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IndyFringe: Silken Veils

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By John Lyle Belden

Like others of my generation and older, I remember seeing the Iranian revolution of 1979 in news reports on television. The taking of hostages at the American Embassy by the revolutionaries overshadowed for us any other thoughts of how the events affected others.

Today we are presented with another point of view, in the multimedia play “Silken Veils.”

In modern America (the 1990s, judging by the ages of the characters) a bride flees the altar and hides in her changing room. Afraid she will become like her parents, she must confront her conflicted feelings towards them — a father who stood against the Shah only to help bring another oppressive regime to power, the mother who responded to rejection by loving her husband anyway — and the memory of her brother’s horrific death.

The telling of the intertwined stories incorporates live actors, flashbacks, Rumi poetry, shadow puppetry, marionettes and animation. The Pantea Productions players flow these elements perfectly into one another for a unified performance that will touch your heart, and remind you that while those captured Americans were able to end their ordeal, for some who called Persia home, the pain continues.

From my experience of more than a dozen IndyFringe shows this year, I’m declaring “Silken Veils” the best show of the Fringe — a high bar, considering other performances. Judge for yourself at the final performance 10:30 p.m. Saturday, Aug. 27, on the main stage of the Phoenix Theatre. Info and tickets at indyfringefestival.com.

IndyFringe: Clown Bar

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By John Lyle Belden

The first rule of Clown Bar is that there are no rules — except for The Rules.

This contradiction is emblematic of the juxtaposition of the dark shades of film noir and garish colors of the clown world presented in this comedy-thriller.

Some aspects were more hard-edged than I had expected: for instance, these characters play for keeps when the funny pop-guns come out (but then, the plot is driven by a clown-turned-cop investigating the murder of his brother, a clown in trouble). Also, it’s not clear what drugs are running rampant in the clown underground to “make them funny,” but it seems to be hard narcotics rather than a silly in-world drug like balloon helium or pixie stix.

The overall result is still entertaining and amusing, and the answer of who the killer is wasn’t too easy to guess, so it works as a whodunit as well as a comedy.

Funhouse Productions encourages all to wear their clown or gangster best to the remaining performances, Saturday and Sunday, Aug. 27-28. Info and tickets at indyfringefestival.com.

IndyFringe: A Third Live Here in the High Court

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By Wendy Carson

Each and every Fringe, there is that one show. The one that makes you leave it wondering what you just witnessed.

Well, folks, this show is certainly it.

It is a tale told through quotes and factoids more than actual dialogue. The semblance of story is woven in a mobius strip of time, place and reason. It is abstract impressionism acted out. While the performance is interesting, compelling, and extremely thought-provoking, it is definitely not for everyone.

So, if you feel like a challenge or are just curious as to what this is all about, check out Khaos company’s show.

Performances Aug. 25, 27 and 28 at the Phoenix Underground. Info and tickets at indyfringefestival.com.

IndyFringe: What is this Place?

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By Wendy Carson

Four women are trapped somewhere.

Exactly who they are, where they are, why they are here and if they can escape is the driving force behind this show. While all of these questions will be answered, though not always directly, the quest for and revelations of this information are what makes the story so compelling.

Unfortunately, this also makes reviewing the production quite difficult because to really discuss and critique the performances would give away too much of the plot and spoil the experience for the audience. Suffice it to say that every one of the performances was sheer perfection. Each actress deftly crafted her character’s story into an amazing tale. Since many of the situations they experience are drawn from true experiences of the playwright and others, the audience can’t help but understand and identify with their stories.

“What is this Place” is a beautiful tale of love, family, loss, hope and sorrow that really should not be missed.

Performances are Saturday and Sunday, Aug. 27-28, in the Indyfringe Basile Theatre. Get info and tickets at indyfringefestival.com.

IndyFringe: Calder the Musical

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By Wendy Carson

This little show seems to be the early contender for biggest audience (move over, DK!). It’s a touching look into the life of a man who’s name most of us have never heard, but whose artistic output we are all familiar with.

Alexander “Sandy” Calder was a typical artist – a sensitive and misunderstood little boy, a wayward, searching young man and a misunderstood genius who is responsible for giving the world the mobile. Narrated by Thalia, the Muse of Comedy, we are taken to various times in the artist’s life that shaped his creations and legacy.

One thing to note, this script is being workshopped here in the hopes of being developed into a full-length show. However, what is presented does whet the appetite for more. The circus scene alone is amazing.

The production also presents possibly the largest cast and crew of any of this year’s offerings. I am bringing up this point because the caliber of talent involved so impressively high, I am unable pick out a single member of the team to focus on.

