Carmel

GHDT’s ‘Cleopatra’ still shines, new season announced

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By John Lyle Belden

The Tarkington seats were half-full, but overflowing with energy from friends, supporters and dance alumni of Gregory Hancock Dance Theatre for the 2025-26 season-ending revival of its powerful version of “Antony and Cleopatra” Friday night.

If you see this as it posts, Saturday, June 6, we encourage you to see this bold take on the Shakespeare historical tragedy this evening at the Allied Solutions Center for the Performing Arts in Carmel.

Few things say “exotic” to our minds more than Egypt, and Gregory Glade Hancock with story, choreography and costumes, in collaboration with composer and musician Corey Gabel, take full liberty with that concept in bringing what the Bard adapted from history forward to give an old story a current vibe. The setting is Club Oasis, featuring celebrated drag queen Cleopatra (Thomas Mason), who encounters rock star Marc Antony (guest dancer Isaac Jones), whose passions know no limit or restraint. This complicates things for Antony’s wife Octavia (Abigail Lessaris), the sister of club owner Caesar Octavian (Olivia Payton).

Josie Moody oversees the narrative as Lamprius the Soothsayer and agent of Fate. Antony’s attendants are played by Sophie Jones and Nathalie Boyle; portraying Cleopatra’s attendants and backup dancers are Audrey Springer and Vivien Mickels. GHDT summer interns Caelan Gibbs, McCaleb Hans, Darcy Mraz, and Avery Withers are club dancers and chorus. No venomous asps were harmed.

This story of love, power and ambition taken to tragic ends is perfect for Pride Month with its non-binary approach and features a sensuous pas de deux by the male leads.

Gobel’s highly danceable pop-beat soundtrack with recorded vocals – enhancing rather than narrating the story – is woven perfectly with Hancock’s graceful high-energy visual storytelling. Costumes are colorful and appropriately daring. All this is presented with reliably excellent lighting by Ryan Koharchik.

This production is also notable for being the farewell performance for dancer Thomas Mason, performer for seven seasons as well as contributing choreographer and technical director at The Florence in The Academy of GHDT. His will be big shoes (or bare footprints) to fill.

This ends a season bookended by Corey Gabel collaborations, having started last fall with “The Casket Girls.” He is presently working with Hancock on the opener for 2026-27.

After its annual fundraiser, “Fashion at the Florence,” Sept. 19 at The Tarkington, the first full dance production for Gregory Hancock Dance Theatre will be the premiere of “Salem” by Hancock and Gabel, inspired by the historic witch panic, on Oct. 23-24.

GHDT returns to The Florence for the multicultural “Winterfest” in December, and a revival of the murder mystery with movement, “The Black Dahlia” in February 2027. The following programs at the Tarkington are “Remembrance” in April and “A Night in India” in June.

In addition, four “Melange” series programs are planned, Sept. 12-13 and Nov. 14-15, 2026; and March 13-14 and May 15-16, 2027. As before, set in The Florence, they feature an improvised dance and visual art collaboration with a vocalist who reveals their program on stage. The experience is unique to each performance, with the artwork auctioned at the end.

For all the details, see gregoryhancockdancetheatre.org.

GHDT concludes its season in style

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By John Lyle Belden

Time again to look both back and forward at the magnificent works of Gregory Hancock Dance Theatre.

In mid-May, we had the last of the 2025-26 season’s “Mélange” series. Vocalist Angela Manlove presented a program of Broadway hits around the theme of “Finding Your Voice.” Aside from songs she has performed on stage, from “Aida,” “The Bodyguard,” and “Ragtime,” she indulged in a bit of “Chicago,” “Wicked,” and “The Little Mermaid” (taking a moment to praise Disney for showing her daughter an Ariel that looks like her), along with heartfelt numbers from “Waitress,” “Songs for a New World,” and “The Notebook.”

Throughout all this, GHDT company dancer Olivia Payton wrote out the songs’ emotions in movement – working the whole area energetically, then coming closer for intimate moments with Manlove. Meanwhile, impressionist painter Debbie Slack worked. During the performance we saw, the painting imagined the performance space of The Florence as a field of flowers, with a Peyton’s figure tracing a graceful line. Bidding was fierce for the finished work (sold to benefit GHDT programs).

