TONIGHT: Belfry’s ‘Bad Seed’ opens at The Cat

Submitted

The Belfry Theatre’s first show of the 2026-27 season, presenting Maxwell Anderson’s drama, Bad Seed, is onstage now through Sept. 13 at The Cat, 254 Veterans Way, Carmel.

Terror is found in the unlikeliest of forms in this Pulitzer-nominated thriller. Colonel and Christine Penmark live in a small Southern town with their daughter, Rhoda. On the surface, little Rhoda Penmark is sweet, charming, full of old-fashioned graces, loved by her parents, and admired by all her elders. But Rhoda’s mother has an uneasy feeling about her.

When one of Rhoda’s schoolmates is mysteriously drowned at a picnic, Mrs. Penmark is alarmed, since the boy who was drowned was the one who had won the penmanship medal that Rhoda felt she deserved. Adapted from the novel by William March, Bad Seed is a dark descent into the horrors even the sweetest faces can provoke.

“There’s something deliciously unsettling about the Bad Seed,” Director Matt McKee said. “You know something is terribly wrong, but you can’t look away.”

Colonel and Christine Penmark (Matt Spurlock and Lisa Anderson, both of Indianapolis, above right) live in a small Southern town with their daughter, Rhoda (Olivia Cook of Fishers, seated left). (Photo by Rob Slaven / IndyGhostLight.com)

Miss Fern (Samantha Kelly of Indianapolis, left) and Mrs. Daigle (Becca Bartley of Westfield) share a tense, antagonistic relationship. (Photo by Rob Slaven / IndyGhostLight.com)

Meet the cast

The play features a cast of 11:

• Olivia Cook of Fishers as Rhoda Penmark
• Matt Spurlock of Indianapolis as Kenneth Penmark
• Lisa Anderson of Indianapolis as Christine Penmark
• Desireé Black of Pendleton as Monica Breedlove
• Thom Johnson of Carmel as Emory Wages
• Aaron Beal of Noblesville as Leroy
• Samantha Kelly of Indianapolis as Miss Fern
• Nate Mecija of Brownsburg as Reginald Tasker
• Becca Bartley of Westfield as Mrs. Daigle
• Tom Riddle of Indianapolis as Mr. Daigle
• Jamie Kenjorski of Indianapolis as Richard Bravo

Meet the crew

• Director, Matt McKee
• Producer, Brandy DeVol
• Assistant Director & Stage Manager, Ava McKee
• Set Designer/Builder, Susanne Bush
• Costumes, Taylor Moss
• Hair & Makeup, Victoria Garcia
• Props, Jennifer Poynter
• Lighting/Sound Design by Reporter photographer Bill Miller
• Lighting/Sound Operator, Kayla McKee

Tickets & showtimes

Tickets are $22 for adults and $16 for ages 64 and older and ages 5 to 18. They are on sale for the six performances, Sept. 4 to 13, and include two matinees. Show times are 7:30 p.m. Fridays and Saturdays, Sept. 4, 5, 11, and 12; and 2 p.m. Sundays, Sept. 6 and 13.

For tickets or questions, call or text (317) 773-1085 or visit TheBelfryTheatre.com.

Rhoda Penmark (Olivia Cook of Fishers) and Leroy Jessup (Aaron Beal of Noblesville) share a tense, cat-and-mouse relationship built on mutual suspicion, mockery, and a dark understanding of each other’s malicious natures in The Belfry Theatre’s Bad Seed, Sept. 4 to 13 at The Cat in Carmel. (Photo by Rob Slaven / IndyGhostLight.com)