Just know that if you want to be able to experience this magic for yourself, you should go now and buy your tickets online at indyfringefestival.com. Every single performance so far has been a sell-out and that momentum does not look to subside. One performance remains: 3 p.m. Saturday, Aug. 27, on the Theatre on the Square main stage.

Review: Ecce ‘Equus’

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By John Lyle Belden

The Peter Shaffer play “Equus” is famous for not only its dark subject matter (intertwining themes of bestiality and religion, horse mutilations, etc.) but also for its nudity.

But in the Casey Ross production playing through July 24 at the Grove Haus, though there is a scene with characters fully naked, more striking are the souls laid bare in this drama. Never going beyond loosening his tie, Dr. Dysart (Brian G. Hartz) finds his profession of psychiatry, his personal relationships, and his very life raw and exposed to the audience as well as the probings of his own mind. Frank Strang (Doug Powers), father to disturbed teen Alan (Taylor Cox), tightly bound in vested suit and his own convictions, finds himself exposed and convicted in his son’s eyes. Alan’s mother Dora (Ericka Barker) finds her faith shaken and her own facade sliding away. And young Jill (Sarah McGrath), fascinated by the sight of bare skin, exposes herself to Alan completely, never suspecting the devastation that would follow.

As for Cox, who has admitted to struggling with his role as a boy who comes to deify horses, confusing religious and sexual ecstacy, his dedication to conveying Alan’s pain to the audience – which are seated around the central stage area, the front row inches from the action – has paid off immensely. You can’t help but feel empathy for the plight of Alan, the people in contact with him, and even the steeds he adores, then hurts when his passioned delusion turns violent. Hartz provides a brilliant counterpoint with his compassionate yet driven Dysart.

Excellent support is provided by other members of the cast: Allison Clark Reddick as magistrate Hester Solomon, Tony Armstrong as stablemaster Dalton, Nan Macy as the Nurse, and the horses played by Bowie Foote, Christopher Bell, Beth Clark and Johnny Mullens as Nugget, Alan’s favorite. Ross, who directs with the assistance of David Mosedale, provides an excellent minimalist stage design, and kudos to Davey Pelsue for composing the haunting original score.

Shaffer wrote the play after being inspired by a brief news story of a 17-year-old blinding six horses with a sharpened tool. With this fact, he spun a fictional drama that strikes at the truth of faith and devotion, and our definitions of sanity and normalcy. I couldn’t help but notice that when Alan has nightmares of his equestrian gods judging him, he cries out “Eck!” which is revealed to be the obvious, “Equus,” the word for his godhead and savior. Still, it echoes to me of “Ecce Homo” – “Behold the Man,” Latin for the words of Pilate presenting a broken Jesus to the public.

In “Equus,” we are presented with a broken boy, exposing the cracks in everyone around him until all are shattered. It is truly something to behold.

Find the Grove Haus at 1001 Hosbrook St., near Fountain Square just southeast of downtown Indy. Find info and tickets at http://uncannycasey.wix.com/caseyrossproductions or the Casey Ross Productions Facebook page.

(This was also posted at The Word [later The Eagle], Indy’s LGBTQ newspaper)

Review: Not your kids’ puppet show

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By John Lyle Belden

In “Hand to God,” the outrageous comedy on stage at Indy’s Phoenix Theatre through July 17, it takes a possibly-possessed hand puppet to show the inner demons in all of us.

Just be warned: Though this play is set at a church, and involves youths working on a puppet show, it is most definitely NOT for children. For content, language and sex, this is very much an “R” rated event, and not for easily-offended churchgoers.

Jason (Nathan Robbins) and his mother Margery (Angela R. Plank) work through their grief at losing his father/her husband by putting on a puppet show at church at the suggestion of Pastor Greg (Paul Nicely), who has the hots for the new widow. The other kids in the puppet ministry, Timothy (Adam Tran) and Jessica (Jaddy Ciucci), are barely cooperative. But things really get out of hand (pardon the pun) when Jason’s puppet Tyrone starts speaking out. In expletive-loaded bursts, he says what others are only thinking, and then some. Jason sees the danger, but it’s too late, as after Tyrone is supposedly destroyed he comes back – with teeth.

Possibly coincidentally, these characters start acting way out of their comfort zone – including acts that would in the real world end in arrest. One can then wonder, to what extent do we think “the devil made them do it,” or was it just hidden desires suddenly given license? It’s telling that Jessica’s desperate ploy to get past Jason’s cloth alter-ego to reach the real boy she cares for involves one of the most shocking yet funny scenes of the play.

