Fishers

From fake fruit to real feelings: Belfry delivers Simon classic

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By John Lyle Belden

You can’t go wrong with a comedy play by Neil Simon, and The Belfry Theatre presents the one that started his incredible run of Broadway and film hits.

“Come Blow Your Horn” is not a musical, but more about blasting one’s own achievements. In this case 1960s swinging single Alan Baker (Josh Gibson), in a nice Manhattan apartment with constant female companionship. He’s been having fun with aspiring actress Peggy (Adriana Menefee), who stretches being “bad with names” to comic lengths. However, his more regular companion, Connie (Alyssa Lay), has come home from her singing tour early.

Meanwhile, Alan’s younger brother, Buddy (Jeff Haber), has arrived to stay with him, finally escaping living with their parents – neurotic and overbearing Mother (Vickie Phipps), and hot-tempered Father (Chris Otterman), who varies from passive-aggressive to aggressive-aggressive. The family owns a wax-fruit factory where the father employs both sons, though he rails at “the bum” Alan’s slacking.

Alan seeks to make Buddy more irresponsible like him, while, ironically, he finds himself having authentic feelings for Connie. But when the playboy antics get too complex, Father’s reaction could rename this show “Come Blow Your Top.”

This comedy shows hints of Simon’s linguistic mastery and knack for wacky situations that reach perfection in his later shows. On its own merits, it’s wildly enjoyable, and you can tell the cast are having fun with it as well. Gibson is great at projecting cheeky confidence, so is in his element here. Haber delivers a perfect contrast, as a man perpetually unsure of himself. After intermission, the two switch demeanors, adding dimension to their characters, as well as more laughs.

Lay is adorable as usual and shows both her and her performer character’s range in her efforts to get Alan to mature. In roles inspired by Simon’s own parents, Phipps and Otterman shine as the Mom and Dad who seem to never be happy, yet still get across that they love their kids – infuriating as they are. Menefee plays Peggy as more nice than smart, elevating a rather limited role. Katherine Gibson has a memorable cameo as Aunt Gussie.

Veteran director Lori Raffel, who has handled plenty of wackiness in various central Indiana companies, delivers an endearing take on this classic. Performances are Friday through Sunday, Sept. 26-28, at The Switch Theatre, 10029 126th St., Fishers. Info and tickets at thebelfrytheatre.com.

CCP: A bitterly arousing ‘American’ story

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By John Lyle Belden

One of the cruelest linguistic tricks of the last 10 years is how the meaning of “woke” has been thoroughly obscured from its use by African Americans notably at least since the start of Black Lives Matter in 2013 and increased to a crescendo with the racial events of 2020.

This loose definition (coming from Black communities rather that formal institutions) is mainly the awareness – gained from living in an environment, or by exposure to that environment – of the hard truths of social, judicial, and political conflict around ethnicity and especially race, particularly the Black experience taking into account over four centuries of American culture. Being or becoming “woke” should not be trivial, as it addresses issues and events that continue to alter and destroy people’s lives. (Any expansion of meaning – to Latinx or LGBTQ, for instance – should be to broaden the tent, not tear it down.)

It is in this brutally honest reckoning that one should consider the characters portrayed in “American Son,” the 2018 drama by Miami attorney and acclaimed playwright Christopher Demos-Brown, presented by Carmel Community Players through Aug. 17, directed by Bradley Allan Lowe.

Though the word is never used in the play, how “woke” are each of the adults we see?

The mother, Kendra (Zarah Shejule), a Black college professor, would certainly think she is. She senses the worst when contacted at 3 a.m. by Miami-Dade Police, only told “there has been an incident” with her 18-year-old son Jamal’s car. Waiting for nearly an hour in the MDPD waiting room where the play is set – while told nearly nothing – doesn’t help.

Young white Officer Larkin (Joshua Matasovsky) comes off as the opposite, though at first trying clumsily to bridge the gap. At first he plays the know-nothing rookie, stalling for time until the AM Public Affairs Officer arrives. When Jamal’s father, Scott (Earl Campbell), a white FBI agent, enters, Larkin sees the badge and divulges far more information – to him, mistakenly believing he is the officer they are waiting on.

