Dead Man's Cell Phone

I completed the Sarah Ruhl Indy-area trifecta tonight by catching Dead Man's Cell Phone, performed by the Carmel Players.

It was entertaining, but in retrospect, I wish I hadn't known it was a Ruhl play. During the first act, I waited for it to capture me like In the Next Room or Eurydice; I finally had to reset my expectations in order to enjoy myself.

Not that the actors let me down; I think they did a fine job. However, the script itself simply wasn't up to the level of the others, or perhaps it didn't play to my sensibilities–your mileage may vary.

Nonetheless, the play was well-cast and performed. Diann Ryan took advantage of a juicy role as the domineering mother, and Catherine Nading was delightfully wicked. I was unsurprised to discover via the playbill that she had formerly played Lady Macbeth; I suspect she took to that character like a fish to water.

Greg Howard was deliciously amoral. Despite being the "title" character (and perhaps fittingly for someone playing a dead man) he had far too little stage time: his monologue directed to the audience was the first scene that really grabbed my attention, and sadly it didn't occur until after intermission.

The stage hands played to the audience during scene transitions, but I found the effect uneven at best. Suzie Catering made sure she was noticed, but the other performers mostly failed to leave an impression.

Overall, I'm glad I went, but it won't be one that sticks with me like the other Ruhl plays.

Sarah Ruhl month in Indianapolis

• Phoenix Theatre, In the Next Room, September 30-October 24, 2010
• Butler Theatre, Eurydice, October 6-10, 2010
• Carmel Community Players, Dead Man's Cell Phone, October 14-24, 2010

Clearly Sarah Ruhl, the playwright for all three, is a popular woman in Indy this month. She won a MacArthur Fellowship, but having such a prominent presence in our city is surely the greater honor.

And how are the plays? Glad you asked.

Butler's performance of Eurydice was poignant and beautiful. The spartan stage was, if anything, more evocative than an elaborate set would have been, and the student actors were quite capable. The Stone chorus provided exposition where necessary and comic relief that was sorely needed for such a dark, moving story. The father/daughter relationship was heart-wrenching.

The Phoenix has done their usual masterful work on In the Next Room. It's hard to single out any particular performances, because everyone who took the stage did so with élan, but Michael Shelton and Lauren Briggeman are the heart and soul of the story, and each conveys a complex mixture of strength and vulnerability. Briggeman in particular grabs the audience and takes us with her on her roller-coaster ride of emotions; her evocative facial expressions are evidently finely honed.

Angela Plank has shone in several recent plays for the Phoenix, and her performance here does not disappoint. She plays a difficult, understated role with grace.

Dwandra Nicole similarly has a restrained role through most of the play, but her monologue near the end leaves no doubt as to her acting skills.

Scot Greenwell doesn't appear until the second half of the show, but acts as the catalyst for Nicole's speech and compels Shelton and Briggeman to confront the problems with their marriage. His is a rich performance with no false notes.

In the Next Room runs for two more weeks; despite its unorthodox subject matter that will undoubtedly turn off some who read its subtitle (you'll have to find that out for yourself), it is as close to a must-see performance as you're likely to find in central Indiana.

At least until the next Phoenix production.

Of money and visual display of information

And speaking of good visual display of information (and Apple)...

Horace Dediu's final chart of phone manufacturer profits and growth is a marvel, both of display and content.

Of lawsuits and visual display of information

Dramatic improvement over the Guardian's take. Tufte, your turn.

Update: Here's my version. Rougher than the one from Design Language, but I think that one sacrifices too much by pursuing aesthetics. Mine could be cleaned up by someone with a sense of design, certainly, but I find mine much easier to scan.

Update #2: Dan Moren's version is vastly easier to process than any of the above.