Tony Sirk

Summer Stock’s ‘Chill’ a hot ticket

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By John Lyle Belden

Talk about an upgrade – Summer Stock Stage presents a Mainstage young artist production of the Broadway hit “Be More Chill.”

Based on a story genre that dates back to tales of Faust in the 1500s, through to modern musicals like “Damn Yankees” and “Little Shop of Horrors,” filtered through the world of teen movies since the 1980s and contemporary youth culture, this musical by Joe Iconis with book by Joe Tracz, based on the 2004 novel by Ned Vizzini, centers on a “Loser Geek Whatever” high schooler named Jeremy (Gabriel Vernon Nunag) whose father (Drew Kempin) is too depressed to wear pants, his crush Christine (Aubrie-Mei Rubel) doesn’t notice him, and his best friend Michael (Alex Pharo) doesn’t mind also being a dork, because he knows they will eventually be “cool in college.”

But Jeremy won’t wait that long. Even risking further unpopularity by signing up for the school play (the Shakespeare-ish “Midsummer Night-Mare with Zombies” adapted by eager drama teacher Mr. Reyes [Luke Aguilar]) doesn’t help because Christine has friend-zoned him – a combination of her ADD and the attention paid by handsome extracurricular-activity hopper Jake (Kendrell Stiff).

In an odd encounter, the school bully Rich (Maddux Morrison) confesses he is mean because he was instructed to be by his Super Quantum Unit Intel Processor, or Squip, which is a black-market Japanese nano-computer in pill form. Once taken with regular Mountain Dew, its circuitry migrates to the brain and gives your personality – and popularity – a total makeover.

At the local shopping mall, Jeremy finds the dealer and buys, then takes, his own Squip (Piper Murphy), which appears only in his field of vision, looking something like a “Tron” version of Timothee Chalamet with greenish hair. This program immediately takes charge of his shopping decisions and when the popular girls show up, has him acknowledge the “beta,” Brooke (Jilayne Kistner), instead of the alpha, Chloe (Jayla Shedeed), to help set up his ascendance in high school society. As for Michael, the Squip employs an optic-nerve blocker so that the BFF is literally out of sight, out of mind.

The cast also includes Isabella Agresta, and Jenna Rolan as the school gossip. Devan Mathias directs, with music direction by Cameron Tragesser and impressive choreography by Darian Wilson.

The set design by Chyna Mayer includes several screens which at times show video linked from smartphones the actors are holding at the time, giving such moments an authentic feel. Costumes by Tony Sirk include the anime-style green Squip cybersuits as well as the odd outfits used in the school play.

Nunag’s performance is excellent, and Rubel’s adorable, while this musical gives the supporting roles plenty of moments to shine, making Kempin’s Mr. Heere and Kistner’s Brooke characters to feel for, as well as lending Morrison’s bad-boy Rich a more nuanced persona. Then there’s the fact that the big hit song is sung by the neglected best friend – as Pharo nails his rendition of “Michael in the Bathroom.”

Murphy, as the Squip, perfects the Terminator stare and affect with cooly-efficient movement. Her aura of subtle menace compels obedience.

While a fun musical centered on teen angst, this tale of the wish to exchange one’s self for a promised “upgrade” harkens back to ancient roots while becoming only more relevant in the current spread of A.I.

After all, we each now hold a compact supercomputer just inches from our brains every day.

You, too, can “Be More Chill” by avoiding the August heat and seeing this production tonight (as I post this) and Sunday, Aug. 9-10, and Thursday through Sunday, Aug. 14-17, at Schrott Center for the Arts, 610 W. 46th St., Indianapolis (Butler University, next to Clowes Hall). Get info at summerstockstage.com and tickets at butlerartscenter.org.

IndyShakes: ‘Caesar’ as seen by CNN or C-SPAN

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By John Lyle Belden

Julius Caesar. If you didn’t sleep through World History or Western Civ in high school or college, you are familiar with his name and his brief reign over the Roman Empire. Thanks mainly to the tragic play by William Shakespeare, his fate is forever part of popular culture – especially in mid-March, when the man becomes a meme on your smartphone.

What if those early 21st century devices were available in the 1st century BC? In the common practice of adapting the Bard to different eras, Indy Shakes and Zach & Zack present Shakespeare’s “Julius Caesar” in a tech-savvy Rome complete with 24-hour social media and news cycle. In the big black box of the Basile stage of the Phoenix Theatre Cultural Centre, we get a multimedia blitz of projected talking heads, Tweets on X, and smartphone video streams, with our players front and center enacting the familiar story with the freshness of breaking news. Diverse casting of race and gender, along with modern dress with hints of official robes, help make ancient times feel like today.

Quick refresher: The death of fellow leader Pompey left Caesar (Andy Ahrens) the sole Consul over the Roman Republic. This worries the Senate, who easily surmise that the man will overtake them as a tyrannical dictator. In Shakespeare’s telling, Cassius (Scot Greenwell), who was close to Caesar and feels him both too ambitious and too weak (the stigma of his epilepsy) persuades Brutus (Jen Johansen), another beloved of Caesar, to join a conspiracy to assassinate their Emperor. Despite signs and warnings, Caesar enters the Senate on March 15 and is slaughtered by his countrymen. Antony (Kelly Mills) plays along with the killers, but when given a chance to address Caesar’s funeral, stirs the people of Rome to action.

Other roles include Morgan Morton as Brutus’s spouse Portia, as well as Cinna the Poet; Carlos Medina Maldonado as Cinna the conspirator and others; Chandra Lynch, Daniel Martin and Immanuel Umoren as conspirators Decius Brutus, Trebonius, and Casca; Kelli Thomas as Brutus’s servant Lucius; Tiffany Gilliam as Caesar’s wife, Calpurnia; and Jacob Barnes as the Soothsayer, and later Octavius Caesar (who will eventually become Emperor Augustus).

From top to bottom, the cast have solid resumes and consistently display their dramatic talents throughout. It is in this adaptation, though, that Johansen’s Brutus stands out, doggedly facing both inner and outer conflict, reluctantly justifying extreme acts, then standing up to the consequences. Ahrens plays Caesar as having noble intentions but too driven to see how his larger-than-life personality could inspire his doom. In today’s U.S. Senate, Greenwell’s Cassius would be that devious deal-maker who would go to any length to advance his agenda, a Ted Cruz with knives. Mills’s Antony manages to come off as the rare honest politician, rising to the occasion like our memory of JFK, or Obama at his inauguration. Zack Neiditch is director, with sound and video design by Zach Rosing. Excellent costumes are by Tony Sirk with Caitlin Davey.

Still, the whole of this production is greater than the sum of its well-executed parts, going beyond just putting old speech in a new setting. In a time when tragic events, including wars, unrest, and celebrities performing to ever-present cameras are constantly on our television, computer and phone screens, this makes historical events feel even more “real” than any attempt to tell the story in its own time.

Two weekends remain of “Julius Caesar,” through May 19, at 705 N. Illinois St., downtown Indianapolis. Get information and tickets at indyshakes.com or phoenixtheatre.org.