family

Southbank delivers brilliant Bechdel biography

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By John Lyle Belden

Southbank Theatre Company opens its season of Origins with the coming of age and coming-out musical, “Fun Home,” based on the graphic memoir by Alison Bechdel, with book and lyrics by Lisa Kron and music by Jeanine Tesori.

Cartoonist Bechdel, reaching the age that her father died, tries to come to terms with the past with her art. As she draws, stumped for the right captions to add, she remembers her life as a restless girl with her brother, sister, and parents in a “House on Maple Avenue” in Beech Creek, Pa., as well as her fateful first year of college when, in her words, she came out as a lesbian, and her closeted gay father killed himself.

We find her upbringing to be a little unusual, in a house with a museum-like collection of various antiques, with a father who not only teaches English at the high school but also runs a mortuary (the “Fun[eral] Home” of the title) passed down through the family. Father always has need of a young handyman to help with home improvement projects – his true purpose to which the kids are oblivious, while their mother understands too well.

Directed by Southbank founder and artistic director Marcia Eppich-Harris, she has again assembled an excellent cast. Patrick Vaughn plays conflicted and complex father Bruce, exacting and demanding with others as he strives to maintain tight control on himself. Afton Shephard gives an intense portrayal of self-sacrificing mother Helen. Orion Cortez and Lilly Adams give appropriately goofy teen performances as siblings John and Christian. Their comfort with unconventional surroundings especially comes through in the “Come to the Fun Home” TV-commercial skit they work on with little sister Alison – darkly “fun” in the conventional sense of the word.

Alison herself is portrayed by three actors:

Julie Lyn Barber is splendid as Adult Alison, greeting the memories playing out before her with a grin of hard-won wisdom and an unshakable sense of regret. Sharing her lack of certainty ironically makes her a more reliable narrator.

Emery Haley is Medium Alison, the college freshman discovering herself while struggling to understand her father – unaware their last day together will be their last day ever. Her coming out – first to herself, then her family – is a relatable experience for many, and we can all sense her apprehension at life away from home for the first time. We share her joy as she declares she’s “Changing My Major” to making love to Joan – smartly played by Nia Hughes. Her growing anxiety over life’s changes is also palpable.

Ellie Richart has a big role as Small Allison. This is not the kind of show that says “that’s me as a kid” and moves on – many of the pieces of this play’s puzzle are revealed in her early life. Richart’s talent especially shines in “Ring of Keys” in which the subject of the song is never seen but must be realized through the girl’s description and expression; this is a pivotal moment in Alison’s young life, and Richart nails it.

Bobby Haley also does very well as the various men in Bruce’s life. Most scenes of them together come off more serene than tawdry, adding to the growing tension as the Bechdels find their life of secrets ever harder to manage.  

Music director is Kristin Cutler, choreography by Andre Williams, and stage manager is Madison Pickering. The set design by Scott Hall features large reproductions of panels from the book made by Eppich-Harris and Casey Ross.

A compelling production of the Tony-winning, Pulitzer-nominated masterpiece, “Fun Home” has four remaining performances, Thursday through Sunday, Sept. 24-27 at Shelton Auditorium, 1000 W. 42nd St., Indianapolis (southwest corner of Butler University campus). Get info and tickets at southbanktheatre.org.

At Center Stage, mature folks don’t always act that way

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By John Lyle Belden

Things don’t feel as perfect when you are past sixty.

“Morning’s at Seven,” the title of a popular comedy by Indiana-born writer Paul Osborn, is a line from the Robert Browning poem that famously says, “God’s in his heaven – all’s right with the world,” reflecting a moment of perfection.

Presented by Center Stage Community Theatre of Lebanon, directed by Jan Jamison, the play presents the story of four sisters of a certain age still living in the same neighborhood (three of them sharing a back yard) in the 1920s.

In the home on stage left (audience right), Cora (Cathie Morgan) lives with husband Thor Swanson (Sydney S. Loomis) and never-married sister Arry Gibbs (Elizabeth Young-Collins), who was invited to stay with them 40 years ago, and circumstances just never changed.

On the other side of the stage is the home of Ida Bolton (Beth Popplewell), husband Carl (Scott Stockton) and son Homer (Ryan Moskalick). Up the street somewhere backstage is the home of oldest sister Esther (Molly Kraus) and her husband David Crampton (Rick Sharp), a retired college professor with a very low opinion of his wife’s family.

