The more performance art I experience, the more I realize how personal that experience is.  I love that it is personal.  I love that it is ephemeral, too.  It is impossible to sustain or even to reproduce exactly, because it is live.  The only way to truly experience a live theatre piece is to be present for it, open to it.

If you are a regular reader of Indy Theatre Habit, you know that I took a long step back in 2011.  I needed a break for a number of reasons.  One was that I was having an existential, “what am I doing here?!?” kind of crisis.  I still haven’t found satisfying answers to the many layers in that question, but I am making good progress.  And in the meantime, I have found that I miss writing publicly about my experiences at the theatres.  Maybe it’s an ego thing.  Maybe there’s more to it than that.  But in any case, I miss it.

So…I have decided to blog about theatre again in 2012, but this time doing it more…personally?  More authentically?  Anyway, more mindfully and selectively, and just see where it takes me.  As I say, I’m still figuring this out as I go along.

But first, a look back at 2011:

I experienced 91 live performance art shows in 2011.  I missed that many and more just around my home in the Indianapolis, Indiana area, so I really shouldn’t use the words “most” or “best” or whatever in this post.  Still, 91 is 91.  Here are a few end-of-the-year thoughts:

The Best Shows Artistically from 2011

Looking back over all of the shows I saw in 2011, there happen to be six shows that stand out to me now for their artistic quality.  In each of these shows, the many elements – script, acting, directing, set design, costumes, sound, lights, and more – came together in an exceptionally satisfying way.  I’m sorry I can’t list every person that contributed to making each of these shows a special treat but I appreciate them all. The six shows, in the order I saw them, are:

• “I Hate Hamlet” – written by Paul Rudnick; directed by Lori Raffel for the Carmel Community Players. (I saw this one twice.)
• “Avenue Q: The Musical” – music and lyrics by Robert Lopez and Jeff Marx; directed by Bryan Fonseca for the Phoenix Theatre. (I saw this one twice, too, and am delighted that the Phoenix is bringing it back for a second run in 2012.)
• “The Drowsy Chaperone” – book by Bob Martin and music and lyrics by Lisa Lambert and Greg Morrison; directed for the Booth Tarkington Civic Theatre by Ron Morgan at the new Center for the Performing Arts.
• “Lost: a Memoir” – written by Cathy Ostlere and Dennis Garnhum; directed for the Indiana Repertory Theatre’s “Going Solo” series.  It starred Constance Macy.
• “Night of the Living Dead,” adapted by R. Brian Noffke from the George A. Romero cult-classic film, directed by R. Brian Noffke for Acting Up Productions, presented at the Indy Fringe Theatre. (I saw this one twice.)
• “The Student” a short play written by Matt Hoverman; directed by Bryan Fonseca and presented as part of the Phoenix Theatre’s “Our Goose Is Cooked: A Very Phoenix Xmas 6.”  It starred Scot Greenwell and Charles Goad.

The Most Personally Powerful Shows in 2011

Looking back over all of the shows I saw in 2011, there also happen to be four shows that resonated with me on very personal levels, beyond the artistry and content of the shows themselves, if that makes sense. I mean, I admired the artistry in them, but I treasure my experiences of them because each one caused a strong healing or teaching or something else extra within me.  I’m not going to take a lot of space to try to explain what I mean here because it’s personal.  I’ll just list the four shows in the order I saw them and add a brief comment:

• “Paul Strickland: Any Title That Works” written and performed by comedian Paul Strickland at the Indy Fringe Festival.  This autobiographical one-man show included letters to his future self, which intrigued me and got me thinking about my own future self and what I might say to her. But also, I was at a point in my life right then when I desperately needed to meet an honorable man in order to remember they exist.  This show did that for me.
• “Beer Can Raft,” written by Lou Harry, directed by Karen Irwin for the Indy Fringe Festival.  This piece consisted of four related vignettes that on one level spoke to me joyfully and mischievously about the capriciousness of life in general but which on another level made me realize what an idiot I had been about a few things in my own life.  The wake-up call made me cry, but I appreciated getting it.
• “I Love to Eat,” written and directed by James Still for the Indiana Repertory Theatre’s “Going Solo” series, starring Robert Neal.  I hated that the IRT had hired a slim actor and put him in a fat suit to portray TV cooking show host James Beard.  Were there no fat actors skilled enough, deserving enough, to play this juicy role?  Seriously? You couldn’t have paid me to watch an actor in a fat suit.  On the other hand…it was a play written and directed by James Still. I love James Still’s work. Love won over hate, but just barely, and I dragged myself kicking and fuming to see this show.  I even experimented with being “skinny and mean” (James Beard’s expression) or rather, cold and closed off as an audience member, and for a while during the show this made me feel powerful.  But then…James Still’s words broke me open.  I can’t explain it any better than that.  And then I just didn’t care any more about who has the right to carry what baggage.  Robert Neal did a great job of bringing James’ words to life, and I left the theatre feeling wracked, but also as if I had spent the afternoon with two complex, fully human people: James Beard and myself. It wasn’t all sweetness and light, but it was good.
•  “The Student” a short play written by Matt Hoverman; directed by Bryan Fonseca and presented as part of the Phoenix Theatre’s “Our Goose Is Cooked: A Very Phoenix Xmas 6,” which was a collection of short plays, songs, etc.  “The Student” starred Scot Greenwell and Charles Goad.  Right after I saw the Phoenix’ Xmas show, I wrote in the comments on Lou Harry’s Arts & Entertainment blog on IBJ.com that “My favorite piece was called ‘The Teacher’…” (I had the title wrong) “…I was surprised to find myself weeping during it.  I guess it just pushed (in a good way) a lot of my buttons related to storytelling, writing, and teaching.”  But later I came to realize that I loved it even more because it was about the complexity and poignancy of self-acceptance. This little two-hander is on both of my “best of 2011” lists.

The Other

I also treasure the one or two theatre experiences that were almost a complete waste of my time in 2011.  I don’t want more than three of those per year and I am not interested in naming them publicly but when I go to a show and there comes a moment in which I think, “Hey, I am actually pretty bored here! I wish I had not chosen this show today over all the other possibilities!” it makes the moments at other shows in which I suddenly hug myself and think, “Oh, I am so glad I’m here!” all the more satisfying. 

In other words, experiencing a bad show now and then makes the sweet risk of theatre-going all the sweeter when I find myself at a great show.   It makes the pay-off for risk-taking all the more gratifying.

Thank you, everyone that helped to make my theatre-going adventures in 2011 so very sweet and rich.

Hope Baugh – Indy Theatre Habit

(Photo above was taken by me with my trusty iPhone.  I bid highest for this snowpeople basket in the Phoenix Theatre’s holiday auction a few years ago so now it is mine.)

It is very unusual not to see Ellen at a Storytelling Arts event, so after the storytelling was over, I asked someone if Ellen was okay.

I learned that her mother, Midge, had died the day before.  Oh, I was so sad to hear this!

