Standing before the imposing steel mills that once defined Gary, Indiana, I couldn't help but hear the opening notes of The Music Man playing in my head. But Gary is no fictional River City—it's a r...
When I was seven years old, my father spread out a faded photo album filled with sepia-toned images of massive stone chariots, towering gopurams, and mysterious temple ruins scattered among giant boul...
When my theater troupe needed a weekend retreat to workshop our new play about Midwestern identity, I suggested Muncie, Indiana—a place sociologists once dubbed 'Middletown USA' for its perfect repres...