Kelli Thomas

Indy Shakes’ ‘Errors’ succeeds

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By John Lyle Belden

If one is to genuinely have fun with a work by William Shakespeare, it’s hard to go wrong with “The Comedy of Errors.”

This early work by the Bard is chock full of the kind of confusions that are universal hallmarks of comedy to this day. Therefore – and “wherefore” – Indy Shakes adapted it for their summer outdoor production at Taggart Memorial Amphitheatre in Riverside Park, directed by Rob and Jen Johansen, serious actors who are no strangers to getting goofy on stage.

Taking it perhaps a step further than even crowd-pleaser Shakespeare (who was known to hire clowns), the play also includes members of (and “games” by) Act a Foo Improv Crew, featuring Daniel A. Martin.

The setting is Daytona Beach in 1984. Because reasons to start the plot, interlopers from Venice Beach are not allowed on pain of death. Caught by the police (Martin), Egeon, Merchant of Venice (Zack Neiditch), must either give up 1,000 coins or his head. In a bid for mercy, he tells the ruling Duke (Joshua Owens) his story:

He and his wife had identical twin boys, meanwhile an impoverished woman had such twins of her own, which they took on as companions and servants to their own sons. Later, during a sea voyage, a Tempest split the boat, leaving each parent alone with one each of the pairs of boys. In the process of his long search for his wife, Egeon lost track of his son Antipholous (Andrew Martin) and servant Dromio (Hannah Boswell) in Boca Raton, and thought they may be in Daytona. 

You see where this is going. Conveniently also in Daytona Beach are an Antipholus (Carlos Medina Maldonado) and manservant Dromio (Kelsey VanVoorst). Our young master has a household complete with wife Adriana (Alicia Sims), her sister Luciana (Kelli Thomas), and kitchen maid Luce (Cynthia Collins), who is sweet on Daytona’s Dromio. And remember, thanks to the magic of wearing the same outfit (just go with it), the Antipholuses and Dromios look exactly alike.

It doesn’t take long for this play to live up to its title, with hilarious criss-cross encounters between characters and intrigues that involve others including Ennis Adams as an impatient merchant and Scot Greenwell as Angelo the goldsmith. The gags also take advantage of improvised moments, 80’s and Florida references, and Shakespearean in-jokes like crying “Wherefore art thou, Dromio?!”

Finally, after a botched exorcism and Scooby-Doo-esque chase scenes, sanity is restored by order of the Duke with the aid of a local Abbess (Lynne Perkins).

While this comedy does involve a fairly simple plot for Shakespeare (fine by me, to be honest), I couldn’t help but notice a greater emphasis in the poetic dialogue, of its rhythm and rhyme. Indy Shakes artistic director Ryan Artzberger says this is indicative of Shakespeare exploring the use of verse in his early works, employing rhyming couplets to deliver the punchlines – alongside his famous puns and inuendo.

Performances are first-rate throughout the cast. Martin makes a major contribution with his minor role. I’ve seen Maldonado excel wherever he’s cast – from serious stuff to kids’ shows – and he naturally knocks it out of the park here. Edges of drama here and there, such as Greenwell’s nervousness with Angelo on the hook for a lot of money (a gold chain being on the neck of the wrong Antipholus) or Sims and Thomas as sisters feeling they are being played for fools, enhance the comic stakes for greater hilarity. Boswell and VanVoorst thrive in the absurdity.

Pardon my burying the lead here, but admission to this outdoor spectacle is free! Indy Shakes does need patrons to register their tickets for their headcount, and for a price, VIP tables are available. Remaining performances are Thursday through Saturday evenings, July 31-Aug. 2. For information and to register, visit indyshakes.com.

Exploring the degree we ‘Flex’ to fulfill dreams

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By John Lyle Belden

I am in a unique position to review the play “Flex” by Candrice Jones, presented by Summit Performance Indianapolis at the Phoenix Theatre Cultural Centre. At the time and place of this fictional drama – late 1990s in rural southeastern Arkansas – I was a small-town reporter covering sports in that region. I also grew up in a tiny town where basketball was practically the only school sport, and to have a player noticed at all by college scouts was a miracle.

