Doug Powers

Southbank ‘Crucible’: It’s not the witches we should fear

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By John Lyle Belden

In times of turmoil, people turn to faith either for hope or, too often, to look for monsters. Such was 1692 in Massachusetts Colony, when the blending of the Puritan church and state led to tragic hysteria. Such also was the 1950s, when the Red Scare inspired playwright Arthur Miller to look back to America’s genuine witch hunt to give us “The Crucible.”

In 2025, with political chaos and crisis churning daily, Southbank Theatre mounts a production of Miller’s play with an incredibly talented and dedicated cast. The period script with a more contemporary look bridges these eras, emphasizing this story’s relevance.   

Mostly true to the historical events, the play begins with girls engaged in a mesmerizing, mysterious dance. The Rev. Parris (Doug Powers) happens upon them, and in the shock of being caught in such forbidden activity – the dancing alone being punishable – his young daughter Betty (Ellie Richart) falls unconscious. Parris is furious, not just at what appeared to be a secret rite with some participants possibly naked, but more that his slave Tituba (Kayla Bush) was leading it and his niece and ward Abigail Williams (Hannah Embree) was involved.

Word quickly spreads around the village of Salem, including rumors of witchcraft. Occult expert Rev. John Hale (J. Charles Weimer) is called in to bring calm, but instead he sees signs of the Devil at work. When pressed for an explanation, Tituba fears for her life and tells the men what they want to hear. Arrests, interrogation, trials – and finally, executions – will follow.

Farmer John Proctor (Brian G. Hartz) tries to stay uninterested; however, he had recently had an affair with Abigail, who feels she should take the place of his wife Elizabeth (Morgan Morton) and lists her as an accomplice in her “confession” to witchcraft (giving names being a necessary step to avoid hanging). Also, the Proctors’ servant Mary Warren (Liz Carrier) has been attending and testifying at the court hearings.

We also meet Thomas and Ann Putnam (Darin Richart and Afton Shepard), wealthy landowners with both financial (property of witches is seized and sold) and spiritual (most of their children died in infancy) interest in goings-on. Francis Nurse (James Mannan) finds his wife, the midwife Rebecca (Adrienne Reiswerg) accused. Giles Corey (David Mosedale) likewise sees his innocent inquiry about his own wife jeopardizing their lives. The “bewitched” girls include Susanna Walcott (Mariah Rae Pearson) and the Putnams’ servant Mercy Lewis (Lauren Lotzow).

Director Eric Bryant plays Deputy Governor Thomas Danforth, the lead magistrate, assisted by Judge Hathorne (Paige Scott), with Ezekial Cheever (Matthew Socey) as clerk of the court. Deputy John Willard (Ian Hauer) finds himself having to arrest his friends and neighbors.

When what is and isn’t Christian – or demonic – are matters of law, they must be defined for the sake of enforcement. Modern concerns in the rise of Christian nationalism are echoed in the Puritan inquiries of this drama. The dynamics of power and privilege, or its lack, propel the plot in a situation that ironically becomes devoid of both magick and the mercy of Christ.

Hartz and Morton give powerful performances as the Proctors, finding the courage for their final ordeal. Embree sharply portrays a manipulative girl driven by youthful fantasy, tinged by a genuine fear for her life. Powers gives us the well-meaning local minister, frustrated by what he saw as a lack of respect, now compounded by events going further out of his control.

Bush and Carrier each show the horrors of being powerless with choices that condemn you no matter what you do. Reiswerg appropriately presents a person resolute in her convictions. Unfortunately, so do Bryant and Scott as uncompromising judges. Weimer gives the most complex performance, as a man who finds evil not in an entity but in unbudging egos, leading him to forego his own.

“The Crucible” tests its characters, as well as our own attitudes, a necessary exam for our own time.

Performances resume Wednesday and Thursday (Oct. 29-30), then Saturday and Sunday (Nov. 1-2) at Sheldon Auditorium, 1000 W. 42nd St., Indianapolis (southwest corner of Butler University campus). Get info and tickets at southbanktheatre.org.