The official obituary in the Indianapolis Star is here:

http://www2.indystar.com/cgi-bin/obituaries/index.php?action=show&id=125848

My own fond memories of Midge Munds include hanging out with her at the performers’ and volunteers’ tent during numerous Hoosier Storytelling Festivals.  I can see her in my mind’s eye, smiling in her lawn chair, enjoying the informal stories that people were telling, and telling some of her own. 

She relished the more polished tellings by professional tellers up on the stages, too.  Until she became ill, I think she was at every main Storytelling Arts event.  She and her husband, Fred, made it possible for Ellen to start and run Storytelling Arts of Indiana.  How huge is that!

I remember Midge welcoming me into her home so many, many times, for storytelling workshops, storytelling gatherings, and other parties and gatherings not directly related to storytelling.  The Santa Clauses!  The books!  The cozy groupings of seats!  The feeling of belonging, and of being welcome!

I remember talking (okay, gossiping, but it was kind) about the people we knew in common in the Episcopal Church.  We belonged to different congregations but we knew some of the same ministers.  I think that sometimes Episcopalians can seem pretty quirky to other people, and I remember what a delight it was not to have to explain this part of myself to Midge.

I will miss her.  I wish to convey my deepest sympathy to Ellen, her father, and the rest of their family.

Hope Baugh

www.IndyTheatreHabit.com

This morning I went to the fourth in a four-part series of workshops on Mindfulness and Meditation at the Fairbanks addictions recovery center on the northeast side of Indianapolis.  The facilitator was Jo Holt, PhD.

I had never been to Fairbanks before this series; I learned about the series from a friend after it had started, so I missed the introductory session on “Mindfulness” last fall.  However, I benefitted greatly from the second session (“Self-Compassion”) last November, the third session (“Dark Night” – about difficult emotions) in January, and now this final session on “Wholeness” here in February.

The series has been a wonderful experience, and just what I needed at this point in my life journey or whatever you want to call it.

I mention it here on Indy Theatre Habit because of something directly theatre-related that came to me during this morning’s activities:

As I said earlier, we were talking about, and meditating on, the topic of Wholeness.  In the first part of the morning Jo led a “body scan” meditation and discussion.  After the break, we explored the topic of Wholeness in terms of experiences of spirituality and/vs. religion. 

Jo put on a deeply peaceful recording of some kind of Tibetan bells or gongs.  She gave us each a sheet of quotes that she had received over time from a local Catholic monastery.  We went around the circle and slowly took turns reading the quotes aloud.

The compilation of quotes included a rich, rich mixture from a wide variety of religious and secular sources.  Each quote is worth its own day or week or lifetime of meditation.   Here are the three that were randomly “mine” to read aloud today:

“Meditation is not a means of self-improvement but a way of discovering truth and relating to it with compassion and honesty. – John Kornfield

“I want to paint men and women with that something of the Eternal which the halo used to symbolize.” – Vincent van Gogh

“Never forget God’s power is love.  We are apt to judge God’s love by our own.  That is our mistake.” – Anon

Then Jo gave us each a 3×5 card and a pen and asked us to sit quietly and listen for our own quotes.

Here is what came up for me, to my surprise:

I go to the theatre for some of the same reasons I go to church: to be comforted by the ritual, to learn about my humanity, to experience beauty, to participate in a community, and to touch the mystery of God.

Church and theatre are not equivalent things for me, and I will be the first to roll my eyes at preachy theatre but…yeah: I do think that what a live audience and a group of live theatre artists create together in the moment is something sacred, whether it is overtly religious or not.

‘See you at the theatres…

Hope Baugh – www.IndyTheatreHabit.com and www.twitter.com/IndyTheatre

(Photo above is “Cocoon” by A. Pagliaricci and used with permission: I found it on the Creative Commons area of Flickr.com.)

I have a love-hate relationship with “best of the year” lists.  I think Americans (and probably many other people) are obsessed to the point of disease over making comparisons.

The added problem with a “best of the year” theatre list is that, unlike with a list of books or movies, you usually can not go and experience the “best” shows for yourself.  Not those exact productions anyway.  So it’s not as if people can consult the list when they seek recommendations.

Also, a problem with one person making a “best theatre of the year” list is that it is physically impossible for one person to have seen every live theatre show produced in the Indianapolis area in 2010.  There were just too many of them.

On the other hand, one person’s list of favorites at the end of a year can be an enjoyable reminder for other people of shared past pleasures and/or a gentle creative prompt for doing their own remembering. 

It can be a way of noticing and appreciating, of thanking God for the color purple or whatever.

In any case, I just enjoy making and reading lists in general.

So…I have created a new list:  “Hope’s Top Three – Plus Three – Live, Indianapolis-Area Theatre Shows of 2010.” 

(I’ll work on the title, maybe, for 2011.) 

The top three shows on my list are shows that made me say “WOW!” when I saw them and which still jump out in my mind as core-shakers without my having to look over my directory of what I saw in 2010.  They are the three that continue to resonate with me most strongly, both artistically and personally, here at the end of the year.  If I had a time machine and could only see three shows in 2010, these are the three I would pick.

But thank goodness I was not limited to just three shows in 2010!  I am grateful to have seen many enjoyable shows this year.  In fact, I was fortunate enough to see a total of 119 (no, wait, I saw one more last night) 120 shows at more than 35 theatres in Indiana in 2010.   I missed a lot of shows, unfortunately, especially community theatre shows, but still…120 is 120.

(I also saw two excellent shows at two different professional theatres in Washington, D.C. but I am not considering them for my “best of Indy” list.)

So…I would also like to recognize three more shows that jumped out at me as especially satisfying artistically when I looked over my 2010 directory this morning. 

Drumroll please…

My top three shows from 2010, in the order I saw them, are:

“Becky’s New Car” by Steven Dietz – Indiana Repertory Theatre

This story about a woman figuring out what it means to be loyal to herself and to her loved ones was hilarious and touching.  I saw it three times and wished I could have seen every single performance.  Constance Macy was brilliant as the title character, but the whole cast gave delightfully nuanced performances under James Still’s gentle, empowering direction.

“How I Learned to Drive” by Paula Vogel – Carmel Community Players

I saw this while I was on sabbatical, so I didn’t write about it at the time, but it was a powerful, powerful show about a dysfunctional family.  Angela Steele Bowers and Dan Scharbrough gave complex and heart-breaking performances as a damaged woman looking back on her childhood experiences with the truly loving uncle that sexually abused her.  The supporting cast and the design team were equally strong under the passionate direction of Brian G. Hartz.

“Cabaret Poe 2010” – Q Artistry

Lovingly composed, directed, and choreographed by Ben Asaykwee, and performed by him and a handful of other talented performance artists, this musical literary anthology theatre piece was deeply respectful of the stories and poems of Edgar Allen Poe while bringing them to life with fresh creativity.  Dark, sexy, funny, beautiful…this show put this relatively new company on the Indy theatre map for me.

My three “artistic honorable mentions” are, in random order:

“The Grapes of Wrath” – Cardinal Theatre Company, Bloomington

This jewel was an exquisite example of the multi-faceted possibilities unique to live theatre art.  From the clever staging to the excellent ensemble acting to the costumes to the musicianship and more, Director Randy White and his team of designers and performers brought this “dusty” American classic to life in a rich, vivid way.  

