Arts Guide 2012 by NUVO

c i t y g u i d e s

arts guide

TABLE OF CONTENTS

STAGE ............................................................................................. 7 VISUAL ARTS ................................................................................. 17

MUSIC ............................................................................................... 25 DANCE ............................................................................................. 35

WORD............................................................................................... 40 FILM ................................................................................................... 45 PUBLISHER: Kevin McKinney (kmckinney@nuvo.net)

EDITOR: Jim Poyser (jpoyser@nuvo.net) ARTS EDITOR: Scott Shoger (sshoger@nuvo.net)

MUSIC EDITOR: Katherine Coplen (kcoplen@nuvo.net) NEWS EDITOR: Rebecca Townsend (rtownsend@nuvo.net)

INTRODUCTION

COPY EDITOR: Geoff Ooley EDITORIAL CONTRIBUTORS: Tom Aldridge, Katelyn Coyne, Dan Grossman, Rita Kohn, Jeff Reed,

This year, we celebrate those that have stayed the course , those organizations, and those indefatigable people behind them, that have stuck with a good idea for years , despite all the challenges.

PRODUCTION MANAGER / ART DIRECTOR: Dave Windisch (dwindisch@nuvo.net) SENIOR DESIGNER: Asha Patel (apatel@nuvo.net) DISTRIBUTION MANAGER: Kathy Flahavin (kflahavin@nuvo.net) MARKETING MANAGER: Lauren Guidotti (lguidotti@nuvo.net) DIRECTOR OF SALES & MARKETING: Mary Morgan (mmorgan@nuvo.net) BUSINESS MANAGER: Kathy Flahavin (kflahavin@nuvo.net)

UP NEXT:

DINING GUIDE October 10, 2012 Got questions, comments or suggestions about this or other NUVO CityGuides? Send them to cityguides@nuvo.net EDITORIAL POLICY: NUVO Newsweekly covers news, public issues, arts and entertainment. We publish views from across the political and social spectra. They do not necessarily represent the views of the publisher.

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We give props to Indy F ilm Fest and its dedicated volunteers , already at work on next year’ s festival, the 10th. To Storytelling Arts, which has for 25 years brought talented storytellers to Indiana, while helping Hoosiers (both professional and not) to develop their own stories. And to Dance Kaleidoscope, which has over the last 40 years grown from a start-up volunteer organization to a talented professional company that earns national accolades. We talk with Slide Hampton, the guest of honor for a two-day 80th birthday celebration at Indy J azz Fest. We look back at 10 years of the Indianapolis Museum of Contemporary Art, thriving in its new home and under a newly appointed director . And we recognize the Phoenix Theatre for helping to launch Mass Ave as a cultural district — and for continuing to bring in world and regional premieres, year after year. To be sure , we’re not all about looking back; all of the above organizations and people have excellent seasons planned, and we’ll be there to write about it all, from dance to film, theater to music, storytelling to visual art. — SCOTT SHOGER ARTS AND ENTERTAINMENT EDITOR

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STAGE

STAYING TRUE TO THE MISSION: PHOENIX THEA TRE AT 30 When the Phoenix moved into an otherwise forsaken church from its previous site on 9th Street it laid the cornerstone for what would become the revitalization of the Mass Ave corridor. More important, the plays Artistic Director Bryan Fonseca and his collaborators keep producing have arguably broadened the city’s social vocabulary, making topics like race and homosexuality part of the community’s working language.

A 1986 Ma Rainey’s Black Bottom The Phoenix became the first local theater to present a play by August W ilson, who has since become a Black History Month mainstay on the Indiana Repertory Theatre calendar (and that of just about every other theater in the country). It was the second play published from Wilson’s 10-part Pittsburgh Cycle, which devoted one play to each decade of the 20th-century African-American experience. Bryan Fonseca: “This was the first of six August Wilson pieces that we did ... W e took it on a mini tour: we won a state contest, a regional contest, a national contest and were invited to do it in Dundalk, Ireland.” B 1991 Dorothy Parker: A Symptom Recital The Phoenix experimented with casting during the early ‘90s, notably by trying out a Dorothy Parker who looked nothing like Dorothy Parker in this musical, written entirely from Parker’s own words. Fonseca: “Sue Ours was not anybody’s vision of Dorothy Parker, but she had the perfect balance of dramatic skills and singing skills to pull this of f. Part of

– Katelyn Coyne our mission we were exploring at the time was casting against type.” 1994 Marvin’s Room The Phoenix’s first-ever Equity production marked its transition from community-based playhouse to professional theater. Fonseca: “I worked with the Board of Directors, doing research, literally renting a van and going to Ohio and Chicago to speak with other theaters who had recently gone Equity. The biggest fear was that it would be too expensive for us, that we’d be putting ourselves at risk. But after years of research and pushing towards that goal, this was our year.”

C 1996 Love! Valour! Compassion! The Phoenix has stirred up controversy over the years with provocative subject matter, but Love! Valour! Compassion! drew attention not for its cast of characters (adult gay men living through the AIDS epidemic) but their wardrobe, or, rather, lack thereof. Fonseca: “Every cast member gets naked at the end of the play, which is both very symbolic and very real: they were skinny-dipping. I was approached at the time and really kind of warned that it’s

not something we should be doing. W e had lawyers on hand so if our cast wer e arrested for public nudity, we would have people to post bail.” 2000 The Vagina Monologues Now a go-to play that has its own holiday (V-Day), the Monologues were a big “get” for the Phoenix in 2000. Theirs was the first of five regional productions mounted once rights were released following the Broadway run. Fonseca: “We were very, very lucky, and it just played and played and played.” 2001 Another American: Asking and Telling The Phoenix continued to tackle issues like gays in the military, even when it didn’t add up to box office success. Fonseca: “Nobody cared about those issues. We’re in Indiana, and it’s gay issues, and that closes people right off. But we never gave up. We’re part of the process of change just by talking about things.” 2001 The Laramie Project The Phoenix’s production of The Laramie Project coincided with the 9/11 attacks, helping members of the community to process the loss — in an unexpected way Fonseca: “People came here and said: ‘This was the perfect place for us to be,’ or ‘This was the message we needed to hear.’ The play was a reaction to a hate crime. September 11 was the ultimate act of hate. The play showed you that, as hard as it gets, there is a way to get beyond it. T he Laramie Project engaged you in trying to make sense of a senseless act.”

2005 The Ice-Breaker The Phoenix’s first rolling world premier, developed for three creative teams and for three audiences via the National New Play Network, an alliance of non-profit theaters devoted to producing new, original scripts. Fonseca: “[It was] the best thing that ever happened to us. Even now, with finances being tight, when I look at who we pay dues to and what we can continue to be part of, who I feel will give us a better bang for our buck, I dr opped TCG [Theatre Communications Group, an national consortium of non-profit theaters] for NNPN because I couldn’t afford to be a member of both.” 2009 Shipwrecked! An Entertainment In an attempt to broaden their audience base, the Phoenix mounted the family-friendly Shipwrecked and marketed it as such. Fonseca: “We were hearing a lot about how the theater is just too X-rated. W e publicized the hell out of the fact that we had family entertainment. We thought we were being so clever. Well, it was family entertainment in that there was no nudity or language and you could bring your kids. That’s not who we built an audience base for. So that didn’t work.” What’s your favorite Phoenix memory? Contact us at artsguide@nuvo.net. Also, see nuvo.net for archival information, reviews, features, etc.

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ORGANIZATIONS/ VENUES Acting Up Productions Offering a mix of classes and performing opportunities, Acting Up Productions finds its home in Greenfield, but often mounts productions in Indianapolis theaters, including the Wheeler Art Center, Theatre on the Square and IndyFringe Theatre. Founding partners Brian Noffke and Elizabeth Williams are on a quest to create a community of artists that grasps not only the “hows” of theater but also the “whys,” thr ough a range of educational opportunities. Their annual Night of the Living Dead production offers gruesomely realistic zombie action, and has become a cornerstone of their season. 12 ½ West Main Street, Greenfield, 317-3735390, actingup-production.com Actors Theatre of Indiana Since its birth in 2005, the Actors Theatre of Indiana has provided theatrical entertainment to the communities of Hamilton, Boone and Marion counties and the surrounding areas. It also provides creative opportunities for the leading artists of today and tomorrow while giving theater guidance and musical theater training to young artists. Past productions include Chicago, Frog and Toad, Stardust Memories and Godspell. 355 City Center Drive, Carmel, 317-669-7983, actorstheatreofindiana.org. Asante Children’s Theatre Founded by Deborah Asante, the Asante Children’s Theatre focuses on youth development through the arts. Committed to preserving the tradition of African and African-American performing arts, ACT provides instruction to young people in theatre, dance, music and storytelling. Through the ACT Prep4Life program, ACT Academy and Asante Touring Company, this children’s theater seeks to provide a wide range of artistic opportunities for Indianapolis youth. 317-652-3727, asantechildrestheatre. org. Beef & Boards Dinner Theatre Dinner and a show is B&B’s raison d’être. Food prepared by the in-house chef, a full-service bar and gourmet desserts are additional features to the main attraction:

the stage. Classic hits and well-known favorites — primarily musicals — reign supreme here. The venue operates yearround and nightly (except Mondays when special musical acts can be seen). 9301 Michigan Road, 317-872-9664, beefandboards.com. Broadway Across America This national touring organization brings professional, full-scale Broadway productions to Clowes Memorial Hall and the Murat Theatre. Past productions include Cats, The Phantom of the Opera, and A Chorus Line. This year’s hits include American Idiot and West Side Story. 4602 Sunset Ave. OR 502 N. New Jersey St., broadway.com. Buck Creek Players This little out-of-the-way theater offers comedies, dramas and musicals, presented by all-volunteer casts who offer a range of talent. Over the span of nearly 40 years, the players moved around from church to church before settling in the Playhouse, an old tennis facility turned church turned theater. The performers can entertain a full house of up to 130 audience members. 11150 Southeastern Ave., 317-862-2270, buckcreekplayers.com. Butler University Theatre Butler stands on the creative edge of the Indianapolis theater scene. Students in the Jordan College of Fine Arts Theatre Department are immersed in an ambitious, hands-on experiment of staging challenging new and classic works with a decidedly international reach, often under the tutelage of master artists from around the world that engage the community with special presentations and performances. Graduates from this program can be seen as part of the larger Indianapolis performance art community: acting, dancing, producing, lighting, designing, directing and forming their own production companies. 4600 Sunset Ave., 317-940-9952, butler.edu/ theatre, cloweshall.org. Carmel Community Players With the mission to present live dramatic and musical entertainment that expands creativity within the Carmel community, the Carmel Community Players offer a range of opportunities. From affordable ticket options to new performance opportunities for actors. Located in

The Priest and the Prostitute, Butler University Theatre, 2011.

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God of Carnage, Indiana Repertory Theatre, 2012. Carmel’s Clay Terrace, this playhouse encourages guests to seek out other cultural entertainment by combining their theater experience with nearby shopping and dining locations. In fact, they offer a special “Dinner and a Show” promotion for audiences that want the total package. 14299 Clay Terrace Blvd., Suite 140, 317-815-9537, carmelplayers.org. Carmel Repertory Theatre This non-profit arts collective encourages self-expression through theater, music and dance. By collaborating with a variety of artists and organizations, Carmel Rep offers the community a chance to engage in the arts on a local level. Past productions include The Fantastiks, Oliver and I Love You, You’re Perfect, Now Change. 484 E. Carmel Drive, 317-767-3973, carmelrepertorytheatre.com. Civic Theatre The Civic Theatre enjoys its home in the 500-seat, state-of-the-art Tarkington Theatre at The Center for the Performing Arts in Carmel. Note this is a homecoming of sorts for Civic: The famed Indianapolis novelist and playwright, Booth Tarkington, was a founding force behind Civic. Presenting musicals and comedies using entirely local talent, Civic is known for large scale productions and professional design elements. 3 Center Green, Suite 200, Carmel, 317-9234597, civictheatre.org. ComedySportz ComedySportz has been serving up great improv and comedy performances to Indianapolis audiences since 1993. Located along Mass Ave, ComedySportz features family friendly contests between two teams of improv specialists, with plenty of audience interaction. In addition they present more adult-oriented shows, aka their “Unscripted Series,” and performers are some of the most talented — and quick-witted — actors imaginable. ComedySportz competes in regional and national contests, giving other, bigger cities a run for their money, and in summer 2011 hosted the ComedySportz World Championship. 721 Massachusetts Ave., 317-9518499, indycomedysportz.com.

EclecticPond Theatre Company Founded in 2010, EclecticPond presents high-energy, fast-paced productions of both classical and modern plays. In addition to performing for the public at the Historic Irvington Lodge, EclecticPond takes their shows on the road, performing at schools to inspire students through theater. Best known for their shortened Shakespearean productions, EclecticPond is on a mission to create imaginative and accessible theatrical experiences for all ages. 5515 E. Washington St., 317-207-2080, eclecticpond.org Footlite Musicals Since 1955, Footlite Musicals has offered performance opportunities to Indianapolis community actors. This all-volunteer theater presents seven Broadway musicals each season; notable productions have included RENT, The Full Monty, Into the Woods, South Pacific and more. Its home in the historic Herron-Morton Place neighborhood at the Hedback Theatre boasts an impressive two-manual, elevenrank Page Theatre pipe organ, which entertains guests before, during and after shows. 1847 N. Alabama St., 317-9266630, footlite.org. Heartland Actors Repertory Theatre (HART) Established in 2006, Heartland Actors Repertory Theatre (HART) was founded by actors, for actors. Professional equity artists who bonded over performances at the IRT and Phoenix took charge of their careers by creating a platform for themselves. Dedicated to producing accessible theater, HART introduces audiences to classical dramatic literature and new plays. They are most noted for their free Shakespeare each summer in White River State Park. The plucky theater group also finds time to collaborate with other arts organizations like the Kurt Vonnegut Memorial Library, Butler University Theatre and the IndyFringe Festival. heartlandactors.com. Indiana Repertory Theatre The cream of the crop for Indianapolis theater, the IRT presents the gamut — from classics to new, specially commissioned works. Plays are staged on either the upper or lower stages, which give audiences varying degrees of intimacy. Productions have a well-deserved reputation for superb lighting and set design, plus top theater

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Baktun 13, Phoenix Theatre, 2012. artists (actors, directors, etc.) drawn from all over the country. Special performances are regularly scheduled for student groups through the Discovery Series, which is also open to general audiences. The IR T also offers theater classes for adults and children. 140 W. Washington St., 317635-5252, irtlive.com.

Come & See!

C hrist C hurch C athedral Celebrating 175 years Open Monday through Friday for prayer and noon services. Regular Sunday Schedule of 8, 9, 11 a.m. and 1 p.m. (in spanish) resumes September 16.

FOR OUR COMPLETE SCHEDULE OF EDUCATIONAL, SERVICE AND MUSICAL OFFERINGS, VISIT US ONLINE AT WWW.CCCINDY.ORG.