We cannot recommend this unique performance series enough. Watch for upcoming Mélange dates at gregoryhancockdancetheatre.org.

In the meantime, very shortly there will be one of Gregory Glade Hancock’s excellent productions of visual storytelling, the story of “Antony and Cleopatra,” inspired by the Shakespeare play based on historical figures during the rise of the Roman Empire. For this show, the story – with choreography and costumes by Hancock, music by Corey Gabel – takes place in a modern Egyptian-themed club where rival performers stir up the drama.

GHDT last performed this program in June of 2022. I noted then that as the concept played with setting and gender, the result was a compelling, fascinating story of forbidden desire and love, rash actions and tragic consequences. Thomas Mason and Abigail Lessaris, as well as Payton, will likely reprise their roles as part of a full cast of company dancers and students.

This will conclude the company’s 2025-26 season. Performances are one weekend only, Friday and Saturday, June 5-6, at The Tarkington in the Allied Solutions Center for the Performing Arts in downtown Carmel. Get tickets at the GHDT website or thecenterpresents.org.

Join Belfry for novelist’s life-changing homecoming

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By John Lyle Belden

We often find wit and wisdom in tragic moments, and in “Joined at the Head,” playwright Catherine Butterfield looked into an event in her own life for inspiration.

In the current production, presented by The Belfry Theatre at The Cat in Carmel, directed by Larry Adams, a 30-something writer’s return to her old hometown finds her connecting with an old flame, but with an interesting twist.

Maggie Mulroney (Kat Krebs) has finally written a bestseller, a novel about a father-daughter relationship she says is inspired by hers with her own father, who died from cancer years ago. Her bookstore tour brings her to Newbridge, Mass., where she grew up. While there, Jim Burroughs (Kelly Keller), her steady boyfriend in high school, calls to invite her to his house to catch up, and to meet his wife.

Curious and nervous, she goes. His wife, coincidentally named Maggy (Dana Lesh), was a cheerleader in the next-younger class and a straight-arrow personality, so not in the social circle of misbehaving Jim and Maggie. Now, she is in a loving marriage to Jim – and struggling with advanced cancer. Though an understandably awkward meeting at first (one of many humorous moments), they find they share some personality traits as well as homonym names.

As Butterfield’s proxy, Maggie also acts as narrator, frequently stepping up to the fourth wall to elaborate on the scenes. To keep her story straight, Maggy occasionally – to Maggie’s chagrin – steps up and ensures the narrative stays on track.

In various roles are the ensemble of Lexi Gray (including a charming Bed & Breakfast proprietor), Sammie Maier (including an appearance as Maggie’s mother), Sydney Heller (including a hospital nurse), Ben Lagow (including Raymond Terwilliger of PBS station WGBH’s “Best of Boston”), Ethan Pierce, and Zach Buzan.

The story goes to numerous settings, so the simple scenic design by Scott Post (decoration by Claudia Macrae) relies on the flow of the actors and lighting by Eric Matters to nimbly help us see them in whatever places our imagination fills in, aided by a clever single panel at the center of the back of the stage.

At Adams’ urging, the three leads delve into the serious complexity of their relatable characters. We’ve seen Keller in so many modes; this shows him at his most vulnerable as the devoted husband taking on Herculean tasks as best he can. Krebs’s Maggie finds herself as the novelist who apparently writes about others to avoid taking a deeper look at herself. Something about the encounter with her namesake starts her on a journey she is afraid to admit she’s taking. Lesh, who we’ve usually seen in a supporting role or in the director’s chair, really shows her command of the stage here. Given Maggy’s struggle, and the saintly good nature with which she confronts it, if this were Broadway she’d be up for a Tony.

While there is gentle dark humor to be had in this story, the plotline of advancing disease might be a challenge for some viewers, depending on one’s own experience. This is a story not only of one woman’s bravery, but of two other people engaging their own. As in other plays in this tragicomic sort of genre, cancer may take a person’s last breath, but it does not get the last word.

Performances of “Joined at the Head” are 8 p.m. Friday, 2 p.m. Saturday and Sunday (May 22-24) at The Cat, 254 Veterans Way, near the downtown Carmel Art & Design district. For info and tickets, go to thebelfrytheatre.com or thecat.biz.

