family

IndyFringe: Horse Girl

PWJW_Indy IndyFringe, Reviews, Stage , , , , , , , , , , ,

This was part of the 20th Anniversary Indy Fringe Theatre Festival in August 2025. Review originally posted on our Facebook page.

By Wendy Carson

Jason Adams once again brings us a spectacularly delightful offering to the Fringe with, “Horse Girl.” It’s an imaginative look at the history of his birth parents by the man who only knew the barest of details about them.

His father was a blacksmith from Liverpool, and his mother was an equestrian rider.

The show focuses mainly on his mother, Matilda (Tilde) McCullough, the descendant of a storied horse family. Details given include the Birth of Dressage and the History of the Fur Trade in Southern Ontario. We are also introduced to the magical horse, Ulysses, who would be her partner in the competitions that cemented her legacy in the horse world .

A small hint of his father’s backstory shows him turning away from the family business of fishing to become a blacksmith who would one day repair a show for Ulysses, thus introducing him to Tilde.

Their brief affair would end with the conception of Jason but due to family pressures, he would ultimately be given up for adoption and come into the care of his true mother, Janet Adams.

This bittersweet tale is told with all the whimsy and charm we have come to expect from Adams. For those of you not familiar with his style, think Winnie the Pooh meets Monty Python.

This show is appropriate for all ages, in fact, some younger audience members will likely be asked to assist with some of the effects.

Adams has grown so much as a storyteller through the years and this show has him at the pinnacle of his talents.

Hyperion presents man’s ‘zero hour’

PWJW_Indy Reviews, Stage , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , ,

By John Lyle Belden

BE ADVISED: This play explores heavy topics, including suicide.

What does the dark, serious comedy “Rocket Man” by Steven Dietz, performed for one weekend by Hyperion Players in Fishers, directed by Daniel Maloy, have to do with the 1972 hit song by Elton John and Bernie Taupin?

In my mind, absolutely nothing – and everything.

The song was reportedly inspired by a sci-fi story by Ray Bradbury about a time when being an astronaut will be just a regular job. The lyrics are less about the wonder of traveling in space and more about the ennui and loneliness of the very long commute.

In this play, Donny (Bailey Hunt), in his 40s, finds himself in a crisis he can’t just brush off as “midlife.” It’s a crisis of time and space. He’s “losing” time; hours and days seem to pass without his noticing. He plans a milestone birthday party for teenage daughter Trisha (Amelia Bostick), not realizing it was a week ago.

As for space, he’s been changing his relationship to it. Having quit his long-time successful job as a land surveyor and abandoned his past ambition to be a landscape architect, Donny cleared his house of all its objects – to the shock of Trisha, surprise of good friend and neighbor Buck (Greg Fiebig), and chagrin of his ex-wife Rita (Isabel Hunt) – except for the attic, in which he has reopened the skylight and set up his E-Z Boy recliner for stargazing.

Donny’s best friend and former survey partner Louise (Lauren Taylor) comes over as well. Her chronic insomnia has somehow led her to study at a seminary. Buck confides in her on a spiritual manner: he is sure he is hearing voices around his own house, telling him to build an ark (like in the biblical Noah story).

Rita contends with the consequences of her “year of being real,” in which she always told people what she thought of them – a factor in her and Donny’s divorce. Still, it is his unsettled mind that primarily drives him.

There is also a crosswalk sign, “terrible” cookies, the moon and stars, an umbrella, things not done, things not finished, the song, “Quiet Nights of Quiet Stars,” and some recognizable signs that a person is taking a one-way voyage.

However, once we reach that other world – where things are the same, yet different – the troubled feelings aren’t necessarily better.

This inventive look at loss and what-ifs is wonderfully presented and incredibly challenging. Hunt’s performance is of a man feeling the pressure of being between worlds – age, creativity, even literal planets – who only feels relief in a desperate plan. The others play well their unusual aspects, enriching the context for the story’s Bradbury-esque strangeness.

Fiebig also designed the excellent attic setting in which nearly all the action takes place.

This play has remaining performances tonight (as I post this) and Sunday, May 31-June 1, at The Switch theatre in Ji-Eun Lee Music Academy, 10029 126th St., Fishers. Info and tickets at hyperionplayers.com.