“Cat on a Hot Tin Roof,” by Tennessee Williams – Carmel Community Players

R. Brian Noffke directed an all-volunteer cast in this award-winning script about toxic family dynamics and human yearning.  The actors’ performances were so extraordinary that I truly forgot that I was at the theatre.  (That almost never happens to me, especially at an all-volunteer community theatre piece.)  Coming out of this show was like waking from a dream.

“A Christmas Carol Unscripted,” by Ed Trout and Michael Davis – ComedySportz

I went to this late-night, for-adults-only, improvisational comedy, music, and storytelling show on a whim one weekend just for fun, so I only tweeted about it at the time.  However, as I look back over my show directory for 2010, I remember that the CZ comics at this particular performance were “in the zone” in an exceptionally fearless and admirable way.  The man who played Scrooge (I think his name was Jeff Clawson) was especially adroit at both managing the energy of the sex-starved, blood-thirsty crowd and coming up with truly funny, in-the-moment responses, but everyone in the cast was in mojo mode that night.

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So there’s my list.  Three top shows and three honorable mentions.  I recommend that you create your own list, especially if you disagree with mine.

By the way, I have never made a year’s end “best of theatre” list before, but I did participate in a rich thread on IndianaAuditions.com back in December of 2007 on “the state of Indianapolis theatre.”  Here is a direct link to the beginning of that thread.  What I wrote comes in towards the end, on page 7, I think, but the whole thread is worth reading.  Make yourself a fresh cup of tea and settle in for a good read, and leave a comment there yourself if you want.  Whether you write something or not, if you are at all involved with the Indianapolis theatre community, I bet that thread will trigger some thoughts about where we are now, just three years later.

Also by the way, and while I am in comparison-making mode, I would like to award the following five gold stars: 

• Beef and Boards Dinner Theatre offers me the most consistently comfortable,  enjoyable theatre.
• Broadway Across America offers me the most consistently dazzling theatre.
• The Indianapolis Civic Theatre offers me the most consistently high-quality design elements (sets, costumes, lighting, sound, etc.)
• The Phoenix Theatre offers me the most consistently thought-provoking and enjoyably cathartic theatre.
• Storytelling Arts of Indiana offers me the most variety in terms of emotionally satisfying, professional, performance/oral tradition storytelling.

These five organizations also happen to be the five that make life easiest and fun for me as a part-time, volunteer theatre writer, so I hope their CEOs will also give gold stars to each of their media relations people as well.

To everyone:  please accept my sincere and very best wishes for 2011.  Thank you very much for reading Indy Theatre Habit in 2010.  ‘See you here and at the theatres in 2011!

Hope Baugh – www.IndyTheatreHabit.com 

(P.S. – The photo above is called “Green Heart (And the Green Grass Grows All Around, All Around.”  It was taken by David Goehring and shared in the Creative Commons area of Flickr.com.)

Yesterday I made two little videos while hanging out between shows at the 2010 Indianapolis Fringe Theatre Festival.  In the video above, “The Last Straight Man in Theatre,” Kurt Fitzpatrick, talks with me about his multi-media solo show (which I hope to see next weekend) and shares advice about how to succeed as a performer on the Fringe circuit.  He is from New York and has taken this particular Fringe show on the road throughout the Midwestern United States and Canada.

(While Kurt and I are talking, his stage manager is recording both of us for their own video files.)

The other little impromptu video, which is at the bottom of this post, is of cast members and friends of “Grind: the Musical” sharing songs from that show for the people walking by on Massachusetts Avenue.  I’m sorry I didn’t stand close enough for my iPhone to pick up the sound better, but I think you can still tell that there are some lovely singing voices in the “Grind” company.

Also at the bottom of this post is a review of “Bill and Erin: One Night Standards.”  But first I’d like to indulge myself with a sort of Fringe-goer’s reflective journal entry:

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This is my fourth year writing about the Indianapolis Fringe Theatre Festival.   I love that everyone’s experience of the festival is unique.    

A big part of my experience this year so far has been laughter: laughing a lot myself, but also thinking about laughter and enjoying the variety of laughs that I hear in live theatre audiences. 

I mentioned in a previous post an Indianapolis theatre audience regular whose laugh annoys me because it seems deliberately produced to draw attention to the laugher and take attention away from what’s happening on stage.  I don’t know that it is deliberate; it just seems that way to me.

Another famous Indianapolis laugher is actor Tristan Ross.  Tristan has just come off a run as the mute king in Wayne Township Community Theatre’s production of “Once Upon a Mattress.”  He was hilarious in that role, by the way.

I hope I won’t make Tristan feel self-conscious if he happens to read this post, but I love his laugh.  It is rich and deep and joyful and sincere.  More importantly, he produces it generously when he is the audience of a show he enjoys.  “Produces” is not quite the right word, though, because although it is controlled – he seems to pull back when he senses he is pulling attention away from the stage – his laugh never sounds faked or forced.  It’s more like he allows his mirth to tumble out, like the Ghost of Christmas Present in “A Christmas Carol.”

Anyway, I always notice Tristan’s laugh when we happen to be in an audience together, and in that moment, yes, I guess I am distracted out of the story that is happening on stage.  But it is always easy to fall back into the story, smiling with pleasure at the way Tristan’s laugh enhances, rather than detracts from, what is going on on stage.

He was in the audience when I saw “Blizzard Rewind” on Sunday night, and I appreciated his laugh again.  I bet the Bloomington Playwrights Project actors did, too.

I am pretty sure that my response to both famous laughers is not based on some deeply-buried cultural belief that it is okay for men to be loud and distinctive but not okay for women.  However, that thought made me try to remember audience laughs that I love that happen to be from women.  Local professional actress Karen Irwin’s supportive laugh comes immediately to mind and I’m sure there are others.

It is probably no accident that the best audience laughers are also, at other times, performers.

I’m not saying that theatre-goers should pay a lot of attention to the way they laugh.  Pay attention to the show!  Be yourself and respond in whatever way is authentic for you, as long as it doesn’t hurt anyone. 

I’m just saying that I discovered this week at IndyFringe that one of the many things that I love about being at a live theatre show is the fact that whether I go by myself or with friends, it’s a shared experience, for better or worse.  The audience is an influential ingredient in the experience.

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I picked up my media pass on Day One of the Indy Fringe Festival as usual because it is a boost to my ego, but I decided to pay my own way to Fringe shows this year.  This means I feel no obligation to write about every show I see.

However, I did want to share a few more thoughts about a show I enjoyed last Saturday night and ran out of time to write about on Sunday:

“Bill and Erin: One Night Standards,” written by Matthew Roland – ComedySportz

The Act – This comedy is a five(or six!?)-hander about two friends and roommates:  a gay man named Bill (played by Bill Skaggs) and a straight woman named Erin (played by Erin Cohenour.)   Bill is lonely and Erin is horny.  They decide to look for someone to meet both their needs.  Along the way, they meet a wide variety of other characters.