In Kendra and Scott’s conversation, ranging from scathing to bittersweet due to the circumstances of their separation, we learn that Jamal was raised with all the best conditions their parents’ social and monetary privileges could arrange, including an exclusive prep school and an upcoming place at West Point military academy. However, in recent weeks he has questioned his own sense of identity, leading to his angrily venturing out alone the evening before in the nearly-new car given to him by his father.

Social media enters the fray in a bystander video Scott receives of that vehicle with three young black men in a police stop.

Frustrated tempers reach their fever pitch during the arrival of PAO Lt. Stokes (Brian G. Ball). Bringing calm at this point is nearly impossible – Stokes being Black leads to a certain slur that you know will eventually be said – but information is divulged, piece by piece, none of it getting any better.

The factors of this incident get ever more complex – how a Black child is raised; a provocative bumper sticker; privilege and its lack; someone (not Jamal) with an outstanding warrant; marijuana (still illegal in this time and place); involvement of the Gang Intelligence Unit (just referred to casually as “GIU” by the officers); when Black wears “Blue;” the disturbing sounds on the video.

Solid, deeply felt performances by all four cast members never let us off the hook. Lowe provides not only directorial guidance but also designs both sound and an uncomfortably accurate set. This being a single 90-minute act aids the necessary tension.

Also, in this drama the road to hell is paved not with intentions but assumptions made by everyone involved, both within this room and in “the incident” that brought us here. These portrayals will (and should) inspire a lot of conversations after the show and for some time onward. The story is fiction, however the background of the playwright, as well as what we’ve all seen in the news, indicate it is based on the true experiences of many who have had long sleepless nights.

As we awaken each day to a nation where, in practice, skin tone becomes “probable cause” for law enforcement, “American Son” retains its importance as a mirror to our attitudes and public policies. Performances are Thursday through Sunday, Aug. 14-17, at The Switch Theatre, Ji-Eun Lee Music Academy, 10029 E. 126th St., Fishers. Get info and tickets at carmelplayers.org.

CCP presents killer stage satire

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By John Lyle Belden

Show business is crazy.

Like really crazy, nuts, bonkers, cookoo! The kind of insane that you see in movies like “The Bad Seed” or “All About Eve,” which Joel Paley and Marvin Laird used as the touchstones for their 1990s Off-Broadway hit comedy musical, “Ruthless!” now presented by Carmel Community Players, directed by Kathleen Clarke Horrigan.

New York agent Sylvia St. Croix (Jeff Fuller) knows talent, and little Tina Denmark (Olivia Cook) has got it! Tina’s mother, Judy (Jonna Kauffman), sings very well for someone with no talent. Tina’s father, Frederick (Tristan Stecenko), is away on business.

The first step on Tina’s path to Broadway is getting the lead in the school production of “Pippi Longstocking: Pippi in Tahiti.” However, Miss Thorn (Holly Hathaway Thompson) has given the lead role to ungifted and unmotivated Louise Lerman (Jennifer Kaufmann). Tina can be the understudy, but she’s not settling for that.  

On hand to see Tina’s debut is Judy’s adopted mother, feared theatre critic Lita Encore (Jill O’Malia).  This show will be to die for!

That’s just the first act – after intermission, things get even more suspenseful and silly with rising star Ginger Del Marco (Jonna K.) and her assistant, Eve (Jennifer K.). Secrets will be revealed; a Tony award will be fondled; more characters will die dramatically.

And contrary to the title, there may even be a Ruth!

This clever parody and satire takes on the tropes of noir and theatre with equal gusto, a spectacle where over-the-top is never enough. The big song is Lita’s “I Hate Musicals!” wonderfully delivered by O’Malia – a nice palate cleanser between courses of chewing scenery.

Miss Cook shows herself capable to knock ‘em dead (not just literally) in any show. Fuller in mature-diva drag as St. Croix is commanding, and, in this setting, practically normal.  Jonna Kauffman gets in well-played moments as both ditz and diva, showcasing her dynamic voice.  Thompson and Jennifer Kaufmann are also gloriously goofy.

