One, two, three, four.

Get my shoes then out the door.

Five I'm alive, six, seven, eight feelin' great.

Nine, gonna shine, life is good I'm doing fine.

Ten, Gonna do it right then do it again.

Yeah yeah.

I look up to the sky with all the beautiful color but, there's more than just for me so gonna share it with another.

I got to show, to give, let out, I want to sing and shout.

Take a look and see A beautiful morning that turns into beautiful evening.

And together make a beautiful life.

And if you want see, then come along with me.

That's right.

Hey.

I'm Irish Dave, and welcome to Experience Michiana.

I'm here at Hotel Elkhart and on an upcoming show, you can find out all about this beautiful, historic building.

For this week's show, I went to the DeBartolo to find out about all of their live and cinematic performances that they have coming up in the month of March, and they have a lot coming up, so make sure and stay around for that on the show.

Kelly found out about a new book that's all about food and places to eat in Indiana.

But first, Courtney is at the South Bend Civic Theater to find out about their latest production.

All right, so we are heading to the Caribbean this week.

We're over at the South Bend Civic Theater, and I have some of my friends here joining us.

I love the cast, so this is fantastic.

Tell us about the production that you guys have coming up.

This is wonderful.

Yeah.

So the name of the production is once on this island, and that is exactly where we're going to take you.

We're going to take you to a Caribbean island.

You'll get to enjoy the breeze, the song, the sights and the sounds of a beautiful story.

It's a retelling of everyone's favorite fairy tale.

Okay, well, I might have a different favorite than yours.

To me, like, maybe a Little Mermaid vibe.

Yeah, it's a little bit of a Little mermaid.

A little.

It is actually based off of a book by Rosa, a guy called My Love, My Love, and she was inspired by the original telling of The Little Mermaid.

Okay, so that is what has inspired this beautiful story that you'll see here at once on this island.

I love it, and this one actually, I think won a Tony Award on Broadway.

Yeah.

So the original production was Tony nominated and the revival won a Tony Award.

Fantastic.

So it's a musical.

So are you singing in this?

I am singing in this.

Okay, tell us about your character.

Yeah, absolutely.

So Papa Gay is the sly demon of death, which you can interpret as this menacing character, or a character that guides people gently to their next stage in life.

Yeah, I look at it, and I think that with Papa, Gay has this beautiful opportunity to help the main character realize between choosing between, I don't want to give too much away, don't give too much away.

You're so right.

Exactly.

Yeah.

But it's it's this character that really wants the character to choose.

I think it's the biggest thing.

How do you feel that you have related to the character, like, within your own life?

Oh my goodness.

I think that with Papa Gay, the concept of being misunderstood.

Right.

And this character that is presenting kind of evil and menacing, but historically the characters are the how would you not the character, but, who origins.

The origin story.

So yeah.

Thank you.

So historically, the origin of this character is someone who guides people gently.

And I think that especially being a black woman in America, having certain stereotypes placed upon you when you just want to present as this beautiful, feminine, gentle beings.

I think Papa Gay has allowed me to embrace aspects of stereotype and leaning more into that power.

And then also, what does it look like to embrace who I and naturally.

And this is really a powerful story to want to talk about that, especially its relevance to this time in the world right now.

Yes, the story is one that will inspire hope.

It is a story that will remind you of I do have a dream, and I'm never too old, and I can overcome any obstacle to to achieve that dream.

And it's a story that says, despite all else, just love, I love people, I love that love is love.

I love, love, love.

Absolutely.

Now you are the director.

Yes.

You have to tell us from a director perspective.

What is it like to leave a cast and crew like this?

It is an opportunity that I feel like it's an honor and a privilege to to do so.

The story is great.

And as a director, being able to put together a vision is one thing.

But having a cast that can come and challenge that visit to help you enhance it, to to bring it to life.

That's the rewarding part.

And with this cast, I mean, we have folks that have done 20 shows, right?

Oh, wow.

Yeah.

That's great.

But then we also have folks that this is their first time.

Right.

Well, we have grandparents that are doing it with their grandchildren, mothers that are doing it with their sons.

So I love that.

And you know, I always say this to you, the theater is really about community.

And this not only brings people together on the stage, but it brings together people in the audience as well too.

You guys have a number of shows coming up where people can experience this.

When are the show dates?

So we open on Friday, February 28th and we go all the way until March 9th.

So there are about 8 or 9 opportunities to come and see this.

And I love to you guys are offering throughout the entire year opportunities for students to kind of do field trips here so they can experience the theater that they might not otherwise get to as well.