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Indianapolis Urban Theatre and Dance Company Husband and wife duo Jaron and Ashley Garrett are the primary forces behind Indianapolis Urban Theater and Dance Company, a self-described “collective of inner city theatrical artists” which in its inaugural year presented plays at IndyFringe’s Onyx Fest (Betsy on E. 10th Street, written and directed by Jaron Garrett), the IndyFringe Festival (an abridged version of Cormac McCarthy’s The Sunset Limited) and Madame Walker Theatre (A Raisin in the Sun). Their 2012-13 season will include a Christmas dance musical, an MLK birthday tribute featuring an original play (Coretta and the King) and RENT. 317-500-4882, indyurbantheater.org. IndyFringe Every August, IndyFringe’s signature 10-day Fringe Festival brings local, national and international theater artists together for a theatre marathon of sorts. Occupying multiple venues, including Mass Ave itself, the festival presents compelling avant-garde theater, dance and comedy for audiences of all types. The rest of the year is no dif ferent, as the IndyFringe Theatre welcomes local and touring groups, from kid-oriented productions to more adult-themed shows. Regular occupants like Jabberwocky, in partnership with Storytelling Arts of Indiana, bring storytellers together to tell their tales. DivaFest, launched in 2010, gives female playwrights a chance to shine. And Onyx Fest shines a spotlight on African-American playwrights. Volunteers are recruited year-round. 719 E. St. Clair St., 317-869-6660, indyfringe.org. Know No Stranger This collective troupe of theater aficionados burst upon the Indy theater scene in late 2009 with a playful mix of interactive performance, puppetry and fantastical props and costuming. KNS performs throughout the city in various venues. These diverse artists don’t believe in limiting their options;

they perform in flash mobs, at summer camps, fundraisers, birthday parties and more. We’re tempted to call them guerilla theater, but that brings up connotations not necessariy confluent with their mission of making friends and facilitating community. They are creating a sense that Indianapolis is a place wher e young people should stay, make art and have fun. knownostranger.com. Madame Walker Theatre Center A lot of business at the Madame W alker Theatre Center consists of rentals, but every once in awhile, the Walker puts together an in-house production. The most recent was a rendition of Langston Hughes’ Black Nativity, starring a cast including several local ministers. And, of course, the theater — one of the most beautiful in the area — draws rentals you can’t see anywhere else. The Walker celebrates its 85th anniversary this fall with a week of events including a Lena Hor ne tribute. (See Pg. 14). 617 Indiana Ave., 317-236-2099, walkertheatre.com. Mud Creek Players It’s all about community at this little theater-in-a-barn up north. This closeknit, folding-chair theater is fun and intimate. Just try getting a seat without reservations. Productions here consist of tried and true audience favorites. This year watch for Man of La Mancha and Biloxi Blues. 9740 E. 86th St., 317-2905343, mudcreekplayers.org. NoExit Performance NoExit encourages audiences to “imagine more.” This collaborative group of artists presents non-traditional productions in diverse settings. Founded in 2003, NoExit is known for its striking visuals that have a handmade feel. They present a range of material, including classical works, contemporary plays, original scripts and devised theater. A recent alliance with the Big Car Service Center landed NoExit its first residency. This year, the theater company presents Amy Sedaris as part of the Spirit and Place Festival. 5485 Parker Ave., 317258-2255, noexitperformance.org. Phoenix Theatre Located in a converted church, the Phoenix is an Indianapolis treasure. Under artistic director Bryan Fonseca, the award-winning Equity theater delivers a season each year that is exciting and

interesting, full of plays and musicals that have just finished their Broadway or offBroadway runs. The Phoenix is dedicated to selecting and presenting new works that challenge stereotypes and engage audiences with important social issues. There are two stages — an upper hall and a basement space. 749 N. Park Ave., 317635-7529, phoenixtheatre.org. Pike Performing Arts Center Part of the Metropolitan School District of Pike Township, the Pike Performing Arts Center presents rentals and educational programming in a capacious auditorium space that features a separate entrance from the adjacent Pike High School. Programming this year includes a gospel spectacular presented by the Pike HS and featuring Eliot Sloane from Blessid Union of Souls (Nov. 16 and 17), as well as a couple shows for the Boomers in your life: John Mueller’s Winter Dance Party, a tribute to Buddy Holly, Richie Valens and the Big Bopper; and an Elvis Birthday Tribute Spectacular. 6701 Zionsville Road, 317-216-5455, pikepac.org Spotlight Players As an integral part of the Beech Gr ove cultural scene, Spotlight Players present a full season of plays each year. With a mission to enrich the lives of their audiences through theatrical engagement, Spotlight Players offer a range of comedy, drama and full-scale musical productions. Past works include Glengarry Glen Ross and A Tuna Christmas. 524 E. Main St., Beech Grove, 317-767-2774, spotlight-players.org. Theatre on the Square Bawdy comedy, racy themes and sidesplitting laughter are just a few of the perks patrons get with a ticket to Theatr e on the Square. The artistic home of Ron Spencer since 1988, TOTS brings mayhem to the Mass Ave theater district. Spencer, who directs most shows in the theater’s season, serves up spot-on comedic timing and cahones large enough to tackle any risqué issue, be it sex, religion or politics. This community-based theater also opens its doors to IndyFringe Festival theatergoers each summer. 627 Massachusetts Ave., 317-685-8687, tots.org. Theatre Non Nobis Theatre Non Nobis, is an outreach program of the Fountain Square based The Church Within, which seeks to affirm

Three Treasures

people no matter what path their spiritual journey has chosen for them. Presenting challenging, quality productions that you won’t see anywhere else in town, the company focuses on presenting plays that will start conversations, inviting the audience to contemplate and discuss what they have seen regarding the production’s philosophical implications. 1125 Spruce St., 317-637-5683, thechurchwithin.org/theater2011. Q Artistry This collective of theater artists presents original and re-imagined plays. Quirky production styles and tongue-in-cheek humor are hallmarks of their work, often presented at the Historic Irvington. Founded by Chicago transplant Ben Asaykwee, Q Artistry blends unique elements such as puppetry, original music, comedy and family-friendly programming to inspire and enlighten theater-goers in Irvington and throughout the city. In addition, this group sponsors a playwriting festival, where winners can see their plays produced as part of Q’s regular season. 317-677-5317, qartistry.org. Young Actors Theatre Young Actors Theatre (YAT) seeks to instill confidence and creativity in the youth of Indianapolis by presenting a range of shows including productions that are thematically topical to their young actors. With programs including full-scale productions and a range of educational opportunities, YAT offers youngsters the lifelong skills associated with theater but relevant to any career path. YAT has performed at the Central Library downtown, the IndyFringe Theatre and the Athenaeum. 401 E. Michigan St, 317-614-5057, yatkids.org

A new series of paintings BY JOHN J DOMONT ALSO PROUDLY SHOWING WOOD WORKS BY CHRIS BOWMAN AND BETTY SCARPINO AND NEW TO THE GALLERY, PAINTINGS BY WYATT LEGRAND

Opening November 2nd Ancient Chinese Medicine teaches, that there are Three Treasures in Life. Our Spirit (Shen) our Body (Jing) and our Energy(Qi). The core idea is that we learn to protect and nourish our three treasures in order to have a long and prosperous life. These paintings are an acknowledgement and expression of this concept.

Domont Studio Gallery 545 South East Street www.domontgallery.com Open daily, call for an appointment 317-691-9634

REFLECTIONS

by S lawe

EVENTS SEPTEMBER Butler University Theatre: Seven Seven activists; seven playwrights; seven actresses, both student and pro. Butler and Phoenix Theatre team together for a staged reading of Seven, a collection of monologues based on interviews with woman leaders from Russia, Nigeria, Cambodia, Ireland, Pakistan, Afghanistan, Northern Ireland and Guatemala. Sept. 5-8 @ Lilly Hall 168

”PRIVATE EYE”

The camera investigates the role of the Eye in the context of our culture.

”SITTING IN A WINDOW” Come join me for a picnic at the end of the world.

”SILENCE”

Symbolizes a grave of a Beauty destroyed by fanaticism.

”LISA MONA”

Mona Lisa of 21st Century. See enigmatic smile on her mouth, see her eyes.

Photographs are reflections in windows not photo-montage, printed on canvas, watercolor paper, or aluminum, all in limited edition.

The Nutcracker, NoExit Performance, 2011.

More information can be found at: gotoslawek.org/ArtBankGallery.html Please call 317-443-8901 or visit Slawek s Gallery at The Art Bank, 811 Mass. Ave, Indpls, IN 46204

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season. Sept. 20-Oct. 21

Q Artistry: Playwrights Festival A festival that keeps on giving. The winner by audience acclamation of Q Artistry’s Playwrights Festival will have her or his piece produced by Q Artistry during the 2013-14 season. Sept. 7-8 @ Irvington Lodge ComedySportz: Friday Night Late ComedySportz’s age-17-plus Friday late shows function on a rotating basis, meaning guests can see any one of at least six options, including selections from the Unscripted series (A Christmas Carol, Unscripted; Cinderella, Unscripted; The Headless Horseman, Unscripted; Oz, Unscripted), which feature random lines contributed by audience members at key points in the plot; a $5, Chicago-style improv jam; and A Day in the Laugh, a 90-minute two-act musical based on the day of an audience member. All shows explore the slightly raunchier flipside of the long-lived improv comedy theater. Fridays at 10 p.m. Indiana Repertory Theatre: The Night Watcher Is it selfish not to have, or even adopt, kids, given that so many of them have such terrible lives and/or parents? Charlayne Woodard agonizes over that question in her fourth autobiographical monologue, The Night Watcher, premiered in 2009. Millicent Wright plays Woodard, as she has a couple times before on the IRT stage. Part of the Going Solo series of monologues.

NoExit Performance’s Closer @ Big Car Service Center (Sept. 13-15, 20-22, 27-29). Sept. 18-Oct. 14

stage. Sept. 19-Oct. 13

Indiana Repertory Theatre: The Syringa Tree Elizabeth Grace is a white girl growing up in Apartheid-era South Africa who transcends class and race as she innocently talks to people she encounters. IRT mainstay Jen Johansen plays Grace and about two dozen other roles during the course of the show, written and originally performed by South African actress Pamela Gien, who earned plaudits from Oprah and J.D. Salinger during the show’s initial run. Part of the Going Solo series of monologues on IRT’s upper

Phoenix Theatre: Bloody Bloody Andrew Jackson This is a real get, as they say. The rock musical Bloody Bloody Andrew Jackson — which would have our seventh president as a sensitive emo soul who ethnically cleanses American Indians with maximum angst — makes its Midwest premiere in September at the Phoenix, beating out the Chicago production by a few rehearsals. Part and parcel of the Phoenix’s recent vogue for musicals, including Spring Awakening and Avenue Q in years past, and Next to Normal this

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Butler University Theatre: Two from Bali This year’s Christel DeHaan Visiting International Theatre Artist, Ida Nyoman Sedana, hails from Bali and is an expert on his country’s performance traditions, including the warrior dance and shadow puppetry. He kicks off his residency with a traditional performance at the IMA; about a month later, Butler students get in the act, presenting a version of A Midsummer Night’s Dream incorporating Balinese performance elements. Last year’s VITA program (featuring Indian classical drama) proved consciousnessexpanding for both students and audiences. Balinese Spectacular, Sept. 21-22 @ The Toby, Indianapolis Museum of Art; Bali Dream, Oct. 31, Nov. 1-4, 8-11 @ Lilly Hall 168 EclecticPond: Dracula: The Panto Brits (and Australians and Canadians, etc.) just go completely mental over panto, short for “pantomime,” a satiric musical comedy often staged around the holidays and usually based upon a fairy tale, with plenty of anachronistic jokes and business thrown into the mix to keep things fresh. British siblings Thomas and Lucy Cardwell wrote this panto (Thomas is ElecticPond’s artistic director). It’s a second run for the pr oduction, following its premiere at IndyFringe 2012. Audiences are encouraged to participate with catcalls and cheers and the like. Sept. 28, 29; Oct. 5, 6, 12, 13

NoExit Performance: Closer Among the impossible questions one might ask in a strip club is “What do you have to do to get a bit of intimacy around here?” So it goes in Patrick Marber’s play (filmed by Mike Nichols in 2004) about four people seeking and failing to find gratification of all sorts. Tommy Lewey directs. Sept. 13-15, 20-22, 27-29 @ Big Car Service Center

OCTOBER Optical Popsicle 4 NUVO’s Jim Poyser writes thusly of a past Optical Popsicle: “Know No Stranger captures the primordial impulse to create and share and thus connect with humans with everything they do, from announcing audience members as they enter ... to making everything out of cardboard, duct-tape and overhead projectors.” The fourth edition of the company’s annual variety show features goofball emcee Oreo Jones and break dance crew Art Spark. As always, myriad ticket discounts are available for the enterprising; for instance, those who correctly answer a random trivia question get in free, and those who beat KNS bigwig Michael Runge’s dad in chess get $8 of f. Oct. 12-13 @ Madame Walker Theatre Phoenix Theatre: Seminar The Midwest premiere of a comedy by Teresa Rebeck (Smash, NYPD Blue, Law & Order) about a jerky, sarcastic writing teacher/poohbah and his students/targets in a master class. Oct. 25-Nov. 25 Booth Tarkington Civic Theatre: The Woman in Black Stephen Mallatratt’s ghost story hasn’t a chance to break The Mousetrap’s record for longest-running play on London’s West End, though a 23-year run is nothing to sneeze at. The title character first appears to a junior solicitor during a funeral, who then spends the rest of the

proceedings trying to figure out what she was doing there. Oct. 26-Nov. 10 Acting Up Productions: Night of the Living Dead, Part 2 NUVO theater critic Katelyn Coyne loved the 2011 edition of Acting Up Productions’ annual Halloween show: “It’s bloody, it’s disgusting and it’s everything you could want from a zombie play.” Oct. 26-28, Nov. 1-4 @ Wheeler Arts Community Center Indiana Repertory Theatre: The House That Jack Built Three women and their significant others gather in Vermont for a Thanksgiving dinner. The latest by IRT playwrightin-residence James Still is the final in the theater’s Going Solo series of monologues. Oct. 30-Nov. 25

NOVEMBER The Intergalactic Nemesis A Pulitzer Prize-winning reporter and her research assistant team up with a shy librarian to battle an army of sludge monsters from outer space in The Intergalactic Nemesis, a radio play/graphic novel mash-up that borrows tropes from ‘50s sci-fi and ‘30s radio thrillers. Three actors, a keyboardist, a foley artist perform the piece, which began life in Austin, Texas, as a traditional radio play before expanding to include graphic novel and live performance elements. Featured on Conan and All Things Considered; proclaimed “totally nuts” by The Austinist. Nov. 12 @ Clowes Memorial Hall Broadway Across America: Billy Elliot The small-town British boy who thought he could dance plies his irrepressible self to Indy. Elton John wrote the music, Lee Hall the book and Billy is played by a rotating cast of teens and tweens. Nov. 13-18 @ Old National Centre

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Pike High School Performing Arts Department’s Hea r 2 Heal Featuring Eliot Sloane from Blessid Union of Souls November 16th-17th O.M.A.R. Presents Elvis Bir thday Tribute Spectacula r January 11th Ofﬁcially endorsed tribute tour to Buddy Holly, Richie Valens, and the Big Bopper John Mueller’ s Winter Dance Party January 20th For more information regarding these shows and many more, visit www .Pik ePAC.org 6701 Zionsville Rd. Box Ofﬁ ce: (317) 216-5455

Seven @ Butler University Theatre (Sept. 5-8). Stormy Weather: The Lena Horne Project Mary Wilson (The Supremes) reincarnates Lena Horne in a multimedia presentation featuring audio and video clips, narration by James Gavin, the author of a Hor ne biography (Stormy Weather: The Life of Lena Horne) and orchestration by Mike Renzi, who was musical director for a one-woman show staged by Horne in 1981. Nov. 15 @ Madame Walker Theatre NoExit Performance: Death for Sydney Black NoExit mounts the teen movie parody Death for Sydney Black about a year after its Fort Lauderdale premiere, of which that city’s Sun-Sentinel said, “Its characters ... [are] tropes in a meta-narrative spoofing a very familiar movie genre, the kind with warring high schoolers angling for social clique superiority, drag-down catfights, cheerleading dance-off competitions and murderous plots against each other.” An opportunity for the kind of homemade mirth-making that made NoExit’s Nutcracker such a blast. Katelyn Coyne directs. Nov. 2012

DECEMBER Black Nativity Langston Hughes’s version of the nativity story featuring gospel music and dance returns to Madame Walker Theatre, with Sherri Brown Webster (director of rentals and events at the Walker by day) as director. NUVO’s Rita Kohn noted of last year’s production that “Throughout, the singing, acting and choreographed movement was equally powerful and nuanced, bringing multiple layers of meaning to the fore.” Dec. 14-16 @ Madame Walker Theatre