You’d be crazy to miss this. “Ruthless!” plays Thursday through Sunday at The Switch Theatre at Ji-Eun Lee Music Academy, 10029E. 126th St., Suite D., Fishers. Get tickets at carmelplayers.org.

Getting in our ‘Steps’

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By John Lyle Belden

In a bizarre coincidence that Alfred Hitchcock would find delightful, this last weekend saw two openings of the British thriller-turned-farce, “The 39 Steps,” adapted by Patrick Barlow from a four-hand comedy by Simon Corble and Nobby Dimon, heavily based on Hitchcock’s 1935 film of the same name, based somewhat on the 1915 novel by John Buchan.

The movie is notable for helping establish the drama film tropes of man-on-the-run and the potential comedy goldmine of two people who don’t get along being chained to each other. The more interesting scenes and twists? Hitch’s idea.

As noted, there are two productions spaced about three counties apart. Hyperion Players presents its “39 Steps” at the Switch Theatre in Fishers. Meanwhile, Eclipse Productions plays its version in Waldron Auditorium in downtown Bloomington.

The plot (for both): In the 1930s, Richard Hannay, a Canadian living in London, seeks diversion in a music hall featuring a performance by Mister Memory, during which he encounters a woman who ends up back at his flat (oh!), then mysteriously stabbed in the back (ugh!). She had warned Hannay of some international spy intrigue, and her death convinces him to go to Scotland – while London police seek him for the woman’s murder – to figure out what’s happening, including the identity of The Thirty-Nine Steps. On the way, he dodges a police patrol by kissing a woman on the train, who responds by turning him in to his pursuers. As luck will have it, she will later encounter him again, and again betray him. Mayhem follows Hannay up to the Highland moors and eventually back down to London for the climactic showdown that could clear his name and save England (at least for a few years).   

The Barlow script amps up the inherent humor of its Hitchcockian quirks and is staged with improvised props and four actors: one to play Hannay, one to be the women he encounters, and a couple of “Clowns” who play all the other roles.

The Hyperion production does this play silly; the Eclipse production does it weird. Both do it excellently.

In Fishers, Hyperion Players emphasizes the master of suspense. The script does have nods to other Hitchcock films, but here we also get a “Frenzy” of references in the curtain speech. Also, there are a few birds around the stage (crows, I believe, which counts as attempted “murder”).

Josh Elicker plays Hannay appropriately amused and bewildered by all the bizarre goings-on. Sarah Eberhardt is the leading lady, employing comically outrageous accents as German Annabel Schmidt and Scottish Margaret, contrasted with the more natural manner of Pamela (the woman on the train).  The Clowns are frenetically and effectively played by Becca Bartley and Ryan Moskalick, who makes a brilliant Mister Memory. Evangeline Bouw directs.

The set, designed by Beth Fike, looks like a stage with random pieces upon it like it’s between shows. The players make good use of items including a door frame, a piece of wall with a window, and a single comfy armchair. The plot moves along earnestly following the beats of the film, but in a manner showing they don’t take themselves too seriously. The result is like a spy-thriller sitcom.

Down in Bloomington, Eclipse (no relation to the summer student company in Indy) emphasizes the Clown aspect of the production. In fact, in a nod to theatre traditions including commedia dell’arte, we have one regular actor, Konnor Graber as our dashing Hannay, dealing with a small troupe of traditional costume-and-makeup clowns: Shayna Survil (the leading ladies), Steve Scott, Vera Wagler, and Jada Buehler. Having three rather than two “Clown” players makes for creative division of roles, including Mister Memory simultaneously presented by Wagler and Buehler, working almost like conjoined twins adorned in classic Tragedy and Comedy masks.

Speaking of which, assistant director Jeremy J. Weber invites all in attendance to put on one of the provided masks (yours to keep) to help immerse yourself in the goings-on. Director Kate Weber and the company arranged the seating surrounding a central area (suggesting a circus) where most of the action takes place. Gags and props are exaggerated, and a fight scene becomes like a professional bout with Survil walking the perimeter with a Ring Girl’s sign. The wild goings-on and sharply executed physical comedy almost overshadow the story’s plot. Still, this unique experience is worth the drive down to B-town.