Southbank: Seeing ‘Red’ in Black and White

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By John Lyle Belden

American-born actor Ira Aldridge was the first man of African descent to play the lead role in Shakespeare’s “Othello” on the London stage in 1833.

(The tragic character Othello, as most know, was a Moor, dark-skinned from African heritage. But especially as he is the title role, even when Black actors were available in England he was always played by a White man in blackface.)

The play “Red Velvet,” by Lolita Chakrabarti, presented by Southbank Theatre Company, is about this and more, taking measure of a complex and controversial artist with particular emphasis on one of his many milestones.

We open and close the play in 1867 with Aldridge (Daniel Wilke) on what would be his final tour of Europe, performing “King Lear” in Lodz, Poland. We learn he has been a celebrity throughout the Continent and in the U.K., where he also managed a theatre. Turning 60, he is impatient, blustery, and forbids any press interviews (we’ll understand why later).

A young Polish reporter, Halina (Hannah Embree), manages to make her way into his dressing room, talking the actor into taking a few questions. Feeling her to be impertinent, he then sends her away. However, the memories have been triggered, and our scene switches to London, more than 30 years earlier.

During a sold-out London production of “Othello,” famed actor Edmond Kean, in the title role, has collapsed on stage and will never tread the boards again. Theatre manager Pierre LaPorte (Brant Hughes), a friend of Aldridge, sees a chance to make theatre history. Politically progressive company member Henry Forester (J Charles Weimer), who also supports the demonstrations against slavery in the British Empire raging at the time, likes the idea, but fellow thespians Bernard Ward (Doug Powers) and especially Kean’s son Charles (Matt Hartzburg) – who plays the Moor’s murderous rival Iago – do not.

It is argued that the British stage is for escapist fantasy, where a regular (White) person can pretend to be something he is not. This form of stark realism, Ward remarks, is as absurd as a real simpleton playing Caliban or a real Jew as Shylock. Still, LaPorte is adamant and the show goes on, with Aldridge baring his natural face.

While the men seem to fit archetypes one would expect to see in a story of shaking up things in a treasured institution, the women each take an intriguing perspective.

Ellen Tree (Liz Carrier), like the tragic female lead Desdemona that she plays, seems caught in the middle. She must act opposite Aldridge, the focus of this controversy, and she is the fiancé of Charles Kean, who threatens to walk out in protest. Her allegiance is to the company, and she seems intrigued by this American’s approach to the play and its characters. Wilke and Carrier, like the actors they portray, skillfully present themselves as professionals rehearsing a married couple who must stand close and touch each other as they are bonded by love and destroyed by jealousy. Is that all we see? Neither they nor Chakrabarti’s script under the direction of Donna McFadden give us an easy or definitive answer.

In a role of sublime subtlety capped by the profound moments when she finally speaks her mind, Kendall Maxwell is exquisite as the servant Connie. Just her presence at the back of the room – standing in contrast to the man of color who is treated as a peer and equal to the others who only see her as little more than a tea-serving automaton – speaks volumes.

Rachel Kelso plays Aldrige’s wife, Margaret, casually trusting and true to her famous husband. Her understanding helps buoy our feelings for Ira Aldridge, who in turn expresses genuine affection for her, especially when she is no longer with him.

Embree is also impressive, giving us a character having to power through her own issues in a society determined to limit her.

Also, in the 1867 scenes Weimer amusingly plays a randy German stagehand, while Powers is Aldridge’s longsuffering personal assistant.

Hughes delivers a sharp performance as one struggling to keep both a career and a friendship without losing both. His character’s Frenchness makes him a sufficient outsider to be the catalyst of change, still, he’s all (show) business for his role in these events.

We come to find in the play’s title an aspect of Aldridge’s life’s arc. He recalls peering through velvet curtains as a boy to see his first plays; as an adult, he dons a crimson velvet cloak as the Moor. (Just one of many excellent costumes by Karen Cones.) Turning convention on its head, in preparing to play the aging King, he applies greasepaint to lighten his skin.

