play

Searching through old pages for family

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By John Lyle Belden

This is a play about a woman who committed to writing a play, based on her great-grandfather’s diary, which – when she made the proposal – she had barely read.

“The Berlin Diaries” by Andrea Stolowitz is presented by the Phoenix Theatre as part of a National New Play Network Rolling World Premiere. Jennifer and Rob Johansen are listed as playing Andrea and Max (the patriarch diarist) but play all roles. Stolowitz constructed the narrative to always be in her (Andrea’s) point of view, which can be expressed by either actor as herself speaking or others talking to her, including Max’s words coming forward from 1939. Thanks to the skill of both veteran Equity performers, this is easier to follow that you’d think, and gives new perspective to talking things over with yourself.

The play is directed by Phoenix Theatre Cultural Centre artistic director Constance Macy and Rabbi Brett Krichiver, who also understudy.

Andrea has a grant and an apartment in Berlin, Germany, to develop her dramatic work based on the diary kept within a family who seem to now be so few, and who hardly get along. In the 1930s, Max Conreich and various relatives lived in the city, but he managed to escape to New York before the Nazi regime closed in. Also, she discovers, other family made their way to Brazil, Jewish Palestine (now Israel), South Africa, Australia, Argentina, and elsewhere.

This journey of discovery is a unique perspective on stories of the Holocaust. The horrors of those lost in death camps is touched upon, yet there is also the loss of connectivity in the scattering of people to avoid those horrors. In Andrea’s family, the spirit of avoidance lingers to today’s generations.

Andrea’s hunt for “people lost like library books” through Skype calls, interviewing relatives, and volumes of old paperwork is engaging and fascinating. Especially in Jen and Rob’s hands, the play that Stolowitz set out on blind faith to make works beautifully.

As much a part of the show as the actors is the exceptional set designed by Zac Hunter, with a huge tree – a family tree, you could say – made with book-cover bark and book pages for leaves. The plight of Jews to always be on the move, as well as Andrea’s travels, are exemplified by the various suitcases employed as props and furniture, constantly rearranged throughout the show.

Fulfil Max’s wishes by engaging with “The Berlin Diaries,” through March 16 at 705 N. Illinois St., downtown Indianapolis. Get info and tickets at phoenixtheatre.org.

‘Sensitive’ look at campus life

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By John Lyle Belden

“Sensitive Guys” by M.J. Kaufman, presented by Theatre Unchained at IF Theatre, has a vibe like a goofy Fringe-show version of a campus comedy. The laughs come easy as what appear to be feminist and dude-bro archetypes strive to say something important for both the audience and one another.

“What’s the trick to being a good guy?” one asks. It feels naïve, but for someone maybe 20 years old, expected to be an adult while his higher brain functions aren’t yet mature, this is a truly serious question. And circumstances will get quite serious.

Joe Wagner, with wide experience acting in comedy and drama, takes on direction of this comic drama, entrusting five “she” or “they” actors to play all characters including five young women in a sexual assault Survivor Support Group and the five members of the Men’s Peer Education Group at fictional Watson College – a small liberal institution of higher learning that loves to tout its “empowerment” of students.

While the college recites “core principles” that are little more than background noise, for our co-eds the theme is “transformation” – changing both themselves and the world around them for the better.

Anna Himes portrays the newcomers to each group. Will, who asks the question above, is a young man working on his empathy. As Leslie, she finds taking charge of her sexual experiences didn’t shield her from consent being taken from her. Adding to her sense of betrayal, the perpetrator is in the Peer Group.

Gayle Radwick is Katie in the women’s group, and Jordan of the men’s, who is in a relationship with Shanya Nicole as Tracey, the woman who happens to say something that bothers her male role, Tyler. Sheila Raghavendran is Amy with the women, Pete with the men. Monya Wolf is Diana with the women and Danny, the men’s group founder.

Shifts in wardrobe and stance, besides deepening the voice when a dude, make the character transitions easy to follow. Indulging in a bit of caricature also aids the comedy. Seeing gender as not just two aspects of humanity but also two versions of the same faces help unify their experiences as part of the same student body, all seeking guidance and needing a sense of safety.

