Nov. 30, through Sunday, Dec. 3, at Noblesville United Methodist Church, 2051 Monument St. (enter on the west side of the building), Noblesville. For info and tickets, visit thebelfrytheatre.com.

Couples collide in Belfry farce

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By John Lyle Belden

Oh, the things we could get away with in the days before cell phones and social media – or at least thought we could get away with.

Belfry Theatre presents “How the Other Half Loves,” the American version of a popular British farce by Alan Ayckbourn. In this play, we are presented with two couples in decaying marriages. In fact, one of the husbands is in an affair with the other’s wife. When pressed for an alibi, the guilty individuals name a boring couple they barely know, who then get entangled in the ensuing mess.

The production is also a study in contrasts. The Fosters, Frank (Tim Long) and Fiona (Susan Hill) are wealthy, while the home of Frank’s employee Bob Phillips (Ronan Marra Sr.) and his wife Terri (Sarah Froehlke) is more modest and cluttered with items from caring for their baby Benjamin (sound effect and bundle in a “portapram”). These homes are presented simultaneously, with both sets of living room furniture present, and the walls sectioned for a lenticular effect. Kudos to director Nicole Amsler and set designer and builder Julia French for the excellent stage, with perfect spacing and visual cues to help pull off the desired effect.

Set in 1972, the story begins on a Thursday morning, after both Bob and Fiona had been out until the wee hours – with each other. To cover, Bob tells Terri he spent the night reassuring William Detweiler (Ken Kingshill) who suspects his wife is having an affair. In turn, Fiona tells Frank she was out reassuring Mary Detweiler (Lisa Warner) who suspects her husband is having an affair.

These stories are soon tested as Frank announces that William is joining Bob’s work team and that the Detweilers are coming over for dinner that night. Meanwhile, Terri arranges for a dinner with the couple on Friday (to “help” and to give the harried homebound mom more adults to talk to). Thus Ayckbourn’s script gets particularly inventive, as the two intimate dinner parties at two locations on two nights are presented simultaneously, involving a couple of rather bewildered Detweilers.

This is going to be one wild weekend.

Long gives us an interesting character in Frank, who comes off as a bit scatterbrained (almost worrisome at times) but eventually picking up on the clues – though not necessarily the right ones. Hill’s Fiona is detached and jaded, yet entertaining in her own acerbic way. Marra’s Bob is a cad – sorta likable, but still an ass – the kind of person who gets away with little, yet more than he should. It helps that Froehlke has amiable but frustrated Terri keep at least a degree of love and grace for him, even when he’s at his worst. Kingshill and Warner present an eccentric introverted couple whose relationship seems to have reddish flags of its own, but are well suited to each other.

The outfits they all wear are appropriate to the period, especially Froehlke’s, which could only be described as “groovy.” Compliments to costumer Sue Kuehnhold. Desiree Black is stage manager.

Constant comic confusion and mild slapstick generate laughs throughout, though seeing this work of a prior generation from the perspective of today’s awareness of disorders and dysfunctional relationships did temper my response. There’s even a brief bit of angry violence. This is very much an artifact of its time, the kind of wacky show you’d see after watching “Laugh-In.” Taken in that context, this time capsule works splendidly.

Performances run through Sunday, Oct. 1, at Arts for Lawrence’s Theater at the Fort, 8920 Otis Ave. For info and tickets visit thebelfrytheatre.com or artsforlawrence.org.

Laughter and tears in Belfry’s ‘Crimes’

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By John Lyle Belden

The Pulitzer Prize-winning comic drama “Crimes of the Heart” by Beth Henley takes on a special resonance in these times of heightened awareness of mental health issues and violence against women.

The Belfry Theatre presents this play, directed by Jen Otterman, at the Theater at the Fort in Lawrence in all its dysfunctional glory. Taking place in a roughly 24-hour period in a small Mississippi town in 1974, we meet the Magrath sisters: Lenny (Brooke Hackman) is turning 30 but feels ancient; Meg (Sarah Eberhardt) apparently put her Hollywood singing career on hold to rush home; and Babe (Becca Bartley) is getting bailed out after shooting her abusive rich attorney and State Senator husband in the gut. Cousin Chick (Ka’Lena Cuevas) thinks she’s helping, but is mostly a judgmental pill.

Also on hand are family friend Doc Porter (Tanner Brunson), who isn’t actually a doctor (why will be revealed), and young lawyer Barnette Lloyd (Mickey Masterson) who takes up Babe’s case because he has a “personal vendetta” against her husband.

While I do recommend this play for its sharp script and excellent performances, I must acknowledge there should be a “Trigger Warning” as there is frank discussion of suicide and attempted acts of self-harm. In fact, if one were to observe this as an armchair psychologist, you could see a lot of disorders on display, especially the effects of narcissistic abuse by the sisters’ grandfather (offstage, but very much a character in this story).

