Stage Write

Each years there are countless of great shows produced and there's no way to make it to all of them. Here are my top ten choices of shows I saw in 2013. Keep your eyes on these theatres in 2014 for more great shows!   1) Yellow Wallpaper at NoExit Performances 2) Next to Normal at the Phoenix Theatre 3) Hamlet at the American Players Theatre in Wisconsin 4) An Iliad at the Indiana Repertory Theatre 5) The Importance of Being Earnest performed by the EclecticPond Theatre Company   6) Les Misérables at Beef & Boards Dinner Theatre 7) Wicked at the Old National Center performed by Broadway Across America 8) Love, Loss, and What I Wore at the Phoenix Theatre 9) Underneath the Lintel performed by Patrick O'Brien at iNDYFRINGE 10) The Crucible at the Indiana Repertory Theatre   Photos courtesy of the Phoenix, the American Players Theatre, Broadway Across America and the IRT

A musical about mental illness sounds like a tough sell, but the Pulitzer-Prize and Tony-Award-winning show Next to Normal makes the subject matter enthralling. The show is about one woman’s struggle with mental health and her fight to find a balance between spinning out of control and complete numbness. It’s a story so raw and intimate you almost feel like a voyeur watching another person’s personal hell unfold in front of you. The impact of Diana’s breakdowns on her family is startling; every aspect of their life is shaped by her disease. Their loneliness is visceral and you can’t help but feel their pain. The set is unique and jarring; angled screens hang from the ceiling and stark shades of black and white cover ever surface. The world created is a representation of Diana’s life, off-kilter and lacking in all color. The six-person cast is led by Emily Ristine. She stars as Diana, a woman with bi-polar disorder stemming from a tragedy that happened years before. He...