historical

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

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

By John Lyle Belden

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Civic: Fun time at a ‘Rotten’ show

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

By John Lyle Belden

Farce, parody, and satire collide hilariously with history in the hit musical “Something Rotten!” now staged by the Booth Tarkington Civic Theatre.

What even director Michael J. Lasley concedes is a “dumb” show is done smartly not by mocking William Shakespeare (though it’s not totally kind to him) so much as the cult of personality around him – which did start, to some degree, in his own time. In the process, the modern stage musical also gets skewered with gags comparable to the barbs in “Forbidden Broadway.”

During the English Renaissance (there’s a song about it), brothers Nick (Daniel Wilke) and Nigel Bottom (Jacob Schilling) struggle to get their next play completed when they are upstaged – again – by Shakespeare (Michael Krauter). They are so broke that Nick’s wife Bea (Addi Koehler), over his objections, goes out to find work herself.

Needing a surefire hit but desperate for an idea, Nick visits a soothsayer, Nostradamus (Parrish Williams). Being the nephew of the famous prophetic writer, he gets accurate but cloudy visions. This is how Nick Bottom comes to invent the “musical,” or at least tries to.

Nigel, a talented poet as well as playwright, meanwhile finds himself courting Portia (Ellen Vander Missen) the poetry-obsessed daughter of local Puritan leader Brother Jeremiah (David Maxwell), who vociferously objects.

With the help of the seer’s questionable skills, and secret funding by Jewish moneylender Shylock (Daniel Draves), the Bottoms seek to beat the Bard at producing what they are foretold will be his greatest work – “Omlette!”

Josh Vander Missen plays the company’s former patron, as well as a magistrate. A minstrel (Austin Stodghill) leads the remaining ensemble of Julia Ammons, Amanda Boldt, David Brock, Cam Hicks, Braxton Hiser, Karen Hurt, Emily Lantz, Melissa Ritchie, Nicole Sherlock, Michael Sherman, Louis Soria, Caitlin Stacy, Landon Storm, Blake Valentine, and Eric VanVeelen.

Wilke and Schilling play the brothers as well-meaning souls, with Nick defined by his stubbornness and Nigel by his naïve charm. Krauter’s Shakespeare goes from preening rock star to devilishly conniving as he seeks to steal what was supposed to be his own play. Standout performances by the leading ladies as well: Ellen Vander Missen’s headstrong Portia charms, while Koehler steals scenes as a woman with great strength of heart as well as muscle. Maxwell manages to make his Puritan bluster both menacing and highly amusing. A familiar face to Civic patrons, Williams has fun embracing his strange, silly role (he knew I’d write this).

Lasley directs with choreography and additional staging by Anne Beck, musical direction by Brent E. Marty (orchestra led by Al French), and stage managed by Matthew Keller. The musical was written by Karey Kirkpatrick and Wayne Kirkpatrick with John O’ Farrell.

For those who enjoy musicals, or “Hate Shakespeare,” or don’t mind seeing some hams sing about “Eggs,” go experience “Something Rotten!” Performances run through Oct. 18 at the Tarkington in the Allied Solutions Center for the Performing Arts in downtown Carmel. Get info and tickets at civictheatre.org.

Where a life becomes a legacy: IBTC honors MLK with ‘Mountaintop’

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

By John Lyle Belden

I have been to the Lorraine Motel.

The site near downtown Memphis, Tenn., where the Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. was assassinated, is now a monument and museum. Its façade was restored so that it is frozen in time to April 1968. This exterior, accessible to the public even when the museum is closed, has plaques and media to help visitors understand what happened there.

However, to see inside King’s room, you only need travel as far as Mass. Ave. in downtown Indy, for the Indianapolis Black Theater Company production of “The Mountaintop,” written by Katori Hall, directed by company artistic director Tijideen Rowley.

The audio as you take your seats at the main stage of the District Theatre is of King delivering the speech that gives the play its name. He relates the struggle for civil rights as a long historic journey, and famously likens himself to Moses of the Bible who was allowed to view the Promised Land from atop a mountain, knowing he would not go there himself.

Given what would happen the very next day, this rings prophetic, but King knew that the constant death threats, dissatisfaction within his own movement, and even harassment by the FBI would somehow catch up to him. In supporting a strike by Black sanitation workers and speaking out about Vietnam, as well as years of the work for which we honor him now, he was likely one of the most hated men in America. Perhaps, also, he thought he wouldn’t live naturally long enough to see real progress (could he have made it to 2008?).

