Phoenix Rising!

May 15, 2018

Michael, Michele, Bryan, Deb and Marta

Michele







Phoenix Rising!

It is May and that means one thing for me, trips to Indianapolis. My all-time favorite event is held each Memorial Day weekend, The Indianapolis 500 and the entire month of May in Indianapolis is something special. This year I had the added bonus of being able to see my mother Marta over Mother’s Day weekend as she was there to attend the grand opening of the all new location of the Phoenix Theatre. The gala opening just happened to coincide with the annual running of the Indianapolis Grand Prix, which for the past few years has kicked off activities at the Indianapolis Motor Speedway.









My sister Marika and her husband are big supporters of the Phoenix, which has just moved into a much larger and fancier location and while they could not go to the big gala, my mother Marta, sister, Michele and I represented the family at the party. Marika was a regular actress back in the early days of the original theatre on Ninth Street and some of her fellow actors and directors now lead the theater, so it was like old home week for us as we encountered many friendly faces at the party.

Bryan, Marta, Deb and Michele









The party consisted of an opening cocktail hour where the new facility was open to explore, flowed by a fancy dinner on site and then the premiere of the newest production of a musical version of a Kurt Vonnegut classic, “God Bless You Mr. Rosewater”. The play was produced in collaboration with the Kurt Vonnegut Library and was directed by our old Bryan Fonseca.







The gala was a ton of fun, but I was really tired and did not enjoy the play so much, I think it must have been more on me because there was an enthusiastic response. Whatever the case, it is wonderful to see the new digs for the Phoenix and fantastic to see their thirty-five year streak of providing top quality theatrical productions in Indianapolis. They never produce any shows that have been seen previously in the city and thus are always providing something that is fresh and new. It was also lovely to spend some time with Marta and Michele.







I wound up spending even more time with my amazing sister Michele the following day at the Indianapolis Motor Speedway as she was my guest, along with my friends Kevin and Ted for the Indianapolis Grand Prix. The Indy GP has taken the place of regular Indy 500 practice the past few years, adding a new race to the schedule that uses the road course at the Speedway. It is still odd for me to see the cars facing the wrong way in the pits and screaming down the main straight headed north.





Will Power

Takuma Sato

Qualifying had been pretty exciting with Team Penske driver Will Power nudging out rookie Robert Wickens to snare the pole position and start first in the twenty-four car field. Most of the IndyCar regulars were on hand to do battle and three time Indy 500 winner Helio Castroneves was back for his first IndyCar race of the year having switched over this season to driving sports cars.

Ted and Brian

Zach Veach

Ed Jones





Once again we watched the race from the luxury and comfort of my friend Brent’s Tower Terrace Suite. Actually this year, he and his partners bought the suite next to his and cut a hole in the wall adjoining the two suites to create a single much larger suite. The suite comes with free food and libations as well as close-circuit television, live timing and scoring and a screen that just tracks the relative positions of the cars on the track. It is the best way to watch the Grand Prix and we had an amazing time.











Rebekah and Kevin

It was also cool because a couple of the driver’s girlfriends were in the suite to watch the race as well. James Hinchcliffe’s lovely girlfriend Becky (and his brother Christopher) were on hand as well as Joseph Newgarden’s beautiful and funny girlfriend Ashley. It was really fun getting to hang out and talk with them all, as a fan it is nice to get to know the drivers and their families as real people rather than just sports figures.

Christopher, Brent, Ashley and Becky

Derek and Connor Daly



J.R. Hildebrand



The race itself was just OK, there was some passing, but not as much as I would have hoped for and I was a little disappointed with the result as Will Power pretty much dominated, capturing his third straight Indy Grand Prix victory. I was really pulling for rookie Wickens to score his first win, but he had to settle for third place. Scott Dixon posted another amazing quiet but deadly move up through the field to come home in second with Sebastian Bourdais and Alexander Rossi coming home in fourth and fifth.





Brian and Michael



Will Power