Three and a half stars
Indiana Repertory Theatre;
directed by Janet Allen

James Still celebrates 10 years as IRT’s playwright-in-residence with a reprise of what must be a sentimental favorite. President’s Shoulder is based on the real-life remembrances of Alonzo Fields, an African-American singer trained for the concert stage and obliged during the Depression to take a job as a White House butler. For 21 years, from Hoover to Eisenhower, Fields eyed the world’s power brokers, without uttering a word. This one-man show is his chance to reveal who sipped tea, who guzzled scotch, who saw in him a servant and who saw a man. IRT regular David Alan Anderson gives Fields the unrushed tones of a man grooming himself for a greatness that never comes, and peppers his performance with comic portrayals of the New York Roosevelts and less successful impersonations of Errol Flynn and Winston Churchill. The minimalist set of white walls and presidential chairs is lit effectively in the dappled sunshine of a late afternoon — and accompanied less effectively by an unneeded slideshow. Under Janet Allen’s direction, President’s Shoulder is an amused history lesson infused with heavy doses of poignancy. Though it has much in common with It’s a Wonderful Life, the play never achieves that film’s mawkishness. More Zen Buddhist than George Bailey or Uncle Tom, Stills’ Fields recognizes how rampant racism, happenstance and his own choices turned his path. Through May 3; 317-635-5252.