A reflection and commentary on racial and gender discrimination that has us considering how much has truly changed, and what it has taken to change it, wrapped in an intriguing portrait of a historic individual, “Red Velvet” has one weekend of performances left, Thursday through Sunday, May 1-4, at Shelton Auditorium, 1000 W. 42nd Street, Indianapolis (Butler University campus).  Get info and tickets at southbanktheatre.org.

Bard Fest ‘Macbeth’ simply bold

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By John Lyle Belden

In what has been announced to be its final season, Indy Bard Fest is going out strong. Appropriate to October, we get the spooky, cursed tragedy of “Macbeth,” directed by Christine Gordon.

On the main stage of the IF Theatre (a recent rebranding of the IndyFringe venue, reflecting a mission beyond its annual festival), there are just a couple of items – a garden fountain, a chair – to suggest a stage “set,” whisked in and out from behind the back curtain as needed. The Weird Sisters’ garb suggests a Goth fantasia as we see with today’s perspective the liberties William Shakespeare took with the story of the Scottish nobleman and king who ruled roughly 1,000 years ago. What mattered to the Bard, and to this production, is purely the play’s themes and atmosphere.

The Witches, presented gleefully by Ariel Laukins, Ryan James Moskalick, and Kat Murphy, set the tone and haunt throughout as the actors fill in various supporting roles. They are later joined by the goddess Hecate – Fire Fly of Indy Drag Theatre with divine voice by Wilhelmena Dreyer – who lurks in the previous scene, adding to the suggestion of her of power in this world.

Doug Powers is commanding as the title character, with Laura Gellin as even more ambitious Lady Macbeth. A cursory reading of the play would have you think these two seem to accelerate from “zero to murder” rather quickly; Powers and Gellin’s performances hint at a long-simmering desire to possess so much more than they already have. When a prediction of his rise comes true, it sparks the flame of ambition that will consume them both.

The cast also includes Guy Grubbs as doomed King Duncan, with Katie Endres as his son Malcolm. Tanner Bruson is Macbeth’s ill-fated companion Banquo, and Abby Morris plays his son Fleance, and others. Jason Creighton lends his strong voice and physique effectively to Macduff, Macbeth’s nemesis.

This simple presentation hones the focus down to the dangers of unfettered ambition, the consequences of rash acts (and how they compound as one follows another), and a cautionary lesson that there’s more than one way to read the signs before us.

Remaining performances of “Macbeth” are Friday through Sunday, Oct. 18-20, at 719 E. St. Clair, Indianapolis. Get tickets at indyfringe.org.

Cryptid heroes return to Fringe stage

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By John Lyle Belden

Cryptid Entertainment engages audiences with explorations of what it would be like if fantastic mythical creatures lived among us. Such stories might be closer to the truth than we suspect – there is reliable evidence, for instance, that the being known as Theodore Roosevelt may have at one time actually existed.

In 2022, Cryptid presented its masterwork “Bigfoot Saves America” during that year’s IndyFringe festival. While a success, the company were all in agreement that sequels to plays are a terrible idea, thus inspiring playwright and director Dakota Jones to instead expand the show to a second act, with the solemn mission of, in his words, “a cheap attempt at a laugh.”

Presenting: “Bigfoot Saves the World!”

Tony Schaab returns as the super sasquatch, agent of H.A.I.R. (a Top-Secret government office that assures us it doesn’t exist). Jo Bennett is also back as the evil Mothman, who has kidnapped Mr. Foot’s ex-wife, Dr. Love Interest (reprised by Kyrsten Lyster). Aaron Henze also returns from deep freeze as the lycanthrope-infected President Teddy Roosevelt.

This time around, Kaya Dorsch and Thomas Sebald portray the gay hench-moths as well as Agents in black, joined by the expendable Charlie Rankin.

And, again, this show is sponsored by pharmaceutical miracle and crude plot device Sexadryl (“Sex-A-Drill”).