For wild can’t-believe-I’m-laughing-at-this hilarity and thought-provoking drama, this show is highly recommended. But even more amazing is the ability Robbins – a confessed puppetry novice – shows in displaying two completely separate characters, making Tyrone in voice and manner seem like a whole other person, despite being at the end of the arm of the helpless, scared boy coincidentally moving his lips.

This is likely not the first review of this play you’ve seen; the run started in June. But let me add to the chorus of satisfied audiences saying – if you’re not too easily offended – you really should see “Hand to God” at the Phoenix, 749 N. Park Ave. (corner of Park and St. Clair just north of Mass. Ave.). Call 317-635-7529 or see www.phoenixtheatre.org.

(This was also posted at The Word [later The Eagle], Indy’s LGBTQ newspaper)

Review: Quirky ‘Crumble’ holds up

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By John Lyle Belden

Theatre on the Square presents the tragic comedy – or comic tragedy – “Crumble (lay me down Justin Timberlake),” through June 18.

This is one of those stories with characters so quirky, in so many ways, that they somehow feel like someone you know. Even, in this case, entities that are not even technically alive.

In this play, we meet a house (Clay Mabbitt) that used to be considered a mansion, but has been falling into disrepair. He feels so lonely at the neglect by and indifference of his human occupants that he might have to kill them in hopes of getting better people to move in. The residents are neurotic mother Clara (Carrie Ann Schlatter) and hyper daughter Janice (Paeton Chavis). The husband/father Gary (Joshua C. Ramsay), dead for about a year at Christmas, is a shadowy ghost.

Ramsay is also the vision of Justin Timberlake that comes alive from the poster on Janice’s bedroom wall to advise and confess his love to her before flying away. As she sings macabre songs and deconstructs a doll, Janice works on her holiday surprise.

Meanwhile, Clara tries to keep her sanity while making four-star gourmet meals like she prepares at work for herself and her daughter. She speaks in poetry, and her only friends are her crazy-cat-lady sister, Barbara (Amy Hayes), and a phantom celebrity of her own.

The presentation as a single 80-minute act helps builds tension towards something frightening and dangerous, but with moments of surprising dark humor on the way. The five veteran actors are each excellent in their own way. Chavis convincingly plays a disturbed tween struggling to understand what has happened, while convinced that some part of it is her fault and only she can make it right. Schlatter easily carries us along on her mental roller coaster, so desperate to connect with her daughter that she buys all seven unusual items on Janice’s gift wish list. Hayes is endearing as the ever-helpful sis who stays willfully blind to her own issues. Ramsey turns on the charm, adding humor and emotional depth to his moments as helpful hallucinations.

And aided by the clever script by Sheila Callaghan and direction by Rob Johansen, Mabbitt makes the house a fully-realized character, perhaps the most “real” person in this drama.

Overall, this is the kind of story that only works as a stage play, and an example of why an active theatre scene like Indianapolis enjoys is so important. There are mature topics, and Janice expresses herself very colorfully, so this show is for teens and older.

Find TOTS at 627 Massachusetts Ave. Get info and tickets at www.tots.org or 317-685-8687.

(This was also posted at The Word [later The Eagle], Indy’s LGBTQ newspaper)

Review: Complex killer musical at BCP

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By John Lyle Belden

For about a year now, it has been the unofficial Year of Sondheim around central Indiana stages. And now it appears to be Buck Creek Players’ turn, with its production of the musical, “Assassins.”

This play brings together in a dark-humored fantasia various men and women who killed – or tried to kill – the President of the United States. The genius of this piece by Sondheim and James Weidman is that it compellingly presents these individuals’ point of view without glorifying their acts.

The Proprietor (Steven R. Linville) in this room outside of time and space is offering guns to the various frustrated characters seeking – something. Perhaps it’s personal relief; perhaps it’s attention; perhaps it’s to change the world. The solution? Shoot the President.

The characters represent people who actually existed (a couple are even still alive), who you may or may not have heard of, but they all look up to the one we all know: Lincoln’s assassin, John Wilkes Booth (Mark Meyer). Charles Guiteau (David Wood) would be shocked that we don’t know his name as readily, as he expected his shooting of President James Garfield (briefly played by chorus member W. Michael Davidson) to boost sales of his book and lead to him becoming President himself – rather than be hanged, which happened instead.

We also hear of the irrational motivations behind Leon Czolgosz (Jake McDuffee) shooting William McKinley, Guiseppe Zangara (Scott Fleshood) shooting at Franklin Roosevelt, John Hinckley Jr. (Trenton Baker) shooting Ronald Reagan, and Lynette “Squeaky” Fromme (Stacia Ann Hulen) and Sara Jane Moore (Cathy Tolzmann) taking shots at Gerald Ford (played, complete with pratfall, by Bryan D. Padgett).

