Stage Write

A Christmas Carol is back at the Indiana Repertory Theatre. This holiday tradition is an audience favorite for a reason. New this year, Priscilla Lindsay directs and brings so much humor into the show with playful moments between the cast members. The set and plot are familiar but there are always unique elements. It feels like a well-oiled machine (in a good way) with a quick pace, smooth changes between the scenes, and a cast that’s wonderfully in synch. The chorus of actors narrating the story in Dickens’ own words works so well. I loved seeing the addition of a shadow show that helps flesh out Scrooge’s childhood scenes and adds joy to a sometimes bleak moment. Ryan Artzberger plays Bob Cratchit and his sweet interactions with Tiny Tim add a tender layer to the show and make the child’s fate all the more poignant. The costumes are absolutely lovely and including mannequins on the stage for quick coat changes worked well. I loved the displays on the second floor of the lobby which...

  The Indianapolis Repertory Theatre is heating up these cold snowy days with a sci-fi classic. Fahrenheit 451 is on stage until Feb. 20 on the OneAmerica MainStage. One would hope that this play would become irrelevant in our world, but unfortunately, it’s more important than ever. Earlier this month a school board in Tennessee banned the Pulitzer-prize-winning graphic novel Maus. The book explores the Holocaust through the eyes of the author’s father. The essence of Fahrenheit 451 was born out of Bradbury’s fear that our society would become dependent on technology and lose its ability to learn and think. Now here we are, trapped in a cycle of relying on our screens for all interactions and choosing to remove books that teach the harsher details of our history from schools. It’s a disturbing realization and one that hits close to home when brought to life on the stage.  The original story is adapted by Tobias Anderson. As much as I adore Bradbury’s writing it was distracti...

  Have we ever needed a return to this cozy tradition more? The familiar landscape of fake snow and glowing lanterns welcomes new and old audiences to the Indiana Repertory Theatre’s A Christmas Carol. There are many new elements in the production this year giving it a fresh feel, full of hope and promise.  IRT regular Rob Johansen takes the reigns as Scrooge for the first time. Ryan Artzberger, who has played Scrooge for the past decade, steps into the role of Scrooge’s beleaguered clerk Bob Cratchit. IRT playwright-in-residence James Still directs Carol for the first time. There is also a more diverse cast than we’ve seen in the past, a great change! Johansen is a perfect fit for Scrooge. He captures the cranky character’s sense of sarcasm and scorn which transforms as the play unfolds. Johansen conveys a sincerity that makes Scrooge’s altered state believable and poignant. The talented cast members all play a slew of characters. Their narration of the show in unison and...

The Indiana Repertory Theatre’s production of “The Game’s Afoot” marks the first time I’ve ever seen a set receive a huge round of applause. The incredible thing is that the breath-taking grandeur of Russell Metheny’s set isn’t the only great thing about this show. The IRT closes its 42nd season with this incredibly entertaining play and anticipation is high for the start of their new season this fall.   Part farce and part whodunit, The Game’s Afoot is a playful mystery that pokes fun at actors and theatre critics alike. Matthew Brumlow plays the real life actor William Gillette who made Sherlock Holmes famous on the stage. Brumlow is the quintessential eccentric actor. He seems to have blurred the line between the famous detective he has portrayed and his own life. After being shot at the end of a performance, Gillette recovers in his mansion and welcomes his fellow cast members to visit on Christmas Eve. This dream cast is wonderfully suited for the ensemble show. ...

The name Anne Frank is inexorably linked with the Holocaust and immediately brings to mind the tragic story of a young girl lost too soon. The question of who she would have become is left unanswered. In James Still’s play “ And Then They Came for Me," he explores the lives of two children who survived, despite all odds. The play is being produced for the third time on the Indiana Repertory Theatre’s Upperstage and is being seen by a new generation of students in dozens of matinée performances. Eva Geiringer and Ed Silverberg both knew Anne Frank. All three were Jewish children desperately trying to escape the persecution of the Nazi party. Through the portrayal of a small cast of actors and the real footage from filmed interviews with Eva and Ed as seniors, audiences are able to hear their powerful stories. The cast is made up of four young actors and two veteran performers (Mark Goetzinger and Jennifer Johansen) who balance the lively earnestness of the newcomers. The set m...

