Rob Koharchik

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.

Past pain reflects present in IRT drama

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By John Lyle Belden

The drama “No. 6,” presented by Indiana Repertory Theatre, is set in an early-21st-century American city where a white police officer has killed a black man, and violent responses to apparent injustice ensue.

Doesn’t narrow it down much, does it?

That’s the problem, and that’s why the IRT chose this play by T.J. Young, inspired by this repeating narrative, centered on the April 2001 riots in Cincinnati. A fully-produced stage performance, directed by Dwandra Nickole Lampkin, was captured by public television station WFYI and is available to stream at irtlive.com through April 4.

The steady progress of unrest has finally reached the storefront of the Anderson family’s laundry/cleaners, while proprietor Ella (Milicent Wright), with teen twins Felix (Jamaal McCray) and Felicia (LaKesha Lorene), shelter in the upstairs apartment. Felicia, who is on the autistic spectrum, dwells on her dinosaur obsession while Felix is out on the streets, scavenging for food from what past looters left behind. But he comes back with more than Spam – dragging in an unconscious white man.

Our mysterious houseguest (Michael Stewart Allen) has booze on his breath and a gun in his backpack, but as the others discover who he is, they find themselves in the very heart of the city’s issues.

Wright is a rock, as always, the mother-hen and conscience of this play. She has reasons behind her righteousness and shows real pain with her perspective that makes her feel genuine, not just a means to the drama’s message. McCray plays an emotional, impulsive idealist – like a teenager – but also reflecting the open spirit of his martyred father. Lorene gives a sensitive, endearing portrayal of an unconventional genius who has an uncanny grasp of the big picture at work here – big, as in global.

Allen hits all the emotional buttons as a man finding himself in a sort of Purgatory, never completely likable nor hateable. He is forced to deal with the perspective of those not like himself, while we must also acknowledge his. Still, what can one do when he is literally part of the problem?

“People across the globe take to streets and cry, ‘Never again!’” Young says in his program note. “And then it happens again. And again. And again.”

This play is important because it continues the much-needed conversation – but also see it because it is gripping drama with solid human performances, punctuated by sound (credit Matthew Tibbs) and light (Xavier Pierce) that makes the danger feel real and immediate, even in an otherwise comforting home (scene: Rob Koharchik). Support local professional theatre, and boot it up on the big screen.