TERRE HAUTE —
Crossroads Repertory Theatre at Indiana State University is currently in rehearsal for the four shows of its 2012 summer season. Carrying the theme “Other Places … Other Worlds,” the season will take audiences across the country, around the globe and even beyond the world.
“Even though the plays are set in other places and sometimes other times, each is a metaphor for here and now,” explained Arthur Feinsod, artistic director of Crossroads Rep. The plays feature audience-favorite actors from years past and directors who have brought excellent productions to life on this stage over the years.
The season opens June 22 with “Completely Hollywood (abridged),” a madcap dash taking the audience through the history of film. In fact, the returning comedy trio of Ryan Niemiller, Brandon Wentz and Eric Wilburn share 186 of the best films of all time in just under two hours. Written by Reed Martin and Austin Tichenor, creators of “The Complete Works of William Shakespeare (abridged),” the fast-paced comedy promises pratfalls, audience participation, special effects and plenty of costume changes. “Completely Hollywood” is directed by Kristin Kundert-Gibbs, a faculty member at the University of Georgia who also directed memorable productions at Crossroads Rep between 2002 and 2005, including “Who’s Afraid of Virginia Woolf?,” “Moon Over Buffalo” and “The Foreigner.” Additional performances of Completely Hollywood are June 23 and 28 and July 17, 19, 22 and 28.
The second play, “On Golden Pond,” takes the audience to Maine, where Ethel (Julie Dixon) and Norman Thayer (Lew Hackleman) spend each summer.
“This play speaks to our desire to go to a faraway place to get away from everyday life,” director Dale McFadden said. “In nature, you can reflect on life.” While “Golden Pond” does provide an idyllic setting for the Thayers, strained family relationships and the difficulties that come with aging provide a dose of reality as well. The elder Thayers’ summer plans change when daughter Chelsea (Cathy Sponsler) arrives with her fiancé (Jason Bowen) and his son (Jonathan Wachala). “On Golden Pond” won the Drama Desk Award for Best Play, was made into a popular film starring Henry and Jane Fonda and continues to speak to audiences today. It will be performed June 29 and 30 and July 1, 5, 20 and 26.
The season’s musical offering is a world premiere written by the award-winning duo of Andrew Park and Scott Lamps. “Return of Neverland” is a sequel to “Peter Pan,” where grown-up Wendy’s daughter, Jane (Clara Butts), is lured to Neverland, a place her father (Jason Bowen) and mother (Carolyn Conover) have vowed she would never go. But off to Neverland Jane goes, where she encounters the fun and danger wrought by Captain Hook (Bowen), the evil mermaid (Conover), a host of fairies and, of course, the ever-young Peter Pan (Wachala).
“This musical teaches us that age is just a number,” director Feinsod said. “If you have a young spirit, you win.” The family-friendly musical opens July 6 and also runs July 7, 8, 12, 21 and 25.
The final show, “A Midsummer Night’s Dream” by William Shakespeare, is being adapted and directed by Chris Berchild. Known for his creative use of technology and stretching the range of his performers by having them perform multiple roles, Berchild has set Shakespeare’s well-known comedy in the streets of 1890s Paris, where young lovers navigate the bohemian world of the Moulin Rouge and the magical fairy world of Puck and Oberon. In this adaptation, seven actors play more than 30 roles as they portray the three worlds of fairies, royals and the bohemians. This display of both literal and abstract interpretation of abandon opens July 13. Additional performances are July 14, 15, 18, 24 and 27.
Thanks to the generosity of the Florette McKinney Memorial Fund, Crossroads Rep will also offer four free Sunday Talks following the Sunday matinees. These sessions are open to anyone, even those who do not attend that day’s performance. On July 1, director and Indiana University professor McFadden and long-time Crossroads Rep favorite Hackleman will discuss the challenges and triumphs of producing “On Golden Pond.” St. Mary-of-the-Woods professor emeritus Judy Stoffel will share insights on J.M. Barrie’s classic children’s play, “Peter Pan,” on July 8. Next on July 15, ISU professor and innovative Crossroads Rep director Berchild will discuss his unique, modernized approach to directing Shakespeare. Finally, ISU professor emeritus Sharon Russell will explore some of Hollywood’s most memorable and best-loved films on July 22.