Since it worked the last time, the first-act plot – bizarre humor and all – is essentially the same as the original Fringe show (for what happens, note its title).

The sequ- I mean Second Act reveals a plot by the Soviet Union (this takes place during the Cold War, after all) which involves Robo-Stalin (Sebald), Agents Hammer and Sickle (Dorsch and his right hand), femme fatale Ras-Poontang (Lyster), a sexy yeti (Rankin), and an even more glorious Mothman.

Will Bigfoot rise to the challenge? According to the title, yes, but he may need an assist from MOLAR OF THE MOLE PEOPLE (Dorsch again – they are so versatile).

Because you can’t have too much talent in such a cheesefest, there are special appearances by Doug Powers and David Molloy, as well as the services of the world’s greatest stagehand, Lillian Eisenbraun. Brilliant costumes are by stage manager Marina Turner.

Once again, these hijinks are funny, silly, and very “Adult Swim,” including “going for the hard ‘R’” with a bit of furry burlesque. It’s self-aware and unabashed, a great time for anyone (teenage and older) who doesn’t take endangering and saving the world with mythical beasts too seriously.

Further, we are assured that there will be absolutely no third chapter (until Dakota is finished writing it).

“Bigfoot Saves the World” Thursday through Sunday, July 25-28, at the IndyFringe Basile Theatre, 719 E. St. Clair, Indianapolis. Get tickets (before they sell out) at indyfringe.org.

NAATC mounts top quality ‘Black Bottom’

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By John Lyle Belden

Decades after its local premiere at the old Phoenix Theatre, August Wilson’s “Ma Rainey’s Black Bottom” returns on the Phoenix Theatre Cultural Center main stage, presented by Naptown African American Theatre Collective, directed by Edan Evans.

The one play of Wilson’s “Century Cycle” not taking place in Pittsburgh, the setting is a Chicago recording studio in 1927, where the “Mother of the Blues” is set to record some hits before heading back South. Note that while the events are the playwright’s conjecture, inspired by an old recording, Gertrude “Ma” Rainey (1886-1939) was very real and larger than life.

First to arrive to check the set-up are the studio manager Sturtevant (Patrick Vaughn) and Rainey’s manager Irvin (Scot Greenwell). Soon the musicians arrive: pianist Toledo (Bryan Ball), Cutler (Ben Rose) with his trombone, Slow Drag (John Singleton) with his stand-up bass, and young trumpet player Levee (Xavier Jones), who has ambitions of starting his own band eventually. While they wait for Ma, we get to know them as they rehearse. They’re no-nonsense and used to doing it “Ma’s way,” except for Levee, who even has his own arrangement of the title song.

Finally, Rainey (Alicia Sims) does arrive, accompanied by her nervous nephew Sylvester (Jy’ierre Jones), companion Dussie Mae (Selena Jackson), and a policeman (Doug Powers) whom Irvin has to pacify to ensure the recording session continues. Little else will go smoothly this day, while it is made plain that while this is Sturtevant’s studio, Ma Rainey is in charge.

Much of this play focuses on the men in the band, which was wise of Wilson as keeping such a force of nature as Ma at center stage throughout would have essentially made this a one-woman show. If there is a fiercer adjective than “fierce,” that’s what describes Sims’s performance. By this point a veteran performer and recording artist, Ma knows her worth, is hair-trigger aware of disrespect (especially by white folks), and thus absolutely no one to trifle with. Her sense of Roaring Twenties sexual liberation is unabashed, from her fondling of Dussie Mae to turning the Black Bottom (a dance that at the time rivaled the Charleston in popularity) into a double entendre.

Those playing the band smoothly embody individual quirks. Ball has Toledo wax philosophical in a conversational manner that still gives him the last word. Rose, in his cool Cab Calloway haircut as Cutler, plays it loose, going along to get along, but draws the line when you mock his faith. Singleton also takes it easy as fun-loving Slow Drag (the name gets explained). Xavier Jones plays Levee in all his complexity: brash and bold, yet naive; quick to smile or to anger; boyish looks on a man who has, we discover, dealt with unspeakable pain.