ATI shines with story of faded star

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By John Lyle Belden

Actors Theatre of Indiana gives us a “new way to dream” in an old story, the musical “Sunset Boulevard” by Andrew Lloyd Webber with Don Black and Christopher Hampton, based on the 1950 classic noir film co-written and directed by Billy Wilder.

The movie, which the book of the musical closely follows, starred former silent film star Gloria Swanson (who, unlike her character Norma Desmond, did manage a transition to “talkies”) and William Holden, giving them, Wilder and the film Oscar nominations. It’s also notable for ending with one of the most famous lines in the history of film.

Our Norma is played splendidly by Judy Fitzgerald, joined by the return of fellow ATI co-founder Don Farrell as her butler Max. Being a film noir story, someone will die violently; struggling script writer Joe Gillis (Luke Weber) tells us what leads up to that moment.

After a couple of numbers about the high-pressure hassle of getting a movie produced and made, Joe leaves the Paramount studios – dodging husky repo men after his car – and ends up in the driveway of a large old mansion on Sunset, where he finds an aging movie star about to hold a funeral for her pet chimpanzee.

Promised ample pay, Joe agrees to edit the script Norma has written for her cinematic return (not a “comeback,” she insists). He quickly sees that she is delusional and the pages unfilmable, but he gets to stay at the mansion, so he does. Meanwhile, at Paramount, he works with his friend Artie Green’s (Calvin Bernardo) fiancé Betty Schaefer (Deborah Mae Hill) on an actually promising script for a “Girl Meets Boy” romance.

We also meet various Hollywood folks played by Scot Greenwell, Keith Potts, Megan Arrington-Marks, Brooklyn Stewart, Corey Rudell, Peter Scharbrough, and Eric Olson, who also charmingly portrays legendary director Cecil B. DeMille.

Being set in 1949-50, there are a lot of stage cigarettes. The mood is also set by black-and-white film projections of the era, designed by Joey Mervis. Director Michael Blatt has this typically larger than life musical adapt to the intimate space of The Studio Theater with the help of a flexible set design by Jay Ganz. It hints at the artificiality of Hollywood with pieces at times folding shut like they are part of a backlot studio, other times revealing the worn splendor of Norma’s home.

Musical director is Ginger Stoltz and choreographer is Carol Worcel. Fitzgerald and Weber provide appropriately big bold voices for this big musical, with Farrell’s practically operatic.

There is also a fair amount of humor, mainly directed at the foibles of the movie biz. Norma’s mental decline, meanwhile, is taken more seriously, a contrast that aids the slow-boil suspense.  And it will all lead to that iconic spoken line.

For a look at the dark side of the movie biz, where even “the Greatest Star” can become left behind, see the beautifully tragic “Sunset Boulevard,” Wednesdays through Sundays through May 10 at the Allied Solutions Center for the Performing Arts in downtown Carmel. For tickets, visit atistage.org or thecenterpresents.org.

Civic mounts sturdy ‘Roof’

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By John Lyle Belden

The classic musical, “Fiddler on the Roof,” presented by Booth Tarkington Civic Theatre, is long familiar to theatregoers, while also important today.

Over a century after its setting (as well as 60-plus years after its Broadway debut, and 55 since the movie), we still find “Tradition!” giving way to a changing world. Current events have included an increase in attacks on Jewish people. Also, we can see examples in many cultures of people living with the fear of oppression and being forced to find new places to reside, even after years in what had felt like home.

This production, directed by Executive Artistic Director Michael J. Lasley, is a splendid experience, whether this your first time seeing it live, or it’s an old favorite.  

Tobin Strader, no stranger to the role, plays Tevye the Milkman, the central character and narrator (speaking to us when he’s not commiserating with G_d). Among his worries are finding good husbands for his five daughters – Tzeitel (Gretta Hambrook), Hodel (Mackenzie Foulks), Chava (Sadie Cohen or Lily Carlstedt), Shprintze (Evelyn Giesting), and Bielke (Greta Schaefer). Yente, the Matchmaker (Adrienne Reiswerg) stands by ready to help, but fate (and the girls) have other plans.