And yet, this is also a comedy. The dark humor pops up in little bits here and there, such as Lenny’s “birthday cookie,” and bubbles over in gut-busting moments including one that involves a broom and another that is triggered by the phrase, “you’re too late.” For anyone who relates to tragic circumstances, it’s easy to see how “we shouldn’t laugh at this” only triggers another round of guffaws through cast and audience alike.

Hackman naturally portrays Lenny as a character you just want to put your arm around, maybe to gently shake some sense into. Eberhardt as Meg presents us with a fallen honky-tonk angel who surprises you with her depth of spirit, but who can’t help being that girl in need of rescue. As Babe, Bartley plays a woman who is 24 going on 15, her life decided for her in a way she never wanted, desperate for a way out. Brunson comes across as a strong good ole boy, but more than Doc’s injured leg hasn’t healed properly. Masterson presents Lloyd as the kind of perfect gentleman that makes one suspicious. Finally, as Chick, Cuevas is great as the kind of person who means well, but, well, bless her heart…

Complex and compelling, “Crimes of the Heart” runs through Sunday, May 7, at 8920 Otis Ave., Indianapolis. Info and tickets at thebelfrytheatre.com or artsforlawrence.org.

Belfry presents literary classic of age of excess

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By John Lyle Belden

It has become common practice when staging a Greek or Shakespearean tragedy to place it in another time and place than its original setting – such as America in the “Roaring” 1920s. However, F. Scott Fitzgerald’s novel “The Great Gatsby” is already very much at home in that era, which gives heft to the Simon Levy stage adaptation, presented by Belfry Theatre at Theater at the Fort in Lawrence.

Directed by Andrea Odle, this production presents people caught up in the roar of jazz, fancy cars, bootleg booze, and easy money, oblivious to the fact it was all too good to last. If a sip of gin made everyone an outlaw, what other sins were fair game? And what if even the slickest con man had honest feelings?

Our narrator and guide through this gilded world, Nick Carraway (Troy Bridges), visits his cousin Daisy (Rachel Bush) and her husband Tom Buchanan (Mike Lipphardt) at their swank Long Island home. She introduces Nick to tennis star Jordan Baker (Tessa Gibbons) with hopes of matchmaking. 

Nick’s rental is next to the palatial estate of the mysterious Jay Gatsby (Samuel Smith), thrower of frequent wild parties. Upon meeting, Nick finds Gatsby is a fellow World War I veteran – a fact obscured by numerous rumors about his life and wealth – who had a past relationship with Daisy. The tangled web of characters includes Tom’s mistress Myrtle (Jessica Hawkins) and her unsuspecting husband George Wilson (Jackson Stollings), New York City socialites Chester (Zach Thompson) and Lucille McKee (Erin Chandler), and Gatsby’s business associate Meyer Wolfsheim (Nicholas Maudlin). Maudlin and Chandler also play a Policeman and witness to a tragic event in the second act.

Bridges ably plays Nick as one both fascinated and repulsed by the excesses around him. Smith presents Gatsby with a shrewd eye, likable even when you don’t quite trust him. Bush gives us a sweet young woman with everything but bravery. Gibbons, on the other hand, plays Jordan strong but addicted to the glamour of a life she feels she earned. Hawkins wins our sympathies as someone who didn’t get the breaks but keeps hoping to the point of delusion. Lipphardt manages an interesting but mildly detestable character living in a time and place where bigotry could get a person quite far in society. 

The play presents a fascinating insight and commentary on a past era that resonates so well with our own, when the lifestyle of excess is still splashed upon our screens and reported with the news. Perhaps the 2020s have a roar of their own. 

Remaining performances are 7:30 p.m. Friday and Saturday, 2 p.m. Saturday and Sunday, at 8920 Otis Ave. For info and tickets, see thebelfrytheatre.com and artsforlawrence.org.

Fogg vs. Fix in frantic farce at The Fort

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By John Lyle Belden

While 19th century author Jules Verne indulged in some of the first popular works of what came to be known as science-fiction, one of his most popular novels dealt with a bit of science fact: in the 1800s it was possible to travel around the entire Planet Earth in under three months.

However, Belfry Theatre has only two hours to show how it was done, so thanks to dramatic license, a talented small cast, and a table full of radio-era sound effects – employing a comic adaptation by Mark Brown – we go “Around the World in 80 Days” at Theater at the Fort in Lawrence.

French adventurer and stickler for details Passepartout (Bryan Ball Cavajal) seeks to take it easy as a manservant for the most predictably boring gentleman in London, Mr. Phileas Fogg (Brad Staggs). However, on his first day on the job, Fogg rushes home and says to pack a carpetbag at once and hands Passepartout a big roll of British banknotes. It turns out our master has taken up a wager against the men at his posh club to travel around the world in 80 days – or less! – taking advantage of modern steamships and a newly-completed railway in India.

