A broken-down rental car and a wrong turn leave a frustrated traveler named Steve trapped in a tiny airport that isn’t anywhere on his Ohio map. His surprise surroundings are the landscape of the fantasy town named Gnowarre, and Steve’s comical, sarcastic inner voice guides audiences on his shared adventure in the world premiere new stage comedy “Lost, Then Found in the Middle of Gnowarre,” written by Lisa Rawson and directed by Jill and Tony J. Thomas for a two-weekend run at Holdcraft Players in Michigan City, April 17-26. Located at 1200 Spring St., $5 from each $15 ticket sold will go to the Michiana Humane Society. Tickets are available at the door, at www.yptcinc.com/tickets or by calling 219-561-8063. Note: Cast and directors will be guests on the Of Notoriety weekly radio show at 10 a.m. Tuesday, April 21, airing on WJOB-1230 AM with host Phil Potempa.
FREE SPRING CONCERT
Michigan City Chamber Music Festival hosts a free concert with pianist Siwon Kim at 7 p.m. April 18 at Trinity Episcopal Church, 600 Franklin St. in Michigan City. The program is titled “Swing, Song, and Sonata: An American Journey from Broadway to the Concert Hall,” and features music by Samuel Barber and George Gershwin. This accomplished pianist is a native of Seoul, South Korea, and is praised for her “masterful musicality with the distinct, unrestrained sound.” She has performed as a soloist with orchestras worldwide, including the Prime Philharmonic Orchestra, the South Bend Symphony, the Mariinsky Orchestra and the Ann Arbor Symphony Orchestra. Besides performing as a solo musician, she is also a versatile pianist in demand for chamber music. She has performed and worked internationally with the Van Cliburn Competition Silver Medalist, Maestro Alexander Toradze, as his designated Piano Duo Partner since 2017. A “meet the artist” reception will immediately follow the concert, with the gathering held in Trinity’s “Bishop Mansion.” For details, visit www.mccmf.org or call 219-561-1939.
A PHIL TRIBUTE
Phil Collins, who just turned 75 and is fighting health ailments, received good news this week, along with Iron Maiden and Luther Vandross, as being among the 2026 inductees to the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame. At 7:30 p.m. April 25, Theatre at the Center at The Center for Visual and Performing Arts, 1040 Ridge Road, in Munster, is hosting headlining Phil Collins and Genesis tribute band Abacab, named for the band’s hit 1981 album “Abacab.” This tribute band covers all eras of Genesis as well as the solo work of Phil Collins and Peter Gabriel. With Pete Lents on vocals and drums and Cliff Stankiewicz providing bass, guitar and vocals, joined by Dan Vitco on keyboards and James Nelson on lead guitar and vocals opposite Matthew Hedrick on drums, this tribute band captures the stage success of Phil Collins during his collaboration years. Audiences enjoy hits like “Invisible Touch,” “That’s All,” “In Too Deep,” “I Can Feel It in the Air Tonight,” “Sledgehammer” and many more. Tickets are $40 at 219-836-3255 or www.TheatreAtTheCenter.com.
FUR SURE
Porter County Museum, in collaboration with Pines Village Retirement Communities, is hosting a presentation by Valparaiso University Professor Randa Duvick about her research into the history of the fur trade business in the Great Lakes region at the turn of the 19th century. The event is at 1 p.m. April 23 at Pines Village Retirement Communities, 3303 Pines Village Circle in Valparaiso. It is free of charge and open to the public. Duvick, senior research professor in French, has been studying the account books of Joseph Bailly (1774-1835) since 2005. Bailly became the first European resident of Porter County when he established his trading post in 1822 on the Little Calumet River. “As an independent fur trader at the beginning of the 19th century working in the area that is now Michigan, Indiana, and Illinois, Joseph Bailly had to navigate complicated commercial and political landscapes,” Duvick says. “The business account book held by Porter County Museum shows what Bailly purchased to trade with the Native people and the furs he received, as well as who he hired and what their wages were.” PoCo Muse Executive Director Kevin Matthew Pazour said the event complements the current feature exhibit, “From a Bailly Point of View,” which tells the story of this pioneering family through objects that they owned, and closes on April 26. For more information, visit www.pocomuse.org or 219-510-1836.
ALL ABOARD
From the whistle of a locomotive to the rumble of steel on steel, the trains of Chicago and the Midwest are more than a mode of transportation, given that Chicago has been America’s railroad capital for more than 150 years. The 60-minute special “Riding the Rails,” hosted by lifelong train enthusiast Geoffrey Baer, premiered Monday on WTTW-PBS Chicago and is now available for free streaming from the WTTW website. (The show will eventually be broadcast again, but no date has been determined. The program can be viewed for free at wttw.com/rails.) There’s a tour of the Pullman luxury cars from the turn of the century and “the golden age of rail travel,” when passengers like Hollywood royalty dined and traveled in lavish style. Later, the host dons a hard hat to tour a multi-billion-dollar, decades-long project that will ease freight and passenger train bottlenecks with new bridges and underpasses. Visit the companion website for details of the artistry of Union Station, visit Chicago’s bygone downtown train stations, and dig deeper into the stories of the Rondout train robbery and the inspiring local founder of the “rails to trails” movement.
Philip Potempa is a journalist, published author and weekly radio show host on WJOB 1230 AM. He can be reached at [email protected].