JANUARY Phoenix Theatre: Guapa Roly is a single mom in a one-horse Texas town. Guapa, a determined young lad who wants to become a pro soccer star, shakes things up when he joins Roly’s family. As a National New Play Network Rolling Premiere, Caridad Svich’s play will open at three theaters during the course of the 2012/13 season, with the Phoenix getting a $7,000 grant for the production — and Svich getting the opportunity to

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develop the work with three different companies and before three different audiences. Jan. 3-20 Indiana Repertory Theatre: A Little Night Music Two-time Grammy winner and IU lecturer Sylvia McNair stars in a full-scale production of Sondheim’s musical based on Ingmar Bergman’s 1955 film, Smiles of a Summer Night. McNair plays actress and single mother Desiree Armfeldt, the envy of all the men of certain means in tur n-ofthe-20th-century Sweden. Jan. 23-Feb. 17 Phoenix Theatre: Next to Normal Another huge Midwest premiere on the Phoenix calendar. And it’s another rock musical, Next to Normal, about a mother struggling with severe bipolar disorder and other maladies of suburban life. Next to Normal won three Tony Awards in 2009, including Best Original Score and Best Orchestration, as well as the 2010 Pulitzer Prize for Drama, the eighth musical in history to receive such an honor. It’s played Cincinnati (not part of the Midwest, according to the theater world), but this is another coming to Indianapolis before that so-called theater town of Chicago. Jan. 24-Feb. 24 Yellow Wallpaper “The color is repellent, almost revolting: a smoldering unclean yellow, strangely faded by the slow-turning sunlight.” Charlotte Perkins Gilman could tell you things about that wallpaper that you’d never ever want to know in her pr otofeminist classic. Ryan Mullins directs. NoExit Performance: Jan. 2013

FEBRUARY Theatre on the Square: Naked Boys Singing The title says all you need to know . They are men, they will be naked and they will sing for you if you’re nice. And former NUVO theater critic Lisa Gauthier just loved it to death when it was staged at the Phoenix in 2004: “It teases you about your natural inclination to stare at seven penises proudly presented, and it pokes fun at the penis itself.” Feb. 1-March 2 Butler University Theatre: Pigeons Dan Barden’s excellent second novel, The Next Right Thing, explores the nitty-gritty of the sponsor/new member relationship

American Idiot @ Old National Centre (April 2-7). in Alcoholics Anonymous, particularly the fallout when the seemingly recovered go astray. Barden, an associate prof in Butler’s Creative Writing program, has a new play for Butler students to dig in on this winter that touches on similar concerns. Sarah Simone is a popular sponsor with a devoted following who’s knocked off her equilibrium when a daughter she had given up for adoption 15 years back shows up at her home meeting. Feb. 13-17, 21-24 @ Lilly Hall 168 Phoenix Theatre: The Lyons The Midwest premiere of a dark comedy about a family with a dying dad, a domineering mom, a closeted gay son and an alcoholic daughter. Here’s The New York Times on The Lyons: “If you stood in the Cort Theater lobby and listened to the laughter that rises in close and regular waves, you could easily pretend that the time was the 1960s, and that you had just dropped in on the latest hit by Neil Simon, directed by Mike Nichols.” Feb. 28-March 31

MARCH Indiana Repertory Theatre: The Whipping Man The New York Times has described Matthew Lopez’s 2006 play, about a Passover Seder held in a decr epit antebellum mansion shortly after the Civil War, as “surely having few equals in its arresting strangeness.” March 5-24 EclecticPond: Julius Caesar Genders are reversed and Caesar becomes a chief executive as Shakespeare’s play is retooled for a corporate setting. EclecticPond managing director Cat Cardwell directs the first of two Shakespeare plays on her company’s schedule, with Much Ado About Nothing slated for June. March 15, 16, 22, 23, 29, 30

APRIL Broadway Across America: American Idiot Three angry young men learn about life and stuff in a rock opera based on Green Day’s record by the same name, with lyrics by lead singer Billie Joe Armstr ong. The Indy premiere comes a couple years after it first hit Broadway. April 2-7 @ Old National Centre

Butler University Theatre: Lunar Revolution 2.0 A mediation on the Moon and what we might do with it, conceived and directed by Butler theater head W illiam Fisher, devised by the company, with a structure based on Schoenberg’s 1912 song cycle Pierrot Lunaire. April 10-14, 18-21 @ Lilly Hall 168 Acting Up Productions: The Underpants Up-and-coming Greenfield-based company Acting Up Productions tries on for size Steve Martin’s The Underpants, about a guy’s struggle to find his wife some intimates that won’t fall to her ankles, and especially not when the whole town is watching. April 19-21, 26-28 Booth Tarkington Civic Theatre: Into the Woods One of the greatest works by one of our greatest living songwriters and composers is consistent with his interest in the macabre, though a little more family-friendly (and good for a community theater) than, say, Assassins. April 26-May 11 NoExit Performance: Our Experiences During the First Days of Alligators A new piece by our very own David Hoppe. NoExit head Georgeanna Smith directs. April 2013

MAY Phoenix Theatre: 4000 Miles And here’s one more Midwest premiere for the Phoenix this season. Amy Herzog’s 4000 Miles is about a friendship between Leo, who has just returned from a transAtlantic bike ride, and his grandmother Vera, both of whom learn to tolerate and appreciate each other’s differences over the course of a few weeks. May 9-June 9 Theatre on the Square: Zanna Don’t! Xanadu? No, Zanna Don’t! In this almost all-gay high school musical where the chess champion is BMOC, students write a controversial show about straights in the military and a fairy called Zanna plays the role of Cupid for the entire student body. May 31-June 29 See www.nuvo.net for a complete stage calendar

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VISUAL ARTS/MUSEUMS CONTEMPORARY ART IN EXPANSION: IMOCA AT 10 For 10 years, the Indianapolis Museum of Contemporary Art has succeeded in bringing edgy, contemporary art to Indianapolis. But this success makes their current home, which consists of two adjoining galler ies in the Murphy Building, seem a little small. “In the next 10 years I would like iMOCA to move to a larger space and increase the amount of shows and our community outreach,” says iMOCA Executive Director Shauta Marsh. — Dan Grossman 2004: Out of Place ONE This show was about place — the locations we live and work in or dr eam about. This was iMOCA’s first show in the historic Emelie Building in the Indiana Avenue Cultural District, the museum’s home until 2009, when it moved to the Murphy Building in Fountain Square, its current location. One installation by Theresa Gooby featured photographs of 20 vintage vacuum cleaners in settings such as redwood groves or beaches. Starting with this show, there would be a bricks-and-mortar place for cutting edge art in Indianapolis. 2005: Nausea II by Guy Richards Smit Certainly one of the most outré offerings by iMOCA was Nausea II, a full-length video rock opera of sorts by Guy Richards Smit. It’s the story of two porn stars who become crippled with self-doubt. Their journey of selfdiscovery manages, along the way, to take a sidelong glance at the status of

contemporary art. The film traveled to iMOCA after its debut at Museum of Modern Art in New York. 2007: Efroymson Contemporary Arts Fellows Since 2004, the Efroymson Contemporary Arts Fellowship program has distributed $700,000 to Central Indiana artists to help them pursue their ambitions. This show featured the work of 10 such artists — all of whom received this $20,000 grant — working in a wide variety of media. A history of iMOCA would be impossible to write without including numerous mentions of the financial and leadership support of Jeremy Efroymson.

A 2009: Jen Davis: New Photographs Jen Davis is a Brooklyn-based photographer who happens to be obese. By making herself a subject of her own photography, she challenges a

social norm that mostly treats photos of such people as “before” pictures — as on The Biggest Loser and the like. In one photo from this show, you see a 20-something Davis in her underwear, alone, an arm raised to her head. Marsh mentions one of iMOCA-exhibiting artists Davis who has gone on to achieve national — and inter national — fame. “That raises Indianapolis’ profile internationally,” she says. “And because we show local and regional artists, that raises our local and regional artists’ profile internationally as well.” 2010: Seeing is Becoming As fun as Frank Warren’s 2010 PostSecret show — which generated the largest turnout of any iMOCA exhibition to date — was, there was something a little prefab about it, at least in comparison to the Seeing is Becoming show that same year. Curator Jay Jordan was not afraid to provoke some head-scratching — with challenging pieces of art in multiple forms of media. A standout from this show was Dmitry Strakovsky’s video Top Ten Asian Brands In said video Strakovsky chanted out said brand names like a Buddhist monk with a mantra. If you were fortunate enough to be there on opening night, you could’ve seen Strakovsky perform this live.

B 2011: Malcolm Mobutu Smith: Inner City Inspirations

iMOCA has had its shar e of artists coming in to do shows fr om New York, or L.A, or wherever, but the museum has also consistently recognized cutting-edge artists close to home. IU Assistant Professor Malcolm Mobutu Smith is certainly on the cutting edge in the field of ceramic art. Take, for example, his computer-designed, 3-D printed “Doppod” sculpture. With its triple bulbs in a tripod form, this work looks something like a cross between a space station and an ancient Israelite oil lamp. Graffiti is very much part of his artistic language; he incorporated a large-scale graffiti wall in this show — completed in collaboration with FAB crew — and a smaller “collaborative wall” that visitors were able to tag.

C 2012: Myron Conan Dyal: Charon’s Pantheon The most recent iMOCA show, featuring the life-sized paper mâché sculpture of Myron Conan Dyal, doesn’t feel particularly contemporary. Maybe that’s because Dyal’s an artist who is in touch with something spiritual — even primordial. This show requires contemplation to appreciate fully — the kind of stillness and space that is only possible after the exhibit opening itself is over. Fortunately enough, you can still pay a visit to this exhibition during normal hours of operation through Sept. 15.

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ORGANIZATIONS

IDADA FIRST FRIDAYS AT T H E H A R R I S O N C E N T E R FALL 2012 FRIDAY, SEPTEMBER 7 6PM - 10PM

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PLAYING IN THE STREETS artist reception

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FRIDAY, DECEMBER 7 6PM - 10PM

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ANNUAL COLOR THEMED SHOW artist reception & open studio night

Let City Gallery at the Harrison Center for the Arts connect you to culture, community and place

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ARTBOX A beautiful, high-ceilinged exhibition space with a polished cement floor wher e you’ll find a mixture of sculpture and painting, sometimes even an installation. The quality of the artwork here — a mixture of work from local and nationally recognized artists — is uniformly high and the curating top-notch. 217 W. 10th St., 317-955-2450, artboxindy.com. Art Bank A combined gallery/studio showing the work of the local artists who r ent space here. It’s a bit more chaotic — in a good way — than your typical gallery, with paintings hanging salon-style on every available wall space. The enthusiasm of the artists is contagious, and their Rob the Bank events, involving a real bank vault, are worth checking out. While the quality might be a bit uneven at times, you can find some shining gems that won’t push you over your credit limit. 811 Massachusetts Ave., 317-6241010, artbankgallery.com. Arts Council of Indianapolis This not-for-profit art organization takes a multi-faceted approach to making Indy an engaging cultural and arts destination. This involves advocacy, monetary support and partnering with like-minded organizations. The ACI not only provides grants to individual artists — such as the Creative Renewal Arts Fellowship — and to arts organizations, but it provides gallery venues for locally based artists in the form of the Artsgarden and Gallery 924. The ACI also finds creative ways to involve local artists in the beautification of the city. One of its most recent ventures in this regard is the 46 for XLVI citywide murals program, in which it partnered with the city of Indianapolis. 924 N. Pennsylvania St., 317-631-3301, indyarts.org. Big Car Service Center for Culture and Community Formed in 2004, Big Car is a collective of more than 30 visual artists, writers, musicians and thinkers, all of whom team up with community groups and cultural organizations to provide kids and adults with access to art. This year, Big Car achieved a massive coup by opening a new space: the Service Center — in a parking lot adjacent to Lafayette Square Mall. With Service Center, Big Car makes manifest its mission to take art dir ectly to people, in this case people in one of the most diverse areas of Indianapolis. 3900 Lafayette Road, 317-450-6630, bigcar.org.

THE GREAT FRAME UP LOCATIONS: 62nd and Allisonville 255-8282 612 N. Delaware St. 636-5040 86th and Ditch 872-0900 21 1st St SW, Carmel 843-2030

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Dewclaw Gallery In December 2011, Karla Knopp opened this new gallery space in the Cir cle City Industrial Complex (C.C.I.C.). Knopp exhibits work that, much like her own, has a certain intuitive poetry about it, like the view-through-the-windshield paintings of Herron lecturer Anita Giddings. (She also has exhibited her own work.) 1125 Brookside Ave., 317-375-0876, dewclawart.blogspot.com.

Project IMA @ Indianapolis Museum of Art (Oct. 11). Evan Lurie Gallery The anchor gallery in the Carmel Arts & Design District. A typical opening here features a mixture of realistic and abstract painting by locally and/or internationally known artists, as well as fine sculpture. The gallery recently held its first photography show. Evan Lurie has a penchant for realistic painting with some sort of “twist” — that is, some kind of weird thing in an otherwise realistic painting that makes you stand back and think. When you step into this gallery, you get a taste of what’s current in the major art centers around the globe. 30 W. Main St., Carmel, 317844-8400, evanluriegallery.com. French Bleu Gallery Susan Mauck’s gallery and studio sits next door to the equally interesting Eye on Art Gallery on Carmel’s Main Street. This gallery is primarily geared towards selling Mauck’s contemporary portraiture. (She describes her own work as “impressionistic, with a contemporary edge.”) But more and more frequently, she’s opening up her wall space to artists and photographers who share a kindred sensibility. A great time to visit her gallery is during the IU Health Second Saturday Art Walks. It’s a must for those Indy r esidents skeptical about the presence of any art and culture north of 86th Street. 111 W. Main St., Carmel, 317-331-3734, susanmauck.com. Gallery 924 at the Arts Council The best thing about the Arts Council of Indianapolis’ showcase gallery is that it doesn’t limit itself to one genre or style of art. The art stretches from the serene nature photography of Brad Ford Bell to the visual sparks set off by the July 2012 Clay Show (demonstrating that clay isn’t just for making potteries and ashtrays anymore). The venue is spacious and cleanly lit: ideal for viewing art. The gallery is well-stocked with pamphlets inviting the casual visitor to become

more deeply involved in the Indy arts scene. 924 N. Pennsylvania St., 317631-3301, indyarts.org. The Harrison Center for the Arts Transformed from a largely abandoned church to a thriving cultural milieu, the Harrison Center is home to Redeemer Presbyterian Church, artist studios, several galleries, VSA of Indiana and probably something else we’re forgetting. The gallery has become a significant destination, with rotating exhibitions held throughout the year that usually emanate from a theme, lending curatorial cohesiveness and art viewing on a high, yet accessible, intellectual level. A quartet of smaller Harrison Center galleries complement the main venue, including the City Gallery, which celebrates the unique neighborhoods of urban Indy. Overall, the center is one of the most family-friendly Alma Leiva, Celdas @ SpaceCamp MicroGallery (Dec. 7). — i.e. all ages — places in Indianapolis. Herron School of Art and Design IDADA First Fridays 1505 N. Delaware St., 317-396-3886, Easily one of the premier arts institutions in Naturally enough, some of the events we’ve harrisoncenter.org. the city, this school exhibits rotating shows picked elsewhere on this calendar fall on a of cutting-edge contemporary art alongside First Friday; that’s just how it works, with Heartland Printworks its exhibitions of faculty and student work. much of the city having gotten on boar d OK, maybe Heartland Printworks was Part of IUPUI, the Herron art galleries has with the philosophy of pulling out all the tooting its own horn just a little in its persevered in bringing compelling work stops on one night per month. And that inaugural show, Dorothy Stites Alig’s Two philosophy has, by almost all accounts, Ghazals. Alig was able to enlist the help of to the community, long before such a notion was considered a progressive and been a sound one; galleries and other the folks at Heartland Printworks and their wide-format CS2955 ST-FA flatbed scanner essential part of the mix. Its unique outdoor venues are typically full on the first Friday sculptures (like the one by James W ille of the month, and those who use alter nate — reportedly the finest in the world — to Faust) make Herron an artistic destination means of transportation never have far to create the digital collages of her work in as the school continues to do its part to ride/walk/skip/paddle between somewhere painting, photography and drawing that with cheap or free food and drinks and are on display here. On a visit to this gallery, educate Indianapolis about contemporary art and its impact on our cultur e. IUPUI’s something new on the walls/floors/ceilings. you might ask yourself, “Where does the Eskenazi Hall, 735 W. New York St., technology end and the art begin?” (or 317-278-9400, herron.iupui.edu. iMOCA (Indianapolis Museum of vice-versa). 1028 N. Capitol Ave., 317Contemporary Art) 822-1800, heartlandprintworks.com