So try one – or both! – of “The 39 Steps.”

Hyperion’s plays Thursday through Saturday at The Switch Theatre (Ji-Eun Lee Music Academy) 10029 126th St., Fishers. Tickets at hyperionplayers.com.

Eclipse’s plays Thursday through Sunday at Waldron Auditorium, 122 S. Walnut St., Bloomington. Tickets at eclipseproductionscompany.com.

Hyperion passes Inspection

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By John Lyle Belden

Hyperion Players just presented “An Inspector Calls,” a thriller and modern-day morality play by J.B. Priestley, for one weekend at the Switch Theatre in Fishers.

We open in 1912, during a dinner at the posh home of industrialist Arthur Birling (Christopher Vojtko), celebrating the engagement of daughter Sheila (Megan Fridenmaker) to Gerald Croft (Vincent Pratt), son of Birling’s business rival. Also present are Arthur’s perfectly upstanding wife Sybil (Jennifer J. Kaufmann) and their drunken disappointment of a son Eric (Logan Browning). The evening is interrupted by a visitor, police Inspector Goole (Josh Elicker), who informs them a young woman had just died by her own hand, then interrogates each of these characters to reveal their individual roles in the woman’s demise. It appears only the dutiful maid Edna (Lea Ellingwood) is spared.

From this simple plot, a complex web of secrets and shameful behavior is revealed. The cast all act appropriately pretentious and aghast at every turn. Though set in England, no one forces a fake British accent, which helps keep the performances natural, but still spoken with proper airs so that this could be envisioned as a family of Gilded Age Americans – discussions of impending knighthood, pounds and shillings, etc., aside.

Director Nicole Amsler added the innovation of numerous shadow puppets to illustrate the story of the deceased, set in the background at various scenes throughout the play. The tactic is effective, adding to the overall narrative like flashes of memory in a well-made film. The shadows also add to the noir atmosphere and feel appropriate to a pre-cinema culture. In this way, the late Eva Smith – a/k/a Daisy Renton, a/k/a the false Mrs. Birling – becomes a major part of the drama without us ever actually seeing her face. The 200 shadow puppets were crafted and controlled by Delaney Amsler, assisted by Ellingwood; Lesie Blackwell was stage manager.

Votko has Arthur epitomize the Englishman striving to ever be the ideal gentleman – in his words, “a hard-headed, practical businessman.” He constantly needs to be in charge, so is perpetually perturbed as Goole doesn’t play along. Kaufmann ensures Sybil is never shaken from her elitist perch, though she is severely tested. Browning plays Eric as the man-child struggling to rise but only finding his parents’ disappointment. It is Croft, given the proper stiff upper lip and grinning noble bearing by Pratt, who appears to be the son Arthur hoped for. So, it is left to Fridenmaker to give us a Sheila with a conscience, despite having been rude and spoiled as befitted her upbringing. She gets an opportunity for personal growth, which can make her the audience proxy – aside from what you see in yourselves in the other, less likable roles.   

As our Inspector, Elicker presents an eccentric archetype that would come to life later in the century thanks to writers like Agatha Christie and is practically stereotypical by the lifetimes of us in the audience. In the proper home of a “former Lord Mayor of Brumley,” this mainly serves to keep the occupants nicely off-balance, adding to the humor of a clash of social mores. As there are themes of oppression by the uncaring towards lower classes, Goole gets a bit preachy, but his words have an effect. After he departs, the play’s stunning end scene reveals a very telling test of human nature.

If you’ll pardon a spoiler (maybe you’ll forget this by the time another company stages the play), after the curtain, we are left with the question: Who exactly was The Inspector? Between us, my partner Wendy has her suspicions (something you’d find in the details).

This production gives us another example of how Hyperion Players is bringing us intriguing and thought-provoking, yet quirky and entertaining shows, worth the jaunt for Indy folks to eastern Hamilton County. Their next scheduled productions, “The Woman in Black,” opening Oct. 24, and “The 39 Steps,” opening next March 20, will also be at The Switch in Fishers. Find details at hyperionplayers.com.

