This is part of the 20^th Anniversary Indy Fringe Festival, Aug. 14-24, 2025, in downtown Indianapolis. For information and tickets, see indyfringe.org.

By John Lyle Belden

When you enter “The Estate Sale,” the one-woman show by Kelly Dee with Stew Jamesson, there are tables set up with various random and old items, which you can peruse before and after Dee’s performance. Name any price for something, and it’s yours – really!

“Why am I doing this?” she says, “I’m clearing out, letting go.” This applies to the clutter acquired by the estate sale company she runs with her mother in Melbourne, Fla., and that which she has no more room for “up here,” she adds, pointing at her head.

We get more than a sales pitch – the kitsch on the tables largely speaks for itself, though a few items she will show off for their novelty, like the political toilet paper or the rather sinful “statue” of Jesus (if they haven’t been sold yet). We also get the story of her life, from Queens, N.Y., to Florida – which she can’t stand, though she keeps finding herself back there. We learn about her parents, maybe not the best at nurturing, but they have a talent for flipping merchandise that may or may not have “fallen off a truck.” This naturally leads to dealing the estates of the many retirees in her city as they pass on.

She tells of how she always had the “urge to go” somewhere, anywhere. Her life’s baggage, literal and mental, she notes, still stays on her like a backpack. The head-stuff you will get free with your ticket; everything else, make an offer.

Fascinating and funny with the opportunity to get your own odd souvenir, the show has closed its three-show run at The District Theatre. However, Dee said she plans on pulling her sale wagon around Indy Fringe through its closing weekend before moving on to another city.