Yes.

And so anyone at the Civic Box office is able to help with that.

There are a ton of educational opportunities.

And if you ever said, I want to try acting, there are acting classes are even better, even better for for all ages.

And I know South Bend Civic Theater, you guys always have auditions coming up and more productions on tap for everyone too.

But this one in particular.

Why do you want people to come see this?

I'll ask you that question.

Yeah, absolutely.

Like Dexter was saying, it's this tale of love.

And I would also add a little bit of like, betrayal as well.

And what does it look like to balance those emotions in this really, beautiful dance of melody.

Right.

And I think that I'm excited, especially with the time that we're in.

What does it look like to to balance those emotions and keep moving forward in life, pursuing that dream with great ambition and love in the midst of chaos or betrayal?

I love.

And now we have to talk about the set because this is just incredible.

Do you feel like you are in the Caribbean?

I do, yes.

Got my toes in the sea.

I got my bright pink colors in the background.

It is what went into planning the set.

Yeah.

So our scenic designer, Jeff Berry, did an amazing job of taking aspects of the Caribbean and bringing it on stage.

The bright colors.

Right.

Looking at the structure of the houses as well.

And he worked with and great collaborate and in partnership with the costume design to really bring elements of the island into how, I mean, this costume is just phenomenal.

Tell us more about what you're wearing.

Yeah.

I mean, I'm just the the body, which the costume is in, but I don't know.

Yeah.

So what's really great about the costume is the costume is designed by someone right here from South Bend.

Even better, there's lights or the, Who is home is home in South Bend for him.

And he came back to do that.

And then we talked about that element of family.

I was able to bring a little bit of my culture and my family.

But, you know, having them help with building some of the additional pieces as well.

Wonderful.

I have to say this a I think we're going to maybe show some of the other hat pieces.

They're incredible.

I know a lot goes into making a theater production happen.

You know, why should people continue to support the performing arts?

I, I can start it, but it's important because this is a space to learn more.

And it's also an opportunity to do more.

Right.

And so if you've ever had a dream and you're just like, I've always wanted to see what it's like to be under those lights.

Theater gives you the opportunity to do that.

Right.

And if you ever wanted to experience a bunch of different people together.

It's a place of learning.

It's also a place to be healed as well.

And that's what Peter and I love.

And we were talking about this before we get.

Yeah to kind of behind the scenes, but we were talking about how the stage is really it's a communal place where everyone comes together.

So whether you are, you know, whatever you are in life, we're all the scene here on the stage, work together to make this production happen.

Exactly.

I love that.

Anything else you guys want to share about this performance with us?

It is a musical, right?

It is the musical.

Okay, okay.

And it is family friendly.

It is family friendly.

So aged 2 to 100 plus.

Come and enjoy the musical.

You.

I promise you'll leave dance a okay.

You going to tell us about the other thing?

Oh the dancing.

We have an amazing choreographer, Pierre Kurtz, who is also, assistant director with his team.

A dance group that's here.

He is.

Has this all working out?

Oh, really?

Was the story.

I've seen this before.

Like you're working on.

Yeah.

Through through dance.

And everyone gets to also put their own spin to some of the moves as well.

So, again, it's just a place of just expression.

And we get to do the song dance monologue, sights and sound of the theater as well, too.

So it sounds like a lot of fun.

So if I'm in the audience, it's okay for me to get up and dance a little, too.

We encourage you to.

We might call on you to do it.

Oh, yeah.

Oh, no.

No.

Yeah.

Just be ready.

Okay.

So if you see me raising my hand over there, you follow me.

All right.

Thank you guys so much.

Break a leg.

Thank you.

Shave it.

Every time I walk out of the side door here onto the stage, I always think about how few people have actually seen this view.

And I absolutely love it.

A lot of people obviously sitting in here see it, but it's such a great view from here.

Sean, do you ever get bored just walking in here and looking at it?

It's very beautiful.

Never, never.

You know, and, when we have artists come in or if we're giving tours and we're always reminded about sort of how special this place is.

Yeah, it really is.

Ricky, I know with the with the Browning as well, you've got a lot going on there and a lot of Oscar nominated shorts that you're focused on.

Can you tell me a little bit about some of the cinema that you're going to be highlighting over the next month or so?

Of course, as an awards season, this is when, we show a lot of the films that were nominated for Oscars are almost nominated.

So you can have your ballot ready.

And we're doing a full weekend of three different programs.