Melissa Cohen delivers a strong and faithful Golde, Tevy’s wife. For suitors, shy tailor Motel (Jacob Schilling) already has Tzeitel’s heart; idealist student Perchik (Austin Stodghill) wins over quick-witted Hodel; and kind-hearted Russian Fyedka (Dylan Aquaviva) bonds with Chava over their love of books.

Other notable characters in this large ensemble include Dennis Wimer as Lazar Wolf, the Butcher; Brandon Barkley as Mordcha, the Innkeeper; David Maxwell as the old Rabbi; and Matt Anderson as the local Russian Constable with guarded empathy for these people he has come to respect.

In impressive moments, we have Michael Krauter as the Russian who hits that long high note in “To Life;” Jennifer Hasty as the ghost of Fruma-Sarah; and Kennedy Whisner dancing as young “Chavaleh” in Tevye’s memory.

One of the best aspects of this production is that the Fiddler (Alex Avila-Hernandez) actually plays his instrument, and very well, frequently appearing as a living metaphor.

Brent E. Marty is music director, Sydnie Blair is stage manager, and Kasey Walker Lewellyn is choreographer – Is it me, or does the “bottle dance” at the wedding get more intricate every time I see one of these productions?

The village of Anatevka awaits your visit, that is, until the last carts roll out on May 9. Performances are Thursdays through Sundays at The Tarkington theatre in the Allied Solutions Center for the Performing Arts in downtown Carmel. Get tickets at civictheatre.org or thecenterpresents.org.

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P.S. An interesting note, unrelated to this production: There is now an actual Anatevka in Ukraine, near Kiev. It is, as Wikipedia states, “a refugee settlement that provides food, housing, education, and medical support for refugees” from the 2014 and 2022 Russian invasions. Established by local Jewish leaders, it is named after the shtetl in “Fiddler on the Roof.”

CCP presents Grand adventure

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By John Lyle Belden

The play “Men on Boats” by Jaclyn Backhaus is pretty much that – some men who rode on boats going downriver. And yet it is so much more.

Produced by Carmel Community Players, directed by Samantha Kelly, this is about the 10-man excursion on the Green and Colorado Rivers in 1869, the first U.S. government sanctioned expedition to and through the Grand Canyon in present-day Arizona. For this manly feat of bravery, persistence, and luck, the play is cast with all women actors.

Seeing them acting as men, their demeanor as serious as the characters they portray regarded their mission, works in a curious way. It helps that we are accustomed, in the arts as well as in life, to seeing women being strong for each other and intrepid when faced with challenges. It bypasses any sense of machismo, making this adventure more human and relatable. It also gives the character of expedition leader Maj. John Wesley Powell, who lost an arm in the Civil War, a sort of maternal aspect as he led by his wits and wisdom rather than physical prowess.

Powell (Barb Weaver) arranged for four boats, fully provisioned, for the journey. He brought along his older brother, Walter “Old Shady” Powell (Wendy Brown), as well as hunter John Colton Sumner (Kelly Hutchings), who led the first boat; William Dunn (Desiree Black), who becomes a sort of second-in-command; George Young Bradley (Sarah Arthur); O.G Howland (Katarina Zack); Seneca Howland (Victoria Garcia); William Robert Hawkins (Nick Chase); Andrew Hall (Kenzie Wright); and English adventurer Frank Goodman (Ozzie Buttler). While the lands they passed through were familiar to many of European ancestry, with some (including Mormon pioneers) already in settlements, they would be the first to traverse through on the river (rediscovering what Native peoples had seen for millennia), provided they survived the voyage.

Based on Powell’s journals, there is no need for fictional drama as the rapids and falls they traveled over provided plenty. The loss of one of the boats and dwindling provisions provided plenty of tension, with multiple discussions – and arguments – over whether to continue. Powell held firm in his resolve, strengthening most of the others, and respected the wishes of those who left the party.

The cast’s sincere portrayals, with the clever use of “boatveralls” (boat representations designed and built by Kristina Lawyer and Broden Irwin) to perform their movement on the rough waters, help us feel the rush of riding rapids and waterfalls, as well as maneuvering potentially deadly hazards. We get the quirks of individual personalities, including Sumner’s mountain-man mystique, Goodman’s constant nervous chatter, and Old Shady’s campfire songs.

