This week’s theater roundup has officially expanded. In addition to productions opening this weekend (“Stages”), I have added “Sprouts” and “Other Stuff.” I am allergic to all green things that grow, but, dammit, I love gardening anyway, so my doctor phones in the Prednisone and I itch all summer. Under “Sprouts,” you will find garden and earthy events coming up this week. The “Other Stuff” is a catchall for anything else I think deserves mentioning but doesn’t fall into any other obvious category.
So, to recap:
- Stages: Live theater productions opening this week.
- Sprouts: Spring is here, and you want to grow stuff outside. Learn. Do it.
- Other stuff: Miscellaneous stuff of interest.
Enjoy!
Where will LRGM be this weekend? Paige Scott’s “Ship of Dreams” at IndyFringe, “Firebringer” at Stage Door in Irvington and American Lives Theatre’s “A Case for the Existence of God.”
Stages
Cirque Indy: “DreamCycle”
This award-winning troupe of circus artists will lead you on an adventure through a strange yet familiar world, performing astounding feats that will make you say, “I must be dreaming!” Come face to face with both fantasy and nightmare, featuring aerialists, jugglers, acrobats, contortionists, hand balancers, clowns and so much more from across the country. The show was originally produced in 2017 and has been reimagined for the 2024 spring season. Check out www.TheCirqueUs.com for more information.
- When: Thursday, April 11, 6 p.m.
- Where: 617 Fulton St.
- Tickets: $22; https://tinyurl.com/ys9hbasn
Talk of the Town: “The Impact of Blues on American Music” featuring the Rev. Robert Jones
Storytelling Arts of Indiana welcomes back award-winning master storyteller/musician, historian and visionary the Rev. Robert Jones for its annual fundraiser. The Rev. Jones will explore the impact of the blues on American music through stories and songs.
American music has an amazingly eclectic mix of styles drawn from the many communities that make up American culture. Is American music rock ’n’ roll, or R&B, or country, or bluegrass, or gospel, or rap? While these styles are clearly different from one another, they do have common roots. American music is rooted in the blues.
An award-winning multi-instrumentalist, Jones is accomplished on guitar, harmonica, mandolin, banjo, fiddle and ukulele. The “Detroit Free Press” described him as “Perhaps the world’s most highly educated blues musician, an ordained minister, a longtime DJ and a living encyclopedia of blues history, the Reverend Robert Jones is comfortable among juke joint loud talkers, fancy-hatted church ladies and PhDs alike.”
- When: Saturday, April 13, 7 p.m.
- Where: Indiana History Center and online
- Tickets: $35; $65 for a household to watch online. https://storytellingarts.org/
Epilogue Players: “A Little Family Business”
Ben is a conservative, bigoted chauvinist who runs an inherited Massachusetts carpet-cleaning factory with a despotic hand. He has a heart attack and goes on a rehabilitating cruise, leaving his equally hardnosed daughter Lillian in charge of the business. Previously more interested in Neiman Marcus catalogues than cleaners, she averts a strike by improving working conditions, increases the profits and thinks of going into politics. Ben returns to find himself stripped of his power. Along the way, there’s much comic confusion resulting from their extra-marital affairs.
- When: April 11-21, Thursdays-Saturdays at 7:30 p.m. and Sundays at 2 p.m.
- Where: 1849 N. Alabama St.
- Tickets: $16; seniors 65+ and students 18 and under $14; Epilogue members $13; Thursday performances $10. https://epilogueplayers.com/
Working Class Socialite: “Ship of Dreams”
2022’s No. 1 Fringe show is back! All aboard for an extended edition of this uproarious adventure featuring a cast of Indy’s funniest comedians. Eight friends attempt to cross an ocean of impossibility to stage James Cameron’s cinematic masterpiece “Titanic” with cardboard, an overhead projector and an embarrassingly low budget. Will they succeed or will they be lost at sea? Part clown show, part puppet show, part nostalgia-induced farce, get on board the “Ship of Dreams”!
Working Class Socialite is the brainchild of Indy-based performance artist Paige Scott, mixing her brand of minimalist theatre with an offbeat sophistication.
Content Advisory: This production contains flashing lights and adult language. It is recommended for audiences 13+.
- When: April 11-21, Thursdays-Saturdays at 7:30 p.m. and Sundays at 5 p.m.