Season tickets are now available for just $48, while individual show tickets are $15 and go on sale June 18. Children’s tickets are $8 each for “Return of Neverland.” Indiana State University students get one free ticket per show with student ID, while ISU faculty and staff receive a reduced price for tickets. All evening shows begin at 7:30 p.m., with the Sunday matinees beginning at 4 p.m. Tickets may be purchased online at www.crossroadsrep.com or at the ticket office located inside the theater, 540 N. Seventh Street. For additional ticket information, call (812) 237-3333.
Features
Crossroads Repertory Theatre readies for 2012 season
- Features
-
-
3 virtues 4-H has taught these youths
Perseverance, integrity, honesty, responsibility and service are the hallmarks of any successful business.
-
YOUR GREEN VALLEY: A Wood’s student’s quest to save thousands of turtles
If you don’t like something, sometimes it’s a matter of taking it into your own hands to change it. For Saint Mary-of-the-Woods College student, Amber Slaughterbeck, that mentality couldn’t be any more true.
-
TRIED 'N' TRUE: Fix this Oven Fried Chicken ahead of time
When my brother Gary’s wife got breast cancer, he needed something he could fix ahead of time to throw into the oven when it was time to fix supper after Kathy’s treatments.
-
Fit for a King: Couple opens Clayshire Castle as bed and breakfast in rural Bowling Green
There aren’t too many castles around the Wabash Valley, but now there is one worth checking out. Sit back and relax, and let me tell you the story of the Clayshire Castle and Lord Douglas and Lady Josephine. It’s a modern day fairy tale complete with, yes, a castle.
-
Steps to the River: Watermark Landing project brings artistic recognition to Valley’s most prominent waterway
Petra Nyendick recalls that when she moved to Terre Haute in 2005 in hopes of opening an art gallery, one of her initial surprises was usage of the Wabash River by people in the city was so light.
-
Bond of Brothers: Performance to reveal complex kinship between Dreiser and ‘My Brother Paul’
Two famed writers linger in Tedi Dreiser Godard’s family tree.
-
Longtime weatherman Jesse Walker relates well to people of Wabash Valley
While in middle and high school, Jesse Walker developed a strong interest in the weather. He thought about a career at the National Weather Service or at a storm prediction center, but the idea of becoming a television meteorologist never entered his mind.
-
CULINARY COURSES: Clabber Girl Classroom Kitchen provides variety of cooking courses for the Valley
There are a few taste-bud-tantalizing-perks for having America’s leading baking powder producer in your backyard. For nearly 120 years, Clabber Girl has been a staple in Terre Haute. In 1899, Hulman and Company began offering up what was to become one of the oldest brands in the country, Clabber baking powder. In 1923, the company changed the baking powder brand name to Clabber Girl.
-
RIVER OF SOUND: Composer sees symphony bring his musical imagination to life
David Watkins smiled as he stood on the Tilson Auditorium stage. The audience stood, too, applauding.
Two of his compositions had just been performed by the Terre Haute Symphony Orchestra. Neither piece — “A Wabash Portrait” and “River Fanfare” — had been played publicly in decades. -
The Beauties of Spring: Stunning array of wildflowers bloom each spring in Collett Park
Groundskeepers put off the first mowing of Collett Park each spring.
Admirers of the place, Terre Haute’s oldest park, like it that way.
A stunning array of wildflowers covers the 21-acre lawn for a few short weeks. Those plants, known as “spring beauties,” emerge in March, bloom in April and go dormant by May, when the brilliant waves of white and pink flowers disappear. -
Day spent with daughter inspires Valley man to write children’s book for her
It started with a warm sunny blackberry picking outing, a bee buzzing, a little bird nest with eggs in it and a little girl begging her daddy for a night-time story. And from those ingredients the children’s book, “The Bee in the Blackberry Bush” came to fruition.