Also notable is Jy’ierre Jones’s portrayal of Sylvester, pushing through nerves and a stutter to give Ma what she needs in one of her most celebrated recordings.

Vaughn’s Sturtevant comes across as a subtle villain, all business and white privilege without overt bad intentions. Though no doubt dealing with “colored” clientele harshly or indifferently has a racial element, his successors throughout recording history will shortchange musicians of all backgrounds. As for our beleaguered white manager Irvin, Greenwell plays him not spineless, but flexible, constantly working the thin line that sets the talent and the money men worlds apart.

Splendid split stage design is by Fei with scenic design by Cole Wilgus and Ky Brooke. Kayla Hill is stage manager.

Witness this speculative look at a great moment in American music history. “Ma Rainey’s Black Bottom” runs through March 24 at the Phoenix Theatre Cultural Center, 705 N. Illinois St., downtown Indianapolis. Tickets at phoenixtheatre.org, or naatcinc.org.

Southbank ‘Lion’ a medieval family feud

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By John Lyle Belden

If contentious family members join you for the holidays, just be glad there’s not the inheritance of a European empire on the line.

In “The Lion in Winter,” by James Goldman, King Henry II of England – and a whole lot more – is spending Christmas in his castle at Chinon, in one of his French lands (the King of France only controlled a fraction of what is in its borders today). His mistress is a sister of the French King, who is also invited; two of his three sons present had not long before led a rebellion against him (during which another son, the heir Young Henry, died) with the third son, his favorite, a whiny spoiled brat; meanwhile, estranged wife Eleanor of Aquitaine (perhaps the era’s most powerful and influential woman) has been let out of her dungeon for the holiday.

Southbank Theatre Company presents this classic drama with catty comic overtones, directed by Becky Schlomann. A stellar local cast take the stage: Doug Powers presents the stubborn confidence of Henry, ever showing the clever, calculating mind that helped win and keep an empire, but his willingness to use love and relationships as weapons has cost him any family unity. Miranda Nehrig as young Alais shares his bed but, she fears, not his heart, as she realizes her place in the nobility is imperiled the longer she stays unmarried – and eventually to whom she is wed, she has no control.

The three sons couldn’t be more different: Richard (Thomas Sebald) is all about war and fighting, and truly a man’s man. Geoffrey (Jo Bennett) is highly intelligent, charming, and conniving – which means no one is trusting him with the crown.  Then there’s John (Garrett Rowe), a teenager, but really, the baby of the family.

Jean Arnold is a complete fox – beautiful and sly – as Eleanor. With expression and bearing that hints she’s always a chess move or two ahead, she easily matches Henry in their battle of wits.

Kaya Dorsch is impressive as Philip II of France. The young king recently succeeded his father, whom he saw as being too easily taken in by Henry’s shrewd negotiations. Though the underdog in both real power and statecraft, he’s learning quickly.

Aside from the gifts wrapped in pretty boxes, what everyone wants for this Christmas is resolution to issues such as control of various parts of the Angevin Empire, including who will inherit the crown from Henry. Basically, Eleanor backs Richard (which is what had gotten her under castle arrest) while the King favors John. Throughout the play schemes and maneuvers abound, with clever arguments and retorts the weapon of choice.

Those who know history, or Robin Hood legends, know who will eventually prevail as King in a few years. However, we – and others in the audience – couldn’t help but reference Disney’s “Robin Hood” for the portrayal here of Prince John. Rowe’s tantrums are so epically immature we expected him to pop his thumb in his mouth like the film’s animated lion.

If you were unaware of this show, but the plotline seems familiar, note it is also the basis for the television series “Empire” (Cookie Lyon = Eleanor). If you are missing that drama, you will find a similar sassy spirit here.

Performances of “Lion in Winter” are Thursday through Sunday, Nov. 16-19, at Shelton Auditorium, 1000 W. 42nd St., in the southwest corner of the Butler University campus. Get info and tickets at southbanktheatre.org.

