Lansing’s Ixion Theatre is about to open its tenth season, and it’s taken a unique approach to choosing the programs for its anniversary year.
Turn, Turn, Turn is the first of four shows Ixion will stage this season. If the title rings a bell, it’s because they’ve done the production before.
In fact, all the programs chosen for this tenth season are plays and collections of shorts from their first nine years. Turn, Turn, Turn features monologues written by members of Ixion’s Wheel Writers Group.
Artistic director Jeff Croff founded Ixion Theatre. He says filling the season this way is due, in part, to Ixion’s nomadic existence before landing at Stage One inside the Sycamore Creek Church on Lake Lansing Road in 2023.
He figures some people missed these shows the first time around because they couldn’t find them.
“As we’ve found a new home, it’s a chance to reacquaint, not only the folks that are part of our core family, but the community at large into what kind of shows we do and kind of where we fit within the tapestry of theatre in Lansing," he explained.
This winter, Ixion will bring back the Qui Nguyen play She Kills Monsters. The show’s hit run included not just performances in Lansing but a stint at a gaming convention in Indianapolis.
Monsters has its roots in the world of Dungeons and Dragons with stage combat, pop culture references and a poignant story amongst what Croff describes as “a lot of really stupid jokes.”
The season’s third show brings Broke-ology by Nathan Louis Jackson back to Lansing.
Possibly Ixion’s most critically acclaimed show, Broke-ology is the story of two young African-American brothers trying to figure out what to do with their lives while considering their father’s need for long-term care. Rose Jangmi Cooper will direct.
The production was first done in the round at the Robin, and Cooper says she’s thinking about how to recreate that experience at Stage One.
To close the season, Ixion is shaping a program of shorts they’re calling Thank You, Ten!
The title not only marks the company's ten years of shows, but it also repeats an often-used backstage phrase said by actors and crewmembers to acknowledge how many minutes they have before being in their places.
Croff says co-associate artistic director Heath Sartorius is combing through previous programs of shorts to pick ten that will be reprised, including one from their very first production, The Four Disgracers.
He says bringing back all of these previous projects is a way to mark a milestone for everyone who has ever been involved with this theatre.
“For us, we think this is as much a celebration of all of those people who took the risks, did the wild and weird ideas, and here we are.”
The tenth season of of Ixion Theatre opens with Turn, Turn, Turn at Stage One on October 11th.