Indy Theatre Habit

Wordpress alerts me when someone has linked to my blog.  This weekend I learned that a blogger named Esther linked last week to my 2008 conversation with playwright James Still.
Esther’s post expresses delight with several of the theatre grants recently awarded by the National Endowment for the Arts.  One of them is a grant for [...]

Last Friday night I drove to downtown Indianapolis to see “The Housewives of Mannheim” at the Phoenix Theatre.  It was written by Alan Brody, produced by Bryan Fonseca and directed by SuzAnne Barabas.  SuzAnne also directed this 1995 play last year for the New Jersey Repertory Company in Long Branch, New Jersey, where she serves [...]

1/28/10 update: For the first time, you may also see the list of nominations for this award.  Each book on the “nom list” was nominated by a member of the Alex committee, which meant that she (everyone was a “she” this year) believed it to be a “wow” read, worthy of consideration for the Alex award, [...]

I leave for Boston in 15 minutes or so, to attend the American Library Association’s Midwinter Meeting and to help decide the ten winners of the Alex Award.  You may remember that I posted about last year’s winners here.
This means that I will not be able to see any of the many intriguing shows that [...]

On Tuesday night, I drove to the Indy Fringe building in downtown Indianapolis to hear local, leading journalists tell their stories about writers’ block at the first “Jabberwocky” event.  It was sponsored by Indy Fringe and Storytelling Arts of Indiana.   Last weekend when I was interviewing Bill Harley, he told me that this is part [...]

Last Thursday night I braved the snow and cold to drive to the professional Beef and Boards Dinner Theatre on the northwest side of Indianapolis to see “The Foreigner,” by Larry Shue.  Eddie Curry directed it.
At first this comedy feels like a drama, and later, when the Ku Klux Klan appears, it is chilling.  However, [...]

I saw and enjoyed “The Foreigner” at Beef and Boards on Thursday night.  I am working on a detailed review, which I plan to post tomorrow (Sunday.)
After that I plan to share some detailed news from my email box.
But first I want to quickly share what else I’ve done, and would like to do if [...]

I know that I am overdue in writing a Mailbox post about the many, many interesting theatre-related things going on around Indianapolis right now but tonight I would just like to share my bliss (and okay, yes, brag a bit) about a handful of unexpected invitations that have come my way recently.

(Photo above is of Kenita R. Miller.  It was taken by Paul Kolnik.)
On Tuesday night I drove to Clowes Hall on the Butler University campus to see the Indianapolis premiere of “The Color Purple: the Musical about Love.”  It is presented by Oprah Winfrey, Scott Sanders, and several other producers as part of the Broadway [...]