Arts and Theater

Carnegie Players to present three short George Ade plays

On June 20, 21, and 22 at 7:00 pm the Carnegie Players will present three short George Ade plays in the basement of St. Augustine Church. Tickets will cost $8.00 and will be sold at the door.

George Ade was an enormously successful writer, becoming quite wealthy from his many books, plays, and articles. He built a mansion east of Brook, which is now owned by Newton County. He was a graduate from Purdue University and was a generous donor to his alma mater, with his name on the football stadium. (He is the Ade of Ross Ade.)

Ade died 80 years ago in 1944 so this may be a good year to pay a tribute to a person who came from our corner of Indiana. Like most authors who were very popular during their lives, many fewer people read him now than when he was alive. In Ade's case, that may be because a lot of his humor was prompted by the popular culture of his time.

I was invited to a rehearsal on Thursday evening. The first play performed was Mrs. Peckham's Carouse. This play's humor comes from poking fun at the temperance movement that led to Prohibition in the 1920s. Mr Peckham is a lawyer who receives a bottle of whiskey from his brother-in-law. His wife is a temperance crusader. There are deceptions and misunderstandings that lead to poor decisions and ultimately to a twist at the end.

The second play, The Mayor and the Manicure, is about a mayor dealing with a woman trying to blackmail him because of poor judgement by his son. The two telephones play an important role in this play.

The last of the three plays, Nettie, was my favorite because it was the least tied to the times in which it was written (and also because it needed the least amount of tweaking before the actual performances). It is a twist on mistaken identities. Ade never married or had children and perhaps this play also reveals a bit of what he thought about women. 

While I was there, the lights and sound system were being wired.

The plays have a cast of 13. Most are in only one play, but several have roles in two of the plays.

I look forward to seeing the finished production, in part to see how much change there will be from this rehearsal to the finished product.  If you like theater, comedy, or tributes to Indiana history, you will enjoy An Evening with George Ade.

Honoring Hispanic Heritage at the Fendig Gallery

The current exhibit at the Fendig Gallery is Honoring Hispanic Heritage and it runs until July 7. It features art,  artifacts, and objects that exemplify and showcase Hispanic heritage.

The paintings on the right above are by Doris Myers from a trip she took to Mexico.
 

Much of the exhibit is made up of small items that are numbered, with a short explanation of what each is on a placard. 

These crocheted pieces are from a very large exhibit from Mexico.

Here is the explanation. Searching for "Etzatian" on the Internet should show you what the whole construction looked like.

There were only a few paintings in the exhibit. This one was for sale.

Gallery Hours areTuesdays: 12pm - 4pm; Thursdays: 2pm - 6pm; Saturdays: 12pm - 2pm

Odds and Ends

The LaRue Pool opened on Monday and despite very cold water and cool temperatures, it had swimmers all afternoon. On Thursday the temperature was warm and there were a lot of swimmers even though the water was still cold.

On Wednesday the Chamber of Commerce had a luncheon at Autumn Trace. After the lunch, there were tours of the facility. It has not changed much since it opened.

Workers have finished pouring curbs on Harrison Street.

There are forms for some of the sidewalks at Filson Park.

Thursday night into very early on Friday Rensselaer received about an inch of much needed rain.