comedy

Death Valley daze at Mud Creek

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By John Lyle Belden

If you think it’s been hot around here, then try spending some time in the Old West town of Death Valley, California. Better yet, head over to the Mud Creek Players Barn and think you’ve gone dizzy from the heat watching “The Ratcatchers Daughter.”

Actually, it’s not meant to make sense, just be a family-friendly fun old-time comic melodrama by Tim Kelly, directed by Collin Moore. True to the venue’s name, there are haybales for those seating front and center, which means the popcorn everyone is encouraged to throw (meant for the villain but it rained down constantly when we went) may get in your hair.

The stagecoach doesn’t run this way anymore, but the town still maintains its orphanage, run by Auntie Hush (Alli Lamb), (in)famous for serving her Hush Mush. Walking over from Reno are Sweet Lotta Bliss (Tanya Keller), seeking love; Whiplash Snivel (Craig Kemp), who wants to close the orphanage and open a casino (Near Reno? Unthinkable!); and Lady Pilfer (Rachel Smith), following the money. Death Valley Nell (Addie Taylor), the Sheriff, is suspicious.

Fur salesman Jack Sunshine (Kelly Keller) seeks to reconcile with Lotta, and to stay sober. Fortunately, there are Temperance ladies Livinia Lagoon (Becky Chilcote), Eunice (Sydney Heller) and Mildred (Adriana Rosebrough) on hand. Unfortunately, Whiplash has a bottle and a devious plan.

There are also Cuspidor (Tim Jamriska) the prospector; Feathertop (Jackson Hawkins), local speaker of frontier gibberish; Hermanita (Alaina Moore), a Latina nun with a guitar she can barely play; and orphans played by Ellisyn Bundy, Fred Margison, Judy McGroarty, Hagan McMillan, Evelyn Odom, Eve Sheward, and Henry Sheward.

Feel free to laugh, cheer, and boo the bad guy, and you’ll have a wonderful time. The barn does have air conditioning, but if the atmosphere still seems stifling, there are cold drinks at concessions – and popcorn, so much popcorn…

“The *Ratcatcher’s Daughter” has one more weekend, with performances Thursday through Saturday evenings, plus a Saturday matinee (July 30-Aug. 1) at 9740 E. 86th St., Indianapolis. Get tickets at mudcreekplayers.org.

(*No rats were harmed, unless they got into Auntie Hush’s Mush.)

What a ‘Ride’!

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By John Lyle Belden

For those in search of the next “Rocky Horror” phenomenon, or who feel that the stakes in “Spelling Bee” weren’t high enough, we invite you to “Ride the Cyclone”!

First developed in Canada in 2008 by Jacob Richmond and Brooke Maxwell, then appearing Off-Broadway the next year, “Ride the Cyclone: The Musical” has more recently taken on cult status with a large Tik-Tok community of fan art, theories, and costumes. The Phoenix Theatre now gives this experience a whirl, directed by K.T. Peterson.

In a storage building for a traveling carnival, a ghostly lament is heard, and the Amazing Karnak (Ben Asaykwee) awakens. Not a boast, he says, just the name on the side of his box. Unknown carny magic allows him to read the future, but only of one’s time and manner of death. This being too much of a downer, he’s been adjusted to be more cryptic. As he knows his own demise is imminent, he uses his remaining power to find those he couldn’t properly warn. Six teens, members of a school choir from Uranium City in far north Saskatchewan, died when The Cyclone roller coaster went off its rails. Their spirits are summoned to give one of them the opportunity to resume the life they had lost.

Enter overachiever Ocean (Mia Stewart); sassy only-gay-in-town Noel (Parker Taylor); surly adoptee from Ukraine, Mischa (Seth Jacobsen); comics-obsessed dreamer Ricky (Noah Lee), who had been struck mute from an earlier trauma; and plain and shy Constance (Marachey Fowler), most notable for being Ocean’s best friend and whose catchphrase is a very Canadian “So-rry!”