The Art – I don’t know for sure, but I imagine that one of the reasons the playwright wrote this play is that he loved working with Bill Skaggs and Erin Cohenour on other projects and/or admired their performance work in general and so decided to write a play just for them.  Bill and Erin are friends in real life, too, and although not, as far as I know, roommates, they are both members of Indyprov (a local improv comedy group) so their on-stage chemistry is extra-comfortable and appealing.  Their delivery of their fast-paced dialogue is as chaotic and yet controlled as a game of crack-the-whip.

While he was working on this script, I imagine playwright Matt decided to incorporate several digs and tickles that could only be fully appreciated by other people that he either knows in real life and/or that have seen his other work.  Maybe I’m over-thinking it, but for me, for example, the hilarious appearance of a Stephen Hawking-esque character in “Bill and Erin” was a reference to Matt’s portrayal (as an actor) of a similar character in the Phoenix Theatre’s production of the rolling world premiere of “End Days,” by Deborah Zoe Laufer in 2008. 

That particular reference is accessible to just about anyone, though, because the actor in “Bill and Erin” is funny in his portrayal, too, and you don’t need to have seen “End Days” to appreciate it.  (I’m sorry I don’t know that actor’s name.)  Also, the appearance of that particular character in that place and time in “Bill and Erin” makes sense as a part of the whole even as it surprises.  Other references might be just confusing to audience members that don’t have the right insider background.

However, I also think that the “Huh?  WTF?!  Am I missing something or is this part just bizarre?” response is what Matt Roland’s fans, including me, relish about all of his plays. 

There are several examples of funny meta-writing in the “Bill and Erin” script, too, which I think is another Roland trademark.   Characters make references to the fact that they are in a play, on a stage, or whatever, and then go back to living in the play. 

The clever, clever staging makes impressive use of the teeny-tiny ComedySportz space and therefore becomes almost another character in the story.

Both Bill and Erin have beautiful singing voices, and we get to hear them sing a bit in this piece.  Erin’s singing voice, in particular, always surprises and then delights me with its distinctiveness whenever I hear it.

The Appeal – When I was waiting in line for another show, a stranger told me that he likes live theatre best when he knows someone in the show.  “It’s fun to see them become someone else for a little while,” he said.  If you know any of the actors in this show, even if you only know them from other shows, I bet you will love them in this show.  If you are already a Matthew Roland fan, I bet you will enjoy this script.  If you don’t know any of these artists, the appeal of this show is probably its politically incorrect, tongue-in-cheek bawdiness and its quirkiness.  (Did I mention there is an invisible homeless guy in it?)

The Audience – Language and content make this for adults only, and probably only for adults that are not easily offended and who don’t need to have every thread in their art tied off neatly.

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Here is that little street jam video I promised  you:

And now I’m off to another show.  The 2010 Indy Fringe Theatre Festival continues in six venues on and around Massachusetts Avenue in downtown Indianapolis, Indiana (USA) through Sunday, August 29, 2010.  For a show schedule and more information about any of this year’s 48 IndyFringe shows, please visit www.indyfringe.org.

‘See you at the theatres!

Hope Baugh – www.IndyTheatreHabit.com and www.Twitter.com/indytheatre

My angel card for this weekend is Surrender.  I think this means that I am supposed to just follow my heart around the 2010 Indy Fringe Theatre Festival this year, not necessarily follow my carefully-plotted out viewing plan.  It was fun to make that plan, but I’ll see what I am meant to see.

This is a good time to remind myself (and you) that latecomers are not admitted to IndyFringe shows, so clock-awareness is still important even when in Surrender mode.

The other thing that I have been thinking about for this year’s Fringe here in Indianapolis is my approach to “covering” it.  Part of surrendering to What Is is surrendering to the fact that a)  my main gig, my day job, is being a professional librarian in a public library and b) I love my day job.  Part of my day job…well, almost all of it, really, requires creativity, training, experience, skill, and talent, but at the end of the day it is not about making art but rather about enjoying, evaluating, and sharing art and information with other people.

Sound familiar?

So…I’m thinking that I will approach blogging about this year’s IndyFringe as a readers’ advisory librarian. 

In other words, just as when I read a new book, I will pay attention to artistic quality and ask myself questions such as: What works about this piece?  Which artistic choices were successful?

But I will also pay attention to what RA librarians call “appeal factors.”  I will ask myself questions such as:  Who would enjoy this piece?  If this were a book, would it be more of a beach read, a book club contender, a go-to book for reluctant readers, a read-alike for a certain popular author or series, a challenging-but-worth-the-effort literary piece, or something else?

By the way, if you want to read more about readers’ advisory work, I loved the recent article by Laura Miller on Salon.com on “The Fine Art of Recommending Books.”

Laura Miller quotes librarian action figure/RA guru Nancy Pearl’s four “doorways” – story, characters, setting, and language.  I am going to keep those in mind, but also be open to developing my own rubric for live theatre and storytelling.

Live performance art is different from written art, of course, and I am an oral tradition live storyteller as well as a librarian and theatre blogger.  I love that the performance storytelling community is beginning to embrace formal criticism as being a good thing for our art form, as discussed in a recent blog post on “In Search of Storytelling Excellence” by Illinois-based storyteller Sue Black.

I will keep Sue’s points, and the points of the other storytellers she cites, in mind as I go about reviewing IndyFringe storytelling shows this week and other storytelling shows this fall and beyond.  (Have you seen the Story Theatre line-up from Storytelling Arts of Indiana?  Some very exciting tellers are coming to Indianapolis this season!)

Another part of what a librarian does is collect things, organize them, and make Useful Lists.  I have always embedded links in my Indy Theatre Habit posts, but this fall, beginning with the Fringe, I am going to add a list of related links to other reviews to the bottom of each of my own reviews.  That will be time-consuming but, I hope, useful to all of us, so wish me luck!  (And I hereby promise not to whine any more about the time it takes.  Some day this blog will be an online magazine, right?  And I will hire someone else to be staff librarian/researcher.  Until then, I’m it.)

Here is what I’ve read around the Internet so far about the 2010 IndyFringe Theatre Festival:

“Labels Merely an Illusion for Taylor Martin,” by David Lindquist –  IndyStar.com, August 15, 2010.  This is a wonderful article about our local transgendered magician.  Taylor has performed as Andrea Merlyn or one of his other personas at every IndyFringe since the beginning.

“Female Characters, Creators, Rule the Stage at the Indianapolis Theatre Fringe Festival,” by Jay Harvey – IndyStar.com, August 15, 2010.  This article previews eight of this year’s shows with photos and mini-interviews.

“Indy Fringe Returns!” by John Belden – EastOfIndy.com, August 17, 2010.  John mentions some of his favorite returning Fringe performers.

“Local Celebrity: Matthew Roland,” by Amanda Kingsbury – Metromix.com, August 18, 2010.   Local bizarre playwright gives short, bizzare answers in an interview about his new Fringe play, “Bill and Erin: One Night Standards.”  Ah, Matt, you fascinate me.

“Too Bad I Wasn’t an Actress: IndyFringe 2010,” by Breena Fain – DoingIndy.com, August 18, 2010.  A Fringe advocate who made me laugh by addressing me (her reader) as “homeslice.”

