Crystal Rhodes' Play "Lillian and Beulah" Performances at Conner Prairie Feb 9, 16 & 23

Speed City Sisters in Crime member Crystal Rhodes’ latest play, Lillian and Beulah, will be presented each Saturday during February at the Lilly Theatre at Conner Prairie.

The play is part of Conner Prairie’s Black Hoosiers: Untold Tales, honoring Black History Month. Tickets are $6 in advance and $8 at the door.

Crystal is an experienced playwright, with her plays being produced across the country, including New York, Los Angeles and San Francisco. She wrote Lillian and Beulah when she was playwright-in-residence at Conner Prairie. She recently won a national playwriting competition.

The play centers on real-life character Lillian Thomas Fox, a civic activist and newspaper writer who rose to prominence in the late 1800s. She founded the Indianapolis Women’s Improvement Club and was an organizing member of the Indianapolis Anti-Lynching League. In 1900, she became the first African-American woman in the nation to write regularly for a white newspaper, The Indianapolis News.

Well-known local actress Gabrielle  Patterson plays the part of Lillian Fox. Patterson received rave reviews for her performance at Fringe Festival in the Sisters in Crime play “Deadbeat.”

Remaining Performances at February 9, 16 and 23 from 7 – 9 p.m.  Lilly Theatre is located in the Conner Prairie Welcome Center, 13400 Allisonville Road, Fishers, Indiana.

C.V. Rhodes to Keynote 1st Indy Book Fest June 16 at Indianapolis Central Library

Speed City Sisters in Crime member C.V. (“Crystal”) Rhodes will be the keynote speaker at  the First Annual Indy Book Fest, July 16 at the Indianapolis Public Library.

Ms. Rhodes will kick off a full day of programming on the theme “Words of Strength.  Sponsored by the Library’s African American History Committee, the program begins at 10 a.m. and concludes at 4 p.m. 

Author and publisher Valerie J. Lewis Coleman will be a featured speaker during breakout sessions.

Ms. Rhodes is an award-winning playwright and author. Written Word Magazine selected Rhodes as one of the Ten Up and Coming Authors in the Midwest. Her play “Stoops” won the BTA Award for Best Original Writing. She is the author of numerous romance novels. She and fellow Sister in Crime L. Barnette Evans co-write the humorous mystery Grandmothers Inc. series. They will be available to meet with readers and sign copies of their books.