Strike Funeral Homes

Credit: Bill Geenen.“Fun Home” strikes a chord by creatively showing, often through song, how defining moments in our childhood and formative years shape who we become as adults.Baltimore Center Stage’s production, up through Feb. 24, beautifully interprets this beloved Tony Award-winning musical based on Alison Bechdel’s autobiographical graphic novel with confident direction, strong performances and effective scenic design, including balanced, thoughtful use of projections, which Center Stage is so fond of using in its productions to varying degrees of success. They work here.As Baltimore Center Stage’s former public relations manager and a regular audience member for the last five years, I’ve seen a lot of shows at the theater, always with an insider’s critical eye. I often dissect and discuss productions with staff and members of the shows’ creative teams. We know where the cracks are. While I’ve been impressed with and proud of the artistry, performances and/or other elements of every single production at the state theater of Maryland, only a handful of times have I swooned over an entire production.Two shows this season have made that happen. One was “Fun Home.” The other was the joyful, inventive love letter to the Chinese community, “King of the Yees,” another contemporary autobiographical story that, like “Fun Home,” was written by a female playwright (Lauren Yees) with a female central character (Lauren Yees) and female director (Desdemona Chiang). Coincidence? Maybe, but I’m going to give the win to the ladies on this.With humor and compassion, “Fun Home” shows the evolution of 42-year-old lesbian cartoonist Alison through the defining memories of the discovery of her own sexuality and her relationship with her repressed homosexual father, who killed himself shortly after Alison came out to her parents at 17. The titular “Fun Home” is the nickname of the family-run funeral ho...

According to the Taylor County Sheriff's Office, deputies responded to Highway 2 and Lake Road east of Bedford around 4 p.m. Thursday. An investigation showed 24-year-old Johnathan Hindman of Grundy Center was attempting to cut down a tree.Authorities say Hindman's chainsaw became stuck in the tree and while he was attempting to free the chainsaw, the tree fell and struck him. Hindman was pronounced dead at the scene. His body was taken to the State Medical Examiners Office in Ankeny for an autopsy.The Taylor County Sheriff's Office was assisted by the Taylor County Ambulance, Bedford Fire Department, Clarinda EMS, LifeNet, Southwest Iowa Chaplain, Cumming Family Funeral Home and Taylor County Medical Examiner at the scene.