“Indyfringe: Forty-eight Plays Over Ten Days = 280 Shows,” by Jeff Cox, with other Fringe articles by other Nuvo staff below it - Nuvo.net, August 18, 2010.   Some great preview stuff in this piece, too, including info about the new venue, Marian Underground.

I expect to add links here to reviews and/or blog post(s) by Indianapolis Business Journal arts editor Lou Harry and to Nuvo’s compilation of staff reviews mid-week, so check back.  Based on past experience, Smaller Indiana’s citizen reviews will be hidden where no can easily find them, but my dear readers, I will do my librarian best to share with you a link to them, too.  I can tell you right away that Pat, SI’s founder, sent an email to all 9000 members encouraging everyone to tweet about the Fringe using the hashtag #indyfringe, and that those tweets are for now looping at the top of the SI home page, so that is encouraging.

I will share links to whoever else writes thoughtfully about the IndyFringe this year.  Please let me know if I miss something that should go on this list.

If you are not already signed up for the IndyFringe’s daily e-updates during the run of the festival, I recommend that you do.  Here is the direct link to that sign-up page:  http://www.indyfringe.org/signup

Years ago, when I was working as a children’s librarian in a different library from the place I work now, there was a little boy who came to the library every day after school and shouted, “Hey, lie-berry!  How’s it going?”

“I’m fine, Gerold,” I would say.  “How are you?” (I actually don’t remember his name, unfortunately, but I remember his sweet face and the affection I felt in his name for me very clearly.)

“Got any good books?” he would ask.

“Lots of ‘em.  What are you in the mood for today?”

If you see me around the Fringe this week and ask me what’s good, that is what I am going to ask you, too.  Because performance art, like free-time reading, is a very personal thing and good recommendations must be, also.

But I will also encourage you to surrender to whatever show seems to be calling you to see it.  That is Fringing at its purest.

‘See you at the theatres…

Hope Baugh – www.IndyTheatreHabi.com and www.Twitter.com/IndyTheatre

P.S. “Librarian Avenger” photo above is by Erica Olsen.

A week ago Friday night I ignored tornado threats and drove downtown to the Mass. Ave. theatre district of Indianapolis to see productions of two of the five winning scripts in the year-round Indy Fringe Festival’s first annual DivaFest weekend.  According to the IndyFringe website, DivaFest is “a celebration of women playwrights.”  Its purpose is “to shine a light on women writers as they tell their stories for the stage.” 

“A jury of theater professionals” selected 5 scripts from 29 entries and IndyFringe provided rehearsal space and other support for presenting them on the stage of the IndyFringe building.

The five winning scripts were:

• “Alarmed,” by Bernadette Bartlett
• “Dash Thirty Dash,” by Amy Wimmer Schwarb
• “Madwomen’s Late Night Cabaret,” by Julie Lyn Barber
• “Moment of Impact,” by Julie Mauro and Jessica Strauss
• “Winter Solstice,” by Amy Pettinella

I had thought that DivaFest also focused on producing new scripts, but “Madwomen’s Late Night Cabaret” had been produced other places before DivaFest.  I also thought that DivaFest focused on producing Indiana playwrights, but I could be wrong about that, too.

I do, however, know that the idea of DivaFest was born at the main IndyFringe festival in 2008. (See 8/28/08 Indy Theatre Habit post and scroll way down.)  I admire IndyFringe Executive Director Pauline Moffat and her colleagues for making DivaFest a reality.

A Summary from the Executive Director

I will share my experiences of the two DivaFest shows I saw in separate posts – basically, I enjoyed both of them – but first I would like to share the email that I received from Pauline last Monday morning, after the first annual DivaFest was over:

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Dear Hope,

Thank you for catching shows at DivaFest and for supporting the Divas.

Nationally, just 17% of the plays produced on America’s main stages are written by women.*   We hope we have made a small dent in those statistics.

(*2009 stats from Women’s Playwright Initiative survey)

Total audience for the weekend was 787.    A fantastic first time effort from our local playwrights.

Dash Thirty Dash was the top selling show.   With guest appearances from Dennis Ryerson, David Zivan and John Ketzenberger we had sold out houses every night.  

The shows in order of ticket sales:

Dash Thirty Dash

Moment of Impact

Alarmed

Mad Women’s Late Nite Cabaret

Winter Solstice

Thursday night’s panel discussion was lively and interesting.   Sunday’s discussion with the DivaFest playwrights was smaller and gave us all a good insight into the development process they have been through over the past few months as they took their work from ‘page to stage’.   The Divas all had great support from local directors such as Kate Ayers (Alarmed) and Matt Roland (Dash Thirty Dash) and from those seasoned actors who brought their skills to the stage for our first time playwrights.

Thank you again for supporting IndyFringe.

Pauline

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A Small Rant

I don’t give a hoot which show ranked highest in terms of ticket sales, and I am always surprised when the Fringe folks do.  Sure, there is something to be said for letting the audience decide which show is “best” as opposed to, say, letting professionally trained theatre critics or other authorities decide.  However, ticket sales are not the same as a vote taken by audience members who have already seen the shows.  How fast can word of mouth influence ticket sales in one weekend or even one week?

But even if ticket sales truly did represent audience admiration, the “most popular equals best” thinking is what makes Broadway theatres cast TV celebrities instead of stage actors.  It is also what makes other mainstream theatres produce “Annie” and “Joseph” over and over again.  I enjoy those shows, but I would be depressed if they were all that were available to me, especially at a Fringe festival.

Shoot, for all I know, plays by female playwrights rank lower in terms of first weekend ticket sales than plays by male playwrights and that stat is being used as a reason not to produce women’s plays.

But 787!

I do, however, agree that 787 is an impressive(!) first-year collective number of attendees, especially with tornado threats.  Congratulations to everyone who helped to make the first annual DivaFest a success – both in terms of attendance and in other ways.  I look forward to next year!

Blank Journals and an Upcoming Story Development Workshop

The man giving the curtain talks at DivaFest on Friday night (I’m sorry, I didn’t catch his name) encouraged woman audience members to each take one of the blank journals that were available on a table at the back of the IndyFringe space.  The one I took is just a few pages of white cardstock folded in half but it is tied with a sparkly silver-and-green ribbon and there is a poem on the front called “What Is Your Story?” by Rita Kohn. 

A paper inserted into the journal gives several writing prompts and encourages women to:

“…write during the month of May and June about places, events and people from your own life.  Next attend the storytelling workshop presented by Celestine Bloomfield on Sunday, June 13 from 2-4 p.m. at the IndyFringe Theatre Building.

During the workshop, you will learn how to turn these memories into stories.  Through the process of sharing these stories in pairs and small groups, your memories will become full-fledge stories that include plot, character, and place.  This first step in eliciting stories from your own life will ignite your passion for writing and playwriting!”

The insert goes on to say that the cost for the workshop on “Recalling and Developing Your Own Stories” is $20 per person.  To register visit www.storytellingarts.org, call Storytelling Arts of Indiana at 317-576-9848, or mail payment to Storytelling Arts of Indiana, P.O. Box 20743, Indianapolis, IN 46220.

