Kristin Renee Boyd

Mother’s devotion touches the world

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By John Lyle Belden

There’s something unique and fascinating about the cliché Jewish Mother. When encountered in performance it guarantees entertainment for the combination of simple values and cultural complexity. When you meet this personality in the real world, especially displaying a familiar mélange of honest concern and resolved acceptance, you find yourself wanting this woman for your second Mom.

In 1970s New York, countless LGBT youth found this maternal comfort in Jeanne Manford, and in her humble and loving way, she changed the world.

Phoenix Theatre Cultural Center presents the world premiere of “Everybody’s Favorite Mothers” by James Still, directed by Zack Neiditch.

When Jeanne’s son Morty (Jack Ducat) came out to her (Constance Macy), she accepted him without question. Her husband Jules (John St. Angelo) took more time to come around, he admits, but was fully accepting when he saw the violence that confronted a gay man just being himself.

Having been outspoken with a strong sense of justice since boyhood, Morty was an avid activist, working with close friends Mike (Matthew David Consell) and Leena (Alicia Barnes). As they planned to join a Gay Rights march on the anniversary of the Stonewall uprising (which had happened just a couple of years before), Morty asked his mother to walk with him. Feeling challenged at her initial hesitation, Jeanne firmly says she’ll be there.

For someone who prefers to live her own life, “I’m not a joiner,” Mrs. Manford is more conflicted than she realizes. The night before the march (which she likes to think of as a “parade”), she finds herself visited in her dreams by icons of motherhood. Maria Von Trapp from “The Sound of Music” (Zarah Shejule) appears in drag-inspired finery to reassure Jeanne and get her mind ready for the coming big day. She introduces two mothers from the past – the Virgin Mary (Barnes) and Mrs. Cratchit (St. Angelo) – and one from the future, Marge Simpson (Conwell), all eager to share encouragement.

The next day’s march sets Jeanne on a path of activism, Jules by his side, that leads to the founding of what is now PFLAG. Her firm sense that family members should support one another fueled her drive to help resolve estrangement between queer kids and their families, and give support to other parents.    

Still – the former playwright in residence at Indiana Repertory Theatre, now living on the West Coast – said he had great difficulty writing this important story of a little-known hero. While researching he found a relevant speech by President Barack Obama and realized that to include this event from 2008 in a story from 1972, he had to be very flexible with the element of time. Thus, to help focus on the central relationship of Morty and Jeanne, they take charge of their story to “rewind” and “forward-wind” to help them, and us watching, better understand what happened. This adds context and drama to a struggle that included trauma that proves difficult to get past.

Shejule also makes an appearance as the principal of the school where Jeanne teaches, having the impossible task of persuading her to reduce her activism.

This play’s clever presentation goes beyond Still’s words and Neiditch’s direction. Sound and video projections by Ben Dobler include actual news footage. The simple set with seating on two sides is by Rob Koharchik with lighting by Michael Moffatt. Anthony James Sirk did the costumes, which include fantastic plastic wigs and outfits for the dream sequence. Props, including Maria’s cute pet goat, are by Kristin Renee Boyd. Stage manager is Emily Root, assisted by Morgan Grabczak.

Ducat presents all the fed-up stress and sense of personal peril in Morty’s struggle to end discrimination. Conwell plays Mike more glib but with his own sense of worry – he also does a perfect Marge voice. Barnes, who said she reflected on her own journey to inform the role, plays Leena as eager and empathetic while dealing with the unfortunate rift among some activist gays and lesbians. Shejule’s turn as Maria is a delight. St. Angelo presents Jules as steadfastly supportive, as his fragile health allowed.

Macy – also the Phoenix Theatre Christel DeHaan Artistic Director – seems effortlessly amazing as Jeanne, working through her infrequent uncertainties while never diminishing her sense of doing what is right.

An unflinching look at the fight for gay rights featuring a mother’s uncompromising care, “Everybody’s Favorite Mothers” delivers an important chapter in American LGBTQ+ history, and a reminder that this story still continues.

Performances run through Sept. 20 at 705 N. Illinois St., downtown Indianapolis. Get info and tickets at phoenixtheatre.org.

For information on PFLAG, see pflag.org.

Mysterious forces at work in ‘Oak’ at Phoenix Theatre

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By John Lyle Belden

During the new Terry Guest drama “Oak” at the Phoenix Theatre Cultural Center, you could ask, what’s happening? The simple answer is that children and teenagers routinely disappear near Odella Creek, deep in rural Georgia, and have for generations. The query then follows: How? And why?

To learn the legend, we meet local youngsters Pickle (Jadah Rowan), her little brother Big Man (Joshua Short), and their cousin Suga (Tracy Nakigozi). They each know a version of the two-century-old story of Odella, a slave girl who, not long after giving birth, found an opportunity to escape – alone. It was believed that she drowned in the creek that now bears her name, near the old oak.

The implied question becomes, is this a simple horror story of a disturbed ghost, a vengeful spirit preying on children? Or is this something different – a cryptid, wild animals, or even a human predator? However, the question that we hear, announced over public address systems, is “Do you know where your children are?”

Pickle and Big Man get home after the 7 p.m. curfew, which only adds to the annoyance of their mother, Peaches (Psywrn Simone), who prepares for her shift at Krystal (a Southern burger chain similar to White Castle). The kids must stay at home after dark, at least until “snatching season” ends in July. On the radio, an urgent report states that this time, a white girl has disappeared.