Starra Jones (Shelby Marie Edwards) is the star point guard of the Plano, Ark., (pronounced “Plain Ol’ Arkansas”) High School Lady Train. The daughter of a promising woman baller from pre-WNBA days, she practices on a packed-dirt court by her home. Fellow senior teammates are Sidney Brown (Maggie Kryszyn), who recently moved from California, bringing with her attention from Division-1 scouts; Cherise Howard (Marissa Emerson), a devout newly-minted youth minister who wants baptism to wash away her feelings for…; Donna Cunningham (Enjoli Desiree), who will use an academic scholarship to escape small-town life; and April Jenkins (Kelli Thomas), whose unplanned pregnancy will likely get her benched by no-nonsense Coach Pace (Alicia K. Sims) just as the Train are State Tournament bound.

Starra was brought up in a take-charge ethos as powerful as her talent, calling the shots in a traditional 1-3-1 offense. Coach finally feels, with two star players in a tightly knit squad, she can run the “Flex” offense she has developed for years. This calls for frequent passing to overwhelm opponents – a lot more sharing than Starra is used to, on top of seeing Sidney’s stats and status rise. Meanwhile, April has a plan to get back on the court, involving a secret road trip across the Mississippi River. Desperate measures are being taken, putting these girls’ futures and perhaps even their souls at risk.

Directed by A.J. Baldwin, the play excellently portrays both the closeness of small-town life, developing tight bonds and pride, and the desperate urges of youth to kick the dirt off your feet for good, getting out to find bigger opportunities far away from Plano. These five mesh as a team and both fight and support one another like sisters. Edwards, our principal narrator, gets much of the focus (like her character) but this squad all give brilliant performances, bringing out their dreams, struggles, and pain for us all to share – making triumph all the more sweet.

Sims mainly plays the mentor but adds layers as Coach Pace also finds she, too, has lessons to learn. The title comes to mean more than a basketball strategy, as all figure out when in life one should – and shouldn’t – be flexible.

I was also impressed that this story was not critical of the role of evangelical Christianity in the girls’ lives, letting it be a source of comfort and even healing in Charise’s unsure yet faithful hands.

SMALL SPOILER: I did have one concern about the script, in that a stumble in the tournament, while essential to the plot, did not eliminate them from the Finals. Please allow some dramatic license here.

Inventive set design by Maggie Jackson puts a basketball court flowing into a rural highway at the center of the black box Basile Stage, with seating on both sides giving a good close view to all. Stage managers are Becky Roeber and Chandra Lynch, who also appear as referees.

With a real hoop at regulation height, the most impressive aspect was how well-practiced the actors were, as there are a number of moments in which shots had to be made. At our performance, every swoosh was right on cue.

Experience small-town hoop dreams with “Flex,” through Feb. 2 at 705 N. Illinois St., Indianapolis. Get info and tickets at phoenixtheatre.org.

IndyShakes: ‘Caesar’ as seen by CNN or C-SPAN

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By John Lyle Belden

Julius Caesar. If you didn’t sleep through World History or Western Civ in high school or college, you are familiar with his name and his brief reign over the Roman Empire. Thanks mainly to the tragic play by William Shakespeare, his fate is forever part of popular culture – especially in mid-March, when the man becomes a meme on your smartphone.

What if those early 21st century devices were available in the 1st century BC? In the common practice of adapting the Bard to different eras, Indy Shakes and Zach & Zack present Shakespeare’s “Julius Caesar” in a tech-savvy Rome complete with 24-hour social media and news cycle. In the big black box of the Basile stage of the Phoenix Theatre Cultural Centre, we get a multimedia blitz of projected talking heads, Tweets on X, and smartphone video streams, with our players front and center enacting the familiar story with the freshness of breaking news. Diverse casting of race and gender, along with modern dress with hints of official robes, help make ancient times feel like today.