– – –

Can’t help but see the events of the pivotal moment between Acts in these lyrics:

“And I think it’s gonna be a long, long time
‘Til touchdown brings me ’round again to find
I’m not the man they think I am at home
Oh, no, no, no
I’m a rocket man
Rocket man
Burning out his fuse up here alone.”

ALT characters only ‘Human’

PWJW_Indy Reviews, Stage , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , ,

By John Lyle Belden

With the passage of time, we are often prone to looking back at particular eras. Stephan Karam’s Tony-winning play, “The Humans” takes a snapshot of a day during the years between the national traumas of 9/11 and Covid.

In this 90-minute (no intermission) drama, presented by American Lives Theatre at the Phoenix Theatre Cultural Centre, Brigid and her partner Richard (Susannah Quinn and Trent K. Hawthorne-Richards) are hosting Thanksgiving dinner for her family – parents Erik and Deidre (Eric Bryant and Eva Patton), older sister Aimee (Jenni White), and grandmother “Momo” (Wendy Brown) – in her new apartment located in Manhattan’s Chinatown.

It’s a big place for New York, split-level on ground floor and basement, connected by a narrow spiral staircase, but with a view only of a cigarette butts and ash-filled inner courtyard, as well as the occasional disturbing mysterious noises from the neighbors. The one bathroom upstairs, while kitchen and dining area are below, becomes an issue because Momo has severe dementia and, though able to walk some, mostly gets around pushed in a wheelchair; also, Aimee has frequent intestinal symptoms from her ulcerative colitis.

These factors, as well as general family awkwardness, plus Erik and Richard each relating the weird dreams they have been having, serve up all the ingredients for a family-holiday comedy. However, while there a quite a few good laughs in this show, the overall tone is set by Erik’s Thanksgiving toast “to knowing what’s important,” because “one day, it goes.”

We find that each character has something slipping away or lost. As the plot gains substance, it draws out the essence of American life in the early 21st century: that we perpetually, for the sake of our sanity, ignore that every one of us is one setback away from catastrophe. The odd sounds, the grandmother’s babble of insistent phrases you almost understand, as well as individual reflections on a past September day, bring the fast-flowing currents of fear closer to the surface.

Plus, we learn about “pig smash,” which looks kinda fun.

Matthew Reeder directs, assisted by Jacob David Lang, on an excellent stage set by Rozy Isquith, featuring metal spiral stairs that are legendary around Indy theatres.  

As for the cast, this ensemble all know how to bring the feels. I find it difficult to single out any particular performance – White and Brown are among our friends, but I still think it’s fair to call them exceptional: White can play having all-the-problems while still being sweet and relatable; Brown gives a tender performance, punctuated by confusion, anger, and moments of something approaching mischief. Hawthorne-Richards works with nervous charm as the outsider point of view on the others’ family dynamic, and it’s nice (especially for something set only about a decade ago) that it is this different upbringing more than his skin tone that sets him apart.

Bryant brings gravitas to his paternal role, reflecting experience (on other stages) of seeing the story as a director (here, it’s Erik knowing this may not end well) and feeling it as an actor (struggling with circumstances he can’t control). Quinn plays the desperate soul bargaining that if one dream comes true – Brigid getting a nice place to live – her others don’t have to die, either. Patton maintains the stage tradition of the Mom who is like a rock while dealing with the growing cracks.

Walls thump and lights flicker, but knowing how fantasy stories end, we understand what it is that the ghosts and shadows fear. “The Humans” runs through May 11 on the Phoenix main stage, 705 N. Illinois, downtown Indianapolis. Get tickets at phoenixtheatre.org, information at americanlivestheatre.org.

Play presents unstable nuclear family

PWJW_Indy Reviews, Stage , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , ,

By John Lyle Belden

When we see photos taken on the surface of the planet Mars, they are desolate, empty, and yet beautiful – in part because we still want to believe in the advanced civilizations that authors including Ray Bradbury and Robert Heinlein placed there. We observe the truth but see the myth.

In “Martian Gothic,” by popular and prolific American playwright Don Nigro, Sonia Pretorius looks at a nuclear power plant and, she tells us, sees grand Martian cathedrals.