Daniel A. Martin takes on King like a bespoke suit, shining with intelligence and charisma, but also just a man, troubles on his mind, who could really use a cigarette. He connects with home by the bedside telephone – after checking it for a bug – to hear the voices of his wife and daughter in Atlanta. Soon after, he is visited by a maid, delivering room service.

The beautiful young woman, Camae, is both deferential to the famous “Preacher King” and a bit sassy, which he can’t help liking. Her speech has an almost comical brokenness, peppered with occasional profanity and words that seem out of place. She is so much more than she seems.

Opening night featured a wonderful performance by Dija Renuka as Camae. Due to an unexpected health issue, her role is now played by prepared understudy Clarissa Michelle. (Standing by to understudy King is Bryan Ball.)

Hall, a Memphis native, gave the play rich details for Rowley and the cast to work with, humanizing a man now considered a saint, even by those who would have opposed him in his era. Martin delivers a genuine performance of a man confronting stages of grief for his life and, he fears, his legacy. Through him we see the toll the work has taken and the need for it to continue.

Serious as it all gets, there are moments of welcome humor, including absurd bits that work in context. Just pull out a stage-fake Pall Mall, and relax. Tomorrow, the baton of his race is in your hand.

Performances of “The Mountaintop” are Thursday through Sunday, Sept. 25-28, at the District, 627 Massachusetts Ave., Indianapolis. (Ball plays King on Thursday.) Get info and tickets at indydistricttheatre.org.

Play finds a way to have its say

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

By John Lyle Belden

Equivocation, the use of language to say something without directly saying it, is a way of “telling the truth in difficult times,” according to the play “Equivocation” by Bill Cain, presented by Southbank Theatre Company, directed by Marcia Eppich-Harris.

In Cain’s drama, he takes actual historical events in the wake of the Gunpowder Plot of Nov. 5, 1605, and adds a fascinating “what-if?” – that King James I (target of the treason), through his advisor Sir Robert Cecil, commissioned William Shakespeare to write – adapting a prepared manuscript – a play on the “True Historie” of the event.

(The “Plot,” now remembered in the UK as Guy Fawkes Day, was to blow up the House of Lords while the King was in attendance for the opening of Parliament. An anonymous letter to one of the Lords warning him to stay away was given to Cecil, who showed it to James. Fawkes was not a principal conspirator but rather the “trigger man,” arrested before he could light the fuse on 36 barrels of powder. The cause behind this assassination attempt, which would have killed hundreds if not thousands, was the ongoing strife between England’s Catholics and the ruling Protestants.)

Shakespeare (Ronn Johnston) turns down the assignment, noting he only writes past events, legends and history, not current events. Cecil (J. Charles Weimer) insists, calling the playwright a master of “the art of cynical manipulation” whose works will outlive him by at least half a century. In this flattery, he could be describing himself, a man physically and ethically bent who helped put the former King of Scotland on the throne, and – especially as a bag of coins hits Shakespeare’s palm – one unwise to refuse.

“Shag,” as the Bard was then known, says he will bring it to his company, the King’s Men, a cooperative enterprise, for a vote. Veteran actor Richard Burbage (Dan Flahive), essentially the company leader, is at first reluctant but they could use the money. Actors Robert Armin (Joshua Matasovsky), Nate Field (Weimer), and young Richard Sharpe (Matthew Ball) readily agree.

In writing the King’s play, Shakespeare encounters a problem: In a story about something not happening, there is nothing interesting to put on the stage. While exploring the questions of what did happen, Shakespeare finds a bigger problem: The truth is not what was written on the pages given to him.

This leads to revealing interviews with alleged conspirators, Tom Wintour (Ball), awaiting execution, and Father Henry Garnet (Flahive), awaiting trial. Garnet was notable for his treatise on equivocation, which Shakespeare begs to better understand.

Also on hand is Shakespeare’s daughter, Judith (Abigail Wittenmyer), whose twin brother Hamnet (their father’s favorite) died in childhood. She lends assistance, though little appreciated, but will have her say.

In the shadow of the gallows, the Bard labors to bring forth a work of honesty that still keeps him off that scaffold. The results will still be remembered, many-times-fifty years later.