While attending this college, don’t be surprised that you in the audience get a lesson as well. The facts that will be presented (aside from a fictional paragraph about Watson) will all sadly be true.

An entertaining satire with a healthy dose of awareness, take a seat with “Sensitive Guys,” March 7-9 and 13-15 on the IF Basile Theatre, 719 E. St. Clair St., Indianapolis. Get tickets at indyfringe.org, info at theatreunchained.org.

CCP: On tonight’s episode of ‘I Loathe Darcy…’

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By John Lyle Belden

The Jane Austen novel “Pride and Prejudice” has become so familiar to those who have enjoyed it on page and screen that someone once inserted zombies into the story. What we’ll get here, though, is much more alive. Carmel Community Players presents a recent adaptation by Kate Hamill that plays into the expectations of our romcom and sitcom-fueled culture.

Directed by Samantha Kelly, the essence of the story, set in genteel 19th-century England, is intact: the relatively poor Bennet family worry that their four daughters will not be able to marry above their station, pinning their hopes on a few local bachelors with wealth or potential.

Let’s meet our bachelorettes: Beautiful Jane (Caitlin Karas), the eldest, would love to marry wealthy Charles Bingley (Grayson Wieneke), who is interested but reluctant to pop the question. Lizzie (Katie Endres) is smart, headstrong and declares she “shall never marry.” Quirky Mary (Elizabeth Enderle) everyone considers disturbingly homely (apparently even Death won’t touch her, only giving her gaunt features and a persistent cough). Spritely Grace (Lydia Miller), the youngest, is hyper and impulsive. Also on hand is equally destitute friend Charlotte Lucas (Desiree Black), who seems to kindly accept her role as a wallflower.

Mrs. Bennet (Amanda Falcone) is frantic, to say the least, constantly extolling the virtues of her marriageable daughters to anyone who’ll listen. Meanwhile, Mr. Bennet (Matthew Socey) just wants to be left alone to read his newspaper or otherwise let things play out as they will.

At social events we meet Mr. Bingley’s posh sister Caroline (Amalia Howard), as well as the nervous Fitzwilliam Darcy (Alec Cole), who has a legendarily awkward meet-cute with Lizzie. We also encounter George Wickham (Drake Smith), ambitious but “only a Lieutenant” in the Royal Army; rich but rather creepy cousin Mr. Collins (Grant Bowen); and the fiercely upper-class Lady Catherine de Bourgh (Elizabeth Ruddell).

In Hamill’s snappy script, what we get is a sort of cross between “Fiddler on the Roof” (sans music) and “Taming of the Shrew” as though presented by the Hallmark Channel – and it works delightfully. Farcical elements entertain: Falcone’s over-the-top performance making it understandable that neighbors start to avoid her; Bowen leering in such a way that we feel Lizzie’s dread at possibly marrying Collins; the various comical jump-scares around Mary, so much that I started to feel bad for her (or at least Enderle).

It all melds well with the romantic drama aspects, such as Lizzie’s grudgingly growing appreciation of Mr. Darcy, and Lydia discovering that to leap before one looks can bring on consequences. Endres and Cole acquit themselves well as more true-to-book versions of the characters.

Nicely paced while funny and charming, indulge in “Pride and Prejudice” Thursday through Sunday (two performances Saturday) at The Cat, 254 Veterans Way, Carmel. Get tickets at carmelplayers.org or thecat.biz.

Southbank: It truly is all relative

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By John Lyle Belden

Very few people can know what it is like to be Albert Einstein – arguably, one – but did he understand, or care, what it is like to be the rest of us?

In “Relativity,” a drama by Mark St. Germain presented by Southbank Theatre Company, in December 1949 Einstein (Anthony Johnson) receives a visit from a young reporter, Margaret (Morgan Morton), at his home on the Princeton University campus. His housekeeper/secretary Ms. Dukas (Miki Mathioudakis) doesn’t approve, but the lauded genius welcomes another opportunity to talk about himself and his contributions to physics.

However, since his decades of research, discovery, and scholarly work had been written about numerous times already, Margaret maneuvers the interview to other topics, such as Einstein’s two marriages, and his children. What’s there to say, Einstein says, reciting the publicly known facts.