It’s sometimes said that the best man for the job is a woman. See an entertaining take on that concept in “Men on Boats,” with performances Thursday and Friday evenings, Saturday and Sunday afternoons, April 23-26, at The Cat, 254 Veterans Way in downtown Carmel. Get info and tickets at carmelplayers.org.

GHDT taking on epic stories

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By John Lyle Belden

Just in time for Passover, Gregory Hancock Dance Theatre revived an excellent work of visual storytelling, “Exodus,” at the Tarkington in the Allied Solutions Center for the Performing Arts in Carmel at the end of March.

Inspired by the Biblical story, the central character is not a particular person but The Chosen, represented stunningly by Olivia Payton. Her grace and strength are on glorious display here. She communicates her apprehension at her high position, being adopted by royalty, which gives way to anger in an incident that banishes her to the slave class. The others in bondage include Nathalie Boyle, Sophie Jones, Josie Moody, Vivien Michels, Audrey Springer, and Abigail Lessaris, who also earlier plays the Chosen’s mother, with Lucille Harris as the child.

The ruler over this land is simply known as The Persecutor, a performance of menacing strength by Thomas Mason. As Gregory Glade Hancock wrote this (including choreography and costumes) with emphasis on feminine strength being oppressed, he made the army of Oppressors more androgynous in masks and dark, loose clothing. The sigil on their chests resembles a computer Power button, hinting at their control.

Oppressors are danced by Mary Kate Burks, Maura Burks, Gwyneth Conner, Fay Dale, Renata Felice, Riah Gerwels, Katie Gretschmann, Lucy Grontkowski, Lauren Harrison, Natalie Huff, Grace King, Kelly Kubinski, Jilli Myers, Lucy Nevins, Reese Palmateer, Caitlyn Pingel, Serena Roe, Kingsley Southard, Josephine Steinmetz, and Claire Vreeke.

Children in this production are Harris, Eva Abakunova, Valerie Bussell, Addie Dibner, Valeria Griffis, Vivienne Maresh, and Anya Willis.

From the original narrative, we get one of Hancock’s most stunning pieces of movement, a representation of The Burning Bush with several dancers gathered at center stage, each with their own eccentric motion so that together we get the mesmerizing effect of flickering flames. This, as well as the eventual Parting of the Sea, are aided by skilled lighting and clever set design by Ryan Koharchik.

As with the old story, the land also suffers Plagues; however, Hancock wished these to be more relatable to modern audiences. The representation of pollution – “Desecration of the Earth” – is particularly startling. Other ills including Gun Violence, Racism, and indifference brought on by Social Media also reveal our destructive nature.

Regarding this production as a whole, one impressive aspect is how the music – from various sources – was assembled to provide the the perfect palette for the dancers to present every scene.

“Exodus” had just one weekend of performances, but is likely to return in a future season. GHDT’s next full production is “Antony and Cleopatra,” inspired by the Shakespeare play based on these historical figures, June 5-6 at The Tarkington. Original music will be by frequent collaborator Cory Gabel. (Get tickets at thecenterpresents.org.)

In the meantime, The Florence stage at The Academy of GHDT (329 Gradle Drive, Carmel) will host the Melange series. At each performance, a vocalist will perform, joined by a dancer and visual artist who each improvise in their own way. Thus, every session is unique, and the artwork that is created during the hour is immediately auctioned to a generous audience member, with funds going to GHDT.

  • On April 18-19, Evelyn Rai is vocalist; Cody Miley, who has performed with GHDT and Dance Kaleidoscope, is the dancer; and Christina Hollering will create visual art.
  • On May 16-17, Angela Nichols Manlove is the vocalist; with dancing by Olivia Payton; and visual art by Debbie Slack.

For more information and Melange tickets, visit gregoryhancockdancetheatre.org.

CAT: One by one they fall, who is killing them all?

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By John Lyle Belden

For an entertaining, affordable outing that also helps support and encourage local talent, we recommend Carmel Apprentice Theatre performances at (naturally) The Cat.