The play is presented at IF Theatre by Clerical Error Productions, expanding beyond its reputation for farces by bringing us a more complex sort of comedy – laughter-invoking funny at times, while also “funny” like things are not quite right. Local actor and director Jon Lindley, noting an interest in this play for some time, directs, assisted by stage manager Stacy Long.

Set in the 1980s – apparently at a point between when the Three Mile Island incident increased demand for public relations campaigns by nuclear energy interests, and the Chernobyl disaster, which essentially stopped all interest in building new plants – Sonia (Laura Gellin) is the perfect spokeswoman for the local nuclear energy company. She has a genius intellect, knowledge of the systems, beauty with an engaging personality, and is the daughter of famed nuclear engineer Dr. John Pretorius (Brad Staggs). As a girl she loved science fiction, but as a teen her energies were devoted to caring for younger sister Janie (Sarah Powell) after their mother died.

Sonia has a few problems: Janie is an environmental activist, protesting at the plant; the power company official Sonia reports to, Nofsinger (Blake Mellencamp), is a sexist jerk (and wannabe adulterer); and there are disturbing reports written by the on-site Nuclear Regulatory Commission inspector, R. Hooey. Turns out the “R” stands for Ruth (Alaine Sims), who sits hidden away in the basement writing honest reports that no one reads because the NRC automatically approves anything management wants.

Sonia is also our narrator, with a frankness that belies her public niceness. “Thank you for being ignorant,” she says. Her intellectual smugness extends to treating her sister like an imbecile, not just because of Janie’s dyslexia, but mostly for her refusing to see the wonderful benefits of their father’s work. Gellin and Powell give us a heartbreakingly genuine performance of siblings whose love is constantly obscured by differences that have them arguing any time they are together – constantly both desiring and refusing to understand each other’s point of view.

Staggs gives us a man of conscience finding himself forced to reconsider his life’s work. Dr. Pretorius’s priority becomes connection with his daughters, and to understand the truth – whatever form it takes – with the help of his growing relationship with Ruth. Sims displays sharp wit in her straight-shooter character.

Mellencamp makes Nofsinger an irredeemable ass, weasel, or any manner of unpleasant metaphorical animal. Still, his “the facts are what we say they are” expedient manager is not much of an exaggeration from what’s found in corporations, government, or especially where they intersect.

At a time with new designs for nuclear plants being floated, trust in government and corporate interests as shaky as ever, and our continuing to understand how uncertain is the literal ground under our feet, this play is an important thought-provoking parable for today. Nigro’s words, in Lindley’s hands, intwine themes of family and power with fragile nuclear bonds.

Mars remains too distant for us; however, the wisdom of its mythical race is still attainable, provided we can handle what we grok. “Martian Gothic” has performances Thursday through Sunday, April 24-27 at The Blackbox at IF Theatre, 719 E. St. Clair, downtown Indianapolis. Get tickets at indyfringe.org.

Epilogue’s ‘Mr. Green’ a memorable visit

PWJW_Indy Reviews, Stage , , , , , , , , , , , ,

By John Belden

Being unaware of Epilogue Players’ “Visiting Mr. Green,” the self-described “comedy/drama” by Jeff Baron about a weekly appointment at the home of an 80-something single man, I wasn’t sure what to expect.

Well, this ain’t “Tuesdays with Morrie” – for one thing, our young adult Ross Gardner (Grant Bowen) arrives on Thursdays at the home of Mr. Green (Tom Bartley). This visitation isn’t sentimental, it’s court-ordered. Ross nearly ran over the old man with his car, and accepted fault and the judge’s unconventional version of community service.

To say Mr. Green is a curmudgeon would be putting it lightly. He’s very set in his ways, accustomed to being alone, and it’s hard to tell whether his mind is slipping or he wears distraction like a mask to hide his loneliness at the passing of his wife Yetta – “59 years, never an argument!” – months ago. He is a devout Jew, while Ross hasn’t done much with his faith since his bar mitzvah.

Bartley manages to portray this effectively without the distraction of aging makeup, brusque in his speech and manners, accompanied by slow but purposeful movement. He’s likable, but some of his attitudes challenge us – hard to brush off as just relics of another time or culture.