They are soon joined by Jane Doe (Olivia Broadwater), who had not been identified after the accident as no one could find her head. She replaces it with one from a doll. Having no identity of her own, she looks, acts, and speaks like an animated toy.

They each sing their case for going back through the light (like “Cats,” but more relatable) in a show that is at turns funny, moving, and surreal.

Asaykwee brings a bit of magic to all his roles. Here he gives wide expression to his wooden face, taking charge of the entire stage though he never leaves his box. He also shares this space with some of the best young talent we have seen around Indy.

Taylor once again makes us love a quirky character, even if his life’s dream is to die elsewhere. His Noel is comfortable in his queerness, while frustrated at missing the opportunity to be where he better fits in.

In fact, they all wanted to escape life in their dying former mining town (in our present day, home to under 100 residents). Perhaps it is more frustrating for Ocean, who Stewart plays as a controlling Alpha whose youth shows in her lack of tact. Or for Constance, who feared becoming resigned to living her whole life in Uranium (which, sadly, happened). Fowler takes on her pain of being overlooked and taken advantage of, converting it to inner strength.  

Ricky surprises them all, having regained his voice, and he has a lot to say. Ironically upbeat, Lee shares his sad origin and the cool sci-fi fantasy synthesized from his unconventional upbringing, complete with sexy catgirls.

Mischa is a little older than the others but was mostly denied a regular childhood. Jacobson handles his angst well. Feeling culturally mixed-up, he channels his feelings into hip-hop rhymes, and longs for the girl who liked him on YouTube.

Broadwater shows immense talent in working within the limits of her character in both movement and personality, taking her from creepy to heartbreaking with apparent ease.

Note the production is for teens and up, complete with a few F-bombs and a giant rat (Kristin Wentz). Appropriately cluttered yet versatile stage design is by David B. Vogel, complimented by lighting design by Michael Moffatt and sound and video projections by Ben Dobler.

Like the best carnival rides, The Cyclone is fun, wild, exhilarating, and affecting – and makes me want to get in line for another ticket.

Get yours at the Phoenix Theatre Cultural Centre, where “Ride the Cyclone: The Musical” runs through Aug. 2 at 705 N. Illinois St., downtown Indianapolis. See phoenixtheatre.org.

Cops are up to something (very) funny at Center Stage

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By John Lyle Belden

Lebanon’s Center Stage Community Theatre presents a wild episode of law and disorder with “Unnecessary Farce,” a comedy by Broadway actor Paul Slade Smith, directed by Nicole Amsler.

In a motel at the edge of town, Eric (Hunter Nuzzie), a young police officer needing to prove himself, and partner Billie (Lauren Lotzow), who somehow got a badge despite failing nearly every academy test, are setting up an undercover sting. In the room next door, the new city accountant, Karen (Lisa Anderson) is to meet Mayor Meekly (Ron Pittman) and get him to admit to embezzling millions in public funds. However, while preparing for this, Eric and Karen have developed feelings for one another. To complicate things further, the Mayor has a devoted chief of security, Agent Frank (Matt Anderson), who notices (almost) every detail in the room.  

With hijinks aplenty, mad misunderstandings, and doors to slam, we get a raucous comedy with a smidge of thriller as the workings of the local Scottish mafia – “the Clan, with a ‘C’” – are revealed, bringing on the feared Highland Hitman, a killer known as (dramatic pause) Todd! (Kevin Shadle). Then eventually, the Mayor’s wife, Mary (Julia Wallyn), comes looking for her husband.

Amsler has the good fortune of a great cast for this kind of show. Lotzow has been excellent in various roles over the last two years and definitely has a knack for comedy. Lisa Anderson gets to cleverly upstage her more practiced husband, Matt, both being masters of going with the madness (even if it means losing one’s pants) without being too over-the-top.

While most characters appear to understand the seriousness of the goings-on (no matter how absurd they’re becoming), Pittman effectively plays the Mayor as blithely oblivious, even though he was the one who proposed this suspicious event in the first place. Shadle, a treasure of Central Indiana community theatre, boldly presents another memorable character – bagpipes, thick accent, and all. Wallyn brings her own sort of disarming charm

To our surprise, this is Nuzzi’s first theatre role. His handling of scenes ranging from slapstick to romantic to standoff at gunpoint shows a natural feel for the material and solid comic chops.