It might call itself a museum, but iMOCA is so much more. It is really a source of energy, bringing work by contemporary artists from across the country to Indianapolis for showings in a variety of venues — including its downtown gallery space, which presents shows on a regular basis. Located inside the Murphy Art Center in the glorious Fountain Square arts district, iMOCA is open Thursday through Saturday from 11 a.m. to 6 p.m. With extraordinary exhibitions ranging from The Natural World — featuring the photography of former MTV reporter Tabitha Soren — to Malcolm Mobutu Smith’s graffiti-inspired ceramics, this is one cool place to be. 1043 Virginia Ave., 317-634-6622, indymoca.org. Indianapolis Art Center The IAC is one of the largest fr eestanding community art centers in the Midwest, offering classes, community events and exhibitions that represent a broad range of contemporary artistic expression. The building itself was designed by worldrenowned architect — and Indianapolis native — Michael Graves. The IAC is also known for its ARTSPARK sculpture garden and performance space, plus its high-quality art classes ranging from glass blowing to oil painting to metal sculptur e. Its exhibitions are equally broad in scope — offering a rich complement to the bustle of activity taking place there on a continuing basis. 820 E. 67th St., 317255-2464, indplsartcenter.org. Indy Indie Artist Colony This venue, located on the first floor of a

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beautiful and historic downtown building, has quickly become a must see on the First Friday map. Don’t be surprised to see surrealist, fantastic, and graffiti-inspired art on display on the walls of this gallery, but that doesn’t begin to encapsulate the variety of work available here. And there are often theme-based shows for First Friday events. The gallery director, Phil Campbell, is a fixture in the Indy arts scene, having founded the Murphy Art Center, the Hot House Art Gallery and the Masterpiece in a Day art competition. 26 E. 14th St., 317-919-8725, indyindieartist.com. Jewish Community Center Art Gallery You don’t have to be Jewish to view the artwork here or, for that matter, to be a JCC member. There’s a healthy range of work by a wide variety of artists that rotates through this luminous — sometimes a little too luminous — gallery space. Popular Indy-based artists like Kyle Ragsdale and Jerry Points have exhibited in this venue. And there’s also room for shows like the July 2012 The JCC’s Got Talent, featuring the artwork of JCC members and staff. 6701 Hoover Road, 317-255- 9467, jccindy.org.

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Renaissance Fine Art & Design Gallery This gallery sits on the cor ner of Range Line Road and Main Street in the heart of Carmel’s Art & Design District. Curator Kathleen O’Neil Stevens usually features an artist during the monthly Second Saturday art walks. During these openings, you can check out the work of the eclectic group of artists represented here while listening to live music. There’s a wide range of work from the expressionistic landscapes of Amy Falstrom to the nightmarish paintings of Lydia Burris. 1 S. Range Line Road, Carmel, 317-506-8477, renaissancefineartanddesign.com.

SpaceCamp MicroGallery SpaceCamp is the mystery meat of the First Friday art scene. Sometimes it’s sirloin, sometimes it’s Spam, but it’s always worth a visit to this tiny gallery to eat up the plentiful portions of conceptual art offered up. The best openings at SpaceCamp happen when the curators and the artists (it seems like there are as many curators as artists here) keep their tongues firmly in cheek. One opening featured a video entitled “Biofeedback Loop,” showing the facial reactions of volunteers who observed live sex. During another Madame Walker Theatre Center opening there were jars of fruit jam Gallery available — to cleanse the palate, as Starting in March 2011, the Madame it were — free for the taking. The jam Walker Center began showing art was, incidentally, quite delicious. 1043 exhibitions on its fourth floor. A recent standout from these shows is Sister Soul, Virginia Ave., 317-426-1321facebook. com/SpaceCampGallery. a collaborative show of paintings by Leslie Dolin and Mike Graves featuring Stutz Art Space images of soul singers from the ‘60s Resident Stutz artist Andy Chen curated and ‘70s. The venue is somewhat of f some fantastic shows in 2011 at this the beaten path from other First Friday venue such as Unclothed: Exploring the venues, and it doesn’t abide by the Art Nude. While Chen no longer directs IDADA First Friday schedule. But these facts shouldn’t prevent you from making the space, he is still involved and will curate the November 2012 Spirit & Place one of the openings here. Just stepping into this historically important venue is an event. The Stutz is a great place to see a sampling of works that you can see every artistic adventure in itself. 617 Indiana Ave., 317-236-2099, walkertheatre.com. spring in the annual Stutz Open House — work by artists such as Joseph Cr one, Lydia Burris, and Travis Little. This spring, Mt. Comfort/Primary Gallery the Stutz Open House will celebrate its This space is operated jointly as a 20th anniversary. 212 W. 10th St., 317partnership between Mt. Comfort and 441-2487, stutzartists.com. the nonprofit arts organization Primary Colours. That is, Primary Colours and wUG LAKU’s STUDIO & gARAGE Mt. Comfort hold art openings here Just walking into the colorful Wug Laku’s on a rotating monthly basis. The work Studio & Garage is an elegant, exciting that Primary exhibits is progressive and contemporary with an emphasis on local surprise. Located in an urban industrial warehouse in the Circle City Industrial artists. Whoever’s in charge, you’ll likely Complex, WLS&G presents innovative find a happy medium in this gallery and thought-provoking crafts and space on the line where the accessible contemporary fine art on a monthly basis and the cutting edge meet. 1043 Virginia Ave., mtcomfort.tumblr.com, as part of the IDADA First Friday Gallery Tour. Featuring two galleries and a working primarygallery.tumblr.com. artists’ space in the garage area. WLS&G is open Wednesdays, 5-9 p.m., and Saturdays New Day Meadery from noon-4 p.m. 1125 Brookside Ave. If you have want to treat your palate to C7, 317-270-8258, wlsandg.com. some wines while sampling some the palettes of some of Indy’s finer artists, you need look no further than this Fountain Square wine bar. The curating of the art shows is a cut above the EVENTS slap-on-the-wall treatment you see too often at coffee houses and restaurants. SEPTEMBER A recent standout was the July 2012 Herencia: The New Latino opening featuring the engaging and Identity/La Neuva Imagen Latina wildly colorful watercolors of Emma Personality politics meet art in a Bennett. 1102 Prospect St., 888-632showcase of the latest from the Indy 3379, newdaymeadery.com. Latino art scene. Sept. 7 @ Two-Thirds Studio, 1043 Virginia Ave., Ste. 205; Oct. 5 @ Big Car Service Center

Elise Swchitzer, “Lotus Hands” @ Gallery 924 (Nov. 2-30). Penrod Arts Fair 300-plus artists, six stages of entertainment, a giant kids’ area (the festival is named for Tarkington’s lovable scamp, after all), 50 arts non-profits — and one Nancy Noel, this year’s headliner, returned to her old stomping grounds, where in her early years she did on-thespot portraits of children all the day long. Sept. 8 on the grounds of the Indianapolis Museum of Art Art Squared A three-for-one deal in Fountain Square, featuring the Fountain Square Art Fair, Masterpiece in a Day (which challenges artists of all types to cr eate the best thing — whatever it is — by 5 p.m.) — and the Fountain Square Art Parade, a moveable feast of lawnmower squads, performance art on a float and other weirdness that takes off after the deadline for Masterpiece. Sept. 22 in Fountain Square Oranje The city’s pre-eminent art party moves a bit north from its former Illinois Street digs this year, taking over the Centennial Hall at the State Fairgrounds for an evening of music, dance, booze, film, performance art, fashion and plenty more. Musicians on the (juried) bill include classical garage band T ime for Three and hip-hop mainstays Mr. Kinetik and Rusty Redenbacher. On the artist side, you’ve got Quincy Owens, painting the spaces between things, and comic book dude Stuart Saygar, among others. Sept. 22 @ Indiana State Fairgrounds Herron School of Art + Design: Papercuts Reni Gower is the prime mover behind an exhibition highlighting contemporary paper cutting, featuring all manner of rolled, cut, punched, folded and pinned work. Sept. 26-Nov. 10 Art vs. Art If that’s a guy with a chainsaw on stage and he’s not a member of Jackyl, then you’r e probably at Art vs. Art, Primary Colours’ death match pitting painting vs. painting in a zero-sum fight for audience acclamation. You probably know the drill: Artists create the very best painting they’ve got in them during a timed session, then paintings winning an online auction head to the final round, a battle at The Vogue in which the losing paintings in a head-to-head vote are

destroyed by a method that may involve acid, the aforementioned chainsaw, the breath of fire, an axe or maybe some new method inspired by the Spanish Inquisition this time around. Sept. 28 @ The Vogue

OCTOBER Christel DeHaan Fine Arts Center Gallery: Jonpaul Smith: Only the Essentials Paper is certainly one of the essentials for Cincinnati’s Jonpaul Smith, a 30-something Hanover College grad whose most eye-catching work may be his complex, tapestry-like constructs, made up of hundreds of interwoven strips of discarded consumer packaging. Oct. 1-21 Harrison Center for the Arts: FoodCon III This year’s edition of FoodCon, just about the most whimsical, free-thinking meditation on all things food this side of El Bulli, features exhibits relating in some manner to the “food cycle,” which for the purposes of the event refers to the process leading from birth to growth to maturity to death, and back again. Oct. 5 Herron School of Art + Design: Turnin’ It! The Art and Culture of Drag Contemporary photography, costumes and artifacts tell the story of drag in America, including elements pertaining to the local drag scene. Oct. 5-25 Indiana’s Emerging Glass Artists Exhibition $200 and an exhibition at Carmel’s ArtSplash Gallery will go to the Best in Show winner at this competition, presented by the Indiana Glass Arts Alliance and the Arts Council of Indianapolis. Oct. 5-26 @ The Artsgarden Pete Brown: BLIND Audience members are encouraged to touch, feel, listen and interact with artwork in a show created in collaboration with Bosma Enterprises, a non-profit providing services for the visually impaired and blind. Oct. 5-26 @ Gallery 924 SpaceCamp MicroGallery: Peter Schenck Matrushka prints, Warhol and Lego men come to mind when looking at the Philly-

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Joseph Crone, “Rhythmic Commodity” @ Wug Laku’s Studio and Garage (Feb. 2013). based Schenck’s playful, poppy, solidcolored paintings. Oct. 5 Indianapolis Museum of Contemporary Art: Color Me That’s what Andy J. Miller’s three 16-foot murals will whisper simultaneously to you beginning Oct. 5. In “Color me!” Miller plans to draw inspiration from Fountain Square in creating his murals, which he’ll leave unfinished to allow for the involvement of you, the random citizen, invited upon to color in the spaces with markers. He’ll also doubtlessly draw from his own stock of characters and imagery, particularly those surreal creatures that populate his imaginative world, which he calls Nod. Miller has worked for a substantial list of corporate clients as a character designer and brand content provider, including Sony, Google, Smart Car and the kids’ show Yo Gabba Gabba, whose draw-in-a-notebook-while-highon-Pixy-Stix vibe substantially aligns with Miller’s own work. Oct. 5-Nov. 17 Wug Laku’s Studio and Garage: Polina Osherov: Polina in the City In a new series of photographs, Osherov — fashion photographer extraordinaire and one of the founding members of Pattern collective — depicts an Indianapolis devoid of people but seemingly waiting for them to arrive and thus imbued with a certain dramatic tension. Oct. 5-27 Indianapolis Museum of Art: Project IMA

For this year’s Project IMA, a runway show featuring new work by local and national designers, participants were invited to create pieces based on clothing in An American Legacy: Norell, Blass, Halston and Sprouse, an IMA exhibition featuring work by the four titular Indiana-based designers. Oct. 11 Indianapolis Art Center: Angela Piehl: Drawings Piehl, a professor at Oklahoma State, says she examines the bourgeois world through a gender-queer perspective, an approach which has brought forth graphite drawings of flora and fauna that fall somewhere between John Audubon and Aubrey Beardsley, and photos of Japanese floating plants that gesture toward both the Romantic illustrations of Ernst Haeckle and nature films of Jean Painleve. Oct. 12-Dec. 2 Indianapolis Art Center: Rachel Bleil It’s all about the teddy bear these days for Bleil, rendered in sgraffito on ceramic. Oct. 12-Dec. 2 Broad Ripple: Broad Ripple Fall Gallery Tour A second Friday tour of all that the ‘lil village that could has to offer. Oct. 12 Eiteljorg Museum of American Indians and Western Art: National Geographic: Greatest Photographs of the American West Featuring 75 photographs drawn from the magazine’s 125-year-old archive, this show opens simultaneously in 10 museums in October. Oct. 27-Feb. 10

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NOVEMBER Indianapolis Museum of Art: Belief and Beauty: Crossing Bridges with the Arts of Islamic Culture A 14th-15th century calligraphic scroll inscribed mainly in Arabic and decorated with ink, watercolor and gold is among the more that 250 objects — including ceramics, paintings, woodcarvings and textiles — that make up a show featuring art created in Islamic societies from the seventh century to the present. Nov. 2-Jan. 13 Stutz Art Space: Insert Coin to Play Video game-inspired work by painters, sculptors, photographers and multimedia artists, presented as part of Spirit & Place. Nov. 2 @ SpaceCamp MicroGallery: Marc Blumthal ArtFagCity notes of Blumthal’s digitally altered panorama photos that “the mix of mechanical and psychedelic puts the viewer on edge.” Nov. 2 Indianapolis Museum of Art: Lauren Zoll: Something Is Local conceptual artist Lauren Zoll took her time in preparing the paintings and videos that comprise her newly commissioned exhibition, Something Is. She began creating each large-scale painting in the show by pouring black latex paint over drywall. The paintings were then left to dry — or not, depending on the climate

in her studio during a given season. She then filmed the surfaces in various settings, including her own studio (with Zoll herself reflected in the painting) and the str eets of Indianapolis (when she strapped a painting to the roof of her car). Nov. 16-April 14

DECEMBER Indianapolis Art Center: Sofiya Inger: Story Dome Project Sofiya Inger is asking for stories as part of her Story Dome Project — any story, in any form, really. She’ll take them in written, painted, drawn, scratched, stamped or sewn form; one suspects she’ll even entertain other media and surfaces, though one might call ahead before submitting, say, a poem incised in hieroglyph on a rotten gourd. And while the call has been out ther e all year, she’ll still take last-minute submissions to P.O. Box 4478, Carmel, IN, 46082 thr ough the fall. The final product goes up in December at the Indianapolis Art Center. Dec. 2-Feb. 3 Gallery 924: This Show is Tiny 50 Central Indiana artists showcase miniature works in a variety of traditional and unusual media. Dec. 7-Jan. 24 @ SpaceCamp MicroGallery: Alma Leiva: Celdas (Prison Cells) In her series of staged photographs of bedrooms, the Miami-based Leiva reflects upon the lives of Central Americans whose lives are compromised and limned in by violence. Some photos show a self-

contained world where, in an absurd twist, recreational activities traditionally conducted outdoors are moved inside, seemingly by those afraid to leave their room. One photo shows a tiny dirt soccer field sitting before a couch; another, a sandy beach with umbrella and chair abutting an end table. Dec. 7 Indianapolis Museum of Contemporary Art: Global Space A collection of works about — and enabled by — global networking. Curated by Ben Valentine. Dec. 7-Jan. 12 Indianapolis Museum of Art: Graphite Carl Andre, Karl Haendel, Kim Jones, Robert Longo and Geof Oppenheimer are among the artists included in an IMAorganized exhibition exploring recent, innovative uses of graphite in sculptures, drawings and installations. Notable pieces include Andre’s “Graphite Sum of Numbers”, comprised of 164 unites of machined graphite arranged in a geometric progression on the gallery’s floor and Jones’ “War Drawing”, created for the exhibition and featuring a diagram of drawn graphite x’s vs. o’s, with erasures marking where an “x” took down an “o,” and vice versa. Dec. 7-March 10

