ART TAP

On tap this week is a Pre-Show look at "Flanagan's Wake," coming to Civic Theatre of Greater Lafayette on March 16th, 17th, and 18th. I'm talking with Sarah Mishler, who plays Fiona Finn, the grieving fiancé of the deceased Flanagan, and Helen Coats, who plays town eccentric and mystic, Kathleen Mooney. Interestingly, Sarah played the part of Kathleen last year, so we have a, if you'll excuse me, "old Kathleen/new Kathleen" dynamic here.

On tap this week we're kicking off a new series of the ART TAP podcast called "Pre-Show." Pre-Show will offer early looks at upcoming MainStage productions at Civic Theatre of Greater Lafayette. We'll talk with directors, performers, planners, and designers and get a preview of what's about to take the stage at the historic Monon Depot Theatre.

The Play That Goes Wrong is a 2012 play by Henry Lewis, Jonathan Sayer, and Henry Shields. It opens at Civic Theatre of Greater Lafayette on Thursday, September 8th and runs through Saturday, September 17th. Go to lafayettecivic.org for information and tickets.

I spoke with some of the cast of this wonderful, ridiculous show – Annalyse Ewing (plays Annie the stage manager), Richie Stephan (plays Robert/Thomas Colleymoore), Helen Sorensen (plays Sandra/Florence Colleymoore), and Amelia Goins, who is our real-life stage manager for this play about a play-within-a-play.

On tap this week are the artists known collectively as Frank Muffin Band. Joining me are Brittany and Hans Rees, and Jerome Hemersbach. The Muffin group have gotten active again, in light of eased restrictions on gatherings, and recently enjoyed a DC-area trip to visit other musicians they met online during the pandemic. Their schedule is picking up this fall, and there are a number of things to look forward to. They play several tunes and share upcoming events.

On tap this week is a local artist who is a steady presence on the gallery and art festival scene. Rena Brouwer is a watercolorist, instructor, gallery director, and arts collaborator who is about as "Hoosier" an artist as one can get.

On tap this week are a pair of local singers/songwriters who are enlivening the area music scene. Justice Fuller, is a singer/songwriter who has performed throughout the Lafayette region and the Washington DC area, and who is previous Mike Lane Horizon songwriting award winner – and Lauren Grace is an 17-year-old Lafayette-area songwriter who won the Shirley Martin Scholarship in 2018 and has since gone on to become a well-recognized talent in the region. Both perform for the podcast.

On tap this week is director, set designer, painter, performer, and also Assistant Director of Economic Development for the City of Lafayette, Indiana, John David Collier. We talk about the thrills and challenges of participating in community theatre. John's experience with Civic Theatre has run for 35 years and 93 productions now.

On tap this week… is one of my most fun friends, singer and performer Caitlin Cotten Benner. Caitlin is perhaps the closest living embodiment of an actual Disney princess I know, keeping that spirit of discovery and joy alive in the air around her.

We talk about the challenges of social distancing when working with students as a representative of Purdue Bands, and as a creative individual and performer. But some "low effort creativity" Instagram posts and a new venture as a writer has enlivened her.

On tap this week… is one of my most valued creative friends, playwright Kelly McBurnette-Andronicos. She was, oddly enough, on the last episode of ART TAP in April of 2020 – the one that convinced me it was too hard to conduct a podcast that way. It wasn't her fault – it was the logistics that proved too interruptive to me.

We talk about the challenges of trying to be creative in a pandemic, and reading and formulating thoughts in an era of social distancing. She suspects her writing will be different in the aftermath, but she doesn't know exactly how yet…

On tap this week are two of my most valued arts friends, ceramist and sculptor Siggy Zahner and playwright Kelly McBurnette-Andronicos. Both are deeply insightful and inventive artists, both bring unique and confrontational imagery to their work, and both are outspoken feminists. We talk about the experiences and challenges of women in the arts, the role of the artist in social quarantine, and working through, or choosing to observe instead, the era of social distancing.

On tap this week is an assessment of what we're going to be missing, in light of Coronavirus concerns that are forcing cancellations of arts and culture events, as well as all other public gatherings and activities, throughout our region and across the country. Notifications from Lafayette-West Lafayette cultural groups are shared.