CCP: Follow the journey of ‘Violet’

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By John Lyle Belden 

Carmel Community Players brings us its production of the heartwarming and bittersweet musical, “Violet,” which is becoming familiar through its Off-Broadway and Broadway runs as well as fairly recent local productions.

As creators Jeanine Tesori and Brian Crawley (based on a story by Doris Betts) intended, we are advised that the disfiguring scar on the title character’s face is not visible on the actor, Sarah Marone-Sowers, so that we may choose to see it with our minds’ eye, or opt to see the beauty within. For Violet, it is a curse she carries into adulthood from a years-ago accident with her father and a wayward axe head. At last, in 1964, she has saved enough to take a Greyhound bus from the hills of North Carolina all the way through Tennessee and Arkansas to Tulsa, Oklahoma, where a television preacher works miracles. She reached her hand to the black-and-white screen, but the Lord’s healing somehow did not reach her. Now she believes she will get her new face, direct from the source.

On her travels, she meets a friendly, well-meaning grandmother (Christine Sanserino) and two soldiers, Flick (Onis Dean), a black Sergeant, and Monty (Dominic Piedmonte) a white Corporal. As they ride, she also remembers the past, in flashbacks with Young Violet (Kenzi Stewart) and Dad (Darrin Gowan). Her budding friendship with the G.I.’s is tested in an overnight stay in Memphis, Tenn., leading to an awkward parting in Fort Smith, Ark. (the soldiers to the nearby military post). Next stop: Tulsa and an eye-opening encounter with a very busy Preacher (Scott A. Fleshood).

The cast also includes Jay Becker, Damaris Burgin, Chloe Vann, and Lawrence Wunderlich in various roles, the men (and Fleshood) taking turns as bus driver. Burgin is notable as keeper of a Memphis boarding house and the televangelist’s choir leader. Vann also sings well in the choir and at a Music Hall. Wunderlich is the Preacher’s assistant. Becker plays a rude fry cook.

Marone-Sowers shines as a woman desperately applying blind faith to deep wounds (physical and mental), as does Dean, portraying one who also knew the lifelong pain of others’ judgement, yet found his strength. The high level of talent in Gowan and high school freshman Stewart elevates their characters as more than dramatic device. These strong spirits boldy show their story, following Violet to their necessary encounter on a cathedral stage. Kathleen Horrigan directs.

Especially for anyone who can’t see their own beauty, take a good look at “Violet,” Thursday through Sunday, March 7-9, at the Switch Theatre, located in Ji-Eun Lee Music Academy, 10029 E. 126th St., Suite D, Fishers. Get tickets and info at carmelplayers.org.

Belfry: One ticket to double over laughing

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By John Lyle Belden

When it comes to the comedy “One Man, Two Guvnors,” presented through Sunday at Fishers’ Switch Theatre by The Belfry Theatre, you don’t have to know that it’s the play that helped bring James Corden to international acclaim.

You don’t even have to know that the script by Richard Bean is adapted from the commedia dell’arte play “The Servant of Two Masters,” by Carlo Goldoni, though that helps to understand the broad comic style with characters that fit satirical and absurd archetypes, updated with British cheekiness including wink-wink-nudge-nudge asides to the audience and at least one woman dressed as a man. I sat in the very back row, and to me all the slapstick gestures were as big as life and twice as funny.

If you sit in the very front row – perhaps something you should be aware of – don’t be surprised if you become part of the show.

What’s important is that this community production of the London/Broadway hit is hilarious and sharply served up, especially by our central servant Francis (Mason Odle), who – because food costs money and he’s starving – takes on employment from two well-to-do gents.

Set in the English seaside resort town of Brighton in 1963 (which was to London like Miami Beach was to New York, a place for underworld types to relax), Francis arrives as “Minder” for Roscoe Crabbe (Rylee Odle), who is to marry Pauline (Anabella Lazarides), daughter of Charlie the Duck (Eric Bowman). But she is in love with passionate (over)actor Alan Dangle (Josh Rooks), which would work if the rumor of Roscoe’s death were true.