“investigates public space and its relationship to data,” offering up his work in order to aid the ordinary person in hacking his way out of the technological morass. He’s created a Facebook app designed to help users recover their data, several series exploring the impact of militarism on daily life (the Bedford-born Mundy once worked as a photographer for the U.S. Navy) and he founded the Bloomington-based nonprofit Your Art Here. Feb. 27-April 13

MARCH SpaceCamp MicroGallery: Eco-Logic: Artists’ Takes on Environmental Changes National and international artists reflect upon global climate change in a show funded in part by an IUPUI Institute for Arts and Humanities research grant. March 1

Eiteljorg Museum of American Indians and Western Art: Guitars The Eiteljorg drew from museum and private collections around the country for its show about the emblematic instrument of the American West. Dobros, hollow-necked steel guitars, resonator guitars and electric guitars are included in Guitars, which pays attention to all genres of the West, from Primary Gallery: TOYS flamenco to Hawaiian folk, and includes Primary Colours’ annual fundraiser for instruments owned and played by Gene VSA Indiana features all manner of toyAutry, Roy Rogers, Woody Guthrie, Hank inspired work. Dec. 7 Williams, Jimi Hendrix and Kurt Cobain. Not to mention the Gibson guitar used to FEBRUARY create tracks for Guitar Hero games (you Indianapolis Museum of Contemporary know, for the kids). March 9-Aug. 4 Art: Hulleah Tsinhnahjinnie and Wendy Red Star APRIL Hulleah Tsinhnahjinnie is a 2003 Eiteljorg Indianapolis Art Center: Creative Fellow and director of C. N. Gorman Renewal Fellows Exhibition Museum at UC Davis, which, like the They’re back, and they’re refreshed: Our Eiteljorg, is dedicated in part to showing city’s creative fellows, rejuvenated after work by contemporary Native American artists. Wendy Red Star’s approach — self- travel to and studies in foreign climes. April 12-June 9 described “cultural archivist” of Crow Indian history, — makes use of and updates Indianapolis Museum of conventional Crow imagery in work that’s been exhibited everywhere from Bozeman Contemporary Art: Chido Johnson Born in Zimbabwe (then Rhodesia) to to Paris. Feb. 1-March 16 white missionaries, and now based in Detroit after relocating to the U.S. at age Wug Laku’s Studio and Garage: 17, Johnson creates sculpture that would Joseph Crone: seem autobiographically inspired, as in Voyeuristic Tendencies 2008’s smile, an installation comprised of New drawings by Crone, who uses minstrel-like ebony figures modeled after staged photographs as reference to Johnson himself. April 5-May 18 create scenes described by NUVO’s Dan Grossman as having a “hyper-real, luminescent precision reminiscent of film MAY noir stills.” Feb. 1-22 SpaceCamp MicroGallery: Simon Fillici: July 30th, 1945 Formal/Informal Conversations: A site-specific installation by the ItalySculpture and Monoprints by based Frillici will reflect upon the fate of Garry Bibbs the USS Indianapolis, torpedoed by Japan The Lexington-based Bibbs works both at a cost of 817 lives. May 3 big (his Biblically inspired “Glory,” an 80-foot tall steel and bronze sculpture installed outside what was formerly the J. F. Miller Center) and more intimately (his graffiti-inspired monoprints). NUVO’s Julianna Thibodeaux has described Bibbs’s sculpture as typically “frenetic yet accessible.” Christel DeHaan Fine Arts Center Gallery: Feb. 18-March 15 Herron School of Art + Design: Owen Mundy Mundy’s work resists the thumbnail sketch. He’ll tell you that he

Broad Ripple Art Fair The Art Center’s largest fundraiser typically features more than 225 artists from the U.S. and Canada, as well as several stages’ worth of music and a beer and wine garden. May 18 and 19 on the grounds.

See www.nuvo.net for a complete arts calendar

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MUSIC

1960 Slide leaves Maynard to develop his own band, the Octet. The combination of stellar players — including Freddie Hubbard, Booker Little, Julian Priester, Pete LaRoca and George Coleman — and Slide’s deft writing leads to the r ecording session for Sister Salvation on Atlantic.

SLIDE HAMPTON AT 80 It’s all about Slide at this year’s Indy Jazz Fest. The youngest of the Hampton clan will be the guest of honor at two tr ibutes shows during the fest’s Sunset Series. The first one (Sept. 13 at the Christel DeHaan Fine Arts Center) doubles as a celebration for the 50th anniversary of WICR, the city’s only station playing classical and jazz. That one’s free; you’ll have to come up with $30 for an all-star tr ibute the next night (Sept. 14 at The Jazz Kitchen), featuring the Steve Allee Big Band. — Jeff Reed 1932 Locksley Wellington Hampton is born — the 12th and final progeny of “Deacon” Clarke Hampton and his wife Laura. Like his siblings before him, young Locksley is expected to perform with the family band, which he does at first by singing and dancing. 1944 Hampton takes up the trombone, by decree, since the band is in need of one. He quickly cottons to the dif ficult instrument; in fact, the more challenging it becomes, the harder he works. Playing in the band, however, takes up most his time. “We practiced all day,” he said. “We were a drag to everybody.” 1952 The band opens for Lionel Hampton (no relation) at Carnegie Hall. While in New York, “Locksley” Hampton hears Bud Powell’s group at Birdland, which changes his life. “I suddenly had a gr eat desire to move to New York,” he said.

1953 Hampton, now known as “Slide,” joins the Buddy Johnson Big Band, which gets him to his destination: New York. Johnson takes the young trombonist under his wing and encourages him to write and arrange. 1955 Slide joins the Lionel Hampton Big Band, which takes him overseas for the first time. “Europe was exciting, a little too exciting; I could have been a better musician if I hadn’t been so impressed.” He composes “Gladys,” dedicated to Lionel’s wife, which becomes a regular band feature. 1958 Slide joins the Maynard Ferguson band and, encouraged by the leader, begins writing and arranging prodigiously. His output includes “Slide’s Derangement,” “Frame for the Blues,” and “Newport.” “I was so glad for the opportunity that I was writing music very fast for the band,” he said. “I’d go in one night, and come out the next morning with an arrangement.”

1963 Art Blakey calls, and Slide answers. After going out and hearing the Blakey band he’s about to join, which includes Joe Henderson, Hubbard and McCoy Tyner, Slide has sudden reservations. “It was shocking,” he said. “They wer e so heavy.” He accepts the challenge, however, and grows as a musician. “Art made everybody play a lot, and being around the other musicians, you actually can’t help but learn.” 1966 As if completing a “who’s who” of the era’s great jazz bands, Slide joins Dizzy Gillespie’s Big Band, whose stars include Lee Morgan, Wynton Kelly, Benny Golson and Curtis Fuller. “The band was so incredible that I stopped arranging and just focused on playing,” he said. 1968 Slide joins the Woody Herman band for a two-week stint in England. While there, he gets invited to Europe and stays nine years—five in Paris, two in Berlin and two in Amsterdam. Europe’s appetite for American jazz seems insatiable. Most major cities have radio and television orchestras, governmentsubsidized public concerts, festivals and an abundance of jazz clubs. “It was like a dream,” Hampton said. “I had drawers full of money.” He writes “A Day In Copenhagen,” for Dexter Gordon, with whom he also records the song.

1979 Desiring to promote the wonderful sound of the trombone, which he felt was seriously under-represented, Slide forms the World of Trombones, a band featuring up to 12 trombones plus rhythm section. It performs his intricate arrangements of Parker and Coltrane compositions and records one album. 1990s Slide begins touring internationally with the Dizzy Gillespie Alumni All-Stars, becomes an advisor and arranger for the Carnegie Hall Jazz Band, and is a featured soloist with the Vanguard Big Band. He also embarks on a series of master classes and jazz clinics at U.S. colleges and universities. “I enjoy sharing with the musicians where the music is coming from, why I love it, and about the musicians before me who inspired me and encouraged me,” he said. 2008 A stroke partially paralyzes his face. “I woke up one morning and couldn’t play the trombone anymore,” he said. Four years pass before he performs again in public. Having relished challenges his whole life, he is determined to over come this, his greatest yet. “I can’t stop the challenges,” he said. “I just try to find some way to deal with them.” 2012 Slide turns 80 and resumes a full regimen of practice, performance, writing, arranging and teaching. “I’m composing now for the big ensemble … I have several I’m going to do, and after that I’m going to let the young guys take over,” he said, “then I’m just going to play.”

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Krzysztof Urbanski with the Indianapolis Symphony Or chestra in 2011.

ORGANIZATIONS/ VENUES

ENCORE’S 2012-13 SEASON: “I Hear America Singing” Tabernacle Presbyterian Church Sat, Oct 6 at 8pm,

“Celebrating Lives” Pleasant View Lutheran Church Sat, Nov 3 at 8pm

“Handel’s “Messiah” Tabernacle Presbyterian Church Sat, Dec 8 at 7:30pm & Sun, Dec 9 at 3pm Indiana Landmarks Center & Mon Dec 10 at 7:30

“The Myth, the Hero, and the Legend” Sat, Feb 9 at 8pm, location TBA

Box Office: “Impressionable” Freidens United Church of Christ

317-576-7676

Sun, April 28 at 3pm,

encorevocalarts.org

American Pianists Association American Pianists Association is a national organization headquartered on the Butler University campus since 1982, when it relocated from New York, then as the Beethoven Foundation. Its mission is to discover, promote and advance young American classical and jazz pianists, ages 18-30, who are preparing for professional careers. APA offers winners of its rigorous competitions equal fellowships and provides ongoing support for its fellows, including management of careers along with cash awards and a roster of recitals and concerts nationwide. The classical and jazz competitions are run separately, each over a four-year span, each offset by two years. 4603 Clarendon Road, Ste. 030, 317-9409945, americanpianists.org. The Cabaret at the Columbia Club Located in the historic Columbia Club on Monument Circle, The Cabaret features intimate performances in the classic cabaret style. While local performers like Shannon Forsell and Brenda Williams can be regularly seen, The Cabaret also brings in top performers from around the country and beyond. Expect a wide range of musical genres, from bebop and blues to boogie and Broadway musical tunes. And all the amenities are in place: a variety of hors d’oeuvres, appetizers, a full dinner and luscious desserts. 121 Monument Circle, Ste. 516, 317-2751169, thecabaret.org. Encore Vocal Arts Encore Vocal Arts is an auditioned, volunteer chamber choir founded in 1972. The 48-member choir performs a wide-ranging four-concert season, appears with other arts organizations throughout Indiana and engages in educational outreach through a variety of activities. The chorale performs in several venues, including Zionsville High School and St. Joan of Arc Catholic Church. P.O. Box 30963, 317-5767676, encorevocalarts.org. Ensemble Music Society This organization has gained a

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reputation for presenting chamber music by the finest world touring groups, playing repertoire from Haydn to the latest in contemporary music. The genres presented include string quartets, piano trios, wind ensembles and works using other diverse performers. Ensemble Music was founded in 1944 by amateur violinist Leonard Strauss (who also helped found the Indianapolis Symphony Orchestra). Sprightly program notes and pre-concert lectures add to the experience. The society hosts groups at its home venue, the Indiana History Center, but the concerts occasionally relocate as circumstance determines. 450 W. Ohio St., 317-818-1288, ensemblemusic.org. Indiana Wind Symphony An all-wind and percussion ensemble made up of 70 members and includes professional musicians, music educators and serious vocational musicians. The repertoire includes band and wind ensemble music of all styles and eras for a six-main-concert season performed in venues across greater Indianapolis, now including Carmel’s Center for the Performing Arts. 317-844-4341, indianawindsymphony.org. Indianapolis Baroque Orchestra This orchestra draws its repertoire primarily from the 17th and 18th centuries — from Monteverdi in the early Baroque to the time of Bach, Handel and Vivaldi in the late Baroque. Its members represent a collaboration of musicians from Indiana’s top professional and academic institutions that perform on original instruments or recently made replicas. Its concert season includes working with other performing arts organizations, such as Ensemble Voltaire, Indianapolis Children’s Choir, Christ Church Cathedral’s Choir of Men and Boys, Indianapolis Baroque Singers and soloists Steven Stolen and Steven Rickards. 401 E. Michigan St., 317808-2224, indybaroque.org. Indianapolis Chamber Orchestra The orchestra of 35 professional musicians provides accompaniment to local arts, educational and religious organizations, including the Indianapolis Opera, Indianapolis

Symphonic Choir, American Pianists Association and Butler University Ballet. It also presents its own reason, drawing from the gamut of symphonic repertoire (including a recent performance of Beethoven’s Ninth Symphony). For over 20 years, Kirk Trevor has been its music dir ector and maestro. 4603 Clarendon Road, 317-940-9607, icomusic.org. Indianapolis Children’s Choir Even with an international reputation and touring schedule, the Indianapolis Children’s Choir remains at its core a music performance and education program for children and youth. The ICC’s annual concert series is augmented by performances at civic and cultural events throughout greater Indianapolis. In 2003, ICC expanded its vast repertoire of classical, folk, ethnic, sacred and secular choral music with the world premiere of an opera for young singers. Auditions ar e held on a competitive basis in January, May and August until the choirs ar e filled. 4600 Sunset Ave., 317-9409640, icchoir.org. Indianapolis Opera For each opera, the company performs in its original language with English surtitles projected above the stage. Renowned touring singers are featured, along with the IO Chorus and either the Indianapolis Symphony or the Indianapolis Chamber Orchestra —

annual Cincinnati May Festival and has appeared at Carnegie Hall and the Kennedy Center. 4600 Sunset Ave., 317-940-9057, indychoir.org. Indianapolis Symphony Orchestra Indiana’s largest performing arts organization, with an annual operating budget of $25 million. The ISO is one of only 17 year -round orchestras in the U.S., with a fully diversified repertoire appealing to a large demographic complement. The ISO’s home is the Hilbert Cir cle Theatre, and the orchestra annually performs about 200 concerts to audiences exceeding 400,000. 32 E. Washington St., 317-634-4300, indianapolissymphony.org.

Faust, Indianapolis Opera, 2012. both conducted by long-term IO artistic director James Caraher. Clowes Memorial Hall, with its 2,200 seats, hosts IO’s full-scale productions while the Basile Opera Center is the venue for small, intimate opera presentations. A proactive audience development component begins with IO’s acclaimed Music!Words!Opera! education program in cooperation with area schools. This program involves the study and creation of works in opera. 4011 N. Pennsylvania St., 317-283-3531, indyopera.org.