Bard Fest: Humor and History with ‘King John’

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This is part of Indy Bard Fest 2022, the annual Indianapolis area Shakespeare Festival. For information and tickets, visit indybardfest.com.

By John Lyle Belden

When most of us last saw or even thought of King John of England, he was still a Prince, frustrated with the antics of Robin Hood.

However, while Robin is legendary, there was a real John. Those taxes the Merry Men resented were a literal king’s ransom to rescue King Richard the Lionheart, his Crusading brother, and once John did ascend to the crown himself, his big achievement was getting badgered by the nobility to sign the Magna Carta. It didn’t help his reputation that he lost most of England’s lands in modern France, and that with historians he is overshadowed by one of the most awesome women of Medieval Europe, his mother, Eleanor of Aquitaine.

Can even William Shakespeare rehabilitate the image of this man? His “The Life and Death of King John” reads more like a complex cautionary tale with its twists of fate, as well as digs at the expense of France and the Catholic Church to keep Elizabethan audiences happy.

Now it is in the gentle hands of local director Doug Powers, who brings the Indy Bard Fest production of “King John” to The Shelton Auditorium at Butler University. His handling of the text brings out the humor in this history play, borne of the constant shifts between belligerence and brokered peace. The flow of the plot goes like: We’re at war! Now we’re not! We’re at war again! We’re… where were we…? There’s a dry, almost Pythonesque feel to some of the scenes, eliciting several chuckles from the audience.

Excellent casting helps: Zachary Stonerock gives John a sense of purpose, edged with frustration and notoriously quick temper. He strives to be a good ruler, while his mouth writes checks his army can’t cash. Gari Williams gives Queen Eleanor the regal bearing she held to her last days, her counsel helping keep John on task. Kevin Caraher portrays Philip of France as a monarch weary of war, but not relenting until his son Louis the Dauphin (Cael Savidge) and Duke Arthur (Max Gallagher), who has a claim to England’s throne, get their due. Star turns in supporting roles include Sabrina Duprey, who finds herself little more than a pawn in this game as Princess Blanche of Spain; Tony Armstrong as Hubert, a faithful servant with an impossible choice; and the brilliant Matt Anderson, first as a citizen of a besieged city who offers a crucial compromise, and later as Cardinal Pandulph, who acts with the Pope’s authority to excommunicate King John.

The top performances here are by Georgeanna Smith Wade in two fiery mother roles – most notably railing at all the politicking and half-measures keeping young Arthur from the throne – and by Taylor Cox as Philip “The Bastard” Faulconbridge, illegitimate son of John’s brother Richard, named a Knight in the King’s forces. Cox exudes a brash confidence that seems unearned at first, growing throughout as his role makes him both provocateur and chorus, giving many a sly aside or clever commentary to us watching.

Once again, Bard Fest has served up a Shakespeare work we don’t often see and makes it entertain and even enlightening when compared to the fickle nature of modern statecraft. Remaining performances are Friday through Sunday, Oct. 14-16 at the Shelton, 1000 W. 42nd Street, on the grounds Butler shares with Christian Theological Seminary.

Don’t ‘fiddle’ and miss this one

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By John Lyle Belden

“Seneca and the Soul of Nero” is a new play by Southbank Theatre Company artistic director Marcia Eppich-Harris, but stands well in style and content with other great historical tragedies. I sense it could have been written at any time between now and the 900s, when the myth that Emperor Nero “fiddled while Rome burned” became popular. 

The premiere Southbank production of the play, at the IndyFringe Basile stage through Oct. 2, resembles a Bardfest event in its excellent handling by director Doug Powers and a cast that includes David Mosedale as Stoic philosopher Seneca and Evren Wilder Elliott as teenage “Princeps” Nero. 