As always, credit is due to the all-volunteer crew. Assistant director is Heather McKee and Stage Manager is Ava McKee. Amsler takes on many other tasks, including excellent set design and decoration with Christy Summersett – two connected hotel rooms with eight doors and good sightlines. Amsler also did costumes (including a kilt) with Heather McKee, as well as props.

A hilarious escape from the heat of summer, indulge in “Unnecessary Farce,” Friday through Sunday, through July 26, at 604 Powell Street in Lebanon. Get info and tickets at centerstagecommunitytheatre.com.

IBTC’s ‘Museum’ has much to show us

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By John Lyle Belden

Don’t be confused; “The Colored Museum” is not a static exhibit, but a theatrical work, a series of scenes that move with the rhythm of continuing centuries-old struggle.

Most surprising is that the show could be considered a museum piece itself: This play by George C. Wolfe hit Broadway in 1986. Forty years ago, yet it still feels so current, so “woke,” so “Black Lives Matter” – and as relevant as ever. It works as a companion piece to last year’s equally irreverent production of “Ain’t No Mo’” by the Indianapolis Black Theater Company. This year’s IBTC production of “Museum” is directed by local cultural icon Deborah Asante, leading an outstanding cast of local Black talent.

Performers include Empressnikia, Empress Marlena, Clarissa Michelle, PsyWrn Simone, Alicia “The UnCuT Diamond” Sims, John Singleton, Edward Strickling Jr., Tre’Vaughn, and young Anya C. Carlton as “The Future,” with audio contributions by Reno Moore and Rick Drumm, and on-stage percussion by Komoyaka King.

From the beginning, as the flight attendant of Celebrity Slaveship advises us that “shackles must be worn at all times,” we are in for one hell of a ride. Wolfe’s satire through the play’s 11 scenes is both sharp and hilarious. Examinations of Black life and culture employ sufficient absurdity to confront the surreal experience of being African American. We encounter archetypes including a Mammy, a disturbed soldier, a gay “Snap Queen,” and a singer who found fame and respect in France but must face what she left behind. Nothing is sacred, including the too-perfect models of Ebony magazine, and the award-bait Black roles in “The Last Mama-on-the-Couch Play.”

The look is completed with a neat set design by Antonio Burks that suggests an exhibit hall, complete with a turntable to display the next piece in the collection. Burks also contributed designs in the excellent projected visual elements.

Stunning both as comedy and thought-provoking theatre, “The Colored Museum” opens for four more performances, Thursday through Sunday, July 9-11, at The District Theatre, 627 Massachusetts Ave., downtown Indianapolis. Get tickets at indydistricttheatre.org.

Epilogue opens entertaining ‘Present’

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By John Lyle Belden

When it comes to the demands and frustrations of celebrity, with problems often of one’s own making and fueled by ego, the setting could be any era and major city – such as 1930s London. There, in the main room of a legendary actor’s luxury flat, we find Noël Coward’s “Present Laughter,” presented by Epilogue Players, directed by Catherine Mobley.

The title comes from Shakespeare, which isn’t significant to the plot but is the kind of indulgence that the main character – inspired by Coward himself – would appreciate.

Forty year-old West End star Garry Essendine (played by Brandon Wentz) has been quite busy. While preparing for a theatre tour of Africa, he extends assistance to young fans like Daphne Stillington (Breanna Helms) who has “lost her latchkey” and needs to spend the night at her place. You’d be surprised how often this happens. She emerges conveniently from the spare room – in his pajamas – to request breakfast from unfazed butler Fred (Jim Gryga) and the Swedish Spiritualist chain-smoking housekeeper Miss Erickson (Katherine LaTour).

