Glix Picks - Early Summer Arts Choices

No, MSU undergrads, the Lansing area does not go to sleep when you leave for the summer.

Actually, the warm months in the mid-Michigan area are quite vibrant in the arts world.  And as an extra bonus many of the outdoor events are for free.

For this edition of Glix Picks I‘ll highlight two current offerings.

Peppermint Creek  has established itself as the theater company that likes to take chances with new and challenging material. For their final show of the season artistic director Chad Badgero chose to open our eyes with a historical play called “Indecent” by Paula Vogel. It opened on Broadway in 2015 and this is its Midwest premier.

It tells the fascinating true story of a play ("The God of Vengeance") that opened in New York in 1906.  The story  was about a love relationship between a prostitute and the daughter of a Jewish brothel’s owner.  It is about Jewish and Yiddish culture and forbidden love, and when it opened in New York the entire cast was arrested immediately after the show for indecency because of a kiss between the two lovers.

Badgero said, “I saw the play on PBS and  I was literally breathless.  It’s a perfect work of Peppermint Creek. – it’s topical and controversial.”

The show has a cast of seven who portray many characters – minimum of five characters each.  It also features a klezmer band of three (fiddle, clarinet and accordion) and projections.

Directing the play is Mary Job, one of area’s top directors.  She says, “We’ve been working through the winter to get the dialect down, using Dr. Margot Valles from MSU’s Jewish Studies department as a coach." 

Job  says, “This subject matter appealed to me.  As a graduate student, I studied ethnic immigration to the US and I have some knowledge of Yiddish theater.”

Badgero says, “Mary was the right choice to direct this show.  She’s an intelligent and thoughtful director.

“This play is about the Jewish faith and Yiddish traditions and that’s really new for us.” 

PC will be moving to a new location at Central United Methodist Church in downtown Lansing in the fall, but “Indecent” will be playing at its old location, on Miller Road near Cedar.

Order tickets and get directions from their website at peppermentcreek.org.  The play runs  June 6-9 and June 13-16.

One other event that you won’t want to miss is the annual Summer Circle Theater at Michigan State University which runs through the month of June in repertoire.  There are several plays that will be presented, including  “One Man, Two Guvnors”, the goofy British play that won James Corden his Tony.

The performance space is the lovely stage between Kresge Art Museum and Fairchild Theater on the MSU campus and is free and open to the public.  For more information, check out theater.msu.edu/sct.