But she has also interviewed Albert’s son – now things get serious.

In this imagined incident, employing Einstein’s own quotations and writing, one of the greatest intellects of the last century is probed to explore the nature of relationships, family, and what is important. We confront the burden of genius: what it owes the world, and what we owe to it.

Director Ronn Johnston said what we see on the stage is so much more than what one would read from the script. He worked with our highly-talented trio to bring life and dimension to these characters – two we don’t know and one we can only presume to – to give a more genuine, relatable conversation between one leading with the heart and another from his unique brain.

This comes at a time when Einstein, who felt he had brought order to our understanding of the universe, explored the new frontier of quantum theory, reconciling the unpredictable with his predictable cosmos. But where in this universe does a child fit in?

Johnson nicely embodies the walking contradiction of the serious intellect with the wild hair, relaxed suit and quotable sense of humor. Incomprehensibly complex equations calm him, while discussion of close relations brings on a darker countenance and mood. Morton seems to combine the aspects of a strong woman and questioning child into a single irresistible interrogator.  Mathioudakis portrays a tireless defender feeling she may be the only one to truly understand the man, including his flaws.

Energy and matter, or the people who matter – explore “Relativity” Thursday through Sunday at Shelton Auditorium, 1000 W. 42nd Street, Indianapolis (Butler University campus).  Get info and tickets at southbanktheatre.org.

Belfry blesses us with ‘Little Women’

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By John Lyle Belden

“When you feel discontented, think on your blessings.”

This mother’s advice to her four daughters lends a theme to Louisa May Alcott’s classic autobiographical novel, “Little Women.” The Belfry Theatre, as part of its 60th season, presents the book’s adaptation by John Ravold at First UMC in Noblesville.

In December, 1862, we meet the Marsh sisters in their modest Massachusetts home: headstrong tomboy Jo (Emily Haus); kind, nurturing Meg (Emma Gedig); proud, self-centered Amy (Natalie Piggush); and shy “Mousie” Beth (Lizzie Schultz). Jo (patterned after Alcott herself) is also a writer, and leads her siblings in rehearsing a melodramatic play with an audience of supportive mother Marmee (Mary Garner) and young neighbor Laurie (Gideon Roark) who has brought his slightly-older tutor John Brooke (Samuel Smith). Slipping in at the back of the parlor is the very strict, proper, and wealthy Aunt March (Christina Burch).

This play-within-the-play involves some brilliant “acting” by the girls, including Jo in a wild mustache, providing a scene of comedy that alone is worth your ticket to the Belfry show. But moods soon change as a telegram arrives from Father (away at Washington, DC, as a chaplain to the Union Army), and Marmee must depart to be with him.

The second of three acts (intermission comes between II and III) gives the bulk of the original novel, including the arrival of Father (Rob Lawson) and another bit of awkward comedy as Meg and John sort out their feelings for each other. We also get a hot-tempered clash between Amy and Jo, and Beth’s tragically declining health.

The third act, set later, includes part of the “Good Wives” second part of the novel and introduces Professor Bhaer (James Semmelroth Darnell), Jo’s German friend arriving from New York.

Directed by Barcia Alejos, assisted by her son, Daniel Alejos, this production is charming and beautifully presented. Haus is outstanding as Jo, bringing all the aspects of a young woman ahead of her time, yet very much in the spirit of new ideas endemic to mid-1800s New England and changes brought by the Civil War era. Gedig, Piggush, and Schultz also bring life to their archetypes, helping us feel for their individual struggles. Roark is good-natured and Smith dashing, even the characters seeming content to be supporting roles in this feminine world. Garner and Lawson make parenting almost look care-free. As for Burch, her stoic portrayal reflects a woman who has learned only one way for a woman to be strong in their society, and dares not let her nieces stray from it – still, we get hints that there is a heart under that rigid corset.

The story we see does differ a bit from Alcott’s writings, resulting in unfamiliar scenes. Unfortunately, Ravold’s liberties in adaptation also include a couple of anachronisms. They can be ignored, and shouldn’t take away from the excellent work of cast and crew.