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‘See you at the theatres!

Hope Baugh – www.IndyTheatreHabit.com

Also follow @IndyTheatre on Twitter.com.

The rest of Indianapolis has moved on from the Colts’ attempt to win another Super Bowl on Sunday, February 6, 2010.  However, I had an artistic gestalt that night and now that I think I may have my home computer working again, I would like to record a few more thoughts about my “discovery” of the performance art of Bob Lamey and other sports storytellers.

Most of the world does not call them that, of course.   They call them sports announcers or radio hosts or commentators or something like that.

Whatever you call them, you can not deny that the good ones bring unique skills and impressive knowledge to create an exciting, in-the-moment spoken interpretation of what is happening on the field.

That Night

Let me back up and share part of what I wrote on Lou Harry’s Arts & Entertainment blog on ibj.com the morning after the Super Bowl:

I only decided to follow the Super Bowl at the last minute when I was trying to write a theatre review Sunday night and my laptop stopped cooperating.  I don’t have TV, either, so finding Super Bowl coverage at the last minute at home was a bit of a scramble.  I kept trying unsuccessfully to find some website that would let me follow the game on my iPhone.

A social networking friend suggested I listen to radio station 97.1, aka Hank FM.

I am so glad he did!  The two guys announcing each play of the football game were WONDERFUL! I could SEE the game happening through their descriptive words, feel the excitement of the action through the emotion in their voice, share their disappointment when the game didn’t go the way we wanted it to go…

The game was exciting, but even more exciting to me was that I felt as if I had discovered a whole new spoken word performance art.  It was a treat!

Who knew that radio sports announcing could be so riveting?

The Next Morning 

After the game, I looked at the Hank FM website but I couldn’t figure out who the sports announcers were, so I called the station and was transferred to the Operations Director, Bob Richards.

He told me that it had been Bob Lamey and Will Wolford “calling the game.”   He also told me that they are employees of the Colts organization and that they “call” all of the Colts games.

I suspect that “calling” can sometimes be as inadequate a word as “telling.”   A good oral tradition storyteller transports his or her audience.  A good sports caller does, too.  My listening experience that Sunday night was so much more than someone merely calling out “Hurray, there’s a touchdown!” or “Darn, he dropped the ball.”  It was richly informative and cathartic.

Mind you, there were two visuals that I usually pay attention to on the rare occasions when I watch a football game that these announcers did not provide.  They did not say a word about the design and fit of either team’s uniforms, nor did they comment on the physical attributes (and sexiness thereof) of any of the players themselves. 

But hey, complete satisfaction is rare in any art form.

Not Just at Home, Not Just the Colts

Another social networking friend told me that even when he goes to Colts games in person, he still loves to listen to Bob Lamey on headphones while he watches the action.

My father says that he knows a lot of people who do that: watch their favorite sport in person whenever they can, but listen to their favorite radio announcers at the same time to enrich their experience.

Beef-and-Boards actor Eddie Curry, when he saw what I wrote on Lou’s blog, told me I would also probably enjoy the work of Mark Boyle, the announcer for the Indianapolis Pacers basketball team.  I will try to find time to give him a listen, too.

Other Arts Radio News?

I really only called 97.1 Hank FM to get the names of my new performance art heroes, but Bob Richards seemed open to questions, especially after I confessed that I was a blogger focusing on live theatre and storytelling in the Indianapolis area, so I ducked into a phone booth and changed into my Curiosity Girl cape and tights while we talked.  I.e., I kept asking questions and he kept answering them.

I’ve slept since then, but I think he said that the people (Vectron Network?) who own and/or sponsor 97.1 Hank FM also own 1070 The Farm and 93.1 WIBC radio stations.  He said that they were planning a twice daily “arts vignette” series that would begin this spring, around March 1, on WIBC.  The series will be hosted by someone special but he couldn’t give me that person’s name yet.  (Remember, this was back on February 8.)  He also said they planned to launch a companion website where arts organizations and everyday people could post information and reviews about arts events.

That all sounded good to me, so I gave him my email address (amarylliswriter at gmail dot com) and asked if he would add me to the distribution list for media releases as they became available.  He said that he would.

I have not heard back from him yet, however, so maybe those plans had to be pushed back a bit.  I still enjoyed our conversation, though.

One Other Word about the Super Bowl Game

I would have been delighted if the Colts had won, of course, but I have friends in New Orleans, and that gorgeous city has been through a LOT in the past several years, so I didn’t begrudge the Saints the win at all.  I appreciate both teams for providing all of the fans a Super Bowl game that was… well, yes: it was dramatic!

‘See you at the theatres…

Hope Baugh – www.IndyTheatreHabit.com

(“Coltssaints355″ photo, above, taken by Paul J. Everett.)

Follow @IndyTheatre on Twitter.com, too.

I was sick the opening weekend of “Bus Stop” at the Indianapolis Civic Theatre so I reluctantly cancelled my media passes and stayed home.  However, a friend had turned me on to William Inge’s work a couple years ago so I very much wanted to see a live production of this William Inge play.  I got over my bug eventually and was able to buy a last-minute ticket to one of the final performances in the run. (I attended Thursday, February 4, 2010.)

I want to thank Civic for producing this 1956 Tony-nominated play about a group of people that get stranded at a small town bus stop in Kansas during a blizzard.  It is thought-provoking in new ways, I imagine, now that it is an historical rather than contemporary piece.  And, except for the lighting design (or perhaps just its execution), which sometimes mystified me, all of the design elements – set, costumes, etc. – in this particular production were excellent.  The acting was excellent, too.  All of the characters engaged me with their life stories and their interactions with each other.  The last line knocked me over in a way that it wouldn’t have, I’m sure, if I had simply read the script. 

I am not going to take time to write a full review of this show because a) I have been having home computer problems and therefore b) I am now several posts behind, but I do want to record who did what.  I’ll do that at the end of this post.

I would also like to use this mini-review of Civic’s “Bus Stop” to explore a comment that contemporary playwright Eric Pfeffinger made on a thread on IndianaAuditions.com recently.

Premiere-itis

The thread was about a show called “The Housewives of Mannheim” that ran at the Phoenix Theatre earlier this year.  Some media sources said the piece had its world premiere in New Jersey (last year?) but someone else on IA said he had seen and enjoyed a production of it at the Bloomington Playwrights Project here in Indiana before that.

Eric said:

“It did win the Reva Shiner award at the Bloomington Playwrights Project and was produced there in 2006.  (Which just goes to show that the whole concept of ‘world premieres’ has grown slippery and meaningless, a development that ought to – but probably won’t – cure theaters of the disease they call premiere-itis.)”

He also said:

“The New Jersey production was promoted by its theater as the world premiere and the media picked up on that accordingly; whether that error was made on the part of the theater or the playwright, it’s impossible for those of us on the outside to say.  Either way, presumably it was an honest mistake, but it does beget other mistakes; if the New Jersey show is promoted as the world premiere then it’s natural for people or media to assume that the Phoenix production is the Indiana premiere.  And in the end the BPP doesn’t get the credit it deserves.