Johnston gives us a very human and relatable Shakespeare, exhibiting flashes of his genius along with his frustration at a nearly impossible and dangerous task, as well as his long overdue dealing with a personal struggle. The others flow back and forth smoothly between presenting The King’s Men in rehearsal and the men who serve the King at court. Flahive is masterful in his turns as the gruff master thespian and the clever yet doomed Jesuit priest. Ball also portrays the easily amused yet still intimidating King James, complete with Scottish accent. Wittenmyer makes a potentially overlooked character boldly stand out.

Along the way we sense how tensions then reflect questions now regarding freedom of expression, censorship, and expressing truth to power. These issues are as timeless and relevant, perhaps even more, than the works of the celebrated man at the center of the play.

There remain four more performances of “Equivocation,” Thursday through Sunday, Sept. 18-21, at Shelton Auditorium, 1000 W. 42nd St., Indianapolis (southwest corner of Butler University campus). Get information and tickets at southbanktheatre.org.

Musical blast from the past by ATI

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

By John Lyle Belden

Every era has both its triumphs and struggles; they were also years which those who grew up in tend to remember fondly. For some of us – and many of our parents – that was the 1960s, a time of big changes, big hair, and a lot of great music.

“Beehive: The 60’s Musical” presented by Actors Theatre of Indiana, gives us more than 30 hits from the decade, with emphasis on songs sung by women – from “It’s My Party” to “Me and Bobby McGee.”

Our guides through this time of feminine revolution are six outstanding singers: Rachel Dudt, Riley Francis, Michaela McGarel, Kayla Perry, Kria Rangel, and Abigail Storm, who also acts as host. They are backed by a live band, led by Greg Wolff. The show is directed and choreographed by Carol Worcel.

There are a couple of scenes with direct impersonations of the original singers – done very well – but mostly the emphasis is on heartfelt renditions that sound like we remember coming from our transistor radios. On occasion there may be some audience involvement, such as providing names for “The Name Game,” and throughout we are encouraged to clap and even sing along.

In all, this is just a fun evening of music that still entertains and inspires, even decades later. For the Boomers who remember, or those of other generations who love swinging to the oldies, there are two more weeks of “Beehive,” Wednesday through Sunday, Sept. 10-14 and 17-21, at The Studio Theater of the Allied Solutions Center for The Performing Arts in downtown Carmel. Get info and tickets at atistage.org or thecenterpresents.org.

Phoenix launches unflinching look at ‘Rocket Men’

PWJW_Indy Reviews , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , ,

By John Lyle Belden

During 20th century developments in rocketry, its uses in warfare, and eventually in space exploration, there were contentious discussions regarding solid and liquid explosive fuels. Little is said, however, about how much blood it took.

Phoenix Theatre presents the National New Play Network Rolling World Premiere of “The Rocket Men,” by Crystal Skillman, directed by Chris Saunders.

Dodging the look of a dry documentary or acted out history lecture, Skillman’s drama uses an all-woman cast to portray the men, German scientists and engineers who avoided likely prosecution for working with the Nazi regime in World War II by bringing their expertise to the United States military. A credit to both the talented actors’ dedication and the costuming skill of Anthony James Sirk, their transformation is easy to accept, visually and in their performances (frustration with lesser minds and overbearing bureaucracy – and the thrill of invention – knows no gender).

Wernher von Braun (Constance Macy) is the star – and face – of the program. He is handsome and charismatic; Macy plays him rather enjoying his celebrity, humble-bragging how various meetings with the Pentagon, the press, and notables from President Eisenhower to Walt Disney, keep him from his actual work. He had also been a principal developer of the V-2 rocket which terrorized London during the War. Von Braun’s lifetime dream was to aim his rockets more skyward, into space. With American help, he planned to get mankind in orbit, then onward – to Mars!

We open our narrative with the arrival of Heinz-Hermann Koelle (Jaddy Ciucci), not an ex-member of the V-2 program but a German aviator in the War. He was at this moment a scientist with Martian ambitions of his own, invited by von Braun to join his team at Redstone Arsenal in Huntsville, Alabama. In the spirit of rookie hazing, the others call the young man a “janitor” at first, drawing mirth from Koelle’s reactions, but eventually warming to him.

