Stage Write

On the night of April 4, 1968 Bobby Kennedy was scheduled to give a campaign speech in Indianapolis. Instead, he announced the assassination of Martin Luther King Jr. to a stunned crowd. In this world premier play by James Still the audience sees the events of that night unfold through the eyes of one small family.   At the heart of the play is a married couple, John Henry and Addie, transplants from Kentucky, raising their two kids who are Hoosiers by birth. I loved their interactions. From the first moment they made you feel as though they were a family you knew, bickering and teasing in equal measures. Tracy N. Bonner's performance as Addie was particularly moving. She has a complexity, as a mother, wife, neighbor, and a woman, and she conveyed that beautifully. The generational difference of our characters is one of the most interesting parts of the play. This heartbreaking news, along with the impact of the Vietnam war and the racial struggles the country is facing all e...

Titus Andronicus is the Reservoir Dogs of Shakespeare. It’s the most violent of the Bard’s plays and a perfect fit for October. Director Thomas Cardwell has set the story of two warring clans in a post-apocalyptic world and the show sucks the audience in from the opening scene. The Indie Artist Colony provides a stark world in which EclecticPond can build its gritty new society. Everything from the costumes to the set design is intentionally rough, suggesting haphazardness to its creation. The costumes, an assorted mix of layered leather, fur, scarves, and vests enforces the scavenged look of a society that’s been put together in a piecemeal fashion.   The show hosts a large cast on the small stage and as the bodies start to pile up, the revenge plots grow darker. The play includes one of the most infamous dinner scenes in all of western literature.  Tamora is played by Kelly Gualdoni, in a wildly different role than the last time audiences saw her perform for E...

Cabaret Poe is a macabre delight that has become an annual tradition for Indy theatergoers. For the first time it has moved from its Irvington home to Theater on the Square on Mass Ave and has a more elaborate set. This was my first time seeing the show, so I can't compare it to previous productions, but I can say the current version is a must see.  The entire original musical was created by Ben Asaykwee, and uses Edgar Allan Poe’s poetry and infamous short stories to create a collective work perfectly suited for October. At times the cast performs a scene, at others they recite poetry. There's a wonderful balance of variety. There's also live music on the stage enhancing every scene. Each performance features a cast of three people, but Asaykwee is the only actor featured in every show. The remaining two parts rotate between four women. The performance I saw featured Jaddy Ciucci and Renae Stone. Asaykwee could bring on a chill or a laugh with a single raised...

The Indiana Repertory Theatre opens its 44 th season with an American classic. The Great Gatsby is F. Scott Fitzgerald’s famous portrait of the dark side of the American dream. His novel captures the futility of spending your life longing to capture an illusion. In Simon Levy’s adaptation the play brings that heartache to life in all its glittering intensity. We see the story unfold through the youthful eyes of Nick Caraway (Zach Kenney). In the midst of the jazz era he moves to New York City and connects with his cousin and the wealthy elite in her crowd. He’s in awe of his new friends, but also troubled by the strange lack of morality they all seem to embrace. Hillary Clemens portrayal of Daisy Buchanan brought something to the role that I’d missed in other film portrayals. For me, her struggle had more depth and felt more real. She’s a character that’s often depicted as shallow and selfish with little else to offer, but Clemens instills her with a relatable disillusionment....