We meet Garry’s inner circle, starting with long-suffering secretary Monica (Danielle Blair) and wife Liz (Veronique Duprey) who is happier living separately and keeping their relationship strictly business. There is also his manager, Morris (Gregory Roberts), and his producer, Hugo (David Shaul), whose hot wife Joanna (Shaun Ancelet) seems to have ambitions of her own.

A careless “sure, I’ll look at your play” has resulted in the appearance of obsessed, aspiring playwright Roland Maule (Ryan Moskalick). In addition, Lady Saltburn (Cathie Morgan) will arrive for what turns out to be a very eventful appointment.

These characters combine for a wild series of events that actually has someone asking, “Am I in a French farce?” Whatever you want to call it, this play presents us with a lot of opportunities to laugh.

Wentz makes Garry a rather likeable rogue who, while resisting middle age, shows some self-awareness of the consequences of a lifestyle he can’t help enjoying while also taking his vocation and status seriously. With a knowing smile, Duprey maintains Liz in the calm eye of whatever storm is whirling around, understanding her husband better than anyone. Likewise, Blair makes Monica a little jaded while cleverly keeping her boss in line. Helms and Moskalick keep things hilariously lively, each being persistently problematic in their own way. Ancelet makes Joanna devilishly appealing.

Effective set design by Andy Burnett and Melody Burnett makes the most of the intimate Epilogue stage. Mobley is assisted by Laura Duvall-Whitson; Jenny Braun is stage manager.

One weekend remains of “Present Laughter,” Thursday through Sunday, June 25-28, at 1849 N. Alabama St. (corner of 19th and Alabama), Indianapolis. Reserve tickets at epilogueplayers.com.

For Wilde fans, Wilde’s ‘Fan’

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By John Lyle Belden

If you are not familiar with the Oscar Wilde comedy “Lady Windermere’s Fan,” you still might know popular nuggets of Wilde’s wit that are contained within the play – lines such as:

  • “I can resist everything, except temptation.”
  • “We are all in the gutter, but some of us are looking at the stars.”
  • “In this world there are only two tragedies. One is not getting what one wants, and the other is getting it.”

Of course, there is far more to its substance than cool quotes.

4th Wall Players gives us this drawing-room comedy of manners with its piercing satire of Victorian London society, directed by Josh Gibson. While many zingers still land, and the cast share their enjoyment of its narrative, the story’s oddities are not quite as wild (pardon the expression) as in Wilde’s later classic, “The Importance of Being Earnest.” This absurdity here is derived from casual injustice.

Gibson invites us to see this examination of rumor and reputation through our perspective as social media addicts, constantly told what friends and strangers are and aren’t doing. After scrolling through a thousand posts and videos about shame, scandal, and misogyny, we look up at the stage to see the problem didn’t start with the i-Phone – it’s always been there, in society, inside us.

While Lady Margaret Windermere (Lizzie Schultz) prepares the celebration of her 21st birthday, she is visited by the Duchess of Berwick (Rebecca Brelage), who informs her that her husband has been seen frequently going to the home of Mrs. Erlynne, a woman of low reputation. The Duchess, who sees infidelity as natural to men, advises her to take her husband abroad to set his intentions right.

Margaret becomes distraught, having experienced nothing but devotion from her husband in their two years of marriage – they even have a baby boy. She then finds evidence of the relationship and confronts Lord Windermere (Jy’Ierre Jones) about it. In turn, he objects to her snooping, states that there is nothing improper, and even insists on having Mrs. Erlynne (Adriana Menefee) invited to the Birthday Ball.

We see the event open with Lord and Lady Windermere welcoming their guests. The Duchess brings her daughter Lady Agatha Carlisle (Kristen Paarlberg), who catches the eye of Australian Mr. Hopper (Joshua Roberts). The Duchess’s jovial brother Lord Augustus Lorton (Nelani Huntington) wouldn’t miss this social occasion. Also arriving are socialites Mr. Dumby (Nathaniel Taff), Mr. Cecil Graham (Amanda Horcher), Lady Plymdale (Isabel Moore), Lady Jedburgh (Amanda Amos), and the handsome and witty Lord Darlington (Omar El Jordi) who, knowing the rumors, sees an opportunity to woo Lady Windermere, whom he has always fancied. Lastly, Mrs. Erlynne arrives, chatting up the various men in attendance, who seem charmed by her – especially Lord Lorton.