Indianapolis Symphonic Choir Indianapolis Symphonic Choir is dedicated to performing choral masterworks, commissioning new works and to providing education and outreach. Over 100 volunteer singers perform regularly with the Indianapolis Symphony Orchestra and the Indianapolis Chamber Orchestra. ISC’s concert season is performed in venues across the city and includes the beloved annual December tradition of the Festival of Carols. The choir performs regionally and nationwide with prestigious programs such as the

IndyChoruses IndyChoruses is a nonprofit musical organization which strives to inspire diversity, equality, and justice through the transformative power of music. Its two choral gr oups, the Indianapolis Men’s Chorus and the Indianapolis Women’s Chorus, have been a presence in Central Indiana for over two decades. The 2012-2013 season will feature three concerts by the men under the theme, Postcards from Britain, and three concerts by the women under the theme, Life’s Full Circle. In addition, both choruses will perform at community events throughout the year and

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work collaboratively with other arts organizations. 317-855-8706, indychoruses.org. International Violin Competition of Indianapolis For 17 days every four years (next in 2014), Indianapolis becomes an arts destination, not only for the U.S. but for the world. 2010 saw the Eighth Quadrennial International Violin Competition of Indianapolis, which launched in 1982. It now ranks among the Brussels Queen Elisabeth Competition and Finland’s Sibelius Competition as the world’s top three for the violin. Prizes and awards are valued at over $250,000. Annually, the IVCI also sponsors the Laureate Chamber Series to feature present and former laureates in concert with local performers. 32 E. Washington St., 317-637-4574, violin.org. Intimate Opera Devoted to giving a shot to both underperformed operas and underemployed singers, Intimate Opera wants you — the opera neophyte — to be not afraid. You don’t need to dress up to go to their shows; heck, audience members were invited to wear their PJs to a show this January. Nor need you feel like like you have no contr ol: The company’s annual Opera on Demand program is dictated by audience feedback (you want contemporary work in English; you got it). IndyFringe is home base for the young company, which has staged

two shows for the IndyFringe Festival, along with performances throughout the year at the IndyFringe Theatre. intimateopera.org

CALENDAR SEPTEMBER Cheryl Bentyne and Mark Winkler: West Coast Cool A couple Manhattan Transfer members kick it mellow and sun-dappled, singing work by Dave Brubeck, Chet Baker, Steve Allen and others of their ilk. Sept. 12 @ The Cabaret at the Columbia Club Indianapolis Symphony Orchestra: Beethoven & Dvorak “Mighty maestro” Krzysztof Urbanski and 2002 Indianapolis Violin Competition of Indianapolis winner Alina Pogostkina kick off the 2012-13 season with a couple Beethovens (the Coriolan Overture and Concerto for Violin and Orchestra in D Major) and Dvorak’s Symphony No. 7 in D Major. Sept. 14, 15 @ Hilbert Circle Theatre Indianapolis Symphonic Choir: Mood Indigo You ain’t been blue; no, no, no. You ain’t been blue, ‘til you’ve hear d the Indianapolis Symphonic Choir’s 24-voice Chamber Singers sing a cabaret-style set. (And we mean that in the best sense, because sometimes

Khaira Arby at the 2010 Lotus Fest. you just have to be blue.) Sept. 16 @ Indiana Landmarks Center

dance trio, making a return visit). Sept. 20-23 in downtown Bloomington

Lotus Festival One of the state’s best musical festivasl is a celebration of the world’s best music, including dance bands that play into the night (well, until curfew) in tents along the main drags of Bloomington, and folk or religious groups stationed in the quieter realms of downtown’s churches and theaters. On the bill for this year ar e Delhi 2 Dublin (Indian and Celtic mashup), Fishtank Ensemble (gypsy jazz), Galant, Tu Perds Ton Temps (all-female Canadian folk singers), JPP (Finnish string quartet), Daniel Kahn & the Painted Bird (klezmer) and Movits! (Swedish

Indianapolis Symphony Orchestra with Time for Three The ISO’s ensemble in residence, Time for Three, takes a spin on the pops side, with Jack Everly conducting. Sept. 21-22 @ Hilbert Circle Theatre, Sept. 23 @ The Palladium at the Center for the Performing Arts Indianapolis Chamber Orchestra with Caroline Goulding Grammy-winning violinist Caroline Goulding opens the Indianapolis Chamber Orchestra season with

PAID ADVERTORIAL

Wheeler Mission art to be on public display Wheeler Mission Ministries may be the last place you expect to see great art in Indianapolis; however, Steven Kelso, Indy Metro Church, and Wheeler Mission’s Hebron Alumni Fellowship (graduates from their men’s addictions program) are proving otherwise. For the past year and a half, Steven Kelso has been commissioned by Indy Metro Church and Wheeler’s Hebron Alumni Fellowship to create large stained glass paintings in the historic Wheeler Mission chapel. With the project two-thirds of the way completed, the public now has a chance to see the progress. It is expected to be finished in 2013. A historical building in the heart of the city, Wheeler Mission’s chapel creates a unique and fascinating atmosphere for a public

Wheeler Mission chapel will open its doors to allow the public to view the progress of its large stained glass paintings.

art space. Indy Metro Church and the Hebron Alumni Fellowship believe the "Windows of the Soul" public art project can bring art to everyone in the city, where they can come and

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be inspired by the project. "The mission… is to build an enduring sanctuary of sacred art to inspire every pilgrim's creative path and embody the values of love and wisdom," Kelso explains. Indy Metro

Church and Wheeler Mission Ministries invite you for a special public arts display on First Friday, September 7th from 6-9pm. Wheeler Mission Ministries is located at 245 North Delaware Street.

with a two-year fellowship worth $100,000, including a fabulous $50,000 cash prize and equally lucrative career assistance in the publicity and booking arenas. It’s a three-part judging process, beginning with a preliminary round to winnow the field down to five finalists, then moving along to the Premiere Series, during which each contestant performs a solo recital and concerto performance with the Indianapolis Chamber Orchestra. Sept. 30, Nov. 11, Dec. 2, Jan. 27, Feb. 24 @ Indiana History Center

OCTOBER Indianapolis Symphony Orchestra: The Genius of Mozart Pianist Shai Wosner, who’s been said to add a “smart, subversive quality” to his “witty, delightful” take on Mozart, is the guest of honor for an all-Mozart pr ogram. Oct. 5, 6 @ Hilbert Circle Theatre

Quartet No. 2 in C Major and Schubert’s Death and the Maiden to the Palladium. Sept. 29 @ The Palladium at the Center for the Performing Arts

Ensemble Music Series: Kalichstein-Laredo-Robinson Trio A piano-cello-violin trio that’s been referred to as “chamber music royalty” by The Washington Post. Oct. 10 @ Indiana History Center

American Pianists Association: Classical Fellowship Awards Premiere Series Every four years the American Pianists Association chooses a Christel DeHaan Classical Fellow, who will walk home

The Galax Quartet: American Prophets and Revolution Though modeled after an early version of the string quartet with its makeup of two violins, a cello and a viola di gamba, The Galax Quartet doesn’t

Chucho Valdes @ The Palladium (Oct. 24). Mendelssohn’s Violin Concert. Michael Torke’s Lucent Variations and Beethoven’s Symphony No. 4 in B-Flat Major are also on the bill. Sept. 29 @ Indiana History Center Parker Quartet “Lucidity and poise” characterize Parker Quartet’s performances, according to The New York Times. The young group brings Part’s Fratres, Britten’s String

3200 square feet Can accomodate up to 150 guests Full catering menu Portable stage No minimum budget … affordable Many seating options Full audio/video capabilities

restrict itself to period works. Case in point: American Prophets and Revolution, a program featuring the world premiere of Pulitzer-winning composer Josef Schwanter’s song cycle Dream Drapery, sung by contralto Karen Clark, as well as pieces by five mor e living composers. Oct. 21 @ Indiana Landmarks Center Chucho Valdes Quartet “His concerts serve as a sonic voyage through the roots and branches of Afro-Cuban music — Yoruba bata drumming, a salsa version of “Stella By Starlight,” a Latin-funk reading of Weather Report’s “Birdland”, a McCoy Tynerish take on “Besame Mucho” — all played with a breathtaking swagger.” That’s The Guardian (UK) on a 2011 concert by 71-year-old Cuban pianist Chuco Valdes. Oct. 24 @ The Palladium at the Center for the Performing Arts Indiana State University Contemporary Music Festival “What impresses me about [Christopher] Theofanidis ... is his ability to blend several musical languages once thought to be mutually exclusive ... there are elements of Asian music, minimalism, high chromaticism, and a sort of brightly colored impressionism ... the results are enormously attractive.” That’s The Washington Post on this year’s guest composer for ISU’s Contemporary Music Festival, the

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Royal Drummers and Dancers of Burundi @ The Palladium (Nov. 2). university’s not so highly publicized weekend of discussions about and performances of new music, which culminates Oct. 26 with a show by the festival’s perennial guest orchestra, the Indianapolis Chamber Orchestra. Oct. 24-26 @ Indiana State University ETHEL with Todd Rundgren ETHEL is a Juilliard-trained string quartet that fears no music. Todd Rundgren is a self-trained musician who can tell you all about his idiosyncratic theories of music (as he did a couple years back as a lecturer at IU Bloomington). The two parties first played together in 2005, when ETHEL was the third wheel on a strange co-bill of Rundgren and Joe Jackson. They join forces again this year for Tell Me Something Good, an outthere celebration of the music of the ‘70s featuring Lou Harrison’s medievalbaroque-Javanese Quartet Set, Arvo Part’s icy Spiegel im Speigel, new arrangements of charts by Afro-alien Sun Ra — and, of course, a whole lot of Rundgren. Oct. 26 @ Clowes Memorial Hall Indianapolis Chamber Orchestra: Classically Contemporary The ICO reinstates its contemporary classical program for a collaborative concert with the University of Indianapolis planned around the visit of one of the country’s greatest living composers, William Bolcom, to UIndy’s campus. Bolcom will be in the house to hear ICO Music Director Kirk Trevor conduct his Symphony No. 3, as well as Grieg’s Two Elegiac Melodies and Vorisek’s Symphony in D Major. Oct. 27 @ Christel DeHaan Performing Arts Center

NOVEMBER Royal Drummers and Dancers of Burundi Burundians have been passing along their performance strategies through the centuries. Even those of us who have little understanding of the symbolic importance of drumming in Burundi culture can doubtless appreciate the pomp and virtuosity. Nov. 2 @ The Palladium at the Center for the Performing Arts Todd Murray: Croon Murray is an unabashed crooner, a “cabaret prince” if you ask Rex Reed (if you must). Nov. 2, 3 @ The Cabaret at the Columbia Club

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Indianapolis Symphony Orchestra: Brahms’ A German Requiem There is a certain virtue in getting a bang for your buck when seeing an or chestra — and that’s usually the case when the ISO is joined by the Indianapolis Symphonic Choir to perform a work calling for significant choral resources. Perhaps this year’s most substantial collaboration is on Brahms’ German Requiem, with Mozart opening. Nov. 2, 3 @ Hilbert Circle Theatre Indianapolis Symphony Orchestra: Spanish Seductions Classical guitarist Milos Karadaglic is the guest of honor for an all-Spanish program featuring Ravel’s Alborada del graciaso, Rodrigo’s Concierto de Aranjuez, Turina’s Sinfonia Sevillana and Rimsky-Korsakov’s Capriccio espagnol. Nov. 8-10 @ Hilbert Circle Theatre Ray Chen Chen, “who can do pretty much anything he wants on the violin” ( The Washington Post), plays Mozart, Brahms and Ysaye. Nov. 11 @ The Palladium at the Center for the Performing Arts Ensemble Music Series: Kuss Quartet “The purity of sound was almost heavenly” said the Houston Chronicle of one rapturous evening with the Kuss Quartet, which will bring Haydn, Janacek and Schubert to Indy. Nov. 14 @ Indiana History Center Victoria Clark: Glorious Days Clark has a Tony under her belt for Best Leading Actress in Musical (The Light in the Piazza), and her list of Broadway appearances goes on and on, stretching back to her 1985 debut in Sunday in the Park with George, which she still appears in every so often. In Glorious Days, she draws from that wide-ranging Broadway experience (from Urinetown to Sister Act: The Musical), while digging up forgotten treasures from Ye Old American Songbooke. Nov. 16, 17 @ The Cabaret at the Columbia Club

DECEMBER

Indianapolis Opera: Amahl and the Night Visitors The first opera written for television has remained a Christmas favorite since its premiere; its story of a physically handicapped boy who encounters the Magi gestures toward both Biblical parables

and Dickens’ A Christmas Carol. Joachim Schamberger, who created the projectionheavy sets for this year’s production of Faust and was recently appointed an Affiliate Artist of the Indianapolis Opera for the 2012-13 season, returns to direct. The opera runs under an hour, making it a viable alternative to The Nutcracker for those looking for a tolerable holiday experience. Dec. 5, 7-9, 12, 14-16 @ Basile Opera Center

JANUARY Pacifica Quartet The three B’s: Beethoven, Bartok and Boccherini. Jan. 18 @ The Palladium at the Center for the Performing Arts The Cleveland Orchestra The world’s seventh-best orchestra — that’s if you ask Gramophone; others might rank them higher — returns to Bloomington with Joshua Bell as guest violinist and music director Franz Welser-Most conducting. (Jan. 23 @ IU Auditorium, Bloomington) Tiempo Libre The guys in the classically-trained Cuban music group Tiempo Libre know their way around timba, a mix between Latin jazz and son, but they’ve also always had a taste for American sounds, which the group’s older members once had to listen to exclusively via Miami radio stations during more stringent years when Cuba banned American music. They tell of their love for Michael Jackson, Chaka Khan and Gloria Estefan on their most r ecent record, My Secret Radio, from which they’ll play selections at Clowes. Jan. 26 @ Clowes Memorial Hall

FEBRUARY

BBC Concert Orchestra The smallest and most populist in approach of the BBC’s five orchestras plays Walton, Haydn and Mendelssohn. Feb. 2 @ The Palladium at the Center for the Performing Arts

East Coast Chamber Orchestra A conductor-less string ensemble, of which Nick Kendall, violinist in ISO ensemble-in-residence Time for Three, is a part, makes one of its infrequent concert appearances, playing Part’s Fratres, Tchaikovsky’s Serenade in C Major and Britten’s Variations on a Theme by Frank Bridge. Feb. 5 @ The Palladium at the Center for the Performing Arts Indianapolis Symphony Orchestra: The Romantic Violinist Adventurous violinist Daniel Hope, whose album The Romantic Violinist was labeled “essential listening” by Gramophone, plays one of that record’s pieces, Bruch’s Concerto No. 1 for Violin and Orchestra, with Brahms and Beethoven bookending. Urbanski conducts. Feb. 14-16 @ Hilbert Circle Theatre Indianapolis Chamber Orchestra with Spencer Myer and Steven Stolen The ICO heads back to cabaret’s stomping grounds of yore for a show with vocalist and moment-stealer Steven Stolen and American Pianists Association fellow Spencer Myer highlighted by a performance of pasty king ‘o’ jazz Paul Whiteman’s original arrangement of Rhapsody in Blue. Feb. 16 @ Athenaeum Theatre Ensemble Music Series: JACK Quartet We millenarians have centuries of music at our fingertips but tend not to stray from beaten paths. Not so the JACK Quartet, a youthful, adventurous group that will jump from music of the Italian Renaissance to tricky, modern selections by Ligeti, Lutoslawski and Xenakis when they visit the IMA’s Toby Theatre to fill Ensemble Music’s contemporary music slot for the season. Feb. 21 @ Toby Theatre, Indianapolis Museum of Art China National Symphony Orchestra China’s up-and-coming orchestra plays

intimate classic original 2012 | 2013 season SAT SEPT 29 5:30pm

Caroline Goulding, violin Mendelssohn’s Violin Concerto.

intimate

Eugene and Marilyn Glick Indiana History Center

SAT OCT 27 8:00pm

Classically Contemporary

William Bolcom’s Symphony No. 3 Christel DeHaan Performing Arts Center at the University of Indianapolis

SAT DEC 8 7:30pm | SUN DEC 9 3:00pm

Handel’s Messiah The Complete Ontario Tabernacle Presbyterian Church

MON DEC 10 7:30pm

Messiah Sing-Along

Selections from Handel’s masterpiece. Indiana Landmarks Center

SAT FEB 16 8:00 pm

Spencer Myer & Steven Stolen Cabaret Style, Gershwin’s Rhapsody in Blue Athenaeum Theatre

original

FRI MAR 15 8:00 pm

Clara-Jumi Kang, violin Beethoven’s Violin Concerto.

