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IndyFringe: Jan of All Trades

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

This show is part of the 15th Annual Indianapolis Theatre Fringe Festival, a/k/a IndyFringe, Aug. 15-25, 2019 on Mass Ave downtown. Info, etc., at www.IndyFringe.org.

By John Lyle Belden

In what Jan Shirley Ann calls her “autobiocomedy,” our stand-up and seminarian presents a clean family-friendly show. In fact, when I saw it, a good number of family and friends were in the audience. But you don’t have to be related or have grown up with her in Gary, Ind., to understand and laugh along with her stories of life’s road that led her here.

Yes, she’s from the hometown of the Jacksons, and even was in a singing group that called itself The Jacksons’ Five (note the placing of the apostrophe to avoid confusion). She tells of dissecting frogs in Vacation Bible School, using a Jamaican accent for no reason, learning Japanese, teaching the Japanese to speak English (badly), and of the exceptionally handsome man the Lord used to persuade her to attend Butler University. 

Not often you see a comedian-storyteller who is also a minister in training, but that could explain why an hour with her feels like such a blessing.

She only has so many relatives and bff’s; y’all need to come out and enjoy this show, too. Performances are Friday through Saturday nights at ComedySportz, 721 Massachusetts Ave. 

IndyFringe: Make Me A Match

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This show is part of the 15th Annual Indianapolis Theatre Fringe Festival, a/k/a IndyFringe, Aug. 15-25, 2019 on Mass Ave downtown. Info, etc., at www.IndyFringe.org.

By John Lyle Belden

One of the creators of last year’s “Paper Swords,” Matt Day, wrote this musical with Jordan Brown and Josh Brown, a story of love and empowerment taking place on a TV dating show.

On “Make Me a Match,” a bachelorette — on this occasion, Beth (Emily Sanders), an internet Influencer — gets to pick which of the three male contestants she has to marry. The bachelors are smooth rich boy Steve (Kerrington Shorter), cocky horndog Todd (Ryan Powell) and kindergarten teacher Brad (Josh Brown), who didn’t know he was living in a musical.

Smarmy host Danny Sharp (Ethan Mathias) is treated like a god, while he treats cue-card intern Meredith (Riley Iaria) and makeup girl Lexi (Jordan Brown) like crap. 

There is also a security guard (Aaron Williams) for when things get intense.

One thing that was impressive was that even though there was an on-stage band, the actors didn’t use or need mics. Also, to complete the immersive experience, the audience is the show’s studio audience, and we have an important part to play near the end. 

Mathias makes an excellent bad guy. Sanders counters your expectations of shallowness to show Kardashian-types aren’t quite as dumb as they look. And Iaria and Jordan Brown have appropriately righteous fire. Josh Brown, caught in the middle of this, supplies many of the comic moments. 

This #MeToo musical is better than a lot of what’s actually on television, and more fun. 

Performances are 9 p.m. tonight, as well as 7:30 Thursday, 9 p.m. Saturday and 3 p.m. Sunday (Aug. 20-25), at The Oasis (Shriners’ entrance of the Murat, on the north side), 502 N. New Jersey St.

IndyFringe: Schoolhouse Rock LIVE, Fringe Edition

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This show is part of the 15th Annual Indianapolis Theatre Fringe Festival, a/k/a IndyFringe, Aug. 15-25, 2019 on Mass Ave downtown. Info, etc., at www.IndyFringe.org.

By John Lyle Belden

Though this is at Fringe, note this is not a parody or deconstruction or any avant garde thing. This is the stage show based on — and performing — the various educational commercial-length shorts you (or your parents) likely grew up with back in the days of Saturday morning cartoons.

This production is by the energetic and highly-talented teens of CYT Indy (the local chapter of Christian Youth Theater). In the stage show, a young teacher is having trouble sleeping because she is worried about her first day at school. So the denizens of School House Rock come to her in a dream, to show how “learning is power” and that it lies within her, too.