Quick refresher: The death of fellow leader Pompey left Caesar (Andy Ahrens) the sole Consul over the Roman Republic. This worries the Senate, who easily surmise that the man will overtake them as a tyrannical dictator. In Shakespeare’s telling, Cassius (Scot Greenwell), who was close to Caesar and feels him both too ambitious and too weak (the stigma of his epilepsy) persuades Brutus (Jen Johansen), another beloved of Caesar, to join a conspiracy to assassinate their Emperor. Despite signs and warnings, Caesar enters the Senate on March 15 and is slaughtered by his countrymen. Antony (Kelly Mills) plays along with the killers, but when given a chance to address Caesar’s funeral, stirs the people of Rome to action.

Other roles include Morgan Morton as Brutus’s spouse Portia, as well as Cinna the Poet; Carlos Medina Maldonado as Cinna the conspirator and others; Chandra Lynch, Daniel Martin and Immanuel Umoren as conspirators Decius Brutus, Trebonius, and Casca; Kelli Thomas as Brutus’s servant Lucius; Tiffany Gilliam as Caesar’s wife, Calpurnia; and Jacob Barnes as the Soothsayer, and later Octavius Caesar (who will eventually become Emperor Augustus).

From top to bottom, the cast have solid resumes and consistently display their dramatic talents throughout. It is in this adaptation, though, that Johansen’s Brutus stands out, doggedly facing both inner and outer conflict, reluctantly justifying extreme acts, then standing up to the consequences. Ahrens plays Caesar as having noble intentions but too driven to see how his larger-than-life personality could inspire his doom. In today’s U.S. Senate, Greenwell’s Cassius would be that devious deal-maker who would go to any length to advance his agenda, a Ted Cruz with knives. Mills’s Antony manages to come off as the rare honest politician, rising to the occasion like our memory of JFK, or Obama at his inauguration. Zack Neiditch is director, with sound and video design by Zach Rosing. Excellent costumes are by Tony Sirk with Caitlin Davey.

Still, the whole of this production is greater than the sum of its well-executed parts, going beyond just putting old speech in a new setting. In a time when tragic events, including wars, unrest, and celebrities performing to ever-present cameras are constantly on our television, computer and phone screens, this makes historical events feel even more “real” than any attempt to tell the story in its own time.

Two weekends remain of “Julius Caesar,” through May 19, at 705 N. Illinois St., downtown Indianapolis. Get information and tickets at indyshakes.com or phoenixtheatre.org.

IndyFringe: Too Much Light Makes the Baby Go Blind

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This is part of IndyFringe 2022, Aug. 18-Sept. 4 (individual performance times vary) in downtown Indianapolis. Details and tickets at IndyFringe.org.

By John Lyle Belden

The title of the show — “Too Much Light Makes the Baby Go Blind” — is never said in the 24 tiny plays presented by UIndy Theatre Company at the District Theatre. To be more accurate, it is: “Too Much Time Makes the Audience Get Cookies.”

The series, “neo-futurist plays” by Greg Allen performed by UIndy students Elisabeth Enderle, Nick Finch, Audrey Panyard, and Kelli Thomas, are represented by cards numbered 1-24 at the back of the stage. The audience chooses the order, so the show is different every time.

The topic and form of each vary widely, from funny to absurd to introspective to disturbing to deadly serious. There’s also a bit of audience participation within the action. And remember, “Play 23” does not exist.

For anyone who remembers my write-up on this last year, apologies for the self-plagiarism. This is still one of the hottest tickets at the Fringe, with some new micro-plays in the mix, all excellently executed by this talented foursome. Their comic timing is great, but overall “timing”? Well, it’s hard to get this many scenes done in 48 minutes (an average of 2 minutes per play). The performance I saw this year clocked in at 49:50 — we got cookies!

Remaining performances are 3:30 p.m. Saturday and 5:15 p.m. Sunday, Sept. 3-4.