Eugene and Marilyn Glick Indiana History Center

FRI APR 19 7:30 pm

Show People 1928 Silent Film with live Orchestra IMA Tobias Theater

SAT MAY 18 8:00 pm

Dudana Mazmanishvili, piano Mozart’s Piano Concerto No. 27. Howard L. Schrott Center for the Arts at Butler University

Tune into WFYI 90.1 FM every Monday at 10PM to hear Indianapolis Chamber Orchestra Broadcasts

For tickets, visit www.icomusic.org or call 317.940.9607

Anne Sophie-Mutter @ The Palladium (March 8).

ALLEN WHITEHILL CLOWES CHARITABLE FOUNDATION

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Xia Guan, Sibelius and Rachmaninoff. Feb. 22 @ The Palladium at the Center for the Performing Arts Renee Fleming One of the world’s top sopranos. Feb. 24 @ The Palladium at the Center for the Performing Arts

MARCH Christopher O’Riley From the Top host and Radiohead interpreter Christopher O’Riley returns to Indy. March 1 @ The Tarkington at the Center for the Performing Arts Anne Sophie-Mutter (March 8 @ The Palladium at the Center for the Performing Arts) A glamorous wunderkind who’s grown wise mentor without losing her fondness of fast tempos, violinist Anne Sophie-Mutter makes a rare Central Indiana appearance to play Lutoslawski’s Partita, Schubert’s Fantasie in C Major, Previn’s Second Sonata for Violin and Piano and Saint-Saens’ Sonata for V iolin and Piano in D Minor. Indianapolis Opera: Akhnaten Glass’s opera about the titular pharaoh famous for his proto-montheistic move to elevate the sun god, Aten, above all others is presented in collaboration with IU Opera, with students cast in all performing roles. That’s a moneysaving measure, to be sure, but also an opportunity to shine some light on one of the best college opera pr ograms in the world. This is the first time the Indianapolis Opera has presented work by Glass, and one of the first contemporary operas ever staged by the company. March 8, 9 @ Clowes Memorial Hall Carmel Symphony Orchestra with Cameron Carpenter Concert organ ranks somewhere between bassoon and viola da gamba on a list of instruments least likely to jive well with a marketing campaign that portrays a virtuoso on said instrument as hip and cool and surprisingly muscular. But such is the case with Carpenter, who puts across oracular, opaque statements like “the biggest symbol of what is wr ong for me about the pipe organ is the pipe organ,” between gigs on that symbol of wrongness that demonstrate his “shrewd showmanship, dazzling technique and profound thinking about his instrument and its place in the musical cosmos” (San Francisco Chronicle). March 9 @ The Palladium at the Center for the Performing Arts Indianapolis Chamber Orchestra with Clara-Jumi Kang 2010 International Violin Competition of Indianapolis gold medalist ClaraJumi Kang performs Beethoven’s Violin Concerto. Also on the program are Biber’s Battalia and Schumann’s Symphony No. 1. March 15 @ Indiana History Center Indianapolis Symphony Orchestra: Beethoven’s Fifth A chance to hear Urbanski’s vision for the Fifth, plus Schumann and Brahms. March 22, 23 @ Hilbert Circle Theatre Barbara Cook & Michael Feinstein On one side, you’ve got an absolute

Cameron Carpenter @ The Palladium (March 9). legend of the musical theater and cabar et stage, on Broadway since 1951; on the other, Mr. Great American Songbook himself, recently appointed successor to Martin Hamlisch as principal pops conductor for the Pasadena Pops. March 23 @ The Palladium at the Center for the Performing Arts

APRIL Ensemble Music Series: Pavel Haas Quartet Figure on Brahms, Schnittke and Beethoven. Apr. 10 @ Indiana History Center Indianapolis Symphonic Choir: Bach & Lauridsen If you see one Indianapolis Symphonic Choir show all year, make it this one. On one hand you’ve got Lux Aeterna, a lighter-than-air piece by choral music’s go-to composer at present; on the other, Bach’s setting of the Magnificat. If the souffle rises, it will be a mighty souffle, indeed. April 12 @ Clowes Memorial Hall Indianapolis Symphony Orchestra: The Rite of Spring A mighty doubleheader. In the first part, Dejan Lazic performs his own arrangement of Brahms’ Violin Concert for piano, described as the “sort of thing Brahms might have done” by The Telegraph (UK) — and could well have done if he had the druthers, given that Beethoven once transcribed his violin concerto for piano. Then after the break, Urbanski leads the ISO in the r elentless, feral The Rite of Spring. April 12, 13 @ Hilbert Circle Theatre American Pianists Association: Classical Discovery Week The third and final round in the battle to become a Christel DeHaan Classical Fellow is a week-long affair including solo recitals, outreach concerts and a concerto

performance with the Indianapolis Symphony Orchestra. Chamber music, new music and song recitals take place through the week at Butler University, Christ Church Cathedral and the Indiana History Center; the gala finals are April 19 and 20 at the Hilbert Circle Theatre, with winners being announced following the final night’s performance. April 15-20 American String Quartet (April 26 @ The Palladium at the Center for the Performing Arts) Clarinetist Richard Stolzman joins the quartet for Mozart’s Clarinet Quintet, with Haydn and Dvorak also on the bill. Lea Solonga in Concert The voice of Mulan and Jasmine fr om Aladdin — not to mention the first-ever Kim in Miss Saigon — performs songs from stage and screen. Jack Everly conducts. April 26, 27 @ Hilbert Circle Theatre, April 28 @ The Palladium at the Center for the Performing Arts

MAY Ensemble Music Series: St. Lawrence String Quartet Clarinetist Todd Palmer joins the St. Lawrence crew for music by Haydn, Mozart (the Clarinet Quintet in A) and Osvaldo Golijov’s klezmer-based Dreams and Prayers of Isaac the Blind . May 8 @ Indiana History Center Indianapolis Opera: The Flying Dutchman Using set designs similar to those he employed for Indianapolis Opera’s May 2012 production of Faust, Joachim Schamberger directs Wagner’s The Flying Dutchman, presented 200 years following the composer’s birth. It’s among the more user-friendly of Wagner’s works, full of his characteristic tricks (leitmotifs, etc.) in nascent form. May 10, 12 @ Clowes Memorial Hall Indianapolis Chamber Orchestra with Dudana Mazmanishvili The ICO wraps up its season with

Mozart’s Piano Concerto No. 27, performed by the Georgianborn Mazmanishvili; Villa-Lobos’ Bachianas Brasileiras No. 9; and Copland’s Appalachian Spring. May 18, location TBA Indiana Wind Symphony: Trumpetissimo with Allen Vizzutti Seattle-based trumpeter Allen Vizzutti has chops for miles, though don’t let all that virtuosity fool you; although he’s the kind of technically facile musician who pops up on YouTube playing something impossibly fast (“Carnival of Venice,” for one), he’s perhaps distinguished himself more in recent years as a concert soloist and educator. So while you’ll get fireworks at the final concert on the Indiana Wind Symphony’s season (with another trumpeter by trade, Charles Conrad, on the podium), there’ll be substance to go with all that flash. May 25 @ The Palladium at the Center for Performing Arts Indianapolis Symphony Orchestra: An American Rhapsody One of the many great things about having Time for Three in town is that we sometimes get the chance to hear world premieres by some of our country’s best composers. Pulitzerwinning composer William Bolcom, who also comes to Indy in November as a guest lecturer at University of Indianapolis, is the latest to work up a piece for the violin-violin-bass trio; his Games and Challenges: Something Wonderful Right Away premieres on a bill also featuring Ber nstein and Gershwin. Urbanski conducts. May 30-June 1 @ Hilbert Circle Theatre

See www.nuvo.net for a complete music calendar

100% RECYCLED PAPER // NUVO // 2012 // arts guide

FROM LEFT: The cast of 1984’s Galena Summit, in a photo featured in Dance Magazine; Roberta Wong in a 1997 performance of Carmi na Burana; Liberty Harris dances the title role in 2008’s Scheherazade.

DANCE

CITY IN MOVEMENT: DANCE KALEIDOSCOPE AT 40 OK, so we’re actually into DK’s 41st season, but we never really told of the company’s history during its just completed 40th season. So consider this a slightly belated reconsideration of our city’s foremost modern dance troupe, which has grown from an amateur group presenting infrequent shows, to a full-blown professional company that has benefitted from the longtime involvement and devotion of ar tistic director David Hochoy and a committed crew of dancers who come from far and wide to make I ndy their home. — Rita Kohn 1977 In its fifth year, DK presented its first public concert as a professional company at the Athenaeum, the original home of the Indiana Repertory Theatre, beginning the longstanding collaboration between DK and IRT.

aspects of mountain climbing set on Steve Reich’s score, comprised DK’s New York City debut at the worldrenowned Riverside Dance Festival. Dance Magazine’s review, described DK as “an extremely well-trained and rehearsed company.”

1979-1987 Magic of Christmas Love became an annual holiday sell-out event at the Children’s Museum Lilly Theatre and toured. Described as a moder n-day Nutcracker it combined a variety of music and dance styles “to tell the importance of love and sharing.” 1986-1991 DK partnered with Indianapolis Symphony Orchestra to produce A Yuletide Celebration forerunner to the current ISO holiday program.

1987 Greg Louganis, 1984 and 1988 Olympic gold medalist diver, made his professional dance debut with DK on IRT’s Upper Stage. DK participated in the opening ceremonies of the Pan Am Games hosted by Indianapolis and for the closing ceremonies presented choreographer Marc Bogaerts’ commissioned Games.

1984 Galena Summit, Kathryn Posin’s highly acclaimed work depicting

1990 DK premiered A Hole in the Sky (one man’s garbage) a commissioned work by renowned dancer, choreographer, visual artist Christopher Pilafian. “Supported by the Indianapolis Clean Air Committee, we were ahead of the curve presenting

a work dedicated to environmental protection,” commented Cherri Jaffee (DK’s artistic director 1977-1991). 1992 The 1991-92 season introduced Hochoy’s tradition of full evening works exploring the complexity of human beings. Scheherazade, set on Rimsky-Korsakov’s music, brilliantly frames the work within the vision of a child reading The Arabian Nights. Beverly Sikes originated the storyteller who beguiles the king for 101 nights and reprised in 1995. Liberty Harris made the role hers in 2004 and again in 2008 when the Indianapolis Symphony Orchestra conducted by Sean Newhouse performed with DK. 1993: Hochoy describes Seasons as one man’s journey that could be all of us. Rory Johnson originated the role, Ricardo Melendez took it on 1997-98 and in 2003-04 when Kenoth Shane Patton grasped the lead, Melendez reprised his original 1993 role as the love interest, layering a startling perspective on the relationship — at that point Melendez was “an older person.”

1997 Remounted in 1999-2000, 2001-02, 2005-06, 2008-09, Hochoy describes iconoGlass as “forcing dancers to their physical limits to do their personal best, and the audience goes wild.” 2000: Continually growing in breadth and depth, the 2007 version of The Planets in collaboration with the Indianapolis Symphony Orchestra and Indianapolis Symphonic Choir premiered new choreography for Mercury and added Neptune to the depiction of Mars, Venus, Jupiter, Saturn and Uranus in “human terms.” 2011: : DK enters IndyFringe Festival and gar ners top honors Piaf :A Celebration was a sellout at TOTS’ intimate stage. The grit, grind, humor and honesty of Edith Piaf ’s human landscape returns to DK’s 201213 season at IRT’s Upper Stage.

1995 Reprised in 1996-97, 2002-03 and 2010, Love Songs is a collaboration between tenor Steven Stolen and accompanist Catherine Bringerud spanning the spectrum of love.

100% RECYCLED PAPER // NUVO // 2012 // arts guide

ORGANIZATIONS Angel Burlesque One of the newest burlesque troupes in town seems to be one of the busiest. Both the troupe and the openmic night are open to people of all sizes; several members will tell you about how getting up on stage in a burlesque setting helped them get over body image issues. 317-345-5782, angelburlesque.com. Bottoms Up Burlesque The city’s oldest burlesque troupe dates its founding to 2003 when it debuted at what was supposed to be a one-of f charity gig during the Melody Inn’s Punk Rock Night. The event became annual. To give you a flavor of their talents, last year’s iteration took place Oct. 22 and included a routine based on the earchewing scene from Reservoir Dogs, a jazzy cabaret routine to Van Morrison’s “Moondance” and a “spanking-fordollars” fundraising booth, which is as it sounds. bottomsupburlesque.com Butler Ballet Butler Ballet is the performance component of the department of dance and is modeled after a professional company performing classical choreography and contemporary works by Butler faculty and guest artists at Clowes. Butler Ballet presents a season of three productions for the public. Butler Chamber Dance is another component performing contemporary choreography created by the dance

Rocket Doll Revue

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faculty. 317-940-6000. butler.edu/contact-us/ Central Indiana Dance Ensemble Founded in 1999 CIDE provides an environment for aspiring young dancers to perform in a variety of styles. In 2006 CIDE received Honor Company status in the Regional Dance America Association. The company presents a repertory concert in mid-winter, showcasing the senior and apprentice dancers and a full-length spring production. CIDE gives back to the community through outreach programs and complimentary performances for children’s organizations. The company performs at Carmel’s Tarkington Theater, among other venues. 14950 Frontage Road, Carmel, 317-8447453, cidedance.org. Dance Kaleidoscope A contemporary company whose dancers are trained in classical ballet and Graham Technique, DK performs regularly at the Indiana Repertory Theatre and other venues including the Athenaeum and Clowes — and continues a fruitful relationship with Oregon Shakespeare Festival in Ashland, Ore., along with performing at other national festivals. Everything is top-notch, from costuming to lighting to choreography, and the company is all about collaboration, performing to live music and spoken narrative, and presenting guest choreographers including Cynthia Pratt, Norman Walker and Nicholas Owens. 4603 W. Carmel Drive, Carmel, 317940-6555, dancekal.org.

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LAW OFFICE OF RICHARD A MANN PC R EGISTERED D OMESTIC R EL ATIONS M EDIATOR C ERTIFIED F AMILY L AW S PECIALIST by the Indiana Family Law Certiﬁcation Board

Alvin Ailey American Dance Theater @ Clowes Memorial Hall (March 19). Dance Magic Performing Arts Company Dance Magic Performing Arts Company was founded to give young and aspiring artists a place to gr ow and develop their dance and artistic talents in both the classical and musical theater worlds. Since 1981, DMPAC has been preparing students for a career in the performing arts through a broad spectrum of technical ability and performance experience. 10605 Deme Drive, 317-823-9117, dmpac.net Gregory Hancock Dance Theatre A troupe offering a socially conscious form of professional modern dance, GHDT is perhaps best known for its alternative version of The Nutcracker. The troupe doubles in size during the summer when dancers from professional companies, college programs and area schools work alongside veteran GHDT members as part of the theatre’s pre-professional mentoring initiative. Since 2011 GHDT has been the Resident Professional Dance Company at Carmel’s Tarkington Theatre. 329 Gradle Drive, Carmel, 317-846-2441, gregoryhancockdancetheatre.org. Iibada Dance Company The Iibada Dance Company specializes in African and modern dance. Children ages 5– 18 perform throughout Indianapolis at the Indianapolis Artsgarden, The Children’s Museum of Indianapolis, Black Expo, Madame Walker Theatre Center, Riley Hospital for Children and many other locations. Artists also visit schools. 317-250-7647, iibadadance.org. Indiana Ballet Conservatory Indiana Ballet Conservatory’s core missions are to provide the highest in pre-professional ballet and dance training, to share the art of dance through performances and outreach programs for underserved youth and the elderly, and to bring arts education to the public schools and to those with special needs through targeted workshops. IBC performs at Penrod and IMA’s Toby Theater. 849 W. Carmel Drive, Carmel, 317-379-1188; indianaballetconservatory.org

Indianapolis City Ballet A presenting organization, Indianapolis City Ballet annually presents one gala fund-raising concert featuring soloists from other companies dancing their signature repertoire at the Old National Centre. For its 2011 gala, students from dance schools throughout greater Indianapolis were recruited for a “Young Stars of Ballet” program. ICB also offers master classes to supplement programming at other ballet schools. 8605 Allisonville Road, 317-339-1413, indianapoliscityballet.org.