The presence of the “other woman” drives Margaret to drastic action, which in turn spurs her alleged rival to take measures of her own. The events of this night, of which the hand-embroidered fan carried by Lady Windermere becomes an issue, could affect the rest of their lives.

To complete the cast, Fred Margison and Tyler Gibson play attentive servants Parker and Robert.

Schultz is wonderful in a role that allows a bit of melodrama yet has a real sense of inner turmoil. Jones handles a different complexity well – his Lord Windermere bound by social norms to keep so much within him and to only see things as those mores allow. Menefee brilliantly manages her role as a cypher not only to keep us from the spoilers, but also to maintain the social highwire act that means the difference between security and destitution, potentially life and death for a single woman in the 1890s.

Supporting roles maintain both the humor and the social strictures that drive the plot. El Jordi’s Lord Darlington makes the most of being Wilde’s proxy in the play, clever lines and all. Paarlberg manages to work within her character’s limits, communicating so much with an eye roll. The gentlemen present familiar Victorian archetypes, from Huntington’s roguish Lorton to Horcher’s posh Graham.

Stephan Taylor is assistant director, and Kelli Gibson is stage manager. Exquisite costumes by Katherine Gibson and Zoe Renee help set the scene. “Lady Windermere’s Fan” has performances Friday through Sunday, June 19-21 (if you see this shortly after it posts, there is also one Sunday afternoon, June 14) at Backlot Makerspace and Venue at 5635 Bonna Ave., Indianapolis, in historic Irvington. Get tickets at 4thwallplayers.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.

Strange ‘Dream’ reflects coming reality

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By John Lyle Belden

I remember when The Year 2000 was used to reference the future. Now it’s history.

In movies and literature – ever since the play that gave us the word “robot” – we imagined living side by side with technology. Now it autonomously delivers our packages. We hold conversations with computers.

From this world of tomorrow swiftly becoming today comes “Your Name Means Dream,” by Josè Rivera, presented by Jewish Theatre Bloomington.

Aislin (Diane Kondrat) lives alone in New York’s East Village. Every conversation with her adult son results in an argument, so her grandkids no longer visit. Out of concern for her advancing age, declining health, and the fact she washes down her prescriptions with Jack Daniels, he has sent her a state-of-the-art assistant, Stacy (Valerie C. Kilmer), which looks like a young woman but is a synthetic robot body with an AI brain.

“I am beautiful and creepy.”

After a wild (for them) and funny (for us) start, Aislin gradually comes to accept the presence of this talking “toaster” that says it wants to help her live a fuller life, soon seeing “it” as “her.” Taking on those improvements, especially losing the bottle of Jack, is another matter.  

Under the careful direction of Martha Jacobs, both actors take characters that we would have issues with and make them strangely charming.

During a talkback afterward Kondrat said, smiling, that this may be the most F-bombs she’s ever had to utter in a single script. While consistently profane, Aislin is not always angry. She does express frustration at her life, her son, the loss of her husband years ago, and herself, as well as her faux-human companion. However, moments of introspection slip through, as well as compassion at the prospect of actual loss. Those who are familiar with the addicted can see the contradictions of personality here. While her internal circuitry is biological, she is also subject to “glitching” in her own way.

Kilmer delivers an outstanding performance, never breaking character though as Stacy “learns” her movement becomes more fluid and she even picks up some of Aislin’s colorful language. With her perfect memory, we get a lot of callback references that work with the story. To be purely robotic, though not a trained dancer, Kilmer credits an acting class in which she was encouraged to practice isolating individual parts of her body, creating the notion that under-skin servos rather than smooth muscles control her movement. In preparing, she said she paid close to herself and considered how to remove the human element from each action or expression. This precision also shows in full-body character work as she mimics both the movement and voice of Aislin’s son when they communicate through Stacy’s phone app.