Most intriguing are the ramblings of Samuel Byck (Daniel Draves), taken from the actual tape recordings he made and sent to journalists, before attempting his plan to crash a passenger jet into the White House to kill Richard Nixon (his gun was used on others as he tried to take over the plane).

To let us know these assassins’ stories, we hear from a Balladeer (Luke McConnell), who eventually finds his own dark and infamous purpose.

These are not heroes; most are arguably insane, but it’s hard to say they are entirely bad people. These facts add depth to performances throughout the cast. Guiteau’s delusions make Wood’s portrayal one of the more entertaining. Hulen as a loopy-hippie Fromme and Tolzmann’s Kathy-Bates-esque turn as Moore provide much of the dark humor, especially in Moore’s total incompetence with a firearm. Mary Hayes Tuttle boldly portrays famed anarchist Emma Goldman, an influence on Czolgosz, who McDuffie infuses with desperation. Fleshood plays Zangara earnestly, an appropriate approach for someone whose pain was real but actions made little sense. And Draves is like an obscenity-spewing force of nature as Byck – the dirty Santa suit he wears to protest Nixon making him look even more unhinged. Baker’s Hinckley is a lost, confused boy with a gun.

Above all, Meyer exudes a charisma befitting Booth, a renowned actor before committing the one act he is known for, as he takes charge of this macabre exclusive club. Linville and McConnell ably represent American Culture and History, respectively, as tangible beings with genuine influence on the stories we see, making it feel inevitable when McConnell’s young man picks up the rifle.

(Note: This production doesn’t hold back on language. But then, the topic already makes this not a show for children.)

With sharp direction by D. Scott Robinson with Christine Schaefer, and interesting set design by Aaron B. Bailey, this is worth taking a shot at seeing down at the Buck Creek Playhouse, 11150 Southeastern Ave. (Acton Road exit off I-74), through June 12. Just kindly leave your firearms outside.

No actual Presidents were harmed in the making of this musical. Find info at www.buckcreekplayers.com or call 317-862-2270.

(This was also posted at The Word [later The Eagle], Indy’s LGBTQ newspaper)

Review: Great Dane on the Westside

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By John Lyle Belden

Regarded as one of the greatest dramas of all time, if not the greatest, “The Tragedy of Hamlet, Prince of Denmark,” by William Shakespeare, has seen numerous stagings, including the occasional production in central Indiana.

The trick is to make a portrayal of the old familiar story something new, yet still true to the Bard. First Folio Productions and Wayne Township Community Theatre manage that quite deftly with their “Hamlet,” which has one weekend left (Friday through Sunday) at the WTCT home stage, the Ben Davis High School auditorium on Indy’s west side.

The story stays the same – Prince Hamlet is visited by the ghost of his father, the King, whose brother, now married to the Queen, murdered him. Hamlet then devises plans to test his uncle’s conscience, then to take his revenge, all while acting like a lunatic. People die; Hamlet cheats death on a cruise to England, then comes home to talk to a skull; then everyone dies except Hamlet’s buddy, Horatio. (If this doesn’t sound familiar to you, then by all means, go see the show!)

The twists employed by First Folio are to set the play in a steampunk circa-1900 version of Denmark, and to edit this very long drama down to two one-hour acts. (Rosencranz and Guildenstern never appear, and are not even named when it’s revealed they will die.) The latter is well executed, and aside from the omission just noted, hardly noticeable. As for the fine skirts and Edwardian suits with goggled hats and other Jules Verne chic, it is all tastefully done, creating an alternative world that is somehow timeless. As in all alternative-setting Shakespeare plays, the original language is left intact.

But the play’s the thing, as someone once said. And this play is a very good thing, with a great cast. Carey Shea holds our attention, charms, and exhibits his full range as Hamlet. Devan Mathias pulls our heartstrings as tragic Ophelia. Matt Anderson is masterful as crafty King Claudius. Erika Barker portrays well the conflicted soul of Queen Gertrude. And Chris Burton steals scenes in dual roles as the “lead player” of the play-within-the-play and the busy Gravedigger.

Director Glenn L. Dobbs (kudos to him) asked me to also note there are some funny moments (and there are) in this otherwise tragic work. It is overall a truly entertaining production, to be sure.

For more information and tickets, click on “Hamlet Show Information” at www.firstfolioproductions.org.

(This was also posted at The Word [later The Eagle], Indy’s LGBTQ newspaper)