The era’s technology makes the journey possible, and Fogg’s mathematical mind helps him get ahead of schedule. However, Scotland Yard Detective Fix (Austin Uebelhor) suspects the money our hero hands out freely was stolen by a mysterious Gentleman Bandit. If the warrant arrives at a stop in the global British Empire at the same time as “Inspectimafix” and Fogg, arrest and detainment could mean losing the very expensive bet – even if our traveler is innocent. Fortunately, Fix is no fox, and the globetrotting chase takes some interesting turns.

The story is acted and narrated by a cast that also includes Sarah Eberhardt as practically every officer, sea-captain and official in the Empire; Uebelhor in other costumed personae; Eric Dixon in various parts as well as noises at the Foley table; and Barb Weaver, who also plays Auoda, the doomed widow rescued in India by Fogg and Passepartout. Directed by Eric Matters, this production is loaded with wit and sight-gags, paced so you’ve experienced quite an adventure by the time our party returns to London.

The antics of Cavajal, especially when sparring with Uebelhor, are a delight. Everhardt’s versatility and comic timing are impeccable. Staggs keeps Fogg as stiff as his stovepipe hat, while allowing enough humanity to keep him likable, especially in Weaver’s charming presence.

There are actually only three days left on this fun journey, with four performances: Friday and Saturday evenings, Saturday and Sunday afternoons, Feb. 17-19. Catch the action at 8920 Otis Ave., Lawrence. Get info and tickets at TheBelfryTheatre.com or ArtsForLawrence.org.

A toast to Belfry’s convent comedy

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By John Lyle Belden

It seems nuns are an easy target for entertaining and eccentric characters who also have the noblest of intentions. We get another fun take on this trope in “Drinking Habits” by Tom Smith, presented by The Belfry Theatre in Noblesville.

The Sisters of Perpetual Sewing are a small but important order in the Catholic Church. If the Pope pops a button, the garment gets sent to the little convent somewhere in the U.S.A. to get fixed right up. But the sacred stitches don’t raise quite enough funds to keep the lights on, so Sisters Augusta and Philamena (Jennifer Poynter and Cathie Morgan) have let the grape juice ferment and are selling the wine in town. This is kept secret from Mother Superior (Barb Weaver), who is so anti-alcohol, she won’t even allow the words for such beverages to be said aloud.

Thus we get some interesting euphemisms: Devil’s Delight, Satan’s Mouthwash, Lucifer’s Libations, etc.

Fortunately, the secretive Sisters have always-helpful second-generation groundskeeper George (Bryan Gallet) to help.

But local newshounds Sally (Sarah Powell) and Paul (Jeff Haber) have gotten a tip about the secret vineyard and are infiltrating the convent to investigate. It happens that the Order is expecting the arrival of a new member, so Sally becomes Sister Mary Mary, while Paul becomes Father Paul, her brother. Then the actual nun, Sister Mary Catherine (Sarah Eberhardt), arrives, and things start to get confusing. Add to the mix the neighboring priest and amateur magician Father Chenille (Chris Taylor) and word that the Vatican has sent spies to ensure all its facilities are worth keeping open, and confusion, mistaken identities, multi-layered lies, and other farcical elements rule the day.

Aside from quick entrances and exits from multiple doors, the cast also mines comedy gold from the Order’s ritual of keeping silent at random points during the day. (Apparently, wild gesturing and miming is not a sin.) The goofy goings-on crescendo to a wild ending of revelations (and matrimony!) that would make Shakespeare’s head spin.

Direction is by Belfry board president Nancy Lafferty.

Poynter and Morgan are wonderful in a study of opposites – quick-thinking, fast-talking Augusta, and nervous Philamena, who literally can’t tell a lie. Gallet is handed a challenge in keeping George easy-going and kind without coming across as too simple-minded – he’s the average-sharpness knife in the drawer. Powell and Haber ably portray two people in a situation way over their heads, while also working through unresolved feelings. Weaver has Mother Superior cool and in control, but isn’t too sharply stern, and manages to be out of the loop of what’s going on without looking foolish. Taylor makes Chenille charming in a way that gives the Father “dad” vibes. Eberhardt is so much fun to watch as situations, and Mary Catherine’s growing guilt, put her continually on-edge.

This show is very funny and well worth the drive up to Noblesville, playing through Sunday, July 3, at Ivy Tech Auditorium, 300 N. 17th, St. Get information and tickets at thebelfrytheatre.com.

And, just a thought for a future season: Smith also wrote a “Drinking Habits 2.”