While there are some hilarious interactions, there is the underlying stress natural to a situation in which an AI-controlled machine that can bench-press hundreds of pounds and has no soul (the AOS [“Approximation of Soul”] upgrade comes in her next model, she says) is alone with a person with fragile body and mind. Aside from malfunction, there is a risk of hacking by the Skinjobs anti-robot organization.

Post-show discussion brought out various reactions to this engaging and thought-provoking play. While they address serious aspects of technology providing personal assistance for the elderly and differently abled, a process well under way in the off-stage world, there was also genuine affection for the comic interaction between the curmudgeon and the android. Some comments declared this a sort of 21st-century “Odd Couple.”

I personally saw the deeper questions posed by films such as “Blade Runner,” questions of identity and self, both among humans and those programed to emulate them. This was reflected in Stacy’s relating a sort of muscle-memory of a previous, very different, “life.” The policy of her maker, the tech corporation Singularity, is to completely eliminate its imprinted identity after use so that the unit can be refitted for whatever service the next customer wants. “I will not outlive you.”

Though Aislin is Irish-Croation and Catholic, and Stacy allegedly soulless, the board of Jewish Theatre of Bloomington felt this is an important work to bring to the public due to its examination of identity and humanity. As the human character puts it, “I contain multitudes, bitch!”

We are grateful for the opportunity to experience this.

Remaining performances are Saturday and Sunday, May 16-17, at the Waldron Rose Firebay theater, 122 S. Walnut St., Bloomington. They are technically sold out, but tickets might become available. Information at jewishtheatrebloomington.com.

OTP ‘Earnest’ more fun than a Bunbury

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By John Lyle Belden

We have seen local performer Alec Cole on stage since he was a boy (as part of KidsPlay Inc. in Greenfield). Since then, the young man has appeared in area community theatre as an actor and even got to assistant-direct “HadesTown” at Footlite Musicals.

Naturally, the next step was to direct a production himself, and Our Town Players of Franklin agreed to let him helm the popular (and royalty-free) Oscar Wilde comedy, “The Importance of Being Earnest,” which just completed an early-May run.

Judging by the results we saw, we give his debut high marks. It included splendid performances by Theodore Rash as Jack (and “Earnest”) Worthing; Jon Books-Poole as Algernon (call me “Earnest”) Moncrief; Kylie Heagy as Gwendolen Fairfax and Rayne Fort as Cecily Cardew, who both “simply must marry an Earnest;” Jerry Maguire as Lady Bracknell, who sternly forbids the wedding; Beth Popplewell as Miss Prism, Cecily’s governess; Tim Latimer as The Rev. Dr. Chasuble, who enjoys long walks (with Prism);  and James Marietta as the stoic butler (Merriman or Lane, depending on residence).

In a savage satire on Victorian British society that still elicits laughter, the plot centers on the hazards of performing a Bunbury – Algernon’s term for a made-up excuse to avoid a dreaded family or social obligation by needing to be somewhere else (in his case, an invalid friend, Mr. Bunbury, living in the countryside). To disassociate the morally upstanding and roguish sides of his personality, Mr. Worthing is “Earnest in town, and Jack in the country.”  Like any romantic comedy, the pursuit of and overcoming obstacles to the eventual happy-ending marriage propel events.

Maguire, in a wonderfully frumpy yet elegant dress by Sasha Haywood, is wicked fun as the upper-crust lady who won’t let niece Gwendolen marry a man who apparently started life abandoned in a handbag, no matter what his name is.

Making their community theatre debuts, Fort and Heagy each charm as the Earnest-smitten maidens. Whether at odds, or declaring each other “sisters,” they acquit their roles excellently.

We also give scene-stealing kudos to Marietta, who serves with a flourish, and can give almost wordless sarcasm with a glance.  

Cole said his approach to the verbose play was to accentuate Wilde’s words with appropriate movement, keeping the show fun and farcical. Assisted by stage manager Jennifer Feutz, he also credits help from father Dennis Cole (KidsPlay dad and CrazyLake performer); makeup artist and companion, Gemma Rollison; as well as her mother (and Agape staff) Tracey Rollison in finding props.

