Stage Write

The Phoenix Theatre is thrilled to announce its 2015/16 season.   One Man, Two Guvnors   by Richard Bean   September 24 – October 18, 2015   Welcome to 1960’s England. Francis Henshall finds himself trapped into working for two bosses-who are connected to each other in wildly improbable ways. He just has to keep them from discovering each other. Easy, right? One Man, Two Guvnors will have you falling out of your seats in hysteria, as Francis leads you through this topsy-turvy farce of love triangles and mistaken identities. His quest for love, a sandwich and keeping his two guvnors happy swept both London’s West End and Broadway with its hilarity and campy wit. The Nether   by Jennifer Haley   October 22 – November 22, 2015  Welcome to The Nether, a virtual paradise of total sensory immersion. Just log in, choose an identity and indulge your every whim. When a young detective uncovers a disturbing realm within this ...

The Phoenix Theatre has announced its 2013/14 Indianapolis season.    Vanya and Sonia and Masha and Spike By Christopher Durang September 19 – October 20, 2013 2012 Tony Award-winner for Best Play It’s a lovely day at Vanya and Sonia’s farmhouse in Bucks County, PA. But instead of spending the morning strolling through their cherry orchard, these wacky siblings have their hands full with a soothsayer/cleaning woman, a neighborhood costume party, and a surprise visit from their movie star sister, Masha, and her studly new boy-toy, Spike. This explosively funny, laugh-out-loud Broadway smash-hit marks the eighth Christopher Durang production at the Phoenix Theatre – with the playwright at his affectionate, unpredictable best. Rancho Mirage By Stephen Dietz October 24 – November 24, 2013 NNPN Rolling World Premiere From the playwright of Yankee Tavern and Becky’s New Car comes this National New Play Network Rolling World Premiere. On this comedic journey into...

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. ...

The Indiana Repertory Theatre has announced its 2012-2013 One America Season Dr. Jekyll & Mr. Hyde, by Jeffrey Hatcher, adapted from the book by Robert Louis Stevenson
 Sept. 5 - 30  What is the nature of the beast that lives in all of us? This deliciously provocative re-imagining of Robert Louis Stevenson's classic digs deep to answer the question. Smart, sexy and suspensful, Jeffrey Hatcher's adaptation takes us from Victorian drawing rooms to the grim alleyways of London as it examines the inner workings of two very different personalities and the ties that bind them dangerously close. The Going Solo Festival:     The Night Watcher, by Charlayne Woodard Sept. 18 - Oct. 14  Family ties reach beyond blood in this moving, one-woman piece by acclaimed playwright Charlayne Woodard. Investigating the social and cultural challenges that come with raising kids, Woodard's tales of her "children" are transfixing and tragic. Millicent Wright returns to ch...

In conjunction with the Indiana Repertory Theatre, the Phoenix Theatre currently has a show by playwright Steven Dietz on stage. The Phoenix's show, "Yankee Tavern," is a conspiracy-fueled drama set in a New York City bar. It was fascinating to compare the two shows. The plots were diametrically opposite, but the rapid flow of dialogue was the same. Dietz's writing style was hard to miss. Both plays dealt with serious issues, while maintaining a sense of humor. "Yankee Tavern" centers on a grad student, Adam, who runs his deceased father's bar. Shane Chuvalas walks the line between cynic and believer as Adam. He's struggling not only to finish his thesis, but also to find closure from his father's death. His fiancée, Janet, (Carrie Schlatter), has grown impatient with his indecision and is beginning to question his true goals in life. Adam's dad's best friend, Ray, is a regular at the tavern and spews out an endless...

(Macy and Hormann in Becky's new car) "When someone says they want a new car, what they really want is a new life," the title character in The Indiana Repertory Theatre's "Becky' New Car" says at the beginning of the show. Becky is a married, middle-aged woman with an adult son who lives at home and a job that has her working late hours doing paperwork at a car dealership. A chance encounter forces her outside of her comfort zone and she tries out a different life, but soon her two worlds collide. The IRT coordinated the premier of this play with Indianapolis' Phoenix Theatre's premier of "Yankee Tavern." Both plays are written by Steven Dietz, providing Indianapolis residents with the unique opportunity to compare two live shows of a playwright's work in the same month. (Lisa Ermel and Adriano Gatto in "Becky's New Car") The set is a versatile, yet intimate living room. You feel as though you've stumbled into ...