The opening scene conversations show these folks making a lot out of what little goes on in their lives, setting a tone of gentle eccentricity. This gets even odder with the arrival of Homer with his girlfriend of the last 12 years (the last five engaged), Myrtle Brown (Amy Keitt). He is 40, she 39, and there is even a house in town prepared for them, yet there seems to be no hurry for marriage and Homer moving out of his old room.

This atmosphere of general silliness contains some very serious issues. Esther makes a surprise visit in defiance of her controlling husband’s insistence she never see them. Meanwhile Carl has severe depressive “spells” in which he questions his whole life’s purpose. David arrives and haughtily declares his wife can no longer live on the main floor of their house. But with his background in philosophy, David takes interest in Carl’s laments and starts to mentor him – while exploiting his home-improvement skills to make his “crystal fortress” into a duplex.

As this goes on, Thor finds himself caught between Cora’s desire to have a future only with him and Arry’s fear of growing older alone. This hints at a deeper secret, which the other sisters feel they have figured out.

By the next morning, we wonder, will all be right with their world again?

This juxtaposition of issues that feel modern with the quaint atmosphere of early 20th century Americana makes for a narrative both charming and intriguing. Jamison relished the opportunity to give seven of the nine roles to older actors, who show themselves quite lively and capable of the ironic immaturity called for in a good comedy. Each presents their long-set quirks in entertaining fashion, even the “younger” roles. Moskalick’s Homer is practically a caricature of a “mama’s boy” (we’d see him as a bit on the spectrum nowadays), while Keitt’s Myrtle maintains impeccable manners and finishing-school charm while working to bring about her long-deferred nuptials. Throughout we see that age doesn’t alleviate fears, just reshapes them.

Performances of “Morning’s at Seven” are the evenings of Fridays and Saturdays, afternoons of Sundays, through Oct. 4 at 604 Powell St. in Lebanon. Get info and tickets at centerstagecommunitytheatre.com.

‘Extreme’ measures test family in need

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By John Lyle Belden

In the wake of tragedy, we often have the wish that we could start over, have a new life, even a new house. For a select few, at least the latter happened, aired on national television. A desperate Texas family seeks to join that number in the drama, “Extreme Home Makeover,” by Makasha Copeland, presented by American Lives Theatre at the Phoenix Theatre Cultural Centre.

The title references the ABC television show, “Extreme Makeover: Home Edition” (using its common nickname to avoid trademark issues). The process of being chosen, among hundreds of applicants, involved making a video recording to audition by showing both the necessary home renovations and the worthiness of the homeowning family. Scenes here are frequently played to an unseen camera, putting the audience in the position of the mysterious producers who could decide the family’s fate.

Three generations are crowded into this Kingsville, Texas, home: Valentina (Sofia Salgada), her mother Guadalupe (Caroline Lee Sanchez), teen son Marco (Diego Sanchez-Galvan), and 10-year-old daughter Lupe (Laila Matuk). Valentina’s husband, David, recently died, leaving her struggling to keep the house and unable to afford its upkeep, including a broken toilet.

Guadalupe is not thrilled at all about this bid for televised fame. She sees it as yet another insult to the honor of a family who lived on the land since it was part of Mexico two centuries ago, since then being made to work it for the benefit of non-Latino owners. Valentina, however, is practically blinded by hope, insisting on getting the audition just right so that a new home can help rectify their tenuous situation. The children, eager to please both Mom and Abuela, try hard to do their part in the scheme. Marco applies for his first job, while Lupe – who talks to “Aybeecee” like a friend she’s trying to impress – seeks to prove she’s not as useless as she feels.

Local actor Carlos Medina Maldonado directs. He saw the play in development while a student at Texas Tech, noting it reminded him of his own family, with aspects we can all relate to. Intertwined with the themes of hard times and holding on to one’s culture is the universal experience of grief, made more intense when it is the family patriarch who is suddenly gone. Aside from some clothes and possessions, their principal reminder of David is a video of him at Lupe’s last birthday – his singing to her embarrassing then, but treasured now.