C.A.T. gives less experienced actors and crew the chance to perform a popular play or musical with the aid of experienced mentors. In the current production of Agatha Christie’s “And Then There Were None,” we also have a first-time director, local actor Tim West, delivering with a fine balance of mystery and humor.

This is the whodunit in which – trapped on a remote island – the murders are constantly happening among 10 characters in a plot inspired by a children’s rhyme (adapted from it’s now-unacceptable title) “Ten Little Soldier Boys.” There is a copy on the back wall of the set, along with an ever-shrinking collection of tin soldier figures. It’s also printed in the program.  

Motive for the killings goes beyond psychopathy; each character has done something in their past that led to others’ deaths. Still, which one is killing the others? Who will survive? Will any? Note that Christie wrote more than one ending for the play, so we will spoil no further.

Butler and cook Mr. and Mrs. Rogers are friendly and accommodating, especially Leroy Delph as Thomas. Dixie Oberlin as his wife is a bit high-strung, though. The eight guests were invited by the mysterious “Mr. and Mrs. Owen.”

Vera (Alyssa Lay) was recently hired as Mrs. Owen’s secretary and was to meet her for the first time here. A steady hand at unsteady characters around area community stages, Lay balances the wariness and stress of being imperiled with just enough craftiness to not take her off your suspect list.

Former Army Cpt. Lombard (Kat Moore) comes off as incredibly dashing, though his past betrays a possible disregard for others’ lives. Moore keeps us guessing with their roguish gentleman.

When Jake Williams (Anthony Marston) isn’t driving his fast car, he’s talking about it. Being one who loves to live on the edge of danger, he’s unfortunately come to the perfect place.

Mr. Davis from South Africa (Daniel Racke) is actually William Blore, a former(?) police officer. Racke doesn’t let us off the hook, acting sus from his very first moment while also giving plausible suspicions of the other guests.

Gen. Mackenzie (Todd Stein) knows a perilous situation when he sees one, and this could be his final battle. Stein infuses the old soldier with appropriate dignity.

Hannah Smith (Emily Brent) in her mind condemned all the others long before the killer (in a gramophone recording) declared all their alleged crimes. Brent plays her like the old auntie you want to like, but is just so prickly to everyone around her.

Sir Lawrence Wargrave (Darrin Gowan), being a retired trial judge, is no stranger to death. He sent many there from the bench, and now finds himself accused. An established theatre veteran, Gowan makes a solid keystone for this production.

Dr. Armstrong (Cassie Scalzi) could really use a drink about now but knows better. Scalzi plays the stoic surgeon-turned-therapist nicely as she confronts the fact that the past never stays there.

Mike Oberlin completes the cast as Fred, the lucky man with the boat.

There are no others on this remote island off the English coast, so it is only ghosts or the illusions of maids (stage crew Isabel Moore and Addison Johnson) who nimbly move about in between scenes to reset the room.

Like a slasher flick with English manners, enjoy “And Then There Were None” 7:30 p.m. Friday and Saturday, and 2:30 p.m. Saturday (April 3-4), at The Cat, 254 Veterans Way in downtown Carmel. Get tickets and info at thecat.biz.

Civic’s bold ‘Letter’ centers strong heroine

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By Wendy Carson

I have been writing a lot about strong women these days, and Hester Prynne is undoubtably one of the strongest examples of such in American literature.

She first entered my consciousness when I was seven, watching a silent film version of Nathaniel Hawthorne’s novel, “The Scarlet Letter.” While she is vastly flawed, her courage and resolve make her an icon of female empowerment and a character to be further explored. With Kate Hamill’s imaginative script, we are presented with a new look at Hester and her situations in the current production by Booth Tarkington Civic Theatre.

As in the book, in 1640s Massachusetts we meet Prynne enduring punishment for a child born out of wedlock. She refuses to name the father and is therefore ordered by Puritan authorities to wear a red “A” (for Adultery) on her chest for the rest of her life.

Directed by Emily Rogge Tzucker, the biggest difference with this staging is the use of a life-sized puppet portraying Hester’s daughter, Pearl. Designed and built by Evangeline Bouw, and voiced and operated by Emily Bohannon, the character takes on a far more ephemeral role. The lone child in a world of strange rules, she highlights the hellion nature of children who provoke and tease others for their own amusement.