This being a Fringe-length show, there are only several select numbers the kids get to do, but they do them well. And we even get a reference to the Pluto controversy when Interplanet Janet comes flying around.  

Support future artists, enjoy the memories, and maybe learn something. Remaining performances are 6 p.m. Friday and 1:30 p.m. Saturday at The Oasis (Shriners’ entrance of the Murat, on the north side), 502 N. New Jersey St.

 

IndyFringe: BRAIN-O-RAMA — Mentalism and Mischief

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

This show is part of the 15th Annual Indianapolis Theatre Fringe Festival, a/k/a IndyFringe, Aug. 15-25, 2019 on Mass Ave downtown. Info, etc., at www.IndyFringe.org.

By John Lyle Belden

Kevin Burke is a brave soul, and I’m not referring to him calling himself “the world’s only psychic comedian” or how he plays Russian roulette with staple guns — meaning we either get a mentalist trick or a sideshow geek act — but because he has the audacity of leaving the sound-effects for his show totally in the hands of the venue tech.

At ComedySportz.

At the show I attended, the goofball up in the tech’s crow’s nest was Mark Cashwell, which meant that Burke’s hilarious antics just got that much funnier.

Goofy noises aside, Burke demonstrates his “telepathetic” powers in various ways, and even teaches us a trick. He also leaves some of the mentalism in the hands of the amateurs he brings up on stage so if it works, he’s a genius; if it doesn’t, it’s your fault. Bur regardless, you will laugh — a lot.

See and experience yourself this Friday, Saturday or Sunday (Aug. 23-25) at ComedySportz, 721 Massachusetts Ave.

IndyFringe: And Then They Came For Me

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This show is part of the 15th Annual Indianapolis Theatre Fringe Festival, a/k/a IndyFringe, Aug. 15-25, 2019 on Mass Ave downtown. Info, etc., at www.IndyFringe.org.

By John Lyle Belden

The Carmel High School theater program — practically a professional company, considering the quality of its shows — presents this historical drama, written by James Still (playwright-in-residence at the Indiana Repertory Theatre).

Consider it a companion piece to “The Diary of Anne Frank,” as it relates the stories of people who knew her, but with events she couldn’t have known about while in hiding. The focus is on two young people — Eva Geiringer and Helmuth Silberberg — whom we know much about because they survived the Holocaust. The acted scenes are intercut with audio and video footage of these two from recent interviews.

The student actors give stunning performances: Maddie Nagel as Eva, with Austin Audia, Kelsey McShay and Luke Vreeman as her family; Ryan Yauger as “Hello” Silberberg, with Kate Barthuly and Jack Sullivan as his parents; and Emily Chrzanowski as Anne, looking like she just stepped out of one of the old photographs. Sullivan also has the unfortunate but important role of a Nazi Youth, showing the contrast of the regular German’s life of indoctrination and exploitation of his naive faith in the Reich.

The narrative itself is riveting, with events of miraculous survival, as well as stories of those who perished so close to their potential liberation.

Direction is by Maggie Cassidy, with student assistants Madi Diehl (sound), Delaney Kibler (costumes and lights) and Gabrielle Marshall (projection, poster and logo design).

To see both the future of Indiana theatre, and a stark reminder of humanity’s past, remaining performances are 10:30 p.m. Saturday and 6 p.m. Sunday at the IndyFringe building, 719 E. St. Clair.

IndyFringe: Tasty Bits – The Magic and Stories of Taylor Martin

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

This show is part of the 15th Annual Indianapolis Theatre Fringe Festival, a/k/a IndyFringe, Aug. 15-25, 2019 on Mass Ave downtown. Info, etc., at www.IndyFringe.org.

By John Lyle Belden

Locally-based magician Taylor Martin — popular for his historical and drag characters — has accumulated a lot of interesting experiences. He has been posting them on Facebook, each under the title “There’s a Story to be Told.” One reader said the snippets of his life are like “Tasty Bits,” and thus Martin had a title for his latest Fringe Show.