Mistakes of this nature are inevitable as long as theater administrators continue to cling to the notion of world (or regional) premieres as marketing coups to be prioritized over other matters. The best way to avoid them is to get away from premieritis and attach value instead to second and third and ninth productions of worthy plays.”

(Read the full thread here.)

I confess – without shame – that I am interested in premieres:  world premieres, regional premieres, local premieres, even local community theatre premieres and workshop readings.  There is just something inherently exciting about a first time.

On the other hand, in live theatre, every production – even every performance – is like the first time because anything can happen.  It is live.

And I do understand and agree with Eric’s frustration.  A new play is not like a new car.  If it is good, it should increase in value over time, not decrease.  Unfortunately, too many good, new plays are abandoned in favor of the next world premiere simply because a world premiere is easier for a theatre to market.  Old, tried-and-true award winners are even easier.

I don’t have a solution for any of this…except to keep going to a variety of shows myself as often as I can, and to keep encouraging others to go as well – not because “we should” but because life is richer and more satisfying with a shot of live theatre in it.

The Pleasure of Personal Premieres

“Bus Stop” at Civic was a world premiere for me.  Or maybe “personal premiere” would be a more accurate expression.  I had never read the script, nor seen the movie, nor even read my press release very carefully.  After seeing an all-volunteer production of Inge’s Pulitzer Prize-winning “Picnic” last year (also without much preparation), I simply wanted to see everything else of his that I could.

I also wanted to experience it the way that a theatre reviewer or other audience member on opening night at the Music Box Theater on March 2, 1955 would have had to experience it: in the moment, with very few preconceptions.

On the other hand, I also love seeing “the same” show done by more than one theatre company.  It is interesting to see how their interpretations of a script vary, fascinating to see the wealth of artistic choices that can be made around one good (or even so-so) script.

I even love seeing multiple performances of a show at one theatre, if it is a show that intrigues me and/or delights me, because it will probably be repeatedly satisfying and yet have additional aspects that I missed the first time.  It will never be exactly the same experience twice.

A Handful of Mini-Reviews

In fact, if I had time, I would go to Theatre on the Square this month to see Pfeffinger et al’s “Assholes & Aureoles” again.  It runs Fridays and Saturdays only through February 12, 2010 on the TOTS Main Stage.  I first saw and loved this brilliant theatrical anthology when it had its (I think!) world premiere here at the Indy Fringe Festival in 2008.  It has since gone on, I think, to be produced in other locations.  (This is where a professional journalist would stop writing and contact Eric Pfeffinger to ask him for confirmation and details, but I have only a short time left on this borrowed computer so I am forging ahead with this post.)

Anyway, I loved “Assholes & Aureoles” the first time and I would be interested to see how it has matured since then, especially since I would also get to revisit Ron Spencer in his “Mr. Charles” piece on the same night.

My first experience of Tennessee William’s 1955 Tony Award-winning “Cat on a Hot Tin Roof” was this past Friday at the Carmel Community Playhouse.  I forgot that the cast members were all volunteers.  I forgot, even, that they were actors.  Tennessee gave his characters long, explanatory speeches that no one would ever make in real life, but somehow, with these actors, under the direction of Brian Noffke, it works.  It is a painful yet cathartic story about humanity’s timeless yearning for love and acceptance.  I wish I had time to see it again.  It runs only one more weekend: Thursday-Sunday through February 21, 2010.

But the night before that, I saw what I am sure is the regional premiere of “Call Me Boricua!” written and performed by Ricardo Melendez at the Phoenix Theatre.   It too, runs only one more weekend, Thursday-Sunday.  The Sunday, February 21, 2010 performance will be in Spanish and admission will be free.  This live memoir is only a small sampling of the personal stories this bilingual, multi-talented artist has to share, and what he left out (that I even know about) from his life was as interesting to me as what he chose to include.  I therefore hope I can look forward to “Call Me Boricua – Part Two” and three and so on.  However, this particular evening of well-blended music, dance, comedy, and confrontation is neatly contained and richly stimulating.  I left feeling inspired and intoxicated by its authenticity.

I was also privileged to be present at the world premiere of Gayle Steigerwald’s first foray into storytelling as opposed to acting.  She was one of the featured tellers at the “Jabberwocky” event at the Indy Fringe building last Tuesday night.  The event was co-sponsored by Storytelling Arts of Indiana.  I turned to my friend Ellen afterwards and said, “I knew it!  Gayle is a natural.”  I loved listening to Gayle’s stories.  I deeply hope that I get to hear more of them.

And last night I enjoyed Megan McKinney’s debut at the Beef and Boards Dinner Theatre.  She plays both a matronly mom and a sexy-trashy country singer in B&B’s production of “Footloose” and is, as I expected, fabulous.  What I had not expected (only because I hadn’t really thought about the plot ahead of time) was to be weeping over Eddie Curry’s portrayal of the preacher with the grief-hardened heart.  I don’t think I had ever seen Eddie in a dramatic (i.e., not at all comedic) role before.  Seeing that segment of his acting range was as satisfying as seeing a successful world premiere of a new kind of play by a beloved playwright.

(And although I had seen the movie version of “Footloose,” I had never seen the stage version, so that was a personal premiere for me, too.  It is a hoot.)

Tonight I went to Theatre on the Square’s Stage Two to see “Spring Cleaning” – a collection of eight short, new plays by a group of Indiana playwrights called Indy Playmakers.  Some of the plays were stronger than others, but the range of topics and approaches was broad and therefore interesting.  I enjoyed the evening of premieres.  I also appreciated that it gave me good food for thought about the making of plays.

Writing Plan

I would like to write more about each of these shows.  My time on this borrowed computer is now about up, though, so I’ll just sketch out what I plan to write about in the next few days after (I hope!) my home computer comes back hale and hearty from the shop:

• Mailbox:  “Free Ticket February” and other news from the wealth that has been waiting too long(!) in my email box. (In the meantime, that link sends you to BroadwayWorld.com for the info about free tickets in Feb/March for people ages 13-19 years old.)
• Discovery: Sports Tellers!
• Storytelling Review:  “Jabberwocky: Once Upon a Time”
• Theatre Review:  “Call Me Boricua!” at the Phoenix
• Hardhat Palladium Tour (update 3-3-10 – I am skipping this topic for the moment, but will write about it once I am caught up with reviews.)
• Theatre Review: “Cat on a Hot Tin Roof” at Carmel Community Players
• Theatre Review: “Footloose” at Beef and Boards Dinner Theatre
• Theatre Review: “Spring Cleaning” at Theatre on the Square

There are many other shows running now or soon that would be personal premieres for me as an audience member.  I wish I had time to see them all!  Next weekend on Saturday, February 20, 2010, I am going to hear Carmen Deedy tell stories at the Indiana History Center for sure.  That one-night-only event is co-sponsored by Storytelling Arts of Indiana. 

I am also, I hope going to hear one or more of the new one-person shows at the Indiana Repertory Theatre.  I have a special fondness for one-person shows, and these will all be world premieres to me.   Actually, what I would love to do is take most of next weekend to play catch-up with my writing, and then have an IRT weekend the following weekend.  I think that Saturday, February 27, 2010, is the one day on which you can see all three one-person shows on one day.   Hmm.