Helmut Hoelzer (Jolene Mentink Moffatt) is the most easy-going, while Arthur Rudolph (Jennifer Johansen) is more stern, all business. William A. Mrazek (Milicent Wright) splits the difference attitude-wise, and is very particular about the arrangement of his work table. We will also meet Sol Weissman (Charlie Rankin), an American Army veteran and engineer who works on developing the team’s designs, and meets privately with Koelle. 

Always on hand to facilitate the scenes for the men and provide narration for us is a “Friend” (Karla “Bibi” Heredia).

There is dynamic pacing, events marching towards the future through the “history book” we know and things we may not. Still, Koelle – our outsider on the inside – is frequently reminded about the past. People like von Braun designed the wartime rockets, but others built them. Is there more to the story, something that must be reckoned with before moving forward? Ciucci achingly portrays his struggle as he faces these questions for us, fearing the answers while feeling they should become known.

The stage design by Robert M. Koharchik matches the narrative flow with tables and chairs on casters rolling in and out as needed. The lone stable piece is von Braun’s sturdy wooden desk, where he sets aside his celebrity to devote himself to the work – a future he must achieve while the past is forever set aside.

The progress from Army to NASA, “Orbiter” languishing in testing before Explorer is sent into orbit after the shock of Sputnik, “Project Horizon” to the Red Planet shelved as President Kennedy announces our plans for the Moon, then the team pushing the Apollo missions through the Johnson and Nixon administrations, play out in entertaining fashion, seen through the reactions of those who were there from the start.

There is also the book that no one will read. However, its message will eventually reach us, revealing why this story must be cast as it was.

This production also benefits from image projections by Katie Phelan Mayfield and the dramaturgy of Timothy W. Scholl. How much of what we see here is conjecture or dramatic license? A lot less than you should be comfortable with.

A history lesson you won’t soon forget, brilliantly performed, “The Rocket Men” has performances through Sept. 21 at the Phoenix Theatre Cultural Centre, 705 N. Illinois St., Indianapolis. Get tickets and info at phoenixtheatre.org.

IndyFringe: Operation!

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

This is part of the 20th Anniversary Indy Fringe Festival, Aug. 14-24, 2025, in downtown Indianapolis. For information and tickets, see indyfringe.org.

By John Lyle Belden

This has nothing to do with the board game, though we do get a bit Medieval with a body lying on his back. The self-described “silly girls” of Disgusting Brothers Company created and perform this comedy set in the medical school of the University of Bolognia in 1303, where many had surgery done – some patients even surviving their procedures.

Also, that was a very eventful year for Pope Boniface VIII. Just saying.

Professor Alderotti (Elyse Rohn) and assistant Mondino (Elysia Justice) prepare for the day’s medical procedures, including surgery on a mysterious guest. Cardinal Francesco (Connor Buhl) arrives in full arrogance to announce the patient is his uncle, His Holiness Pope Boniface VIII (Vicci Simich). Months earlier, the Papal dispute with King Philip IV of France had led to Boniface being abducted and held briefly by the French, and he wasn’t doing too well. The 70-something year old Pontiff appears, shaking and mentally out of sorts, which his doctors have attributed to “melancholy.” Francesco insists that Alderotti perform a surgery to remove this condition; the Doctor and Mondino state it can’t be done; Francesco’s Vatican authority, and his dagger, say otherwise – prepare for surgery!

This show is a hilarious trove of historical humor. The set-up scene between Rohn and Justice already had us nearly rolling. The presence of the addled Pope, wonderfully portrayed by Simich, contrasted by the impatient menace of Buhl’s Francesco, only adds to fun. Elements of that era such as pomp and ceremony, and surgeons required to operate without looking upon His Holy body, also factor in the funny. Even pieces of flatbread become punchlines. Based loosely on actual history, this fantastic farce was written by Justice and director Hania Moktadir.

Performances in the IF Theatre Basile Stage continue Friday, Saturday, and Sunday, Aug. 22-24.

War ends but struggle continues for returning soldier

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

By John Lyle Belden

Center Stage Community Theatre of Lebanon, Ind., boldly presents the world premiere of the drama “Tail End Charlie,” by Joey Banks, directed by Matt Spurlock. This intense look at family dysfunction, mental health, and the hidden wounds of war might be considered daring for a small-town stage – yet apropos as it goes to the heart of the heartland with its setting in a fictional Lebanon-sized town (near Chicago), centered on a young man coming home from World War II.