Ross tries hard to be accommodating. Bowen portrays him as frustrated, a people-pleaser at heart yet unable to find his own peace. We can tell he’s a good person caught in an awkward situation, something to which we can easily relate.

Over time, as one would expect, the two build a rapport of sorts, however a couple of personal revelations – one involving each of them – threaten to destroy their budding friendship. These visits become a compelling mix of gentle laughs and harsh words. As they both serve this unusual months-long sentence, they must find what – aside from Kosher soup – will be enough to heal their damaged souls.

The show is smartly directed by Mac Bellner with encouragement from Baron, whose recently completed second revision of his 1997 script is produced here.

This charming reflection on family, aging, and personal connections has performances Thursday through Sunday, April 10-13, at Epilogue, 1849 N. Alabama St., Indianapolis. Get tickets at epilogueplayers.com.

Civic gets ‘Curious’ with story of mystery and maths

PWJW_Indy Reviews, Stage , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , ,

By John Lyle Belden

One nice thing about the Booth Tarkington Civic Theatre production of “The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-Time” (by Simon Stephens, based on the Mark Haddon novel) is that instead of a realistic looking dead dog in the middle of the stage, there is a chalk-outline style silhouette – with the garden fork stuck in it. Can’t avoid that detail as the dog, Wellington, is indeed dead.

But this play isn’t really about the dog.

The canine crime, however, is what starts Christopher Boone, a teenager in Swindon, England, who is definitely on the autism spectrum but specific diagnoses are not mentioned and irrelevant as long you understand he’s just different, to start writing his very detailed “book” on this curious incident, to aid in his investigation of the apparent murder.

So, what we see are the events of Christopher’s (Ozzy Heath) writing, also being the play that his teacher Siobhan (Jean Childers Arnold) encourages to make of it with the help of community actors (Lisa K. Anderson, Matt Anderson, Lukas Robinson, Rex Wolfley, Kennedy Morgan and Carrie Andrews Reiberg). It does appear that Christopher’s father Ed (Eric Reiberg) and mother Judy (Afton Shepard) play themselves, but that might just be us sharing his memories. Everything will add up, though, as Christopher is exceptionally good at “maths,” as the British call them.

The first act involves the quirky pursuit of justice for Wellington, which leads to a rather upsetting discovery. In the second, resolving a new mystery means taking on the most horrific challenge of Christopher’s life – the London Underground subways.

Jay Hemphill directs this production that helps deliver Christopher’s unique perspective through image projections and the other players acting as various characters, barriers, and at several moments, choreographed chaos. The neurodivergent think in straight lines and simple facts, but the world around us is mazes and metaphors.

Lebanon high schooler Heath does an excellent job of expressing that perspective, complete with a respectfully accurate presentation of the boy’s tics and quirks. Showing this person so honestly helps us to empathize and cheer him on.

Arnold’s Siobhan is that favorite teacher we either fondly remember or wish we had. She obviously understands working with students like Christopher and making him feel respected and, in this curious context, normal. Contrast this almost too good to be true character (perhaps because seen through the boy’s eyes) with his parents, neither of whom would be named Britian’s Mom or Dad of the Year.

Reiberg and Shepard each play their roles with a brutal honesty in which they see where they slipped up, finding themselves needing and willing to do the work to restore the most important and fragile thing in Christopher’s world – trust.

This story has lots of humor and persistence and compassion in a demonstration that seeing things through a different way of thinking can lead to amazing insights. And in the end, you will cheer the answer to an A-Levels maths problem!

Christopher doesn’t mind tight spaces, so we see “The Curious Incident” in The Studio Theater at the Center for the Performing Arts in downtown Carmel, through March 29. Get tickets at civictheatre.org or thecenterpresents.org.

NAATC ‘Stew’ – seeking comfort by making a meal

PWJW_Indy Reviews, Stage , , , , , , , , , , , , , ,

By John Lyle Belden

Taking the obvious metaphor, the Pulitzer-finalist drama “Stew” by Zora Howard, presented by Naptown African American Theatre Collective at the Phoenix Theatre Cultural Centre, is a blend of various ingredients.