Brittany Magee brings forth not only Prynne’s self-sufficiency, but also her unwavering pride and devotion to her precious Pearl. Renee Whiten Lopez as Goody Hibbins channels some of the hysteria of the time by falsely accusing Prynne of witchcraft to justify her own personal shortcomings and try to rectify the unjustness of it all.

Doug Powers’ interpretation of Governor Hibbins keeps him sympathetic in trying to uphold the law in this wild, new land yet not satisfied by doing so. Matt Anderson excellently shows the inner turmoil of Reverend Dimmesdale, the unnamed yet horribly guilty father of Pearl. Daniel Wilke brings a malevolent force to bear as Roger Chillingworth, who carries the darkest secret amongst the group.

While the show’s staging is extremely simple, with limited cast and efficient set and lighting design by Ryan Koharchik, it helps keep the focus on the actors and their stories. The costuming by Adrienne Conces perfectly accents the various needs of narrative in many unexpected ways.

I was greatly impressed by this amazing interpretation of a story for the ages and would have been more than happy to have had it be my introduction to this powerful woman and her story.

Meet Hester and Pearl, and see their world at The Studio Theater of the Allied Solutions Center for the Performing Arts in downtown Carmel through March 28. Get tickets at civictheatre.org or thecenterpresents.org.

Belfry: Story of growing up and growing apart

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By John Lyle Belden

Do you miss your high school days? Or were you thankful to leave them behind?

These questions come to mind as we watch the three ladies of the play “Vanities,” the Off-Broadway hit by Jack Heifner presented by The Belfry Theatre at The Cat in Carmel, directed by Jen Otterman.

The title metaphor dominates the back of the stage: three mirrored dressing tables where the actors finish their makeup and will change wigs between scenes. Rather than spoil the stage “magic,” this provides an element of continuity. We meet three young women from a Texas town in their senior year of high school, fall 1963; as college seniors and sisters at the KKG sorority in 1968; and meeting up as adults in New York in 1974.

Kathy (Ka’Lena Cuevas), head cheerleader and planner of all major social events, practices for that day’s pep rally with squadmates Mary (Becca Bartley) and Joanne (Cara Olson). In this era between Elvis and the Beatles, the girls are very much of their time. Mary relates the degree to which she lets her boyfriend, Jim, touch her, while Joanne declares she would never allow that with her beau, Ted. Meanwhile Kathy is in a chaste-but-serious relationship with steady Gary.

At Kappa Kappa Gamma, Kathy is still an obsessive planner, readying for the Spring rush and dismayed at the quality of freshmen applying for the sorority. Jim and Gary are each history, but Joanne will marry Ted shortly after Commencement. She looks forward to being a housewife as her husband becomes a lawyer, her degree in music almost an accidental thing. Mary is getting a degree in interior design and tickets to Europe, trading life with disapproving parents for a quest to be “the perfect lost person.” Kathy, facing a future for the first time without her best friends, will continue her life of structure and schedule as a teacher.

In a nice NYC garden apartment, Kathy invites her old friends over – Mary from her SoHo art gallery, Joanne from the Connecticut home she shares with her attorney husband and young children. Champaign will flow, as will words and honest feelings.

True to the title, we have three young women who struggle to see outside themselves. Cuevas maintains a calm demeanor with Kathy, guarded and rarely letting on how confident (or not) she really feels, but never aloof. Bartley takes Mary on her arc of rebellion with an anxiety-tempered smile as she experiences all she can, finding everything but fulfillment. Olson embraces Joanne’s embrace of conservative society expectations, keeping her Texas accent and uncomplicated worldview (except for the strain of childrearing) throughout.

While the subject matter gets serious – complete with a couple of well-placed F-bombs – this is generally a comedy, and these besties do bring on quite a few hearty laughs. In all, an entertaining, intriguing look at an era and the women who came of age in it.

Don’t be too proud to see “Vanities,” 8 p.m. Friday and 2 p.m. on both Saturday and Sunday, March 13-15, at The Cat, 254 Veterans Way in downtown Carmel. For tickets visit thecat.biz or thebelfrytheatre.com.