That old Black ‘Magic’

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By John Lyle Belden

The term “Magical Negroes” was popularized by celebrated film director Spike Lee as a critique of how non-white characters were still being used in movies just as they had been in stories throughout history. The trope has its roots in racism and the historic identification of the “other” as something different than regular humanity – when not a lesser-than, such as “lazy” stereotypes, they ironically become stronger, wiser, or actually magical compared to the Whites around them, with their sole purpose in the story to help the “normal” protagonist to win the day. Mammy in “Gone With the Wind” or Bagger in “The Legend of Bagger Vance” are cited as prime examples, as well as John Coffey in “The Green Mile” and even Whoopi Goldberg’s Oda Mae in “Ghost.” Note how Hollywood has rewarded such roles with Oscar nominations and statuettes.

Black queer playwright Terry Guest can’t help but mess with old tropes, revealing the much older, darker and more powerful magic that lies beneath. Southbank Theatre Company presents Guest’s “Marie Antoinette and The Magical Negroes,” directed by Kelly Mills. Just as arguably the White majority distorts history, a “Tribe” of embodied Black stereotypes twists it back the other way. “This is not history!” the troupe declares, but between their prism and the one we were exposed to in school, maybe we’ll see the light of truth.

Marie (Haley Glickman) and her husband King Louis XVI (Josh Cornell) of France were actual historical figures. Remembered unkindly, they weren’t necessarily evil, just very spoiled and inept. If anyone could use a dark-skinned savior, it’s these two – but magic doesn’t necessarily work that way.

The Tribe are: carefree Jim Crow (Ron Perkins), crafty Sambo (Bra’Jae’ Allen), nurturing Mammy (Kellli Thomas), ambitious Sapphire (Anila Akua), and aggressive Savage (Tommy Gray III). Being timeless, they hop around the time stream a bit, so we see the Crow in President Kennedy or the Mammy in Ida B. Wells. In the Court of Versailles, Mammy is Marie’s faithful lady-in-waiting and fellow noble Anna de Noailles; Sambo is Anna’s lady-in-waiting Charlotte, a put-upon servant aching to join the protests outside; Sapphire is Catherine, the idealist who believes she can rise thought the palace ranks and effect change from the inside; and Crow is Swedish nobleman Axel von Fersen, in love with the Queen and seeking to aid her escape.

The magic here is subtle, though the cast did get some tips and a couple of props from local magician Taylor Martin. More important than a couple of visual tricks, there is the spirit of Mother Africa, and when the Tribe dances and turns – well, don’t be surprised if someone loses their head.

Glickman is exceptional in giving the many sides of a figure misunderstood even in her own day, from the child bride to the woman in a gilded cage. Marie didn’t actually say, “let them eat cake,” but she very well could have – a sentiment more borne of cluelessness than disdain. In an ironic reversal of the Black characters lacking depth or backstory, poor Louis is the most two-dimensional character in the piece, but Cornell does a good job of expressing the monarch’s constant frustration with his job and the lack of respect his hard work (in his view) gets.

The Tribe members each work outward from their archetypes to give us persons rather than caricatures – an antidote to the overdone stereotypes where they’re usually found. Thomas as Mammy/Anne isn’t just being motherly and wise for its own sake, or Marie’s; she wants to save her own life as well. Perkins as Crow/Axel isn’t self-sacrificing, either, showing genuine concern as he presents a way out, but with a price. Allen exudes the only-taking-so-much-of-this attitude, and when the dust is finally settled, trickster Sambo has the last surprise. In other eras, Akua brings the Haitian Revolution to life, and Gray reminds us, for any who still haven’t gotten the message, that Black Lives Matter.

This is one of those theatrical experiences that’s supposed to make you feel a bit uncomfortable – those involved would be concerned if you weren’t. Right up until the end, I wasn’t sure how this unconventional history lesson was going to come together to an appropriate conclusion. But when the lights finally came up, I reflected on it all and thought, OK, I see it now.

You should see it, too. “Marie Antoinette and The Magical Negroes” runs through Sunday at the Fonseca Theatre, 2508 W. Michigan St., Indianapolis. Get information and tickets at southbanktheatre.org.