The films that are nominated for Best Animated Short, best Live-Action short and Best Armando Short.

And they're great because you get a sample of the world, different filmmaking techniques and genres all in one setting.

A quick note that the animated shorts might seem kid friendly because they're animated.

But this year's nominations, aren't exactly, for elementary school kids.

So, Ricky, that's some of the things you have going on.

At Browning.

Tell me about some of the live performances that we have here as well.

The the DeBartolo.

Sure.

So we're celebrating our 20th anniversary this year.

So this, second semester has been off to, a huge, huge success, a number of sellout, performances.

And we're continuing that, with a lot of collaboration.

The next performance coming up is the Notre Dame Symphony Orchestra playing with the Sylvan Trio.

What's great about the Sylvan Trio is the cellist is Josh Airey, who is the executive director of the Music Village.

Oh, yeah.

Here in South Bend.

So a great way to connect with the community, with Josh's professional, trio, which is an interesting make up, cello, a piano and a flute.

So that's not necessarily the traditional trio make up.

So they're doing special concert with the Notre Dame Symphony here at the end of February.

I know around, Saint Patrick's Day, just after you have a traditional Irish band coming in as well.

So.

That's right.

Alton.

So again, as part of the 20th anniversary, we like to bring we sort of looked back at some of our favorite artists, and Alton was one of them.

They've been here a couple of times, traditional Irish music.

They've been around for about 40 years or so.

Yeah.

So they'll be coming back just after Saint Patrick's Day to help celebrate, you know, the Fighting Irish that weekend as well.

You, have another performer the day after alt and tell me a little bit about her.

Her name is Natalie, which was, She's a flute player.

She was part of an ensemble based in Chicago called Eighth Blackbird, who's won a number of Grammy.

So, contemporary chamber ensemble.

She has sort of broken out to do some of her own work.

She is of Haitian descent, so her performance is actually her singing, playing electronic music, all sort of telling her heritage story about her work, or her life in Haitian and Haiti.

Excuse me.

Ricky, from all of the, films that you have, is there any that really stand out for you or some of your favorites that are like a must see, or are they do they all have that appeal to you?

You know, they I think they all have the potential to be appealing to different, you know, sectors.

I certainly have some winners.

I won't show my hand always, because I don't want people to think like I did.

My favorite wasn't his favorite.

But if you come, you know, I disclose that stuff.

But we have a lot of interesting new films.

We have the brutalist, which is a long run.

It's over 3.5 hours.

It has an intermission.

But the Jewish Federation here in town, we use it as an opportunity as well to launch and discuss their film festival that will be coming in May, which is a great annual event we have here.

We have Mike Lee's new film, Hard Truth.

Over spring break.

We stay open and we keep showing films, even if campus is a little more dormant.

Jennifer Reeder, who is a an academic, she's a professor, but also a great filmmaker, is coming with her short films, and she'll be in conversation with Scotty and voiced a German visiting professor here at the Brazilian film that has a lot of traction.

I'm still here about the disappearances.

Will be playing after break as well as universal language, which is this kind of fantasia, about what would happen if you make an Abbas Kiarostami film in Canada.

And Canada's two national languages are French and Persian.

So, Sean, we talked about March 22nd and 23rd.

What about later into March and then even into April as well?

What's going on around there?

Again, sort of our year is about collaboration.

And so with, the Notre Dame Shakespeare department, we are collaborating with the actors from the London stage in their production on hamlet.

So there are five actors.

They play all characters within hamlet, and they're very sort of pared down presentation.

So it's really about the text.

I mean, it's really fascinating to see these five, five, people play all of the dozens of characters within, Shakespeare play something that's coming up at the end of March, moving into the beginning of April.

We have, a couple of performances, one by Wolfe and Abigail Washburn, and Wolfe plays this 2000 year old, the Gao Jiang, stringed Chinese instrument, but she pairs it with Abigail Washburn, who plays the banjo.

So you have these two stringed instruments, you know, continents apart, centuries apart.

And just the similarity on sort of the way these instruments tell their sort of cultural, tales is fascinating, the way they put it together.

Ricky, can you tell me about some of these live performances that you want to talk about?

Yeah.

We have, we are, streaming in a live performance of Beethoven's Fidelio, if you like, the prison break opera.

And there's also a live score as part of the a music festival that is put on by IU, South, Ben and Ryan, Keith Olivier.

And there'll be live scoring with electronic digital, cookie music.