“Little Women” has another weekend of performances, Thursday (with special pricing) and Friday at 8 p.m., Saturday and Sunday at 2 p.m., at 2051 Monument St. (enter at Door 2 on the north side, not main church entrance). Get tickets at the thebelfrytheatre.com.

BCP comedy toasts strong women

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By John Lyle Belden

For some women of a certain age, change is about more than just their inner biology. It can mean the end of a marriage – by death or divorce – or even loss of employment. In such events, one could use a drink!

Enter “The Savannah Sippin’ Society,” a comedy by celebrated writers Jesse Jones, Nicholas Hope, and Jamie Wooten presented by Buck Creek Players, directed by Mel DeVito.

Randa (Georgeanna Teipen) was a top architect at her firm, but when passed over for promotion to partner, she totally lost her temper and her job. Seeking new experiences, she tries hot yoga – a mistake, but sharing in her misery she meets Dot (Beth Popplewell), still adjusting to life after her husband’s passing, and Marlafaye (Nancy Laudeman) who wouldn’t mind her ex being deceased as well. Without realizing it, Randa invites them to her nearby home for a “happy hour,” then decides it might be worth a try. On their first afternoon on Randa’s veranda (they even say that), Dot has also invited aesthetician Jinx (Gloria Bray), who aspires to be a life coach – and this trio seem perfect for her first clients.

What follows are various adventures that we mostly hear about. Since this isn’t a movie with multiple sets, supporting cast, and stunt performers, these four take turns narrating the events they go through in search of a more fulfilling life, interspersed with scenes on the veranda. Aside from a fateful surprise party, there are cocktail breaks during which they discuss their progress, or lack thereof. This formula works thanks to clever, funny dialogue and the talents of the cast. When not hitting each other with the punchlines, they grow an authentic feeling of friendship that we can’t help but sense. With the Georgia accents, this feels like “Steel Magnolias,” but with more drinking and less sadness.

No real booze is served at the Buck Creek Playhouse, but you can still enjoy your time with the “Savannah Sippin’ Society” in their remaining performances, Friday through Sunday, Feb. 14-16, at 11150 Southeastern Ave. (Acton Road exit off I-74), Indianapolis. Get tickets at buckcreekplayers.com.

‘Four Women’ face horrors with song

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By John Lyle Belden

Oh, “To be Young, Gifted, and Black” – then to have it all be suddenly taken away.

This was the fate of four girls at the 16th Street Baptist Church in Birmingham, Alabama, when it was bombed by members of the KKK on Sept. 15, 1963. Among the thousands who were compelled by this incident to take action for Civil Rights was the outspoken Black singer and songwriter Nina Simone.

In “Nina Simone: Four Women,” the play by Christina Ham on the mainstage of the Indiana Repertory Theatre, we see the entertainer at her piano on Sept. 16, struggling to channel her rage into a new song – “an anthem,” she insists – to focus the feelings of all who hear it.

In dark imaginings presented in the exceptional stage design by Regina Garcia, Simone (Akili Mi Mali) is just a few steps from the ruined church floor, with charred pews askew and scattered remnants of toys, before the church’s lone surviving stained-glass window. And she is not there alone. Sarah (Jamecia Bennett), a middle-aged woman in housekeeper’s dress and apron, examines the scene. She recognizes Simone and encourages her to sing a hymn rather than an angry tune with objectionable words. Nicely-dressed Sephronia (Ariel Williams) also appears, ratcheting up the tension even more as she, being lighter-skinned, faces disdain from darker-hued folks – though, as she points out, all the Whites outside see is “another Negro.” Eventually, we meet the fourth woman, Sweet Thing (Precious Omigie), a sex worker holding proud to what dignity she can muster.

Director Austene Van said this encounter with the scene and these three archetypes of Black women of the era help Simone to process this change in her life and career, from singer of popular tunes to an activist with her own emotionally charged songs. With some humor, music including many hits from Simone’s repertoire, and frank discussions, we see the struggle from those who had to live it – and arguably still do.

The “fifth” woman is music director Morgan E. Stevenson who accompanies on Simone’s piano as needed.