To give us our properly convoluted plot, Roscoe arrives, but is really (shh!) his “identical” twin sister
Rachel in disguise! Also at the hotel is upperclass twit Stanley Stubbers (Bailey Hunt), who (1) arrived from London hoping to lay low after accidently multiple-stabbing Roscoe, (2) has had a secret relationship with Rachel, and (3) is just daft enough for Francis to take on secretly as a second employer – easy money, right?

Also along on this romp are Laura Wertz; Malcolm Marshall; Dwayne Lewis; Amy Buell; Tom Burek; Nikki Lynch as Dolly, Charlie’s feminist bookkeeper and object of Francis’s affection; and Trever Brown as Alfie, the nearly-deaf, doddering 87-year-old waiter who’s having a painfully bad day.

I’m not British so the accents sounded all right to me, including Marshall’s sweet Jamaican lilt, and the Program includes a glossary to local jargon. In any tone, the jokes all land in one uproarious situation after another. Mason Odle’s Francis is appropriately happy-go-lucky, staying just ahead of Brown’s scene-stealing antics and Hunt’s silly bluster, as well as Rylee Odle’s cleverness and comic timing. And Rooks, is an ACTOR!

Director Andrea Odle delivers a spectacle of smart comedy with this bunch who collectively lower the average IQ in Brighton. Francis keeps confusing his two Guvnors’ letters and personal items, true love is endangered at every turn, Alan desires to literally fight a gangster for Pauline’s hand, and Alfie has fallen down again – best you come see how all this mess turns out.

Performances are Thursday through Sunday at Switch Theatre at Ji-Eun Lee Music Academy, 10029 E. 126th St., Fishers. Get info and tickets at TheBelfryTheatre.com.

CCP stages locally penned inspiring comedy

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By Wendy Carson

Things are not going well for Nikki. She postponed her wedding, moved out of her fiancé’s  apartment, dropped the majority of her law clients, and rented a new place of her own which may or may not be haunted. Add to this an obsessive landlord, a clingy fiancé, and a very grumpy police officer and you have the makings for this tender and rollicking play, “aMUSEd,” presented by Camel Community Players. 

The script, by local playwright Megan Ann Jacobs, was originally presented as part of 2019’s DivaFest. She has since expanded the story and enriched each character involved.  

Sebastian (Joe Wagner), the current Muse of Comedy, has tried to avoid serious entanglements with his past “instruments,” but made a single exception for novelist Anita (Wendy Brown) and stays with her to the very end. Even for an immortal, losing someone close scars you deeply.  

Enter Nikki (Ameetha Widdershins), who knows this pain all too well herself. She rented the amazing and affordable apartment where Anita had died, and Sebastian is wallowing in pity. Sparks fly, as they move from standoff to compromise. His lack of a corporeal body makes for some great slapstick humor and mistaken identities involving Nikki’s fiancé, Ryan (Malcolm Marshall), landlord Tyler (Austin Uebelhor), and Officer Bridges (Ahnn Christopher). Plus, Anita makes a post-death appearance or two herself. 

Director Kelly Keller does a great job balancing the zany humor with the touching glimpses of the pain both lead characters must work through.  

The whole cast is a delight to behold and thoroughly immersed in the story. In fact, at our performance, a small scuffle within the show rolled nearly into the audience. Widdershins manages to be both soft and prickly as the moment demands. Marshall, who only recently made his community stage debut, shows steady improvement in taking on a meaty role. Wagner, looking like a mid-level executive (which he sorta is for the gods), has fun being as much trickster as inspiration. Uebelhor is a hoot and nearly steals his every scene. Christopher and Brown give their moments the right touch, as well.   

John and I both loved the show when we originally saw it, and I really like this more fully fleshed-out version, nicely paced and never feeling padded. It lovingly brings all of the characters to a just and happy ending.

Performances are Friday through Sunday at The Switch Theatre, 10029 E. 126th St., Suite D, Fishers. For info and tickets, see carmelplayers.org.