-
From kilts to haggis, Wabash Valley Scottish Society marks a decade of preserving heritage
As soon as Richard Cooper breaks into his Scottish accent, a smile automatically follows.
It happened last week as he recited a work of legendary Scotland poet Robert Burns. -
Witness to history: April movie chronicles Jackie Robinson’s trials as be breaks Major League Baseball’s color barrier — something Vigo County native Harry Taylor witnessed first hand
The upcoming movie “42” aims to show America what Jackie Robinson endured.
Harry Taylor witnessed it firsthand.
Robinson wore jersey No. 42 for the Brooklyn Dodgers in 1947. Taylor wore 41. Both were 28-year-old rookies, considerably older than most. Taylor got delayed by military service in World War II. Professional baseball’s unwritten but ironclad code of racial discrimination had kept Robinson and other African-Americans out of the majors since the 1880s. -
Sisterly Habits: Fillenwarth sisters are linked together in more than one sense
The Fillenwarth sisters are sisters in more than one sense of the word.
Both were born two of the eight children of city cop Henry and his wife Catherine Fillenwarth. Both grew up among a large and giving Catholic extended family in inner-city Indianapolis in the 1940s. -
Geocaching Indiana: Clay County man develops idea to use geo-art to create outline of state in caches
Indiana, long-known as the Crossroads of America, has for years been a destination for people coming from around the world to witness such activities as the Indianapolis 500 Mile Race, Indianapolis Colts football games and Indiana University Hoosiers basketball games.
Since October 2012, Indiana’s attractions have come to include the surprising geo-art creation of a group of Wabash Valley geocachers — people who use Global Positioning Systems and similar location-sensitive devices to find hidden objects for fun. -
Voice of a Storyteller: Chance meeting of Twain, Paris youngster inspired narrative voice of Huck Finn
The block offers no hints of its place in American literary history.
Customers dodge raindrops, walking in and out of an auto parts store. -
Pearls of the Wabash: Efforts to reintroduce mussels
Broken bricks, shattered large clay tiles and thin strips of lumber nailed into a crimped piece of sheet metal, sit piled down a county road in Hillsdale.
-
Natural Habitat: Meet 17-year-old Ben Cvengros, who has a knack for capturing wildlife — in particular, birds — on his camera
I would like to introduce you to a 17-year-old Parke County teenager who has an incredible level of patience. Ben Cvengros was 12 years old when he found his passion for photography.
-
WORD PLAY: Scrabble Club broadens Greene County youngsters’ vocabularies and experiences in a fun way
Drew Helton nodded his head like a wise college professor dispensing scholarly advice.
-
Doing a lot with a little: Family’s resourcefulness leads it to reuse vegetable oil as fuel
Up a winding driveway, tucked off a main road in Clay County, sits an average-looking house in a hardwood forest. The homeowners, Chris and Lori Hart, are two resourceful people.
-
Crossroads Rep opens with ‘You Can’t Take It With You’
The 2013 summer season for Crossroads Repertory Theatre at Indiana State University bears the theme, Three Laughs and A Scream. It opens June 21 with a comedy that has remained popular since it was first staged in 1936: “You Can’t Take It With You.”
-
‘Pirates’ to invade Terre Haute Children’s Museum on Saturday
The Terre Haute Community Band will perform “A Pirate Adventure: The Treasure of Music!” at 2 p.m. on Saturday at Terre Haute Children’s Museum.
-
Learn about ‘The Wabash in Legend and Lore’ at Symphony fundraiser
Hear Vigo County historian Mike McCormick speak on “The Wabash in Legend and Lore” during the Terre Haute Symphony League’s fundraiser at noon Wednesday in the Country Club of Terre Haute. Reservations are due Friday.