It’s a story of memory, aging, change, loss, womanhood, and family, simmering in the perspective of working-class Black life in late 20th-century America. It’s multi-generational, set in the home of Mama Tucker (Vickie Daniel), with her daughters Lillian (Dominique Moon) and Nelly (Clarissa Todd) and Lillian’s children – a girl known as Lil’ Mama (Tracy Nakigozi) and the boy, Junior, who should be arriving from a friend’s house at any minute.

It’s that one day a year when folks get together at the local church and one thing that will be expected is Mama’s homemade stew. From the beginning of the day, a broken cup on the floor, everything seems to interfere with getting the food cooked on time. Lillian, visiting long-term (without her husband, who apparently won’t be coming after all) is trying too hard to help and frequently remarks on Mama’s health. Nelly, being 17, still lives there, but she has “a man” and a plan to get away; for now, though, she has endless chores garnished with maternal disapproval.  Lil’ Mama is at that middle-school age where every little thing is “sooo haaard” and her every answer is “I don’t knoooow,” but she’s still big Mama’s little girl, even when she lazily grabs the entirely wrong size cooking pot.

There are more than vegetables simmering in this house. Each one of these ladies has a secret. The least disruptive one is of Lil’ Mama auditioning for her school’s play, Shakespeare’s “Richard III.” This allows Mama to remind all that she was part of the church theatre league, and to recite the Bard’s expressions of a woman’s grief from memory.

Daniel, initially the understudy for Mama (Renee Lockett left due to illness), gives a commanding performance with the boldness of a woman knowing she has Jesus by her side and generations of strong Black women behind her. Ever maternal, she goes from scolding to tender and back in a heartbeat. This day’s changes and surprises test Mama’s resolve, sometimes severely, but we see her rising to nearly every challenge.

Moon gives us in Lillian the complexity of a woman dealing with a lot, including the state of her marriage and the lives of her children. Todd, on the other hand, portrays Nelly naively certain of how her life will play out, while knowing deep down it’s about to get a lot more complicated.

Nakagozi has mastered the art of playing an absolute brat – and not in a cute way, though she can be that as well. It’s apparent that Lil’ Mama largely can’t help being like this, and somewhere in all the frustration is a little girl who really does want to be good and helpful.

LaKesha Lorene directs, keeping “Stew’s” recipe at a low boil with plenty of humor and heart. She noted before our performance that a number of students in NAATC’s Education for All program worked on staff and crew for this production.

The struggles, laughter, shouts, and tears here are relatable to any of our families, though one aspect that will define this day, felt keenly by the Tuckers, is sadly too familiar. Come and savor what these women have to share. Performances of “Stew” run through March 30 at the Phoenix, 705 N. Illinois St., Indianapolis. Get tickets at phoenixtheatre.org or naatcinc.org.

While you’re at the show, order the new NAATC fundraiser cookbook!

Searching through old pages for family

PWJW_Indy Reviews, Stage , , , , , , , , , , , , , , ,

By John Lyle Belden

This is a play about a woman who committed to writing a play, based on her great-grandfather’s diary, which – when she made the proposal – she had barely read.

“The Berlin Diaries” by Andrea Stolowitz is presented by the Phoenix Theatre as part of a National New Play Network Rolling World Premiere. Jennifer and Rob Johansen are listed as playing Andrea and Max (the patriarch diarist) but play all roles. Stolowitz constructed the narrative to always be in her (Andrea’s) point of view, which can be expressed by either actor as herself speaking or others talking to her, including Max’s words coming forward from 1939. Thanks to the skill of both veteran Equity performers, this is easier to follow that you’d think, and gives new perspective to talking things over with yourself.

The play is directed by Phoenix Theatre Cultural Centre artistic director Constance Macy and Rabbi Brett Krichiver, who also understudy.

Andrea has a grant and an apartment in Berlin, Germany, to develop her dramatic work based on the diary kept within a family who seem to now be so few, and who hardly get along. In the 1930s, Max Conreich and various relatives lived in the city, but he managed to escape to New York before the Nazi regime closed in. Also, she discovers, other family made their way to Brazil, Jewish Palestine (now Israel), South Africa, Australia, Argentina, and elsewhere.

This journey of discovery is a unique perspective on stories of the Holocaust. The horrors of those lost in death camps is touched upon, yet there is also the loss of connectivity in the scattering of people to avoid those horrors. In Andrea’s family, the spirit of avoidance lingers to today’s generations.