Ni Mali beautifully brings Simone to life, in looks, bearing and voice. The others get to sing as well; Bennett’s bold rendition of “His Eye is On the Sparrow” had inspired reactions from the opening night audience.

As Simone herself might point out, this is about more than her. The girls who died that Sunday are ever in the characters’ minds – unlike the newspapers of the day, they say the victims’ names. The song that emerges from this event, “Mississippi Goddam,” widens the focus from a single city to the entire American South and includes the murder of Medgar Evers that year.

“Nina Simone: Four Women” runs through March 2 at the IRT, 140 W. Washington St. in the heart of downtown Indianapolis. Get info and tickets at irtlive.com.

Exploring stories with Westfield’s ‘Geezers’

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By John Lyle Belden

As we age, the mind still spinning in a body that’s not doing as well, we develop our eccentricities. In other words, we become “Geezers.” That’s the name of the heartwarming comedy by Tommy Lee Johnston, now on stage with Main Street Productions in Westfield, directed by Lori Raffel.

Gina (Brenna Whitaker) has her hands full with the residents of Maple Leaf Retirement Community. Ray (Duane Leatherman) naps all day in the comfy chair with his favorite pillow but doesn’t miss any conversation around him. Likewise, Emily (Wendy Brown) seems a tad out of it, watching TV for the commercials whose jingles she sings along with, yet she pops into lucidity at random yet appropriate times. Neil (Chris Otterman) is both a curmudgeon and a prankster. Then there’s Kate (Jen Otterman), a former actor whose constant flirting went too far with a now-fired orderly.

Into this milieu, enter Jack (Adrian Blackwell), a twenty-something who had spent most of his life caring for his deaf mother, a former worker at Maple Leaf, and with her passed on, is given the chance to take her job assisting Gina. He has his own issues, with his circumstances having given him or enhanced traits that resemble the high-functioning end of the autism spectrum – especially communication issues and anxiety. His way of managing his world is to write. He is good, though has trouble coming up with original ideas. At Kate and Neil’s urging, Jack, reluctantly at first, takes on a project of writing stories from the residents’ lives.

We also meet Jenny (Debbie Underwood), who comes to visit Emily but fears she has missed her chance to make their long-overdue reconnection.

Jack takes in the stories by listening and visualizing them – thus we see younger versions of Kate (Alyssa Lay) who almost got a part in one of the worst B-movies of all time (and still regrets it); Neil (David Shaul), an Air Force logistics specialist, meaning he didn’t fly but had to drive through the hell of Vietnam; and Ray (Mike Sosnowski), who was faced with a heart-rending choice.

“The funny thing about the truth,” the elder Ray says, “it holds a high standard.”

We eventually get everyone’s stories, including Gina’s, and why she cries at the end of every shift. Whitaker gives a solid performance as a caretaker with a firm yet soft touch, seeing the residents practically as family – a balm for her own issues that she reveals to Jack. For his part, Blackwell handles his tricky, complex part well, ensuring that we laugh along with, not at, his difficulties.

When folks of a certain age feel free to say practically anything – and do – that generates plenty of laughs, and these “Geezers” don’t hold back. In a play that touches on a wide range of emotions, there is more than sufficient comedy relief.

Still, I must add a “trigger warning” for elements of self-harm, gun violence, and suicide.

Visiting hours are almost up. “Geezers” has four more performances, Thursday through Sunday, Feb. 13-16, at Basile Westfield Playhouse, 220 N. Union St. Get info and tickets at westfieldplayhouse.org.

Poolside play with deep issues

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By John Lyle Belden

“Here is a man…”

In the opening scene of “Red Speedo,” a new drama by Lucas Hnath presented by American Lives Theatre, Peter (Alex Oberheide) is extolling the virtues of his brother Roy (Cody Miley), an Olympic-level competitive swimmer to his Coach (Drew Vidal). Peter, who is also a lawyer, has endeavored in addition to represent Roy as his agent – including working out an endorsement deal with Speedo, the famous global swimwear brand.