-
GRAPE SENSE: Some think Chardonnay is next big thing in northwest wine
Does the wine world need another great Chardonnay region? California has the great big buttery, woodsy Chards while Chablis brings the mineral and acid. There is virtually every style in between from regions across the globe.
-
TRIED ’N’ TRUE: A Bar-B-Que recipe from my brother, Mark
My brother Mark lives in California. He does a lot of cooking. Both of my brothers are great cooks. (I’m the oldest of all my siblings.) Mark gave me the Bar-B-Que recipe.
-
Concert to honor Indiana composers, arrangers
The Terre Haute Community Band kicks off its summer season with Indiana’s official state song, “On the Banks of the Wabash, Far Away,” written by Terre Haute’s own Paul Dresser.
-
Water show kicks off Vigo library program
The Vigo County Public Library will stage its kickoff event for the summer reading program “Dig into Reading” with a water show from 3 to 4 p.m. on Monday on Walnut Street in downtown Terre Haute.
-
BRUCE’S HISTORY LESSONS: This week in 1944: D-Day and the Airborne assault on Normandy
This week (June 5) in 1944, with the D-Day invasion of the Nazi-occupied Normandy coast set to begin, the man in charge of that invasion, Gen. Dwight D. Eisenhower, paid a special visit to members of the U.S. 82nd and the 101st Airborne.
-
All Valley artists encouraged to submit art at Vigo County Fair
Artists from throughout the Wabash Valley are encouraged to submit works to the 84th Vigo County Fair, which will take place July 7-15 at the Wabash Valley Fairgrounds.
-
YOUR GREEN VALLEY: Recycling initiative in full swing at Vigo County Public Library
The Vigo County Public Library has recycled the weight of two compact cars (7,000 pounds) since April, this after an employees’ initiative to recycle library-wide.
- More Features Headlines
-
Unusual Heat Wave Bakes Alaska
Fans Cheer Dramatic Heat Comeback
Raw: Car Jumps Curb in NYC, Injures 8
Tiger on Sergio: 'It's Time to Move On'
Raw: Massive Protests Fill Brazilian Streets
Hunt for Ex-Teamster Boss Hoffa's Remains Ends
Raw: Volcano Erupts Near Mexico City
Car Crash in NYC's East Village Injures 8
Raw: NASCAR Driver Jason Leffler Dies in Wreck
Ohio Woman Accuses 3 of Holding Her Captive
Raw: Arizona Wildfire Scorches 8 Square Miles
Obama Renews Call for Nuclear Reductions
Ex-NFL Star Chad Johnson Out of Jail
Aug. Trial Set for Ohio Man in Triple Kidnapping
Hoffa Mystery Still Fascinates After 4 Decades
Time Lapse: Rebuilding Bridge Post-collapse
Obama: 'Lives Have Been Saved' by NSA Programs
Failed Cuba-to-Florida Swimmer Won't Try Again
Rain Damages Brazil Soccer Stadium
Raw: German President Welcomes President Obama
James Gandolfini Dies at Age 51
Paula Deen Admits to Using N Word
Rihanna Hits Fan With Microphone
Men's Wearhouse Founder Fired
Miss Utah Explains Rambling Response
Exclusive: Locklear & Seymour Lock Lips
Miami Heat Wins in Overtime
Fists, chairs fly in restaurant brawl
Journalist Michael Hastings Dies in Fiery Hollywood Crash
Hairy Leg Stockings Aim to Deflect Male Attention
Inside Kim Kardashian's Premature Labor
Three Charged for Enslaving Mother and Daughter
Raw: Huge Fire Near Yosemite National Park
Spurs' Popovich has no problem with Spurs' intensity
RAW: NSA Director Says 50 Plots Foiled
Paige Butcher Scorches on Hawaii Beach
Video: worst way to load cargo onto a plane
Never-before-seen footage of '08 Times Square bomber