- Where: IndyFringe Indy Eleven Theatre
- Tickets: $20; $15 students. https://indyfringe.org/
American Lives Theatre: “A Case for the Existence of God”
ALT is bringing a 2022 Off-Broadway hit to Indianapolis! Keith, a mortgage broker, and Ryan, a yogurt plant worker seeking to buy a plot of land that belonged to his family many decades ago, realize they share a “specific kind of sadness.” At this desk in the middle of America, loan talk becomes a discussion about the chokehold of financial insecurity and a bond over the precariousness of parenthood. Playwright Samuel D. Hunter (“The Whale”) explores the tenderness of fatherhood and the complexity of friendship between two men living very different lives but with a shared, familiar ache.
Check out a rehearsal teaser with actors Eric Thompson and Eric Reiberg
- April 5-28, Fridays-Saturdays at 8 p.m. and Sundays at 2:30 p.m.
- Livia & Steve Russell Theatre at the Phoenix Theatre Cultural Centre
- $30; $40 supporter; $15 students. Buy tickets at https://www.phoenixtheatre.org/buy-tickets and enter code CASE5 to get $5 off!
J. Harrison Ghee: “The Beauty of Life”
SOLD OUT. Be added to the waiting list.
- When: April 12-13, 8 p.m.
- Where: The Cabaret
Fourth Wall Players: “Firebringer”
At the dawn of humanity, one tribe of cavepeople survives the many trials of prehistoric life under the wise leadership of Jemilla, The Peacemaker. Jemilla taught her people to express themselves, rather than bashing each other’s heads with rocks and eating each other’s babies. But one member of the tribe doesn’t seem to fit in: Zazzalil. She’s always trying to invent things to make life easier … for herself. While out hatching her latest scheme, Zazzalil stumbles upon the most important discovery in history. One that will pit her tribe against wooly mammoths and saber-toothed tigers and will change the world forever. She’ll travel from omega to alpha and become … the Firebringer!
This show is intended for a more mature audience (strong language, suggestive content).
- When: April 12-21, Fridays-Saturdays at 8 p.m. and Sundays at 2 p.m.
- Where: Stage Door Irvington, 5635 Bonna Ave., ww.stage-door-irvington.com
- Tickets: $20. https://ko-fi.com/4thwallplayers/shop
Eden Sher: “I Was on a Sitcom”
“I Was on a Sitcom” is a show about finding out who you are when your TV show ends and your “real life” begins. Because when you’ve played a character on TV for a decade, what exactly does it mean to “be yourself”? This show offers a rare intimate glimpse inside a popular sitcom actor’s real, raw life. You will walk away feeling like you’ve made a new friend — and learned more about birthing twins than you ever did before.
- When: April 12-13, 7:30 p.m.
- Where: The Palladium, Carmel
- Tickets: $42+. https://thecenterpresents.org/
The Village Theatre: “Sylvia”
Greg is a man of middle age, a restless empty-nester, tired of his job in finance, looking for meaning in his life. Sylvia is an exuberant and beautiful lab/poodle mix, astray in Central Park, looking for a new home. When they meet, it is love at first sight. But Greg’s wife Kate, a busy rising star in the public school system, is looking forward to some independence now that the couple no longer has children to care for, and she is less than thrilled by the clever and coquettish canine who jumps, slobbers, sits on her couch and takes Greg’s attention away from his marriage. Wandering the streets of Manhattan with Sylvia by his side, Greg feels like he has connected to a deeper, primal, more natural side of the world. Sylvia supports these poetic musings but can rarely focus on them for long, being more interested in flipping off the neighborhood cat or flirting with Bowser at the dog park. Sylvia exerts such a charismatic pull that Kate’s friends are appalled, the marriage counselor advocates divorce and euthanasia, and even Greg’s new dog-owner friend warns him of the splintering effect a dog can have on the relationship between husband and wife. It is only when Greg is prepared to make the ultimate sacrifice that Kate can see Sylvia not as a threat but as a new member of her family.
- Where: The Cat, Carmel
- When: April 12-21, Fridays-Saturdays at 7:30 p.m. and Sundays at 2:30 p.m.
- Tickets: $15. https://thecat.biz/
IRT promo code
Indiana Repertory Theatre’s “Little Shop of Horrors” starts previews April 17. Save $15 off performances with promo code GREEN15 when you book by April 26. Offer valid on individual tickets priced $40 and higher for the first two weeks of performances
Actors Theatre of Indiana announces 2024-25 season
Indiana Repertory Theatre announces 2024-25 season
- “The 25th Annual Putnam County Spelling Bee” Sept. 18-Oct. 12, 2024
- Charles Dickens’ “A Christmas Carol” Nov. 16-Dec. 24, 2024
- “King James” Jan. 14-Feb. 9, 2025
- “Nina Simone: Four Women” Feb. 4-March 2, 2025
- “The Glass Menagerie” by Tennessee Williams March 11-April 6, 2025
- “The Play That Goes Wrong” April 9-May 11, 2025
Sprouts
Crown Hill speaker series: “Shifting Baselines: Indiana’s Natural Landscape of 1816 and Today”
- When: Thursday, April 11, 6 p.m.
