By DANIEL SHOCK
A Seat on the Aisle
Last night I drove down to Lawrence to see the final production of this year’s Bard Fest, Into the Breeches! at Theatre at the Fort. This was my first time to see a show in this venue and I hope it will not be the last.
The play, written by George Brant, was first produced in 2018 and is a touching comedy about life activities that have come to a halt while many of the local men have gone off to fight in the war leaving the women to hold it together here at home. The play is set in the early 1940s, but it feels like we’re watching through a 21st-century lens.
The director of the local theatre has gone off to war, leaving his young wife Maggie Dalton (Madeline Dulabaum) to convince the President of the Theatre Board, Ellsworth Snow (Kelly Keller) not to cancel the theatre’s season and instead to let her direct a cast of women in the roles that would have been played by men.
Snow reluctantly agrees and Maggie jumps into the production process with her lead actress, Celeste Fielding (Susan Hill), her Stage Manager (Kaya Dorsch), and her costumer, Ida (Anja Willis). Now all she has to do is hold auditions and hope someone shows up to play the 30-some parts in Shakespeare’s Henriad (a word that I had to google to be sure it is real … and turns out it is), which is a combined production of Shakespeare’s Historical Henry plays.
The struggle to bring the production to the stage is full of laughs and some tears. It was a perfect end to this year’s Bard Fest; both Lysistrata and Falstaff get a shout out.
Graphic provided
A show like this might be a slog without a great cast – and this cast delivers.
Madeline Dulabaum is our comedy straight woman and anchor as the director of the Henriad. She believes in the theatre and its place in our society even when things are hard and pushes many boundaries to make it happen. Susan Hill as Celeste, the theatre’s diva, is laugh-out-loud funny through the whole play. She is ridiculous, self-centered, and wise all at once. Kelly Keller gives one of the best performances I’ve seen from him as the board president who gets blackmailed into agreeing to the all-woman cast when his wife is cast in the show.
Tracy Herring as Winnifred Snow, the board president’s wife, is a delight from beginning to end. She wrings every laugh possible out of the material. Kaya Dorsch as Stuart the Stage Manager is equally funny and heart breaking in his role. Dani Gibbs plays Grace Richards, a young woman with little experience but a lot of talent. Watching her confidence grow as the play goes on was inspiring as was the journey of costumer, Ida, well played by Anja Willis. And finally, Michelle Wafford wonderfully rounds out the cast as June Bennett, a wife turned actress who is also all-in on supporting the war effort.
Director Max McCreary has put together a wonderful show that celebrates the love we all have for theatre and art. The show is remarkably timely. Written just before the pandemic, it’s almost prescient about the role of art in our lives and what happens when everything stops.
McCreary notes that, “While many younger creators do not know war on the scale of WWII, we do know what it is like to see the world come to a halt. To be changed. Full stop. And also what it means to bring a world back to life in the wake of that interruption.”
Beyond that, the play deals with people struggling against the limitations placed on them by society. The issues this play explores include pay inequity, racial inequity, and gender/identity questions. And it tackles those issues with wit – sometimes bawdily, sometimes just silly – and pathos. My 20-year-old daughter and I loved the whole experience.
Along with director McCreary, the production team includes Assistant Director Natalie Fischer, Stage Manager Case Jacobus, with Scenic Design by Max McCreary, Lighting Design by Isaac Andrade and Properties Design by Lucy Fields. The set was spacious and simple. The few changes were quick and easy. The lighting was well done. Props fit the era. Well done, all.
If I were pressed for an appropriate age for this show, I would say 10 and up. There’s nothing too shocking. But there are a few moments that will be hard to get out of your head (in a good way!). I cannot imagine any theatre-loving audience member not being delighted by this show. Go see it. Strong recommendation!
Into the Breeches! will be playing at Theatre at the Fort, 8920 Otis Ave., Indianapolis, through Sunday, Nov. 13. You can purchase tickets at this link.
Read more great play reviews from A Seat on the Aisle at asota.wordpress.com.