Despite the abundance of written material in the First Century, much of it surviving to today, the true history of Nero is anything but clear, with contemporary accounts often written by those who didn’t like the young tyrant and centuries passing to add myth and legend to his story. The fiddle didn’t even exist at the time, but it was possible to draw a bow across a lyre, an instrument that Nero did enjoy playing — and he embraced music and theatre at a time when its practitioners were in lower regard than prostitutes (never mind an alleged god-king). Just as we don’t mind the words that Shakespeare put into the ancients’ mouths, Eppich-Harris is perfectly entitled to her well-researched dramatic license, especially as she captured the spirit of the era and its abundant lessons for today’s social and political climate. 

Seneca was Nero’s tutor when he ascended to the throne, and the boy, feeling immediately in over his head, smartly kept the philosopher on as principal advisor and speechwriter, as well as trusted military leader Afranius Burrus (David Molloy) to head his guard. Also on the scene were his ever-hovering mother Agrippina (Rachel Snyder), naive half-brother Britannicus (Brant Hughes), and dutiful but suspicious stepsister/wife Octavia (Bra’Jae’ Allen) whom he would ignore in favor of the beautiful and ambitious Sabina (Trick Blanchfield). At Seneca’s side were faithful wife Pompeia Paulina (Jenni White) and his nephew, the famous poet Lucan (Noah Winston).

Elliott brilliantly brings us along on the emperor’s journey, as he grows older and more at ease with power, but no more mature. At first troubled by signing off on the deaths of the justly condemned, Nero comes to find a quick murder is an easy solution to an immediate problem — but then more issues pop up in its place. Each death takes a little more of his soul, power-madness devolving to madness, reducing him until nearly no one is left, and the knife is in his hand.

Mosedale stands ever solid, defending his young charge as long as he can while defending himself against the hypocrisy of living large yet espousing Stoic principles. In the end, he must choose between Nero and Rome. White’s Pompeia leads the greater example, steadfast to her husband but never wavering on their moral stand. 

Snyder embodies the complex Agrippina without slipping into villainous caricature, perhaps even engendering some sympathy as the evil she sows grows out of her control. Molloy exemplifies the “good soldier” completely, bearing his orders until his sense of justice can do no more.

An exceptional look at history and the dynamics and hazards of unfettered power, “Seneca and the Soul of Nero” is worthy to stand among the Classics. We encourage all who can to see it, and to those reading this in the future to consider bringing to your own stages.

Find information at southbanktheatre.org and tickets at indyfringe.org. Note that COVID-19 vaccination and masking are required of all audience members. Home viewing via “on-demand” streaming available Oct. 15-Nov. 14 (see Southbank site for details).

Mother and daughter go the distance in ’26 Miles’

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By John Lyle Belden

Olivia is a precocious teenager living in the 1980s, when every car has a cassette player and, since the Internet is not a big thing yet, she expresses herself in a hand-made paper ‘zine. She is also a child of divorce, and of two worlds – her father a white carpenter, her mother a Cuban immigrant.

On a day she feels especially troubled – can’t reach her father, gets indifference from stepmother, and is constantly throwing up – Olivia calls the Mom she hasn’t talked to in years. Within an hour, Beatriz is there to pick her daughter up, but rather than drive to her home in nearby Philadelphia, she impulsively drives west. And keeps going.

This sets up the adventure of “26 Miles,” the coming-of-age drama now on stage at Fonseca Theatre Company. It was written by Quiara Alegria Hudes, co-writer of “In the Heights” (with Lin-Manuel Miranda) and Pulitzer winner for “Water by the Spoonful.” Hudes also adapted this play into the musical, “Miss You Like Hell,” which was presented by Fonseca just a couple of summers ago.

Whereas “Miss You…” tackles the issues of immigration and personal identity, in “26 Miles,” the focus is more on Olivia, a high school sophomore played endearingly by college sophomore Lily Weidenbach. She perfectly channels teen angst, without coming off whiny, and the naive optimism of youth. While barely realizing it, this one who embodies the “melting pot” puts herself on a very American visionquest, headed to the historic frontier in search of the embodiment of wild native spirit. But how and where will she belong when she returns to Pennsylvania?