They will be live scoring, The Terror of Mechagodzilla, which is kind of a B-side in the Godzilla canon, but great and will be a very interesting combination of their music and a classic theme when it comes to live performances that when people are watching them, are they kind of getting up and dancing and getting into it?

Or most people just kind of like, what's the atmosphere like during a live performance?

Like, I am no one else, so it's a little awkward, but, people can, you know, you can be you.

Yeah.

Do your thing in there.

Absolutely.

Do you want to go up and dance?

Going up and then.

So please, what is this learning beyond the classics.

So learning beyond the classics is a, a course of the community.

Can take alongside Notre Dame students and various others in the community.

They are two hours to get in.

We have readings, we have introductions, and we have experts who either zoom in or come to the cinema to talk about, a particular subject.

So we are looking at film noir, and this is being led by professor emeritus Susan Omer, and her take on film noir is showing an American version.

That is, it is very much an American genre and then an international analog.

So we'll be starting with a classic Double Indemnity and then a kind of a French, facsimile of that in some ways, which is Lee Miles out there to the gallows.

And so we'll have eight of those, starting, in later March.

And you can sign up and take the class and see some great film noir from not only the United States, but around the world.

Also, I know emphasizing, a lot of, kids and families and documentaries and things going on.

Could you tell me about those as well?

Yeah, we have both.

So we have a slate of documentaries.

Again, these are films that were put forward and nominated for Oscars.

We have no other land, from Palestine.

We have porcelain wire from the Nanavati Institute for European Studies here, which is, about the conflict in Ukraine, the war there, and then Dahomey, which is about art repatriation.

That from France back in Africa, and then kids as well.

Every Sunday at 1 p.m., we have professional finger hunters, Sunday dollar films as a dollar to get in a dollar for pop, a dollar for popcorn.

These are films that are good for all ages.

And we have the 5000 fingers of doctor T. Doctor Seuss's only film that was panned and hated and recently reevaluated.

And people like it.

We do, earwig and the edge from Studio Ghibli.

And then lastly, on Saint Patrick's Eve, we have song of the sea from Ireland.

Nice.

Well, lots of opportunities for the community to come out and, enjoy the campus of Notre Dame.

So thank you so much for allowing me to be here today and talk to you both.

And thanks for choosing and putting a lot of thought into what you do choose, because I'm sure it's a lot of work to pick what will be the right things to cultivate these great lineups.

So thanks very much.

If you're looking for a new or unique place to go and eat, you have tuned into the right experience.

Michiana.

Because we have carry with us and carry you.

We are the author of Unique Eats and Eateries of Indiana.

And so I first want to know, like what was the inspiration behind the book?

Were you just sick and tired of going to the same restaurants over and over again?

Well, the way that I came across doing the book, it's unique.

It's an eateries of Indiana.

Yeah.

I've been a travel and food writer for 25 years, so from from the Chicago area, but right on the border.

So I've always been doing a lot of traveling and eating in Indiana and, so the book involves 83 restaurants from all throughout the state, kind of covers each corner, of the Hoosier State and gets a good representation of different eateries throughout Indiana.

Started off with a huge list of, over 250 places and then had to narrow it down to what would fit in the book.

So that's what we came up with.

How did you find out about these places?

Well, a lot of them was like I said, I've been travel writing for 25 years, so some of them are long time, you know, nostalgic places.

I kind of places that have been around a long, long time.

And I had experienced as I was traveling around the state, also just through friends in the, hospitality and tourism, field.

So people I've known through the years just kind of picked their brains on the places in their region that, kind of fell into the category of being unique and just kind of went from there.

And other suggestions from friends and family.

I find it so fascinating, what you do.

And so how did you get into this was just something that, you always wanted to do or was this just something that kind of came about?

Well, I always wanted to be a writer.

And an author.

I've done, nine books, so far.

This was my ninth book, but it was the first that was, like food and travel related.

But I've always been a writer, and, I was only a month or two into doing freelance writing before I, was given a travel assignment.

And my first one was to Santa Claus, Indiana.

So my first, first travel piece I ever did was, an Indiana spot.

So just going from there and then, my sister Becky and I, we've always, like, dining out, and, especially she still lives in the Chicago suburbs.

And when I was there, we did a lot of dining in and around Chicago.

So we started the Chicago Foodie Sisters food blog, in 2011.

So we've been working on that for years.

And, kind of through that just got to focus more on restaurants and the food scene.

So that's wonderful.

So let's start with at least in the Michiana area because we'll try to cover.

So I saw, on the list that you had some places that, you know, very familiar, like the Tippecanoe plays Chicory Cafe.