But first, we see the soldier’s father (Tom Smith), his grasp on reality slipping, declaring both his sons are dead – Robert (Grant Craig), an Army Airman reported shot down over Normandy on D-Day; and elder son George (Davd A. Shaul), who lives but he chooses to see as a “ghost,” hated for costly alcohol and gambling addictions. Yet it is he, the old man, who will have passed away when our story gets under way the next summer, in 1945 with the War in Europe just ended.

Robert, who survived as a prisoner of war, gets home a little early, surprising his wife Dorothy (Sabrina Duprey) as she prepares the homecoming celebration. She is grateful to see him in the flesh, especially after the ordeal of being told he had perished the year before. George arrives with a cheerful greeting, but bad news: their father’s business, Dobson Manufacturing, which Robert would inherit and George managed in his stead, is in danger of being overwhelmed by big-city competitors. Remembering how his brother used to be, Robert rails at him for apparent incompetence until he sees the books himself – and the buy-out bids that would land them on their financial feet, as well as give a severance to the employees facing unemployment regardless.

As Robert mulls the difficult choices regarding his legacy, keeping at bay growing suspicions and unsettled memories, a slick character straight from a gangster flick (Matt McKee) walks in. The man says he’s Frank, a “friend” of George’s, who still owes him money.

Did George lie about giving up gambling? Or is Frank even real? The elder Dobson suffered from hallucinations, even calling one of them Frank, as his mental and physical health deteriorated. Is it just Robert’s overstressed mind, or is there something increasingly wrong with how his wife is behaving? Visits from Dr. Ross (Chris Taylor) offer little insight, though Robert feels confident enough while alone with him to relate haunting details from his crash and capture by the Germans.

Suspense and suspicion build to a tragic end, leaving us much to consider about the fragility of the mind, especially when forced to choose when there is no good choice. The play’s title refers to the vulnerable position of Robert’s aircraft, flying at the rear of the formation. In a way, his fortunes never get better.

Smith lends calm gravitas to the Dobson patriarch, even in a mental fog, delivering a scene that sets the play’s tone with a character whose lingering effect haunts both his sons. Shaul plays George in a way that deftly keeps us guessing – is this a redemption arc, or is he an exceptional liar? Duprey gives us a heartbreaking portrayal of “Dee,” a good-natured woman worn down by the stresses of the homefront, nearly broken with the news of the previous summer, and still struggling to do more than deal with other people’s circumstances.

Craig does well in giving us in Robert the soldier whose demeanor is not quite off the battlefield – survival reflexes now manifest in hair-trigger moods and snap reactions, compounded by the possibility of a sort of family curse, and the mental baggage he doesn’t dare unpack. Then there’s Frank, a merciless provocateur with the insight of a nagging conscience, which McKee plays with relish.

Language gets intense, though mostly PG-13; there is some impressively choreographed fighting; and we are alerted there will be a gunshot – the circumstances I’ll leave you to discover.

“Tail End Charlie” has two more weekends, July 25-27 and Aug. 1-3, at 604 Powell St. in Lebanon. Get tickets at centerstagecommunitytheatre.org.

New ensemble makes a splash with true tale

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

By John Lyle Belden

An incredible amount of local talent coalesced within the Phoenix Theatre Cultural Centre to present the first production of JoJoTomBilBen Theatricals, “The Magnificent Fall: Folding Napkins, Selecting Forks, and Other Death-Defying Feats,” based on the true story of Annie Edson Taylor, the first person to ride a barrel over Niagara Falls and survive.

Jolene Mentink Moffatt portrays Annie, joined on stage by John M. Goodson and Ben Asaykwee in various roles – these are the “Jo,” “Jo,” and “Ben” of the company. The play is directed by Bill Simmons (the “Bil”) and was written by Tom Horan (the “Tom,” of course), employing his style that examines history and legend with quirky humor and our tricky relationship with memory.

Goodson primarily portrays Annie’s talkative housecat, our principal narrator. Asaykwee’s roles include Mr. Carmichael, who makes the barrel, and Frank Russell, the carnival promoter who later makes off with it. Initially, his default mode is as the star pupil of Mrs. Taylor, who we meet as a teacher of Manners in a Bay City, Mich., school in 1900. This is one of many jobs and locales in this woman’s life (being a bit older than she’ll ever admit to), and she resolves to take her plunge into history at the Falls near Buffalo, N.Y., on her birthday in October 1901.

