Alone on stage

A full house greeted Butler University visiting artist Tim Hardy for the first of a two-show-only stint in Nick Young’s
one-man play “Galileo” (Sept. 9-10). It wasn’t just the size of the audience and the quality of the performance
that I found inspiring. It was also the presence of a number of local actors and other creative types in the crowd.

Seeing
this level of excellent work can be intimidating, but I hope that it also proves inspiring. Hardy—a faculty member of
the Royal Academy of Dramatic Art who appeared in such landmark productions as Peter Brook’s “Marat/Sade”
and Peter Hall’s “Henry V”—created a weary, funny, sad Galileo angry at himself for misjudging the
forces against him.

His explanation of the power of the rack as a torture device effectively painted a flesh-and-blood
picture of the consequences of his alleged heresy. It brought humanity to his brilliance, taking this from history lesson
to a strong evening of theater.

Even though you are too late to catch this one, the ’09/’10 Indy theater season will
feature other one-person shows. Such presentations raise a number of questions that I thought I’d bounce off you:

Do
you feel that these minimalist shows — the IRT is presenting three of them later in the season — should have the same ticket
price as fuller-cast productions?

John Leguizamo recently tried out his new one-man show here. Mike Bribiglia, who scored
an off-Broadway hit with his "Sleepwalk With Me" will be in town next week. What is the line between a stand-up
act and a one-person play?

Indy Fringe and Storytelling Arts have presented many one-person monologists locally. Is
storytelling the same as theater?

Your thoughts?