Andrea’s hunt for “people lost like library books” through Skype calls, interviewing relatives, and volumes of old paperwork is engaging and fascinating. Especially in Jen and Rob’s hands, the play that Stolowitz set out on blind faith to make works beautifully.

As much a part of the show as the actors is the exceptional set designed by Zac Hunter, with a huge tree – a family tree, you could say – made with book-cover bark and book pages for leaves. The plight of Jews to always be on the move, as well as Andrea’s travels, are exemplified by the various suitcases employed as props and furniture, constantly rearranged throughout the show.

Fulfil Max’s wishes by engaging with “The Berlin Diaries,” through March 16 at 705 N. Illinois St., downtown Indianapolis. Get info and tickets at phoenixtheatre.org.

‘…Now Change’ has changed!

PWJW_Indy Reviews, Stage , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , ,

By Wendy Carson

Mud Creek Players brings us the delightful relationship-based musical comedy, “I Love You, You’re Perfect, Now Change.” However, after casting the production with scripts from a previous version, director Kevin Bell discovered that the “perfect” script had itself changed, thanks to updates by the creators, Joe DiPietro and Jimmy Roberts.

Therefore, if you’ve seen a past version of this show, get ready for a few new twists and takes on some of its classic skits.

This production’s expanded cast keeps the laughter rolling throughout, deftly moving from one scene to the next. Highlights include: Alex Bast’s sweet desire to be more of a ‘Stud” while Kennedy Wilson yearns to be more of a “Babe”; Lauren Werne’s poignant dating video; Kristin Hilger & Logan Laflin sharing a movie date; and Jeremy Crouch and Derek Sumpter just being “Guys”. It’s impossible to pick just one scene to highlight the talents of Onis Dean, Yolanda Valdivia, and Nicole Crabtree, as each remembered role is just as fantastic as the next. I also loved the inclusion of stagehand Meriah Reynolds as an extra included in parts of the show.

If this isn’t familiar, know that the musical is a very funny and at times touching tribute to relationships, from dating to marriage and family to finding yourself single and seeking again.

So, head out this Valentine’s weekend (Feb. 14-15) for a lot of love and laughs at Mud Creek, 9740 E. 86th St., Indianapolis. Get tickets at mudcreekplayers.org.

IBTC: Feeling trauma and hope through the ‘Bloodline’

PWJW_Indy Reviews, Stage , , , , , , , , , , ,

By John Lyle Belden

This is one of four scheduled shows in the Black Solos Fest presented by Indianapolis Black Theatre Company, a program of The District Theatre. Performance information and tickets at indydistricttheatre.org.

My silly mind wants call this “We’ll always have Paris” as this is the name of three generations of men sharing the name of this one-person drama’s creator, Paris Crayton III, but the content is a bit too intense for that – though I suspect Grandpa Paris would grin and salute with his ever-present cocktail at the joke.

This is “Bloodline,” a semi-autobiographical examination of the lives of Paris senior, a glib but proud man who leaves the toil of sharecropping in Mississippi for meaningful labor and starting a family in Missouri; Paris junior, who finds love, hard work and good intentions may not be enough to save a marriage, but might give opportunities to his son; and Paris III, whose life takes him from St. Louis to Chicago, Orlando, Atlanta, and New York – but nearly always in the closet.

With only the aid of a bit of effective sound design, a hat, and a highball glass, Crayton presents distinct characters and smoothy flows from persona to persona, with feelings from charming to determined, to despair, to rage. Others invisible around him are made real by his gestures and conversations we follow as his half of the words reveal all.

The weaving narratives give insight into staying positive in the face of blatant bigotry, of being skilled with one’s hands but unable to heal the heart, of growing up wanting to do right but being made to believe your true self is wrong. It is thus both a personal story and widely relatable to living as Black and being gay in America.

At the root is the original Paris, likely an alcoholic, but a principled stubborn soul who finds true love in an instant and keeps faith he will find it again. The story of his courtship of saintly grandma Ruth, as unlikely as it plays out, was actually true, Crayton says.

Meet three generations of characters with strong yet tested character in a powerful performance on the District Cabaret stage, today (as this is posted) and Sunday, Jan. 25-26.