In fact, we are all Annie’s students, as there is a degree of audience participation.

Overall, this is a fascinating and entertaining examination of the process of achieving this “brash and irrational act” as well as what happens afterward, complete with whimsical elements – such as dueling mustaches – while relating the efforts of those who did not do so well at the Falls. The wild humor rolls with a serious undercurrent, the question of why this aging widow went through her daredevil phase. In this, perhaps the play’s title refers to more than just Niagara’s plummeting waters.

Moffatt’s charming portrayal is of an American woman of the turn of the (20th) century, seeing and seizing opportunity with a confidence that exaggerates her courage as it dashes ahead, like an object in roaring rapids, too fast for second thoughts to catch up. Goodson is appropriately catty, even when taking on a human role, and we even see his feline’s essential true role in the Niagara stunt. Asaykwee shines in his own way – not too brightly, though, with his knack for not stealing a scene in another’s story but always slyly enhancing it. Simmons’ subtle yet effective direction gives the narrative a genuine feel, and he says in his program note that there was collaboration with the actors, Horan, stage manager Erin Robson-Smith, and crew throughout to shape the final presentation. The show also features props and fine puppets by Emily Solt McGee.

For this and one more weekend, through July 20, you can see the “Queen of the Mist” and her various methods of folding napkins (and other feats) in “The Magnificent Fall” on the Basile Stage of the Phoenix Theatre Cultural Centre, 705 N. Illinois St., Indianapolis. Get tickets at phoenixtheatre.org.

‘Laramie Project’ at IF Theatre

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

By John Lyle Belden

Twenty-seven years, this October.

That is how long it has been since the murder of Matthew Shepard. About five years longer than he was alive.

The memory of that life, how the gay college student was brutally beaten and left to die tied to a wooden fence, and how the aftermath changed a town and affected the world were captured by the Tectonic Theatre Project, led by Moises Kaufman, in “The Laramie Project.” This play – more like a staged documentary derived from actual interviews and journal entries – is presented by Picture It! Players at IF Theatre through Sunday (May 18).

Directed by Molly Bellner, the cast of Austin Uebelhor, Thom Turner, Adam Phillips, Ryan Moskalick, Amelia Tryon, Cass Knowling, Susan Yeaw, Mary-Margaret Sweeney, and James LaMonte portray both the project interviewers and the people of Laramie, Wyoming, whom they talked to.

Among various roles, Uebelhor plays Kaufman and a priest who organized the candlelight vigil while Shepard was in a coma; Turner is the overwhelmed police sergeant tasked with the case as well as the E.R. doctor who initially treated Shepard, and, coincidentally, one of his attackers; Phillips plays the bartender who was among the last to see Shepard before his attack, as well as a minister preaching against homosexuality; Moskalick’s roles include a theatre student whose perspective widens and one of the attackers, dodging the death penalty by pleading guilty; Tryon relates being the police officer on the scene cutting the cords binding a bloody body, while Yeaw is her concerned mother; Knowling plays a close female friend of “Matt” as well as the teen cyclist who found him dying in the Wyoming countryside; Sweeney gives the view of the head of the University of Wyoming theatre department as well as a local newspaper reporter; LaMonte gives us the empathetic Sheriff’s department investigator as well as the infamously cruel Fred Phelps.

This is an important piece of theatre, an examination of a life, a senseless sadistic crime, and of the rest of us – how we deal with what happened as well as our attitudes and beliefs.

We had seen a production before, on the 20th anniversary of Shepard’s death in 2018. I knew what to expect, however, this time I was struck by the degree of appropriately measured humor in this play. The awkward interactions that come from strangers from a New York theatre coming out West to talk to folks about this absolute worst thing that had happened does set up a few gentle laughs. Upon reflection of the kind of love for life Matt Shepard was known to exhibit this bit of levity is welcome, humanizing the many people dealing with this trauma in their own way. On the other hand, knowing this is based on true events, it didn’t take stage trickery to bring real tears to the actors’ eyes.

Only two performances, 7:30 p.m. Saturday and 3 p.m. Sunday, remain as I post this. It’s on the IF Theatre Basile main stage, 719 E. St. Clair St., downtown Indianapolis; get tickets at indyfringe.org.