Our star athlete who (in this narrative) out-swam Michael Phelps in a club event and made headlines by taking a year on a “spiritual journey” to the desert, is overjoyed at his success while anxious about the Olympic trials that weekend. One moment he doubts, the next he explains the sea-serpent tattoo on his back leaves no doubt which swimmer people are watching. He also wants part of the design’s tail that would be under the suit etched across the leg of his special-edition red Speedo.

However, there is an issue: Performance-enhancing substances have been found in the Club locker room. While a fellow swimmer is implicated, Peter knows that suspicion could fall on everyone, Roy in particular.

Events are further complicated with visits by Roy’s ex-girlfriend Lydia (Paige Elsse), who lost her license as a sports therapist for an unrelated drug-misuse case – an event when Roy and especially Peter were not helpful.

“I wanna be a real person,” Roy laments at one point. But that is not to be. He is a swimming machine with no other skills and an education hindered by spending every spare moment at the pool, putting it all on the line with the singular goal of Olympic medals and the marketing riches that follow. A dancer with Dance Kaleidoscope, Miley does well as an actor in a role requiring a lot of speaking and emoting – his other skillset only displayed by his mostly-visible well-toned body. It’s hard to portray one who may not have quite the wisdom or intellect of those around them without devolving into stereotype, and Miley manages this with minimal “dumb jock” vibes. His odd life carries real consequences, as we witness his struggle for some sort of “normal” he can live with.

Oberheide nimbly portrays a man of noble intentions but slippery morals, swiftly finding his plans on the edge of collapse just as he (and Roy) are about to make it big. Vidal’s Coach is a bit more principled but finds himself tested as well – especially when his own future is on the line. Elisse’s Lydia is the good person who justifies doing bad things for those who she loves, including an interesting twist on two wrongs maybe making a right.

ALT founder Chris Saunders directs, giving us a thought-provoking examination of ethics and human behavior that happens to involve a swimming pool. Speaking of which, a real water-filled pool is set up at the front edge of the Russell Theatre main stage in the Phoenix Theatre Cultural Centre (set design by Matt Mott). It mostly provides the appropriate setting atmosphere, though does feature in a couple of important moments. As Saunders reassured us, there is no “splash zone” for audience members to be concerned about.

Shout-out as well to artist Phoenix Woods for Roy’s “ink.”

“Red Speedo” runs through Feb. 16 at the Phoenix, 705 N. Illinois St. Get tickets at phoenixtheatre.org, info at americanlivestheatre.org.

IBTC: Feeling trauma and hope through the ‘Bloodline’

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By John Lyle Belden

This is one of four scheduled shows in the Black Solos Fest presented by Indianapolis Black Theatre Company, a program of The District Theatre. Performance information and tickets at indydistricttheatre.org.

My silly mind wants call this “We’ll always have Paris” as this is the name of three generations of men sharing the name of this one-person drama’s creator, Paris Crayton III, but the content is a bit too intense for that – though I suspect Grandpa Paris would grin and salute with his ever-present cocktail at the joke.

This is “Bloodline,” a semi-autobiographical examination of the lives of Paris senior, a glib but proud man who leaves the toil of sharecropping in Mississippi for meaningful labor and starting a family in Missouri; Paris junior, who finds love, hard work and good intentions may not be enough to save a marriage, but might give opportunities to his son; and Paris III, whose life takes him from St. Louis to Chicago, Orlando, Atlanta, and New York – but nearly always in the closet.

With only the aid of a bit of effective sound design, a hat, and a highball glass, Crayton presents distinct characters and smoothy flows from persona to persona, with feelings from charming to determined, to despair, to rage. Others invisible around him are made real by his gestures and conversations we follow as his half of the words reveal all.

The weaving narratives give insight into staying positive in the face of blatant bigotry, of being skilled with one’s hands but unable to heal the heart, of growing up wanting to do right but being made to believe your true self is wrong. It is thus both a personal story and widely relatable to living as Black and being gay in America.

At the root is the original Paris, likely an alcoholic, but a principled stubborn soul who finds true love in an instant and keeps faith he will find it again. The story of his courtship of saintly grandma Ruth, as unlikely as it plays out, was actually true, Crayton says.

Meet three generations of characters with strong yet tested character in a powerful performance on the District Cabaret stage, today (as this is posted) and Sunday, Jan. 25-26.