That’s also a story he told.

I know Martin well enough to recognize that was his Jethro Tull album playing as we entered the venue. We are totally in his element. 

We meet Rodney the Younger, Rodney the Elder, and Madame Esmarelda, but what’s more unusual, we get to know Taylor Martin himself.  He has so many “Bits” — from touring, his past as a singing telegram, and all the interesting and famous people he has met — that he has placed many of them into envelopes. In true magician style, audience members are asked to pick the next one he will tell. These he will only tell once during the run of the show, so each performance is different. Others he will tell every time, like how he came to be friends with Penn & Teller. 

Martin has performed and produced in nearly every IndyFringe, but this show is unlike any other he’s done. There will be illusions, such as his 100-year-old magic box; but you also get the story of how he now has a 100-year-old magic box. 

If you know him at all, you know this is going to be good. If you don’t, well, he has some stories to tell you. Performances are today through Friday and Sunday by the Indy Firefighters’ Museum, 748 Massachusetts Ave.

IndyFringe: The Last Man

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

This show is part of the 15th Annual Indianapolis Theatre Fringe Festival, a/k/a IndyFringe, Aug. 15-25, 2019 on Mass Ave downtown. Info, etc., at www.IndyFringe.org.

By John Lyle Belden

This sci-fi drama starts out strong, taking us down a path of eerie possibilities. 

Colin (Craig Kemp) runs into The Party Shop at a local mall, where the cheerful clerk, Delta (Caity Withers) hardly notices that his clothes are torn and he is stained with blood and grime. He insists on having some of the water and snacks from the shop, but, “Sorry sir, that’s for customers, only,” she smiles. So he says he wants to plan a party, Christmas in August, and he tells her a story of advances in Artificial Intelligence and Nanotechnology. And how in the 22nd century, out of nostalgia people built shopping malls that echoed the 20th century. And how there were AI “people” that were so convincing, not even they could recognize they weren’t human.

“That’s silly,” Delta says with a perfectly happy and helpful face.

Back in the 21st century, Erica (Alfton Shepard), a Professor of Advanced Nanotechnology, has recruited a couple of promising students, Charlie (Claire Shutters) and Bill (Manny Casillas) to help her with her next breakthrough. First, she is in need of emergency heart-valve surgery, and Dr. Toowan (Steve Jerk) assures her that the odds of failure are extremely low — but a phone message from the future is insisting she not go through with it, and that the fate of the world is at stake!

Local doctor and author L. Jan Eira panned this little thriller, which features some tech that is only a couple of breakthroughs away, and even temporal tinkering that acknowledges “time travel” has its limits. Hardcore sci-fi fans may recognize the plot beats, but it is kinda fun to play “spot the replicant.”

The acting is great, but this script really needed two full acts to explore its potential. The dynamite opening scene is followed by some good ones; then a rushed climax to a chunk of closing exposition. But it’s an interesting story nonetheless. Don’t let its weakness stop you; Fringe tickets are inexpensive, and you can say you saw it first when this story gets a bigger, better treatment — later in the 21st century.

Performances are today and Wednesday, Saturday and Sunday (Aug. 21-22 & 24-25), by the Indiana Firefighters Museum at 748 Massachusetts Ave.

IndyFringe: Lady LIVES

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This show is part of the 15th Annual Indianapolis Theatre Fringe Festival, a/k/a IndyFringe, Aug. 15-25, 2019 on Mass Ave downtown. Info, etc., at www.IndyFringe.org.

By John Lyle Belden

For those who saw Monica Cantrell as Billie Holiday in “Lady Day” earlier this year, it was easy to presume that this was a rehash of the same material — but this is not a copy, rather it’s a companion-piece. Where in “Lady Day,” we go back to the past to visit Ms. Holiday, in “Lady LIVES,” she comes to us.

