(The IRT’s 2026 production of “Joe Turner’s Come and Gone.” Photo by Zach Rosing.)

Over the past week or so, I caught a trio of winter productions in the Indianapolis area.

Some thoughts:

The most refreshing thing about “St. Sebastian,” Andrew Kramer’s play being produced by That Other Theater Company at the IF Theatre, is its willingness to get messy … unlike one of its character’s unfortunately chosen overalls (which show no sign of his work renovating a house).

The play itself steadfastly avoids what seems to have become chronic in new plays over the years. That is, patting audiences on the back for having the right views about issues of the day. Guess what? Racism is bad. Homophobia is wrong. Politicians are dishonest.

Kramer’s play will have none of that easy thinking.

Instead, it puts a loving gay white couple at odds with each other about the implications and reamifications of occupying, fixing up, and flipping a home in an historical Black neighborhood. And it manages this messiness with sparkling — and often very funny — dialogue, smartly escalating conflict, and offering well-revealed revelations.

On an uncomplicated (in a good way) set, the briskly paced play lost me a bit at the end. And I found myself, in a way, experiencing two plays at once. Since it was not clearly the age of a third character, a local Black youth, I couldn’t lock in fully since his actions — and the couple’s reactions to and interactions with him — read differently if he is 14, if he’s in his early 20s (as he appears), or if he’s somewhere in between.

That being said, “St. Sabastian” is a strong launch for a very promising new company. I look forward to whatever is next.

“St. Sebastian” runs through Feb. 8 at IF Theatre.

I am a collector of stage musicals. As such, I relish the opportunity to catch one that I haven’t yet seen — especially an older show by a team I like. (Belated thanks to Buck Creek Players for, years ago, providing a look at “The Rink,” Theatre on the Square for “The Happy Time,” Round Barn Theatre for “Plain and Fancy,” etc.)

That’s why I noted with pleasure that Actors Theatre of Indiana had “Lucky Stiff” on it’s schedule. The first professionally produced musical by the team of Lynn Ahrens and Stephen Flaherty (who went on to “Once on This Island,” “Ragtime,” “Seussical,” “Anastasia” and more), it had a short run off-Broadway in 1988 and was turned into a not-very-good film in 2014 featuring Jason Alexander. But I never crossed paths with it on stage until now.

“Lucky Stiff” concerns a yearning-for-a-more-adventurous-life shoe salesman who finds out he is to be the recipient of a hefty inheretance. The catch? He has to haul the taxidermied body of the uncle he never met on a pre-planned trip to Monte Carlo. (And before you accuse the creators of lifting from “Weekend at Bernie’s,” note that that corpse-carting film comedy wasn’t released until a year after “Lucky Stiff” premiered.)

While the stage version — and this production — don’t quite deliver the “funny, funny/very very funny” promise of its opening number, there are pleasures to be had amid the frivolity.

The Flaherty and Ahrens score isn’t on par with their later work, but it does its job well enough — and contains the charming “Times Like This” for its leading lady. She’s a wallflower representing the dog shelter next in line for the big bucks if the flummoxed nephew fails at his task. It’s no spoiler what will eventually happen to that couple.

The cast is fine, with stand-out work from Brett Mutter, who clearly understood the farcical assignment as the optometrist brother of the moll implicated in the dude’s death. Shout out, too, to costume designer Anthony James Sirk as well as Drew Bryson, whose wig designs go a long way in character building without ever tipping into absurdity.

“Lucky Stiff” runs though Feb. 15 at The Studio Theater.

Side note: I’m still on the lookout for productions of Flaherty/Ahrens shows “Dessa Rose,” “The Glorious Ones,” “Rocky,” and especially “Knoxville” and “A Man of No Importance.” Anybody? Anybody?

There is something so difficult-to-define rich and unique about the plays of August Wilson.

Anchored but free.

Gritty but poetic.

Specific but elusive.

Weeks, month and even years after seeing one, I tend to remember and relive the feelings they inspired and the atmosphere more than the plot details. A side effect fo that: They yield continued pleasure on future encounters. Each time, I feel I’m seeing something new. As such, I’m looking forward to seeing “The Piano Lesson” for the third time (fourth if you count the strong film) in March at Milwaukee Rep and I was excited about the prospect of revisiting “Joe Turner’s Come and Gone,” which I hadn’t seen since the 1990s in Philadelphia (in a steller production at the late lamented Philadelphia Drama Guild featuring Wendell Pierce).

On a set that smartly fuses a realistic boarding house with stark steel girders that underline (and overhang) the coming and going motifs of the play, longtime Wilson director Timothy Douglas gives the play the breathing room it needs. Impecably paced, it introduces a small world of mostly transatory characters. Unlike many contemporary playwrights catering to a perceived short-attention-span audience, Wilson takes his time. In the first act, there are minor skirmishes and disagreements, but it’s nearly intermission before a major event happens. And by that time, we’ve not only been introduced to homeowners Seth and Bertha and their temporary tenants, we’ve lived with them. When matters come to a boil, we are invested.

Okay, I can’t speak for everyone. But I felt the Saturday evening audience was rivited. And I certainly was.

Wilson’s world isn’t populated by obvious extremes. Characters are far more than types. There are certainly things to like about homeowner Seth (given marvelous life by Keith Randolph Smith) but he also can be wrongheaded. Bynum (Deshawn Harold Mitchell) may be a prophet of sorts, but he also can be frustrating. Jeremy (Jacques Jean-Mary) is charming, funny and manipulative but never seems malicious. It’s easy to feel sympathy for Mattie (Kaitlyn Boyer), a woman in search of the lover who abandoned her. She’s got strength, but she’s also swayable. And while lesser playwrights would turn “people finder” Selig (Peter Bisgaier) into a vile caricature, Wilson’s subtlety makes a passage about his family history even more disturbing and powerful.

I could go on and on about every well-cast character. Each one — including the woman who arrives late in the second act — is complexly but understandably human.

Unlike many playwrights considered the best of the 20th century, Wilson doesn’t create barriers of entry. He walks us into this world, introduces characters naturally, and trusts his audience to go along with him even as he breaks from pure naturalism. He knows that lives aren’t comedy or drama but a rich blending of both. His plays can be enjoyed by taking what he offers on the surface or you can mine them for their rich metaphors and deeper meaning. Days later, it occurred to me that one character’s journey paralled Dante’s journey from hell to pergatory to heaven. Was that deliberately baked into the play?

I don’t know.

And I’m not sure if that matters.

What maters is that “Joe Turner’s Coming and Gone” is a great play by a masterful playwright, given a very strong production. Highly recommended.

“Joe Turner’s Come and Gone” runs through Feb. 22 at the Indiana Repertory Theatre.