Last week if someone had asked me what Snow White, the Tony awards and Chekhov had in common I would have assumed it was the beginning of a bad joke. Instead, the answer is obviously the Phoenix Theatre’s season opener, Vanya and Sonya and Masha and Spike. The title is a mouthful, but the play itself is a delight. The show won the 2013 Tony Award for Best Play and audiences will have no trouble figuring out why. Witty dialogue, neurotic characters and a bit of absurdity thrown in for good measure make the show odd, but endearing. Playwright Christopher Durang introduces us to a group of middle-aged siblings, two of whom still live in their childhood home after spending years caring for their now deceased parents. The third sibling, Masha, became a self-absorbed movie star. The play takes place over one weekend when Masha decides to visit her sedate siblings, Vanya and Sonia (their professor parents named them all after Chekhov characters). The whirlwind weekend includes a co...

Flowers are beginning to bloom and love is in the air. The Indiana Repertory Theatre is closing its season with the classic comedy A Midsummer Night’s Dream. Young lovers’ blossoming relationships run amiss when they cross paths with a forest full of fairies led by the warring King and Queen of the fairies, regally played by Ryan Artzberger and Jennifer Johansen respectively. This production shows us the well-known story of A Midsummer Night’s Dream seen as a dream of a young boy. I must say that if it is all happening inside his head then he’s got a pretty advance view of romantic drama. It’s a unique twist on the play, and garnered easy laughs from the audience. The show embraces the silliness of the situation with physical comedy and features a Puck that is a bit more goofy than clever, but it works as seen through the eyes of a child.   Nick Bottom, played by Henry Woronicz, is the perfect fool. His inflated sense of his own talent makes his transformation into an a...

Joey Stoshack has the unique ability to travel back in time using old baseball cards. Jackie and Me, based on the novel by Dan Gutman and adapted for the stage by the talented Steven Dietz (Dracula, Becky's New Car), follows Joey back to 1947 where he meets the great Jackie Robinson. The show is now playing on the Indiana Repertory Theatre’s Upperstage and it's a wonderful way to bring history alive for any age group. The casts rotates through the present day segments and those in 1947 with almost every person taking on multiple roles. Rob Johansen’s turn as the card collecting Flip was particularly fun. Robert Neal was perfect as the brash Branch Rickey who went out on a limb and signed Jackie Robinson as the very first African-American to play in the Major Leagues. Beethovan Oden, Lanise Antoine Shelley, Ryan Artzberger, Jennifer Johansen all do wonderful work as Jackie and Rachel Robinson and Joey’s concerned parents along with a myriad of other characters. ...

“But I am sure I have always thought of Christmas time as a good time; a kind, forgiving, charitable, pleasant time; the only time I know of, in the long calendar of the year, when men and women seem by one consent to open their shut-up hearts freely, and to think of people below them as if they really were fellow-passengers to the grave, and not another race of creatures bound on other journeys.” That line from Scrooge’s nephew perfectly explains why A Christmas Carol is such a powerful play year after year. It is a reminder of all of the wonderful things the Christmas season holds. It's a reminder to value the people that are truly important in your life and to hold them close to you throughout the year. The Indiana Repertory Theatre's annual tradition is back again this year with a wonderful production of the Christmas classic.     The play has the same script each year, narrating the story of Scrooge's change of heart with a revolving cast of characters. The la...

"Macbeth" is currently on the Indiana Repertory Theatre's Upperstage. Macbeth is the latest in the IRT's long line of Shakespeare shows that work to make the Bard more accessible to younger audiences. The 90 minute show is brief enough to appeal to Shakespeare novices, without losing the meat of the play. The original language hasn't been altered, just trimmed. In addition to shorten the original play, the production embraces modern dress for the cast, complete with military attire for the men. The set is an original design by Gordon R. Strain. This is Strain's first solo run as a scenic designer and the stage captures the stark, yet restricted feel of the plot. IRT regular Jennifer Johansen plays the manipulative and ambitious Lady Macbeth. Johansen gives a mesmerizing performance as the voice of evil in her husband's ear. Her intense portrayal alone makes the show a must see as her character feeds Macbeth's desperate thoughts. Andrew Ahrens embraces ...