It has been announced that the immortal Billie Holiday, who passed from us in 1959, is going to make an appearance in Indianapolis today. Anything is possible in the theatre, so a place is made. And sure enough, there she is, in a shimmering robe — singing 1970s hit “Hello, It’s Me” as though Todd Rundgren had written it for her.

Apparently you can keep up with things here from the Beyond, as she takes on a couple of other contemporary hits (she even says, “More cowbell!”) but she also sings a couple of her own classics, including the biting reminder that “Strange Fruit” once hung from America’s trees. 

As I said during her earlier show (produced in March by Fonseca Theatre Company), Cantrell can channel Holiday perfectly, nailing that unique voice without sinking into parody. It’s as though the Lady truly visited us. Perhaps she did!

This production is conceived and directed by Bill Myers, produced in association with The Timeless Music Project and The Chatterbox. Remaining performances are 7:30 p.m. Thursday and Saturday, 4:30 p.m. Sunday at the District Theater (former TOTS location),  627 Massachusetts Ave.

 

IndyFringe: Is Your Brain Still Cooking?

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

This show is part of the 15th Annual Indianapolis Theatre Fringe Festival, a/k/a IndyFringe, Aug. 15-25, 2019 on Mass Ave downtown. Info, etc., at www.IndyFringe.org.

By John Lyle Belden

How much do you remember from your “good old days”? As people grow older, being able to retain memory is vital — and now it can win valuable prizes!

In this game show, presented by a local channel that has given up on appealing to the younger demographics, a going-nowhere actor (played by Jim Banta) is host to the titular contest, which features contestants Edmund (Dan Flahive), a retiree who keeps conversational topics on Post-it notes attached to his jacket; and Ruby Flo (Case Jacobus), a silver sinner whose hobby is being a blue-hair in blue films. She makes the most of her character’s license to say outrageous things, providing some of the biggest laughs of the show, ever frustrating the show’s producer (MaryAnne Mathews).

This is the latest by frequent IndyFringe contributor and retired Evansville journalist Garret Mathews. It is not one of his stronger scripts — at times things felt in disarray, testing Banta’s improv skills. Flahive being a talented and patient soul helps keep things anchored in his own way. Thus, this comedy is a fine example of Fringe’s function to test new material and aid the development process. Weaknesses are more than compensated by the air of nostalgia, as our contestants reach back through time and memory to tell of past places visited, things done and people loved. 

Don’t expect Tony material, but feel free to laugh, and remember — and consider for yourself: “Is Your Brain Still Cooking?” Performances are 3 p.m. Saturday and Sunday at the District Theatre Cabaret (formerly TOTS), 627 Massachusetts Ave.

IndyFringe: Adventures While Black in Great Britain

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

This show is part of the 15th Annual Indianapolis Theatre Fringe Festival, a/k/a IndyFringe, Aug. 15-25, 2019 on Mass Ave downtown. Info, etc., at www.IndyFringe.org.

By John Lyle Belden

Les Kurkendaal-Barrett and husband John are at their Green Card “audition.” Les is asked: Is his marriage to this “obnoxious Brit” for real? Being a teller of autobiographical stories for Fringe shows, he gives the Immigration officer — and us — the whole scoop.

Those who have been to his past shows may remember his former relationship. Les comes clean about how toxic that situation was, and how despite efforts to the contrary he fell into yet another romance with a white man. But at least this family of in-laws will be normal — right?

A trip to England for John’s father’s funeral brings Les into contact with his new relatives. This includes Cousin Nigel of the multiple grandfather clocks and wild mood swings; and blunt-spoken Aunt Enid, who lives in Stratford. “You know about Shakespeare, right?” We also learn about “tea shaming,” what song helps you when driving in the U.K., and that Brighton is the nation’s Gay Capital.

Les just has that way about him that makes you want to be his friend, and a storytelling style that makes any little thing that happens sound wild and fascinating. There were plenty of seats at the first IndyFringe performance, but they will be a lot harder to come by at his last. Find him 6 p.m. Friday and Saturday at ComedySportz, 721 Mass. Ave.