- Where: Crown Hill Cemetery
- Tickets: $10. https://crownhillhf.org/tours-events/speaker-series/
Indy Urban Acres Presale
Veggies, natives, fruits and flowers. New natives are added every Friday!
- When: Through April 21
- Where: www.iuaplantsale.com
“Spring Flower Show: What’s in a Name?”
This year’s Spring Flower Show explains the history and science of botanical nomenclature alongside a beautiful flower show full of blooms. Plant names are an important way of communicating history, culture and identity. In addition, because there are many plants with the same common name, or many common names for the same plant, knowing the botanical name helps people know exactly which plant is which.
- When: Through May 12
- Where: Garfield Conservatory
- Tickets: https://garfieldconservatory.org/
Gardening for Our Health workshop
Gardening is a phenomenal way to get connected with what we eat! Whether it’s a personal hobby that involves growing some fruits and vegetables, or a community experience that has you sharing your produce, gardening has lots of benefits. The connection with nature, physical activity and fresh produce can impact our health and well-being.
- When: Thursday, April 11, 5:30 p.m.
- Where: Rhodius Park
- Registration: Free
Library Garden: Planting the Seeds
Learn the basics of gardening through gardening activities and crafts.
- When: Saturday, April 13: 2-3 p.m.
- Where: Martindale-Brightwood library
- Registration: Free
Nature of Trees hikes
Learn from a naturalist this spring during a series of hikes exploring our native trees. The Nature of Trees hikes will take a deep dive into identification and what makes each species so special.
- When: Saturdays, April 13-May 18, 11 a.m.-12 p.m.
- Where: Holliday Park
- Free, with no registration required
Other Stuff
Visiting Writers Series: Poet Michael Torres
Torres is a National Poetry Series winner. He was born and raised in Pomona, Calif., where he spent his adolescence as a graffiti artist. In 2016 he received his MFA in creative writing from Minnesota State University, Mankato, was a winner of the Loft Mentor Series, received an Individual Artist Initiative Grant from the Minnesota State Arts Board and was awarded a Jerome Foundation Research and Travel Grant to visit the pueblo in Jalisco, Mexico, where his father grew up. In 2019 he received fellowships and awards from the National Endowment for the Arts, the Bread Loaf Writers’ Conference and The Loft Literary Center for the Mirrors & Windows Program. A former artist-in-residence at the Camargo Foundation in Cassis, France, as well as a McKnight Writing Fellow, he is currently a 2021-22 Jerome Hill Artist Fellow. His first collection of poems, “An Incomplete List of Names,” was selected by Raquel Salas Rivera for the National Poetry Series, named one of NPR’s Best Books of 2020 and was featured on the podcast “Code Switch.” His writing has been featured or is forthcoming in “Best New Poets 2020,” “The New Yorker,” “POETRY,” “Ploughshares,” “Smartish Pace,” “Los Angeles Review of Books,” “The Georgia Review,” “The Sun” and many other publications.
- When: Wednesday, April 17, 7:30 p.m.
- Where: Butler University
- Free, reservations are not required
Hoosier Wildlife Fundraiser
Film: “Civil War” at the Kan-Kan
“Civil War” is a tense journey across a dystopian future America, following a team of military-embedded journalists as they race against time to reach Washington, D.C., before rebel factions descend upon the White House. Kirsten Dunst, Cailee Spaeny, Wagner Moura and Stephen McKinley Henderson anchor the movie with true and lively performances, and Nick Offerman is very presidential. Check out an action-packed yet meditative film on the ephemerality of connections, the role of the press and the possible futures facing the American experiment.
- When: April 12-18
- Where: Kan-Kan Cinema and Brasserie
- Tickets: https://kankanindy.com/
St. Benno Fest
Celebrate a classic German-American event over 110 years in the making! This event has everything: bier, live music, a 6-foot-tall billy goat and an appearance from the man, the myth the legend … St. Benno himself! Fill your stein and rock out while you ring in the spring season German-style with live music from Jay Fox & The Jammin’ Germans.
- Saturday, April 13, 7 p.m.
- Where: Athenaeum
- Tickets: $20. Buy your tickets now and save 20 percent with code GOAT24.
Downey Preschool yoga fundraiser
Indianapolis Theater Reviews 