Beatriz, played with maternal gusto by Lara Romero, is not as imperiled as her character in the musical, and, while impatient with others, a calm mentor to Olivia, awakening her to her full heritage.

Doug Powers has many roles, especially Olivia’s father, Aaron, a former free spirit who now obsesses over wood finishes and the perfect material for shingles. He’s a devoted, loving father, but struggles with being a Dad. Also in various characters is Ian Cruz, mainly as Beatriz’s beau in Philly, and a tamale seller the women meet on the highway (he played a similar role in the Fonseca production of “Miss You…” as well).

Directed by Fonseca Producing Director Jordan Flores Schwartz, the play makes use of the in-the-round set-up of the stage in the lot behind the Basile building at 2508 W. Michigan (west of downtown Indianapolis). Live performances, with distancing and other measures, run through June 27. Get tickets and info at fonsecatheatre.org.

Full ‘Hamlet’ enriches familiar story

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This Show is part of Bard Fest, central Indiana’s annual Shakespeare festival. Info and tickets at www.indybardfest.com.

By Wendy Carson

By now we all know the story of Hamlet. It’s one of Shakespeare’s most produced plays and you’ve likely seen more than one version of it. However, Doug Powers and the Carmel Theatre Company have chosen to give us a different take by giving us an almost entirely unabridged look at the play.

Before you balk at the 3-plus hour running length (with intermission), note that with these rarely acted scenes returned to the story, it just deepens the richness of the characters. It also brings the secondary plot forward (remember Norway?) bringing more closure and purpose to many of the characters.

Honestly, I had forgotten many of the scenes and speeches performed and was touched by the true beauty of not only their narrative but the language itself.

Also, the starkness of the stage and minimalist set pieces help remind you that this show is about listening to and understanding the characters. In order to fulfill this task, one must have great actors and Powers has outdone himself in procuring them.

Brian G. Hartz sizzles as Hamlet, pulling forth all of the rage and deviousness that the character embodies. Miranda Nehrig turns Ophelia into a young woman who’s confusion and frustrations over Hamlet’s behavior help lead her to her desperate end. Both have skill in communicating beyond saying the lines, especially Nehrig’s talent for adding volumes with a single facial expression.

Eric Bryant as Claudius and Jean Arnold as Gertrude present the quintessential parents who are bewildered as to why their son has so quickly changed his demeanor. Their recent nuptials so soon after the previous King’s untimely death never cross their mind as a possible reason.

While most of the Bard Fest offerings have cast women in several men’s roles, Powers uses his casting choices to their maximum effect. Jo Bennett plays Horatio as a dear friend but in later scenes there seems to be romantic tension, which they pull off with great aplomb.

However, the best example of this is with the character of Guildenstern, played by Gorgi Parks Fulper. Instructed to play upon her history with Hamlet to obtain information, she is asked to use her feminine wiles. Meanwhile, Benjamin Mathis plays Rosencrantz as the perfect second banana who seems to always be left out of the whole scheme.

Alan Cloe is perfect as wise but tragic Polonius. Noah Winston is a fiery force as his son, Laertes.

Casting is also clever in its players with two or more roles: Fulper and Mathis also play palace guards in the opening scene. Janice Hibbard is the messenger to Norway, and later is that country’s warrior princess Fortinbras. The ghost of murdered King Hamlet (the title character’s dad) is portrayed by Tony Armstrong, who also plays an identical character in the play-within-the-play that Hamlet (the younger) sets up to watch his stepfather’s reaction; later Armstrong is the gravedigger who unearths Yorick’s skull.

In addition, kudos to Rachel Snyder and Kyrsten Lyster as members of the traveling troupe of Players.

There is some intense swordplay in this production, so credit is due to Bryant as fight choreographer.

Remaining performances are 7:30 p.m. Friday, 7:30 Saturday (with talkback following) and 1 p.m. Sunday (Oct. 25-27) at the IndyFringe Theatre.