And then it will be March.  There is a lot going on in terms of live theatre and storytelling in the Indianapolis area in March, too!  Yay and yikes.

********** 

By the way, if you didn’t already see it, there is a wonderful article in today’s Indianapolis Star that happens to be about some of my favorite set designers.  Jay Harvey wrote it.  Here is a tiny link to it:

http://tinyurl.com/yjmg8w3

Okay, I have to give up this borrowed computer now.  ‘See you at the theatres!

Hope Baugh – www.IndyTheatreHabit.com

Also follow @IndyTheatre on Twitter for random, quickie comments before and after shows.

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Photo above is of (left to right) Erin Cohenour, Brandon Alstott, and Parrish Williams.

“Bus Stop” was written by William Inge and directed at the Civic Theatre by Michael J. Lasley.  Set/Lighting designed by Ryan Koharchik. Costumes designed by Jean Engstrom.  Sound designed by Michael J. Lasley.  Hair/Wigs designed by Debbie Williams.  Properties designed by Janet Sutton.  Stage manager: Denise Stockdale.

Sarah Dygaard played Elma Duckworth.  Carrie Bennett Fedor played Grace Hoylard.  Tobin Strader played Will Masters.  Erin Cohenour played Cherie.  Paul Hansen played Dr. Gerald Lyman.  Joe Matthew Steiner played Carl.  Parrish Williams played Virgil Blessing.  Brandon Alstott played Bo Decker.

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 of a new trend in storytelling: arranging for ordinary people to tell their stories in a structured way in public.  He mentioned “The Moth” events in New York, I think, as part of this trend.  I would like to learn more about this.

In the meantime, I was at “Jabberwocky” simply because I wanted to hear the five journalists speak (my heroes!), and because I had agreed to be a plant during the open microphone portion of the event.  I wasn’t planning to review the evening for Indy Theatre Habit, but I find myself wanting to record and share a few thoughts about it.

It was a real treat.

None of the speakers were performance storytellers per se.  However, each had put some thought into what he (or she) was going to say and how he was going to say it.  Their individual stories were each a pleasure to listen to and, taken all together, they made a great mix of stories.  Also, they led the way for a lot of other people – who couldn’t all have been plants! – to stand up and share their stories about writer’s block or other stories related to the writing life. 

The five journalists included Jim Poyser from Nuvo.  He was the MC.  He told us he was not interested in receiving feedback on his MC-ing because “It’s not a career choice!”  But just between you and me, he did very well at the tricky job of MC-ing: he had funny transitions ready that tied the program together; he introduced each speaker without putting them down; and he didn’t go on and on.

Shari Finnell from Indianapolis Woman shared how she had been surprised by writer’s block when going through her divorce several years ago.  She didn’t go into details about the divorce, but rather shared that it had been difficult to write about other topics during that time.  I have never been divorced (or married, for that matter) but I empathized with her.

David Zivan from Indianapolis Monthly had brought some “dog poems” to illustrate his advice, based on his own experiences, on how to cope with writer’s block.  He made us laugh, and I know I was not the only one who was touched by his selecting and reading of the poems.

Dennis Ryerson from the Indianapolis Star calmly (and therefore paradoxically) conveyed a passion about journalism that I’m ashamed to say surprised me.  I confess that my stereotype of the Star is that there is no one left over there that cares about reporting – or reading or writing of any kind – only about making money.  Hearing this editor speak about how he coaches reporters and how he is saddened by the loss of magazines that do in-depth, context pieces, woke me up a little and made me want to try reading the Star with a little more compassion.  Maybe the people who own the Star now are greedy, short-sighted, illiterate monsters (I don’t know, I’m just speculating) but that doesn’t mean that everyone who works there is. 

Lou Harry from the Indianapolis Business Journal spoke last.  He made us laugh, too, as he shared stories of being a young writer growing up in New Jersey.  He also shared tips from his Creative Block book.  (I was dumfounded when I looked him up on Amazon.com to get the citation and saw just how many books and book-related products he has produced.  Good heavens, Lou!)

Then it was time for anyone who wanted to to stand up and tell a story about writer’s block.  Several people did, including philanthropist and arts supporter (and author) Frank Basile, humorist Erik Deckers, and food writer Renee’ Wilmeth.

And me.  I got up and babbled for a while, including a stupid comment about bloggers not being in competition with mainstream journalists.  Of course we are in competition with each other for readers.  What I meant to say was that hobby bloggers like myself are no substitute for trained, experienced, professional, paid journalists, and I hope I will always be able to read their work.

Then I told a story that was not the story I had intended to tell, but the previous stories had led me to tell it.  It is not a story “about writing,” but I thought it fit the evening.  I regret to report how I ended it…well, let me tell it to you first.  It goes something like this:

Once there was a man being chased by a tiger.  He was running as fast as he could, but he could sense the tiger gaining on him.

Up ahead he saw – oh, no! – that the land fell away into a cliff.  A rounded cliff, so there was no escaping to either side. 

He did the only thing he could think of: he jumped off the cliff.

On the way down, he was able to grab hold of a vine that was growing on the side of the cliff.  He jerked to a halt and hung there, swinging gently.

He looked up and saw the tiger peering at him over the edge of the cliff, saliva dripping from its fangs.

The man looked down and saw, far, far below him, a dry river bed filled with jagged rocks…and another tiger, staring up at him and licking its whiskers!

And THEN the man saw a mouse crawl out of a crack in the side of the cliff, just out of reach above him.  The mouse began to GNAW on the man’s vine!

The man whimpered: tiger above, tiger below, mouse gnawing on the vine…

But then the man noticed that growing out of the side of the cliff was a strawberry plant. And on that plant there was one perfect, juicy-looking red strawberry.

He plucked it, and put it in his mouth.

It was…delicious.

I think I told it pretty well, if I do say so myself, even though I could see a red light go on at the back of the room and a part of me got distracted into thinking, “What the f—?!  I didn’t give anyone permission to record me!  Stop that!  If not for me, then for your own sake!  You’re missing the moment, not recording it.  Turn off your camera or your phone or whatever it is and be HERE.  Be here NOW.  Be here now WITH ME.”

I told it pretty well, but at the end I said, “And that’s my story about deadlines.”

Bleah.

Cardinal rule of storytelling: don’t tell your audience what the story is about.  Let them have the pleasure of discovering it for themselves.

Another cardinal rule of storytelling: don’t say a story is yours if it isn’t.   If I had it to do over, I would have prefaced my telling by saying something like, “The stories tonight have reminded me of a story that I first read in a collection by Heather Forest.  I think it was her book called Wisdom Tales from Around the World.”

Ah, well.  Next time.

Speaking of next times, I don’t know when the next “Jabberwocky” will be, but I heard that this was only the first in a series.  I hope so!  It was a wonderful, wonderful evening.

Hope Baugh – www.IndyTheatreHabit.com

Also follow @IndyTheatre on Twitter.com for at-the-theatre observations.

(P.S. – Photo above is called “Detritus of the Day” by psyberartist on Flicker.com.)