Meanwhile, on the way to her house, Suga sees the glowing red eyes.

This chilling piece of Southern Gothic horror is a National New Play Network Rolling World Premiere. At each stop (this being the second between theatres in Florida and New York), the production takes on a different approach. For the Phoenix, Guest is joined by director Mikael Burke, who also worked on his “Magnolia Ballet” in 2022.

Conjuring the proper spooky atmosphere in a live performance is challenging, so the crew’s contributions are especially vital. The simple yet effective set design by Robert Koharchik, aided by lighting by Laura E. Glover and soundscape by Brian Grimm, put the action “in the round” with seating surrounding the floor of the black-box Basile stage. Aided by fog effects, well-played paranoia, and those “eyes,” the sense is not that we are surrounding the actors but that the setting has surrounded us with them.

Within this story is a memory best told as a fairy tale, “The Princess and the Wolf,” with excellent puppets by props artisan Kristin Renee Boyd.

Suspense grows, tempered with nervous humor – especially in the kids’ encounter with Simone as First Lady Temple, the shotgun-wielding old woman said to be the only survivor of whatever truly happens at Odella Creek.

Rowan, Short, and Nakigozi have not only the youthful look, but also deliver the right touch of childhood wonder, fear, and risk-taking appropriate to their young characters. Even at 16, Pickle still feels that childlike urge to believe what adults say is impossible – how else does she explain this world? With similar hopeful naivete, she and Suga feel that they will be safer if they move away to a big city.

Subtext is dense here, hanging thick as the moss around the stage or the Southern humidity you swear you can feel. The Black experience today and the burden of history are reflected in the horrors of Odella’s experience, the media’s different attitude towards a routine tragedy when inflicted on a white child, and an aspect of Paradise being where the taxis always stop for you. A reference to the Atlanta Ripper of the 1920s (an actual unsolved case) shows the history of public indifference when girls with dark skin vanish. The perils of escape – however it’s defined – are a constant motif.

We will get few answers here, and those received may haunt as much as those left unknown. Dare to find out what waits at the “Oak,” with performances through June 8 at 705 N. Illinois St., downtown Indianapolis. Get info and tickets at phoenixtheatre.org.

Quirky Christmas at a Montana bar in new comedy

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By John Lyle Belden

It seems the wooded lands on the northern edge of the United States host some eccentric goings-on. A number of films, TV shows, and plays have celebrated this, and now we can add “Snow Fever: A Karaoke Christmas,” a holiday comedy by Robert Caisley presented as part of a National New Play Network Rolling World Premiere at the Phoenix Theatre Cultural Centre.

To paraphrase one of its characters, weird stuff happens at Christmas, especially in Montana.

The Phoenix black-box stage has been converted into a bar, the Wet Whistle, which features a drink special that audience members can purchase before the show. It used to belong to Laverna (Jolene Mentink Moffatt) – then known as Taverna Laverna – but now is the property of her son, Brendan (Grant Niezgodski), who runs it with Kenny (Austin Hookfin), an odd young man with “no backstory” and little impulse control.

Local college student Lucy (Sarah Powell) arrives to interview for a job to discover she not only has it but also has arrived late on her first day. Laverna says that can be forgiven (she lives upstairs and acts like she still runs the joint, complete with her free hand with the booze). Kenny comes in with another young woman seeking work, Greta (Akili Ni Mali), a professional Karaoke DJ whom he injured with a frozen snowball to get her attention.

Preparations are under way for the bar’s Christmas Eve party, despite the growing snowstorm outside. The only band Brendan can book is a pair of banjo-playing twins, and he absolutely refuses to have anything as upbeat as the karaoke machine (which Greta is already setting up) in his somber dive bar. Also, Kenny has stolen a tree from the farm of the one man whose name no one is to say – “F. U.” (Brian Tyrell) – thanks in part to what happened at last year’s party.

Also, I should mention, there is Duke. No one knows what Duke is, but he is there.

So, if like me you saw the title “A Karaoke Christmas” and thought this might turn out to be a fluffy holiday music revue, we must remind ourselves: This is the Phoenix F-ing Theatre. Director John Michael Goodson sees this play as a quirky rom-com, but without the Hallmark schmaltz. There is singing in the show, mainly popular karaoke hits. But as love and nostalgia are as much a part of the holidays as the common Christmas trappings, a little “I Will Survive” works just as well as Jingle Bells.

Moffatt revels in her role as mama-bear/queen bee/cougar – the whole menagerie. Laverna can be a bit much, but with a big heart and best intentions. Niezgodski makes a great Phoenix debut, his pragmatic and at times bitter character weathering the chaos. Mali plays Greta as charmingly independent, a roaming soul who takes what life gives her, strange as it may be. Powell also plays Lucy as a roll-with-it sort of character, with more the attitude of someone familiar with the local ways. As for Hookfin, what may seem like just another take on the goof he plays so well in local comedies turns out to have surprising depth; what Kenny appears to lack in intellect he more than makes up for in intuition, as well as irresistible charm.  

Kudos to the cozy set design by Shane Cinal and props by Kristin Renee Boyd.

For a heartwarming holiday play with no heavy message, just good times with a few old pop hits thrown in, come in out of the cold for “Snow Fever,” performances through Dec. 22 at 705 N. Illinois St., downtown Indianapolis. Get info and tickets at phoenxtheatre.org.