The cast’s familial chemistry, combining personalities that are distinct and natural, draw us into their world, feeling both their loving bonds and growing need. Even when they clash, each acts from their perspective of love. Salgada’s Valentina is driven, barely hiding her growing desperation while feeling it is up to her to make everything right. Sanchez’s Guadelupe is a bit of a curmudgeon but adopts a softer touch to help mend their growing crisis, coming through as only a loving grandma can. Sanchez-Galvan’s Marco feels the weight of man-of-the-house expectations, though he’s not feeling quite ready to grow up yet. Matuk, who is over twice the age of the girl she plays, maintains Lupe’s sweetness and innocence, along with a naïve grit of one who doesn’t know what she allegedly can’t do – showing that where there’s a will, there’s Google.

The stage, brilliantly designed and built by Carlos Teeters, has no visible walls and audience seating on two sides, showing the fishbowl environment brought about by private spaces being exposed to judging strangers. We see the floor plan, while the people upon it show what makes a house a home.

Note the dialogue is a Spanglish mixture that would be genuinely heard in a home like this, yet not too hard to follow for non-Spanish speakers.

An emotionally engaging and inspiring story of a family needing to make some changes, “Extreme Home Makeover” runs through Aug. 2 in the Basile black-box stage at 705 N. Illinois St., downtown Indianapolis. Get tickets at phoenixtheatre.org, and information at americanlivestheatre.org.

Epilogue: A story of loss, discovery, and healing

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By Wendy Carson

Joy is a fairly typical New Yorker. She is a designer who works from home and is still single at 36. What makes her special is that she just received a heart transplant. Like many recipients, she wants to know more about the man who literally gave her his heart, so she writes a note to the donor’s family thanking them for their generosity and giving her details in case they too wish to meet with her.

This is the dramedy “The Tin Woman,” by Sean Grennan, presented by Epilogue Players, directed by Nicole Amsler.

Joy (Laura Gellin) finds that as her body quickly heals, her mind and soul still have issues. Meanwhile, family members of the donor, Jack, deal with their loss each in their own way. His mother, Alice (Tanya Haas) and sister Sammy (Lauren Janning), each feel meeting the recipient might bring some sense of closure to them as a family. However, his father, Hank (Eric Bryant), being true to his generation and upbringing, has no desire to deal with the loss at all.

Add in Joy’s overly perky nurse (Sarah Froehlke) and goofy but supportive best friend Darla, (Mary DeBoer) – as well as an almost forgotten chance encounter – and you have the makings for a bittersweet tale of love, loss, and second chances.

Since Jack (Matt McKee) is ever present in everyone’s minds throughout the whole story, the play has that character present in every scene, observing and occasionally interacting with characters. Still, he is merely a “presence” in the story, not some sort of ghostly specter. This conceit made for a more powerful story and further helped to illustrate the importance of organ and tissue donation in our world. He also gets to speak in flashback scenes.

I was also impressed with Amsler’s decision to cast two different actresses for each of the minor roles (Nurse/Darla) as opposed to having the same person play both. This allows for each performer to fully inhabit the character and each gave an outstanding turn in their own right.

I must say that the acting in this show is so spot on, the delicacy of each performance could easily be overlooked. We all know someone who is the embodiment of Hank, Sammy, and Alice, and each actor portrays them perfectly. Haas presents the mother who must be a pillar of strength, despite the cracks. Janning’s Sammy is a young woman who didn’t have to completely grow up, with a job as a pre-K teacher and openly idealistic and emotional at her parents’ home. Bryant plays Hank bitter, cynical, and self-medicating, but even when angry, never abusive.  

Few of us personally know someone in Joy’s situation but could imagine ourselves in her shoes. I feel Gellin did an amazing job of bringing her to life. She embodies what Joy refers to as an “interesting sense of humor,” using it to mask the feelings she must reckon with.

However, I feel that Jack’s character is really the key performance, with McKee sheer perfection in his approach. He manages to show his feelings so subtly with just a change of expression or shift of his eyes and while his mannerisms speak volumes, he never detracts from the story unfolding onstage, just accentuates it.

This show is a wonderful peek into the ins and outs of the donation process and a must-see for anyone on the fence about whether or not this is a viable option for themselves.

Performances of “The Tin Woman” are Thursday through Sunday, April 23-26, at 1849 N. Alabama St. (corner of 19th and Alabama), Indianapolis. Get info and tickets at epilogueplayers.com.

IndyFringe: Horse Girl

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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’

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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’

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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

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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

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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

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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.