The cast of Smoke on the Mountain had quite a twist last weekend when Marianne Minton came in to pinch hit for Emily Cole Bitz who plays Denise, one of the twins. She’s the girl. It’s kinda fun because Emily is the annual fund manager for Barksdale Theatre/Theatre IV, while Marianne is the annual fund manager for the Richmond Symphony! I mean, come on, does it get more Twilight Zone than that! (Pause for you to listen to the theme music in your head.)
Emily deserted…er…left for a time for Arizona, a trip planned long before Smoke. We did miss her terribly, but did have an absolutely fantastic time with Marianne in her short time with us. Below you can see how much fun Marianne was having with Reverend Oglethorpe (Billy-Christopher Maupin) in the dressing room (3 flights above the onstage action)!
2 comments:
It always amazes me how little substituting takes place in Richmond theatre. Once assigned to a show, Richmond theatre artists have the constitutions of Olympic athletes. It's very rare for a Richmond theatre artist to miss a show unexpectedly.
We knew of Emily's pending absence from the first rehearsal, but it took us a while to find Marianne. She was recommended to us by another pillar of our development staff, David Ross, who happens to be her cousin--or so he claims. Lucky for us that Marianne came along. The Smoke performers have to sing, act and -- here's the killer -- play musical instruments. Marianne was a Godsend, and we will be forever in her debt.
Lynwood Guyton, the man who has been running the Barksdale light board for every single performance at the Tavern from the early 80s until the Tavern closed in 1996, and for every single performance at Willow Lawn from 96 until the present, came down with pneumonia during the run of Brooklyn Boy. And I'm not talking about walking pneumonia (don't you love singing that to the tune of Waltzing Matilda?), I'm talking about lying down and feeling like -- well, you know -- pneumonia. Nonetheless, he made it through every performance before quietly retreating to his home to collapse.
God bless the theatre artists who never allow themselves to get sick while their show is running. And God bless the super-pro subs, like Marianne--who step forward to take on a role when an absence is unavoidable and planned.
I stand corrected by those who should know. David Ross is Marianne's uncle, not her cousin. After seeing her photo on the blog, 27 other men have written in wanting to be her uncle as well. Hmmm.
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