But then I also saw a few that I live here, and I didn't even know they're here.

So I wanted to ask you about a couple of them.

So Moses Austrian cafe.

Oh yeah.

That's that would be just west.

Do you guys in New Carlisle.

Okay.

And I and I think that's a great that's kind of the purpose of the book is just to get people to get out and try new places and find new places that they haven't heard of and haven't experienced before.

But, most years, that one I loved, I have a fondness for German food because my father in law was from Berlin, and he immigrated here as a late teen and introduced me to, German cuisine.

When my husband and I started dating.

And so we'd go to these, German restaurants.

And so I got to know all the German cuisine and fell in love with the Wiener schnitzel and roulade and and Black Forest cake and potato pancakes and all these German specialties.

So, the book I tried to, get a good, kind of mash up of different, ethnic cuisines when putting the book together, too.

So there are three in the book that are, German restaurants, and one of them is Moser's.

It's actually Austrian, but, similar cuisine.

So, any of those German specialties I just mentioned you're going to find they're they also have an attached bakery.

So the baked, the, all of the desserts that are served there are made next door in the bakery.

And, they have outdoor seating in the summer and have a lot of, German bands that'll have a lot of entertainment where they'll have German bands there.

But the authentic music, and it's just a fun experience that's, you know, kind of you can experience Oktoberfest all year long, go there with get a stein of beer and some German music and fun vibe.

Now, I know these are a lot of your favorite places.

Is there one in particular?

I know there's probably some, but is this one that comes to your mind that really stands out to you?

I get asked that all the time.

It's it's really hard.

I mean, they're all kind of favorites for it in the book.

One kind of in your little outsider region, but, not too far, in my opinion, to drive to for a good meal.

It's Joseph Dickey's, which is out near Fort Wayne, and, it's in the town of Roanoke.

It's, it has a lot of unique things going on with it, and that it, as has the farm to table aspect, the owners have a farm right down the street.

And so they grow a lot of the produce that's, part of the menu.

They also raise their own Wagyu beef, and they're the only place I know of in the country that raises it exclusively for their customers.

So you can't buy it anywhere else except for there.

You can also go to dine there at the restaurant.

And then it's also neat backstory.

The owner was a, a player with the Yankees organization who, ended up with an injury and, so has him, you know, had to get out of his baseball pitching career.

I think he was a pitcher.

He, went into sports insurance after that and ended up with an office in Roanoke.

He had clients there and didn't really have anywhere to take them out to eat.

So he opened up a private, dining room in an old bank building, historic bank building there, and then eventually open it for the public.

And so it's a nice, fine dining experience.

They also bought some adjoining buildings and, there's a market there as well on cafe, so you can, you know, have a casual bite there or go in the evening to, Joseph to Queens restaurant, for a fine dining experience.

And they also do a good chef's table where you concert facing the kitchen and kind of interact with the staff and see everything being made in front of you.

And it's a great experience.

They won a ton of wine awards, too, so for a special occasion, that's definitely a place I recommend and not too far from South Bend.

And that's what's wonderful.

Now, when you go to these restaurants, are you kind of undercover or do you let them know that the the reason why you're there?

Well, some of them, like I said, had been from previous visits.

So, some I revisited for the book and, most of them, they knew I was coming and they kind of would show me what they wanted to highlight.

That's on their menu.

And then I'd get to know the, talk to them and get to know the owners and a little bit about the story.

So, yeah, most of the time they knew I was coming somewhere from, from previous visits.

So that's wonderful.

Now, how can people follow you carry.

So I for the book, I got a Facebook page specifically for the book, Unique Eats and Eateries of Indiana.

You can also find me through my food blog which is Chicago foodie sister to.

So it's Chicago foodie sister scam and also that handle and Facebook and Instagram and TikTok and threads.

So those are all ways to find me.

And the book, is available at Reading press.com, which is the publisher, and also Amazon, Barnes and noble.com.

Different gift shops and bookstores around the state.

All right.

Well, Gary, thank you so much for being with us.

I mean, you gave us a lot of restaurants to go and try out now.

So thank you so much.

And, Experience Michiana is excited about going out there and trying some of that food.

Wonderful.

So as I always say, you can never say there's nothing to do around Michiana.

We prove every week there's lots to go and see.

I'm here at Hotel Elkhart and on next week's show you can see and learn more about this historic building from the rooms to the meeting rooms to the eateries and everything that they have here.

So make sure and tune in to next week's Experience Michiana.

Want more from Courtney, Dave and Kelly?

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