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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

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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

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

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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

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?

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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

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

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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

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. 

IndyFringe: A Life of Sorrow — The Life and Times of Carter Stanley

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 1966, a man looks back on his life and career playing “hillbilly music.” He is Carter Stanley of the legendary Stanley Brothers, who, along with performers such as Bill Monroe, brought Bluegrass out of Appalachia and into our radios and concert halls.

Historian and fellow Virginian Gary Reid presents this one-man show he has developed over the last 10 years. He strums the guitar and sings some “high lonesome” verses, but this is storytelling, not a concert. Still, what stories he has to tell! We hear of Carter and Ralph Stanley’s upbringing, the father who left — twice — and the bizarre way they got their home up on Smith Ridge in the Clinch Mountains. Then, after Carter’s service in World War II, comes the music career, starting with a home-town radio show. He goes from getting into trouble for copying one of Monroe’s songs to eventually playing in his band. Along the way, we hear about characters like Suicide Jones, Fiddlin’ Powers and Pee Wee Lambert.

“I have an independent streak about me!” he declares, but notes “the music was always first.” While he didn’t stray far from the Gospel, he would still enjoy a jar of Dewey’s Finest moonshine on occasion.

Reid’s gentle manner draws you in and keeps you. Like the music, this isn’t anything loud or fancy, but it comes out just right. For anyone with an interest in the roots of “roots” music, “A Life of Sorrow” is highly recommended. When anyone asks me what I liked in the Fringe this year, this show comes first to mind.

Last performances are Friday and Saturday, Aug. 23-24, at the Firefighter’s Hall, 748 Massachusetts Ave. Reid can also be seen around the festival area, playing guitar or selling CDs of classic Bluegrass. Tell him howdy for us.

 

IndyFringe: Vixen DeVille Revealed

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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

A burlesque show like no other, if you can at all make it, you must see “Vixen DeVille Revealed” in one of its two performances this weekend – 3 p.m. today and 6 p.m. Sunday (Aug. 17-18) at the Indy Eleven theater (719 E. St. Clair). Yes, I put the pitch at the top, in case you are reading this with only a few minutes before showtime. It’s that important.

Mind though, this Londoner does use extremely salty language, and we might get down to the pasties at the show’s climax, but otherwise this is an exciting, entertaining, hilarious and inspiring teens-and-up show.

We get right to business with Ms. DeVille, star of stage, horror flicks, and TV’s “Masters of Illusion,” with a game of “Is There Enough Broken Glass on Stage?” She not only performs glass-walking (with a little bit of striptease) but as an entertainer who enjoys teaching, she will instruct an audience member to walk on the shards as well (only needing to remove shoes and socks).

She goes through various routines as she describes how she became a burlesque entertainer despite being unable to sing or dance, and self-conscious about stripping. She also explains how she is not a magician, but she needed to work up a sword-box illusion so that she had an excuse to buy the sword that goes with the “beacon of shame” corset. During costume changes, we are treated to video footage and recorded interview snippets that add a lot to the show, and don’t feel like filler.

As we learn more, we get glimpses of Cat LaCohie, the former shy nine-year-old who always wonders if she’s good enough. This side especially shows when an accident nearly destroys her arm, and her confidence. Her vulnerability in telling the story transforms this show from great to brilliant. There has been an acrobatic hoop hanging over the stage this whole time – it has changed from just part of her act to a triumphant ascendance.

Kudos, by the way, to her faithful Kitty, as well her sword-box accomplice.

The only downside is that the show runs long, even with having to cut out the fire-eating segment due to venue safety rules – so it might be rushed or spill over in remaining performances. But do stay to the end.

IndyFringe: The Reluctant Mind Reader

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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

Brendon Ware was cursed with the ability to read minds. Because he enjoys lying, we have to just take his word for it; nevertheless he will make sure we all suffer for it – laughing the whole time.

“I’m a de-motivational speaker,” he says, as he tests a relationship, shows how he cheats at reading, tells you what was in your pocket, and even makes you feel bad for winning money. And despite his best efforts to use his powers for evil, it will thoroughly entertain you.

As I’ve hinted, there is plenty of audience participation, but it won’t hurt (trust me).

I know what you’re thinking: “I should see this.” Well, you only have two more shots during this Fringe: 6 p.m. today and 9 p.m. tomorrow (Aug. 17-18) at the Indy Eleven (719 E. St. Clair).

IndyFringe: Iron In Your Future

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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

If you think a person would be crazy to swim in the Hudson River at New York City, then Mindy Pfeffer is really off the deep end as she goes from triathlon enthusiast to the dreaded Iron Man. As an actor and playwright, she also gets to share the experience with you in this one-woman show.

We dive right in from the beginning, as she describes her first jump into the cold waters of the Hudson and relates the journey that brought her there. A confessed “Adult Onset Athlete,” to further test herself, she signs up for the Iron Man, a swimming/biking/running event with much longer distances (the run is a full marathon). Aided by the acid wit of her Russian coach – and a LOT of training – she makes it to the beautiful but daunting Lake Placid event.

Of course, there are bumps along the way. Pfeffer tells how she is felled by the Scottish Play curse, later an injury in which she has to wear “Betty boot,” and then there’s what happens the day before her Iron Man…

Pfeffer is a masterful storyteller, acting the swim strokes from the back of her chair, miming the bicycling, and otherwise holding our attention. She helps us feel the pain of the setbacks, and the joy of every little triumph. Viktor might even crack a smile at her portrayal of his sense of humor.

For those who suffer from being an AOA, wish they could get started, or just like to cheer them on, this is a great workout in humor and inspiration. Performances are 4:30 p.m. today and 6 p.m. tomorrow (Aug. 17-18) on the Indy Eleven stage of the IndyFringe building, 719 E. St. Clair.