Time tick, tick, ticking forward

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By John Lyle Belden

As I post this, 2022 has recently come to a close. And you might wonder, what were our favorite shows of this last year? Well, I just did a rough count of more than 150 reviews we posted, so – yeah, hard question.

Like an actor who never forgets that line he stumbled on at opening night, I can’t help but think about the reviews we didn’t do. Aside from scheduling and illness having us miss shows outright, there were a couple of performances that we caught at the ends of their run and didn’t get around to the writeup.

And like Jon in “Tick, Tick… Boom!” I feel the march of time.

There were actually two productions of that Jonathan Larson musical in central Indiana this last year – running practically simultaneously. We managed to get a review in of the well-done Phoenix Theatre production, but circumstances had us nearly miss the Carmel Community Players edition, which had its differences and was excellent in its own way.

Wendy and I would like to go on the record as saying we also enjoyed the CCP “TTB,” directed by Kathleen Horrigan, performed at the Switch Theatre in Fishers.

As is easier to do in volunteer community theatre, there was, in addition to Dominic Piedmonte as Jon, Ervin Gainer as his roommate Michael, and Margaret Smith as his girlfriend Susan, an ensemble of B.K. Bady-Kaye, Onis Dean, Abby Morris, and Ryley Trottier to portray other roles. This also helped distinguish the production from the stripped-down Phoenix show.

Piedmonte was great as Larson’s stand-in character, and Gainer is frankly one of those actors I can’t get enough of. Smith also did well as a character that is tricky as you don’t want to find yourself disliking Susan or Jon too much as their relationship falters. Having the full cast helped in letting Trottier play “Superbia” star (and potential “other woman”) Karessa, leading to a brilliant moment with both women singing “Come to Your Senses.”

Wendy found this version of the show really gave the feel of Larson’s dilemma of the world changing around him – not all for the better – as he turned 30 years old. And as he somehow feared and we have come to know, his life would end a few short years later.

A big thanks again to Carmel Community Players (hat tip to Lori Raffel), and all the local stages who let us come in and see what they have to show us. We look forward to another big year of theatre in 2023.

Belfry sets a place for you

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By John Lyle Belden

What’s the most important room in the house?

You might answer the kitchen, as that’s where the food is; or the living room, as that’s where the TV is; or, of course, the bathroom for obvious reasons. But the play “The Dining Room,” a comedy by A. R. Gurney, makes a case for this often-overlooked (if you even have it) space that was a stoic witness to change for middle-class America through the 20th century.

In the Belfry Theatre production, occupying the Switch Theatre in Fishers through Jan. 30, seven actors show us 18 scenes through 40 years (1939-79) with one nice but not quite antique table and set of chairs. Though it finally goes on the market in the era of Disco, this house is mostly home to members of a single family. They wouldn’t consider themselves wealthy but are well-off enough to have at least a cook and maid, at least in the early decades.

The fourth wall (French doors, we are told) becomes our window into their lives, as even in the stuffy past, there are youngsters looking towards the new while elders cling to the best of what has been. As the scenes bounce back and forth through the years, parents become grandparents, children become parents, and there’s always something we really shouldn’t talk about at the table.

The ensemble of Mia Gordon, Jennifer J. Kaufmann, Tim Long, Jeff Maess, Tom Riddle, Addie Taylor, and Debbie Underwood splendidly take on what must be a fun acting exercise, inhabiting the various ages and characters – only one is an actual youth, so “child” roles take on extra charm as the older hands truly commit. Under the direction of Diane W. Wilson, the scenes flow easily into each other, sometimes having a person or two from one era sharing the space with oncoming folks from another, making the room, in a way, timeless.

Though real tensions and drama sometimes pop up, this play is mainly a gentle comedy, the kind of feel-good family portrait that we can use about now. Even if we aren’t mid-century WASPs, we can feel a sting of familiarity in dealing with relatives in changing times. And it’s good to find something to laugh about, or at least knowingly smile, in it all.

Find the venue at Ji-Eun Lee Music Academy, 10029 E. 126th St., Suite D (note there is street construction in the area). Find info and tickets at www.thebelfrytheatre.com.