We confess this was my and Wendy’s first time to Our Town, which uses an excellent venue, AAC Auditorium, in one of Franklin’s city parks. Find out about upcoming productions at otpfranklin.org.

Elementary, ‘Ms. Holmes’ (a study in Summit)

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By John Lyle Belden

A new game is afoot! Summit Performance presents “Ms. Holmes & Ms. Watson, Apt. 2B,” by Kate Hamill, at the Phoenix Theatre Cultural Centre.

Those who regularly read these reviews might now be saying, “Wait a minute! Didn’t we just have a female Sherlock Holmes Play a few weeks ago?” In an odd coincidence, there was the Christopher Walsh comedy “Miss Holmes” in April at Mud Creek. However, while that version was set in Victorian London, “Ms. Holmes…” takes place in 2021 – still in London with a flat on Baker Street – and Dr. Joan Watson is now an American.

Watson (Kelsey VanVoorst) has found herself in London, looking for a place to stay for a while, relax, maybe get some writing done. Fate has other plans, as this affordable downtown rental means sharing an apartment with a hyperactive, eccentric young woman named “Sherlock” (Frankie Jo Bolda). If you are familiar with the local theatre scene – especially improv, parody shows, and farcical and Shakespeare comedies – these actors’ names should alert you to the madness that will ensue.

Playing someone who is famously neurodivergent with a 200+ IQ, Bolda also lets Holmes’ id run rampant in a manner that goes beyond recent portrayals (Cumberbatch, Downey Jr., et al) such that it resembles the manic style of “Doctor Who.” Her clothing (boldly designed by Devan O’Malia Mathias) reflects this as well – layered for foggy London, colorful as a panto player. Still, she is no clown. While expressions and actions seem random, her mind and focus are sharp. While others notice her, she notices everything.  

VanVoorst also plays into her strengths as the straight character the comic partner bounces off of. Watson has always been the reader/viewer proxy in these stories, and she gets as frustrated and overwhelmed as we would be, but in a much funnier manner. Few can manage the barely-able-to-speak sputter of a character on the edge like her, and Watson gets plenty of these moments. As the plot unfolds, we find her naturally drawn in towards believable acceptance of this classic odd-couple relationship.

In the roles of Everyone Else: Andrea Heiden nimbly wears many distinctive faces as kindly, understanding Mrs. Hudson, untrustworthy beauty Irene Adler, and others. Clay Mabbit can play likable and slyly evil in equal measure, appearing as Inspector Lestrade, billionaire Elliott Monk, and others, including the introductory narrator.

Holmes fans will readily recognize the first case the women take on, from “A Study in Scarlet” by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle (his first Sherlock Holmes novel, which also brings the literary Holmes and Watson together). Sufficient liberties were taken with the story to give this a fresh look for the 21st-century version of the detectives. Speaking of the era, there are references to the Covid lockdown, as well as current technology – which Holmes avoids, complaining it makes people intellectually lazy (she has a point, to be honest). She insists on using her mind and magnifying glass, leaving the “Googles” to others.

Other canon aspects of the characters are preserved. Watson has PTSD, while Holmes takes bong hits to calm her ever-spinning brain. Also, where there’s a super-sleuth, there lurks someone in the shadows who could be her equal.

Direction is by Summit founder Lauren Briggeman, who manages to keep the madcap happenings under control while bringing out the entertaining best in the cast. Fight, movement, and intimacy director Jaddy Ciucci is a big help with all the physical comedy and other action throughout. Erin Robson-Smith is stage manager.

Even if you don’t know or care about Sherlock Holmes, this production works as a wildly hilarious British buddy comedy with murderous intent. Even the furniture is funny (rarely has an innocent recliner gotten so many laughs).

Come see “Ms. Holmes & Ms. Watson” through May 24 in the Basile Black Box stage at 705 N. Illinois St., downtown Indianapolis. Get tickets at phoenixtheatre.org.