Jeff Pipkin

CrazyLake casts entertaining ‘Spell’

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

By John Lyle Belden

Lest there be any confusion, the current production of “The 25th Annual Putnam County Spelling Bee” is in Greenfield.

In an odd coincidence, there is a Putnam County in Indiana (west of Indy) but the title was intended as an all-American sounding location while the musical was developed by William Finn and Rachel Sheinkin in New York and Massachusetts prior to its 2005 Off-Broadway, then Tony-winning Broadway, run. So, please head just east of Indianapolis, into Hancock County, to see this CrazyLake Acting Company production, directed by Amy Studabaker and Christine Schaefer.

Studabaker is also music director, choreographer with Kaydence Forsyth, and stars as Marcy, one of the middle-school contestants at the Bee, a qualifier for the national contest in Washington, D.C.

The cast is famously an interesting assembly of adolescent eccentrics: Marcy is a high-achiever who speaks not five, but six languages; defending champ Chip (Luke Agee) is a noble Boy Scout; Leaf Coneybear (Corey Yeaman) is an imaginative but unsteady lad who spells words in trance-like outbursts; shy Olive (Taylor Shelton), who reads the dictionary like a favorite novel, speaks the word into her hand; politically-active Logainne (Alex Gawrys-Strand) traces the word on her arm; while William Barfeè (Matt Little) famously uses his “magic” foot. There are also adults of varying maturity: Mitch (Ethan Stearns), performing as “comfort counselor” as part of his court-ordered community service; Vice Principal Panch (Trever Brown), who promises he will behave much better this time; and our host Rona Lisa Peretti (Noelle Russell), the county’s leading realtor and past winner at the 3rd Annual Bee.

Zane Roberts, Alex Ross, Petra Russell, Ross McMichael, Jeff Pipkin, and Ashley Pipkin play various parents and siblings, as well as a vision of Jesus. Stage Manager Blair Connelly can be seen occasionally as the gym’s custodian.

In addition, as has been customary with this improv-inspired show from its beginning, there are three contestants drawn from the audience.

It’s interesting to see the adult actors embrace their inner children to capture the whimsy and apprehension of the “tween” transition from child to teenager. Yeaman keeps Leaf’s silliness grounded in his discovery of true potential. Studabaker and Gawrys-Strand each portray their girls feeling the pressure of high expectations, sensing they are growing up too soon. Agee plays the alpha discovering to his dismay that some things just can’t be controlled. Shelton fits the most endearing part, Olive (which she notes, anagrams to “I love”), nicely. Little’s “Bar-fay” manages to balance his know-it-all nature with enough odd charm and shielded humility to keep him likable, even one to root for.

Loaded with L-A-U-G-H-S, this Bee is buzz-worthy. The musical opens Friday, July 12, running through July 21, at H.J. Ricks Centre for the Arts, 122 W. Main St. (U.S. 40) in downtown Greenfield. Discount tickets are available at Hometown Comics and Games. For information and tickets online go to crazylakeacting.com.

KidsPlay: Ghoulish giggles at ‘Gravestone Manor’

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By John Lyle Belden

We have always found it fun and fascinating to see the rising talent in local youth theatre programs. Even if we don’t see the kids return to area stages as they age, it’s good to know they can take the skills and confidence they learn to use wherever life takes them.

But for now, let’s indulge in some Halloween-in-April fun in Greenfield with the KidsPlay Inc. production of “Gravestone Manor” by Flip Kobler and Cindy Marcus. Directed by Christine Schaefer and Jeff Pipkin, the cast of third-through-eighth graders smartly deliver a set of scenes with spooky themes which are far more silly than scary.

After KidsPlay’s traditional dance opening, our Ghost Host, Griffin (Anthony Stunda), delivers the “boom-flash” as he introduces the sketches while struggling with minor issues like lights, sound, costumes, and props. 

The show starts off strong with a pair of girls (Ellie Stearns and Kyndall Watkins) trying to escape a haunted house while a cursed object literally brings out the best and worst of their personalities, to hilarious effect. Next, a “normal” meet-the-family dinner is complicated by Luna’s (Reese Weitekamp) clan of domesticated werewolves, especially brother and obedience-school dropout Bane (Jackson Martinez). 

Then we tune into Transylvania TV, as our undead host Blinky McQueen (Riley Lederman) sets up a date for a boy (Brady Diehl) with the most frightening monstrosity a tween can suffer. The bachelorettes – vampire Sarafina (Aria Studabaker), banshee Aisling (Callie Smith), and “hex practitioner” Tabitha (Molly Wallace) – would fit right in a grown-up “reality” version.

In the next bit, Studabaker returns as a girl taking applications for the monster under her bed. Could it be the ogre (Diehl) feeling obligated to speak in a Scottish accent, or perhaps the goblin (Liam Walker) with a compulsion to talk in rhyme? There’s always the clownish phantom (Spencer Pipkin), or zombie Pete (Carter Pipkin), who also shows up later at the support group “Monsters ‘R’ Us.” At that gathering, led by Lederman as another batty vampire, various characters come to grips with their ilk not being as scary in this otherwise frightening modern world. Cursed mummy Hotep (Everett Sumpter) is taking it especially hard. 

The show closes with a return to the fact that the most frightening thing in the world is the adolescent mind, featuring Adrienne Romberg as the frontal-lobe supervisor and Jack Joyner as the synapse that decides to turn his powers of disruption to heroic ends.

The cast also includes Joe McCoy, Amelia Melby, Nora Smith, Charlotte Sumpter, Olivia Turpin, and Charles Wallace. Stage managers are Blair Connelly and Alec Cole. Choreography by Frances Hull.

As usual, you don’t have to be related to one of the kids to enjoy their performance. A long rehearsal schedule and Schaefer’s ability to get the most out of young performers ensure excellent execution of comic timing and crisp delivery of lines, enhanced by the energy and fun-spiritedness of youth.

Finally, we give a shout-out to the eighth-grade “graduates” who are aging out of the KidsPlay program: Brady Deihl, Riley Lederman, Adrienne Romberg, and Charlotte Sumpter.

Performances of “Gravestone Manor” are 7 p.m. Friday and Saturday, 2 p.m. Sunday (April 21-23) at the H.J. Ricks Centre for the Arts, 122 W. Main St. (US 40) in Greenfield. Tickets are just $5 each at the door.