Stage Write

From the opening strands of music to the lilting melody that plays as the actors take their final bows 'Our Town' is a beautiful piece of theatrical work. The show is on stage now at the Indiana Repertory Theatre. Playwright Thornton Wilder wrote this Pulitzer Prize winning piece of work in the '30s, but its message still rings true decades later. The story is timeless and touches on points that every person on earth can relate to. Set in the small town of Grover's Corners, N.H. the play unfolds in three acts. First there is the daily life of a small town, then there is love and marriage and lastly there is what waits for us all in the final act, death. The production is staged as a play within a play. The stage is simple with few set pieces and even fewer props. Audience members are left to use their imaginations and rely on the outstanding acting the cast provides. Rarely does an evening at the theatre so completely satisfy. The show is about the simple joys of life, ...

Only a few years ago you couldn't turn on the radio without hearing the most recent pop song by a boy band. Bands like 'N Sync, Backstreet Boys and 98 Degrees ruled the airwaves and spewed out one formulaic hit after another. A show which manages to both embrace and mock that pop culture phenomenon, "Altar Boyz," is on stage now at the Phoenix Theatre in Indianapolis. The off-Broadway musical is making its Midwest premier. The show is staged like a concert featuring the five-member boy band "Altar Boyz." The members of the band, Matthew, Mark, Luke and Juan (the latin member), are good Catholic boys who believe they were called to minister through the rhythm God put in them. The fifth member of the group is Abraham, a Jewish guy who ended up in the band by mistake. Mix them together and they create the self-dubbed "apostles of pop." There is, like in any boy band, the "cute" one, the "bad boy," etc. The boys get down while shari...

What could be sweeter in the midst of the summer heat than slipping into a cool theater and having a good laugh. "Dos Fallopia: Desperate Spuddwives," a satire of pop culture is on stage at the Phoenix Theatre and provides audiences with the perfect place to beat the heat. Dos Fallopia is a Seattle-based comedy duo made up of Lisa Koch and Peggy Platt. Their shows are audience favorites at the Phoenix Theatre and they are back with a new show "Desperate Spuddwives." The show consists of six sketch comedy bits starring Koch, Platt, Kevin Smith and Scot Greenwell. In additions to the mysterious women on "Hysteria Lane" the show mocks faded rock stars, angry poets and militant baristas. Clad in suits and toupees the Dos Fallopia duo portrays President Bush and his right-hand man Dick Cheney in the skit 'Are You Smarter than the President.' The game show pits audience members against the current presidential administration and Hillary Clinton. Peggy Pl...

Eight stories woven into one show. Seven cast members, each taking on a handful of characters. It all adds up to a wonderful night at the theater and a bittersweet way to honor the death of an incredibly gifted man. ShadowApe Theatre Company is an Indianapolis based theater company that offers a new show each year. This year's selection is "Welcome to the Monkey House," an original adaptation of some short stories by Kurt Vonnegut. The production was created by ShadowApe as part of Indianapolis' "Year of Vonnegut." It is currently at the Indianapolis Repertory Theatre; where many of ShadowApe's members are regular performers. The second patrons enter the theater they see a stage set with a simple blue sky background. Suspended in that sea of clouds are ten shelves covered with books and audience members know they've entered one of Vonnegut's Twilight Zone universes. The show would not work so flawlessly without its talented cast. The four man and...

Judy Garland is an iconic figure. She's revered as one of the most talented performers of all time. Countless scores of people have seen and cherished her performances in films like 'The Wizard of Oz' and 'A Star is Born.' But for anyone curious about what lay behind the Garland's beautiful music 'Beyond the Rainbow' is a must see.   Actors Theatre of Indiana's latest show 'Beyond the Rainbow' recreates Judy Garland's famous 1961 concert at Carnegie Hall. The production includes three separate Judys, the youngest played by Kennedy Martin, the 38-year-old Garland singing at Carnegie, and a third who plays Garland from her teens through her early 30s. Each of the three actresses help shape the whole picture of Garland's troubled life. Jody Briskey plays the eldest Garland. Briskey originated the role for 'Beyond the Rainbow' in 2005 and has performed it at many venues in the U.S. Briskey nails each wobbly pitch in Ga...

Rarely do we Hoosiers get a chance to see something fresh from Broadway. New plays tend to make their way from the New York stage across the country slowly. They typically trickle through a dozen other states before making their way to Indianapolis. 'The Little Dog Laughed' is an exception to this trend. It's now on stage at the Phoenix Theatre, it's very first show since Broadway. The play premiered on Broadway in 2006 and was nominated for the 2007 Best Play Tony award. That being said the show is definitely not for everyone. Accolades aside the show has very adult themes and contains some nudity. The comedy gives the audience and glimpse into the life of a Hollywood movie star who is a closeted homosexual. Mitchell Green, excellently played by Michael Shelton, has a career dependent on his ability to appeal to women, as his agent Diane so frequently reminds him. His story is a fictional representation of the many stars that have dealt with the same dilemma, includin...

Arsenic and Old Lace is on stage at Center Stage Community Theatre (CSCT) in Lebanon. Many may remember the story from the classic 1944 Cary Grant film of the same name. The story follows the Brewster family through one confusing night of mayhem. Mortimer Brewster has just decided to marry his sweetheart, Elaine Harper, when he discovers his sweet elderly aunts, Abby and Martha, have been committing murders is their doily dotted home. In addition to that shock Mortimer's evil brother Jonathon has returned home after years abroad to further disrupt the Brewsters' lives. Mortimer's other brother, Teddy, adds to the madness as he charges through the house convinced he is Teddy Roosevelt and is overseeing the construction of the Panama Canal. Mortimer sums up the crazy atmosphere of the Brewsters' home with one hilarious quip, "Insanity runs in my family, in fact it practically gallops." While Teddy chats with nonexistent dignitaries and Jonathon plots everyone...