Stage Write

 Don’t let the comically large nose fool you, this one is a heartbreaker. The Indiana Repertory Theatre’s minimalist production of the classic Cyrano features just three actors. It’s a quiet romance about Cyrano (Ryan Artzberger) and his unspoken love for Roxane. There are a few sword fights, coordinated by Jeb Burris who pulls double duty playing six different characters in the show. Jo Roets’ adaptation clocks in at just 1 hour and 20 minutes, with no intermission. Melisa Pereyra truly shines as Roxane. Despite the hurdles of a virtual viewing, her passion, fear, and grief radiate off the screen. Her real-life spouse, Jeb Burris, makes for a convincing partner in their scenes together. Linda Pisano's lovely work on costume design allows believability as Burris navigates between all of his roles. Russell Metheny’s set design is functional but sparse, lacking the usual detail of an IRT production.  A note on the streaming experience. The show is $30 and you have a week to watc...

The Indiana Repertory Theatre’s current Mainstage production The Whipping Man takes audiences back to Virginia in April 1865. The play opens with Caleb, the son of a Virginia slave owner, stumbling into his home at the end of the Civil War. He (Andrew C. Ahrens) has been fighting for the Confederacy and returns to his family’s land in the hopes of reuniting with them, but the only man there to greet him is the former slave Simon (David Alan Anderson). The two must try and navigate the minefield of their new relationship. Simon is a free man now but they still feel a deep loyalty to each other. Their shared Jewish faith gives them a common ground as they celebrate the Passover Seder together. The show touches on many issues. What happens when you lose your faith? What happens when the world you know has crumbled? How can people move past bitterness, anger and guilt to join together and rebuild an entire country? Playwright Matthew Lopez deals with each of these topics in a delicate...

This past weekend the Indiana Repertory Theatre hosted the world premier of playwright-in-residence James Still’s new production, The House That Jack Built. A family converges in a cozy home in Vermont for Thanksgiving dinner and as is to be expected with the holidays, emotions run high and past grievances and grief lay just beneath the tender surface. I’ve been a fan of James Still’s work for years, but this production truly rises above anything I’d yet seen. He has an incredible talent for writing characters that are completely unique, yet somehow also completely relatable. That contradictory principle makes the people in his plays unforgettable. Overbearing mothers or bickering spouses could become clichés, but in Still’s plays they never are. Their flaws and connections to each other always run deeper than that and this play in particular, is full of beautifully complicated characters.   Jack, the title character, is an enigma that we never meet, though he shaped t...