3750 KENTUCKY AVE INDIANAPOLIS, INDIANA PHONE : 317.821.1976 www.rmannlawofﬁce.com

Indianapolis School of Ballet With an emphasis on “keeping in step with the advancement of American dance in the 21st century,” the Indianapolis School of Ballet offers classical ballet and other dance forms to students of all ages and levels. Master classes have been offered since ISB’s founding in 2006. Graduates of ISB have entered prestigious university programs and these graduates now are performing in regional companies. ISB’s pre-professional students perform alongside guest dancers for a season at Scottish Rite Cathedral, Indianapolis Artsgarden and Penrod and at other special performances. ISB resides in state of the art studios at 502 N. Capitol Ave., 317-9557525, indyballet.org. Motus Dance Theatre Now operating out of its studio in Fountain Square, Motus Dance Theatre has built an enthusiastic following, performing dances by a variety of choreographers that run a gamut from the lyrical to the defiant, with a dash of fun usually thrown in for good measure. From a choreographic standpoint, Motus favors a collective approach, creating a platform for the members of its company, as well as opportunities for collaboration with other artists by offering exposure to fresh, unconventional dance, particularly by partnering with emerging, edgy music groups. Cultivate, Motus’ November Choreographers Showcase, offers a stage for emerging talent nationwide. 1101 Hoyt Ave., 317-602-3920, motusdance.com.

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CALENDAR SEPTEMBER Indiana University Ballet: Fall Ballet A collection of four short ballets: Sweet Fields, a Twyla Tharp-choreographed piece set to early American shape note and Shaker hymns; two pieces choreographed by Peter Martins and set to music by Stravinsky, Eight Easy Pieces and Eight More; and Graham and Copland’s Appalachian Spring. Sept. 28, 29 @ Musical Arts Center, Bloomington

OCTOBER Ballet Folklorico de Mexico Described as creating the “festive, letyour-hair-down atmosphere of a Cuban street parade” (The Washington Post) in performance, the Ballet Folklorico de Mexico was created in 1952 as a means by which to preserve the folk dance traditions of Mexico, through authentic choreography and costuming, as well as an attention to detail that’s earned consistent praise. Oct. 5 @ Clowes Memorial Hall Gregory Hancock Dance Theatre: Anthology: Repertoire by Request You make the call, voting on which dance pieces or excerpts from Gregory Hancock Dance Theatre’s repertoire that

you’d most like to see. Oct. 5, 6 @ The Tarkington at the Center for the Performing Arts Dance Kaleidoscope: Magical Mystery Tour Described by NUVO’s Rita Kohn as “a cohesive dance-story with 16 songs tracing a life from youthful abandon to mature introspection,” Magical Mystery Tour has become a repertory staple for DK. And why not? The Beatles r emain eternally popular, and Hochoy’s take on their legacy packs in plenty of tunes, including “Sexy Sadie” (a light-footed parody), “Yesterday” (a soul-baring soliloquy by the Everyman who’s the show’s lead) and “The Long and Winding Road” (a sensuous duet). Oct. 11-14 @ Indiana Repertory Theatre Savion Glover Glover presents SoLe Sanctuary, a meditation on the stage as living altar upon which one might pay tribute to one’s elders and teachers. The Village Voice found the conceit only a little silly upon its premiere, noting that “like almost all of Glover’s performances, is thronged with ghosts, allusions, quoted steps of the men in the photos, whose names Glover intones at the end. This time, Glover also alludes to his own past, sampling grooves from earlier shows. When the sunlight-throughclouds music comes back in, he could be speaking to those fathers or to The Father.” Oct. 20 @ The Palladium at the Center for the Performing Arts

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Cirque Chinois The National Circus of the People’s Republic of China does the Great Teeterboard! (Oh!) The Grand Flying Trapeze! (Ah!) The Group Contortion, Straw Hats Juggling and Girls’ Balance with Bowls! (Oh! Ah! Ahhh!) Oct. 27 @ The Palladium at the Center for the Performing Arts

NOVEMBER Motus Dance Theatre: Cultivate A do-it-yourself showcase for young choreographers, with a $300 prize for the winner of the Motus Emerging Choreographer Award. Motus provides the rehearsal and performance space, help with auditions for dancers, promotion and peer feedback; choreographers provide the raw ideas and talent. Nov. 8-10 @ White Rabbit Cabaret Melissa Thodos Dance Chicago The contemporary dance company performs The White City, which the Chicago Sun-Times has described as a “wonderfully sophisticated new multimedia dance-theater piece ... [that finds] ideal ways of tapping into all the personalities, conflicts and horror of the fabled Expo through a deft mix of highly expressive choreography and sharp storytelling.” Nov. 9 @ Emens Auditorium

Savion Glover @ The Palladium (Oct. 20).

Momix @ The Tarkington (March 9, 10).

JANUARY Stars of the Russian Ballet Dancers from the Russian stage perform excerpts from The Sleeping Beauty, Le Corsaire and Paquita. Jan. 5 @ The Palladium at the Center for the Performing Arts Mummenschanz Back in 1977 The New York Times proclaimed of Mummenschanz, that troupe of mumbly, goofy, puppet-happy mimes, that “You’ve Never Seen Mimes Like This.” And, well, if you still haven’ t seen Mummenschanz, that’s probably true for you — and it’s never too late for a little family-friendly weirdness, replete with fake heads and big ol’ hands. Jan. 12, 13 @ The Tarkington at the Center for the Performing Arts

MARCH Momix “Anyone familiar with MOMIX knows that what happens on stage is mor e about the surrealist imagery than the dancers and choreography. The sleekness of the big picture is what seems to matter here, and one walks in aware that MOMIX is more a performance company than a dance troupe.” That’s Dance Magazine on MOMIX, a puppet-happy group that would make for a nice two-fer ticket deal with Mummenschanz if you want your children to enjoy and be fascinated by life and stuff. March 9, 10 @ The Tarkington at the Center for the Performing Arts Dance Kaleidoscope: Piaf Plus Rita Kohn gave DK’s original Piaf production, the Fringe piece PIAF: A Celebration, a hearty 4.5 stars when it debuted in 2011, noting that “with love in its manifest meanings as the thread running through 14 songs, it’s the harsh flip side of brutality that grabs.” The “plus” in Piaf Plus refers to the addition of songs by Jacques Brel, the world-weary, clever Flemish singer-songwriter, to the original Fringe show, which was, after all, only an hour long in its Piaf-only form. March 14-24 @ Indiana Repertory Theatre

Alvin Ailey American Dance Theater The troupe that revolutionized modern dance returns to Indy. March 19 @ Clowes Memorial Hall Indiana University Ballet: Spring Ballet Three pieces collected under the title Old World New World, including Bournonville Suite (choreographed by August Bournonville), and two by Ballachine: The Four Temperaments (with music by Paul Hindemith) and Western Symphony (based on traditional American melodies). March 22, 23 @ Musical Arts Center, Bloomington

APRIL Les 7 Doigts de la Main: Psy The latest show by the Montreal-based circus troupe features acrobatics, dance, music, song, spoken word and all manner of multimedia fun. April 16 @ Emens Auditorium

MAY Dance Kaleidoscope: Barefoot Renegades David Hochoy sets two numbers — one world premiere and another from his repertoire — and Chicago choreographer Brock Clawson makes his Chicago debut, setting his Nine, which Dance Magazine described as “breathy, balletic” and a “fresh, not quite carefree slice of young dancing. May 16-19 @ Indiana Repertory Theatre

JUNE Gregory Hancock Dance Theatre: Legends of Love Say it in your best Barry White voice: “The rich, chocolately Gregory Hancock Dance Theatre presents Legends of Love, a tribute to the finest, sweetest thing in the universe.” It’s a collection of love stories from India, China, the Middle East and elsewhere. June 28, 29 @ The Tarkington at the Center for the Performing Arts

See www.nuvo.net for a complete dance calendar

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Three Storytelling Arts mainstays, from left: Len Cabral, Deborah Asante and Peter Cook.

WORD

TALL TALES: STORYTELLING ARTS AT 25 Like plenty else that’s been created in this pragmatic region of ours, Storytelling Arts of Indiana came into being to meet a need — even if our story-deprived city didn’t know what it was missing. But Ellen Munds, Bob Sander and Nancy Barton knew, and the three launched Stories, Inc. (later Storytelling Arts) with a storytelling festival modeled after those that had found consistent success in Illinois and Kentucky. As the years went by, Munds quit her job as a children’s librarian to run Storytelling Arts full-time; she remains the organization’s executive director. Storytelling Arts has survived funding hits and other vicissitudes of the non-profit world; but it’s managed through even lean years to introduce Indy to new experiences — to Irish storytellers making their first visit to the S tates, to the process of crafting a full-blown story based on long untold memories, to the offbeat narratives of the Fringe circuit on the stage it sponsors at IndyFringe. Here are a few highlights from over the years.

1999: Deborah Asante Perhaps best known for her work with Asante Childrens Theatre, Asante discovered another, then unexplored passion when she attended the first Hoosier Storytelling Festival — and realized, according to Munds, that she had been telling stories her whole life, just not on a stage. When Storytelling Arts, in partnership with the Indiana Historical Society, debuted its still-extant Sharing Hoosier History Through Stories program, Asante was the first storyteller commissioned to develop a piece. The end result was Rolling Down the Avenue, told from the point of view of a teenage girl living in Indiana Avenue housing project Lockefield Gardens during the ‘30s.

— Scott Shoeger

2001: Riley Hospital The Junior League of Indianapolis provided the seed money for a storytelling program at Riley Hospital, which, like many Storytelling Arts programs introduced over the years, remains part of the organization’s programming to present. “Storytellers talk about how they get more out of it than they feel they give,” though they report “almost always getting a reaction,” including kids who beg them to stay for one mor e story. 2003: As I Recall Storytelling Arts began working with the state’s elder storytellers with the support of the Nina Mason Pulliam Charitable Trust, which funded a threeyear program to help members of

1988: Mayor Bill Hudnut Known best for his tale of a magical alternate reality known as UNIGOV, Hudnut kicked off the ghost stories portion of the first Hoosier Storytelling Festival, a fullday affair featuring some staples on the Storytelling Arts lineup for the next 25 years (Syd Lieberman, Jim May). Hudnut told of the House of the Blue Lights as Conner Prairie darkened; Storytelling Arts Executive Director Ellen Munds doesn’t recall it being a particularly spooky rendition, but it did indicate the city’s support for the new organization devoted to storytelling. Twentyone more annual festivals were to follow until that city and state support partly fizzled out and Storytelling Arts chose to focus on its year-round programming.

1996: Peter Cook Though Cook, who in 1996 became the Hoosier Storytelling Festival’s first deaf performing artist, performs in partnership with a voice interpreter sitting in the crowd, “he uses his whole body, miming in an extremely expressive way, so that the interpreter doesn’t have to interpret every word,” Munds says. The audience for his first Indy appearance was about evenly divided between those hard of hearing and hearing; and, according to Munds, Cook has the ability to “bridge those two worlds together; people can ask the stupidest questions of him, and he’s able to answer those stupid questions.”

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OASIS to recall, develop and tell their stories. Those workshops gave birth to the As I Recall Storytelling Guild, two members from which — Josefa Crowe and John Robertson — were eventually awarded the Frank Basile Emerging Stories Fellowship, which affords Hoosier storytellers the resources to develop a story for the Storytelling Arts series. Crowe’s stories often tell of her difficult childhood in Nazi Germany; Robertson focuses on everyday life, such as the struggle and successes involved in raising a family, working jobs and serving in the Army. 2010: Jabberwocky Modeled loosely after The Moth storytelling series, Jabberwocky gives non-professional storytellers a chance to take the stage, with each month’s lineup at IndyFringe Theatre working up material on a given theme, from writer’s block to gardening, neighborhood beautification to car repair. 2011: If These Walls Could Tell Storytelling Arts’ most recent major initiative is If These Walls Could Tell, a collaboration with Indiana Landmarks to commission one story a year about an Indiana building with a story to tell. Storytelling Arts mainstay Sally Perkins developed the first story, about the Central Avenue Methodist Church, which became home in 2011 to the Indiana Landmarks Center after extensive renovations. The featured venue in 2012 was Wabash’s Charley Creek Inn, and Bob Sander, a founder of Storytelling Arts, is now at work on the 2013 story, about Elkhart’s Lerner Theater.

Indiana Historical Society Press For more than a century, the Indiana Historical Society has preserved Indiana history and fostered Indiana culture by publishing a wide range of books devoted to all aspects of Hoosier life, culture and history. Recent publications include And Know This Place: Poetry of Indiana, featuring more than 100 Indiana poets writing on this place they call home — the first major anthology of Indiana poets published since 1900. Another favorite of ours is a beautiful book of photographs by Harold Lee Miller, Fair Culture. We love the fair, and this new book is one of the most beautiful testaments to an Indiana icon that we have seen. 450 W. Ohio St., 317232-1882 Indianahistory.org.

ORGANIZATIONS The Indianapolis Public Library While all Indianapolis Marion County Public Library branches are an important part of the arts in the city, the most impressive is the newly renovated Central Library. The original building was completed in 1917, and was considered one of the most outstanding architectural library structures in the U.S. With an exterior of that classic Indiana limestone built on a base of Vermont marble, the building has always been celebrated as a truly special place, yet an expansion was imminent due to the quickly growing Indianapolis community. The Library Board finally opened the new six-story glass structure behind the original library in 2007. Offering gorgeous views of the Indianapolis skyline, the look of the library alone could draw people in so that we can increase the likelihood of Hoosiers to “Read, Indiana, Read!” 40 E. St. Clair St., 317-275-4100, imcpl.org. Big Hat Books A cozy little shop that remains a consistent source of finely selected books for readers with a variety of interests. The helpful staff makes selecting just the right book easier, though we usually leave with an armful. Occasional readings and book signings populate the schedule, and the store was a local participant in the World Book Day campaign in 2012. 6510 Cornell Ave., 317-202-0203, bighatbooks.com

Center for Inquiry Aiming to foster a secular society, the CFI is working to put “an end to the influence that religion and pseudoscience have on public policy” and the “privileged position” they enjoy in society. In addition, it hopes to rid people of the stigma attached to being a nonbeliever. Most important for this section of the Arts Guide, the CFI is ground zero for freethinking speakers throughout the year, from New York Times reporters exposing Bernie Madoff, to former pastors turned atheist, to a woman who tried to cause an earthquake by baring her breasts (that’s a Boobquake, thank you very much). centerforinquiry.net/indy, 350 Canal Walk, Suite A, 317-423-0710

Center for Ray Bradbury Studies A home to the father of science fiction and fantasy, this center, located on the IUPUI campus, is the first ever dedicated to the study of the late author Ray Bradbury. Promoting collaborative research, the center’s outreach initiatives include online bibliographical references, links with related Bradbury research sites, establishment of an electronic list serve community, and sponsored lectures. In addition, it will publish a yearly jour nal, The New Ray Bradbury Review, with contributions from Bradbury himself and info about the center’s upcoming events. 902 W. New York St., IUPUI School of Education and Social Work, Room 0010, 317-274-0081, iupui.edu/~crbs.

Indy Reads Books The latest and most public venture by pro-literacy organization Indy Reads is a non-profit used bookstore smack dab on Mass Ave, in the only corridor (the northeast end) with any space left for development. It’s not only a bookstore — though it does host readings and sell an impressive selection of used books (considering its stock is entirely drawn from donations). It’s also a recruitment tool for Indy Reads, which always needs volunteers to help teach reading to the under-literate in Central Indiana. And, hey, it may make Indy Reads a little money, too. 911 Massachusetts Ave., 317-3841496, indyreadsbooks.org

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IU Press While this academic publisher does not limit itself to local authors or subject matter, they do produce one of the most consistent and quality publication schedules dealing with Indiana and the Midwest. With everything from wildflower field guides to biographies of local jazz musicians, not to mention several impressive railroad-themed books, IU Press is a treasure trove for Indiana bibliophiles looking for beautiful and bountiful choices. Iupress.indiana.iu.