Safely Back in NYC; Missing My New Family in RVA

Posted by Nick Ciavarella (pictured below at the RTCC Awards and in Lend Me a Tenor, with Chris Stewart)
It was a very strange feeling getting off the train from Richmond back into New York City and making my way to Brooklyn, where I reside. There was a faint recollection of arriving in New York 3 years ago, suitcase in hand, for the first time. It seemed unfamiliar and exciting. I’ve been away for 2 months for other gigs before and getting back to New York always felt like getting back to the grind, but this time was different. It occurred to me that despite the fact that I had spent a mere 9 weeks in Richmond, I still felt as though I had just uprooted myself to begin anew. How, after so short a time spent in one place, could I possibly have become so attached?

I wonder if you in the Richmond theatre community realize what you have. I felt like I had stumbled into the back door of Willy Wonka’s Chocolate Factory and noticed the Oompa Loompas going about their business and I kept wanting to ask them, “Do you realize this is the greatest place in the world to work??” (I hastily add that in no way am I implying that my Richmond friends remind me of Oompa Loompas. No twisting my words, anonymous talk-backers!)

Here is a place where actors can make a living as actors while being a part of a tight-knit community of other talented artists. Every time a friend from New York asked me how Richmond was, the word that I kept using was “anomaly.” If another theatre community exists like this anywhere else I certainly haven’t stumbled across it yet.

On Day 1, walking into my first rehearsal for Lend Me a Tenor, I was literally shaking with nerves. Everyone knew each other and had worked together numerous times and here I was feeling like I was walking into someone else’s family dinner with my plate in hand saying, “yeah, I’ll have the biggest piece."

No sooner did rehearsal start than I felt embraced by everybody in the room as if I were one of them. From that point forward I felt at home.

I was so fortunate to meet so many people (and still not enough) during my time in Richmond. People were consistently warm and welcoming. I never felt like an out of town actor, but instead like someone who had just moved to a friendly neighborhood.

Not that it was all peaches and cream. Let it be known that I survived a hurricane which knocked out my power for 8 days, an east coast earthquake, and I broke down not one but two company cars. The first one broke down when my parents were in town (and in the back seat), and the second one broke down somewhere outside of Staunton on the side of the road at night where I was sure Leatherface would pop out at any moment. (The conversation with vehicle fleet manager Gordon Bass went a little bit like this: “Hey Gordon, the van is making a funny noise so I took it to a mechanic who said that if I drive it any further the back wheel might actually pop off. What should I do?” “Oh those old vans are always making funny noises. Why don’t you see how far you can make it?")

The van was pronounced dead 5 miles later, and I spent the night in Waynesboro’s ironic Quality Inn. It’s funny now and it was honestly funny then because during both breakdowns I knew people were scrambling to save me, which they did. Leatherface never caught up with me.

Now I’m back in New York and I miss everything and everyone in Richmond already. The cast and creative team behind Lend Me a Tenor were all so beyond talented and a pleasure to work with and get to know. Everyone would get their own paragraph if I started thanking people directly so I will spare the readers. But I hope they all know how much they meant to me during my time and how much fun it was to have created such a successful and zany show with them.

I do, however, want to single out Bruce Miller who saw me in a Shakespearian tragedy and thought I might do well in a modern farce. Bruce gave me a chance and I couldn’t be more grateful.

I look forward to returning to what honestly now feels like my second home sometime soon. Until then, thanks to all who made my experience so rich and meaningful!

--Nick Ciavarella

Working Hard to Earn Your Support

Posted by Bruce Miller
Our exciting new partnership with Cadence Theatre kicks off this week in our intimate Theatre Gym space with Kimberly Akimbo, by Pulitzer Prize-winning playwright David Lindsay Abaire. This quirky, poignant comedy stars Irene Ziegler, Debra Wagoner, Richard Koch, Jill Bari Steinberg, and Matt Mitchell. As that show opens, it's hard to believe that the first show of our Signature Season is about to close. Lend Me a Tenor has six performances this week (including a Wednesday matinee and evening) before wrapping up its hugely successful six-week run on Sunday. If you haven't joined in the laughter yet, you have this week only to catch the comedy hit of the year. Finally, our first special offering of the year, a movie-themed cabaret entitled As Time Goes By, will be presented this week for the Richmond Convention and Visitors Bureau on Thursday, and the Virginia Rotary Convention on Friday. And of course, on Sunday, the RTCC Awards will return to the Empire Theatre. All told, we're offering 56 performances this week. Here's some of what's happening at your theatre.

Monday, Oct 10
Frog Prince - 1 show York Co VA
Hugs and Kisses - 2 shows Fairfax Co VA
Little Red Hen - 2 shows Chesterfield Co VA

Tuesday, Oct 11
Coffee & Conversations - 9:30 am Willow Lawn
Frog Prince - 1 show Spotsylvania Co VA
Hugs and Kisses - 2 shows
Little Red Hen - 2 shows Prince William Co VA
Snow White - 1 show VA Beach VA
Tales as Tall - 2 shows Spencer Wisconsin

Wednesday, Oct 12
Becky's New Car - 8 pm Hanover Tavern
Lend Me a Tenor - 2 pm and 8 pm Willow Lawn
Frog Prince - 1 show Dinwiddie Co VA, 1 show Prince George Co VA
Hugs and Kisses - 1 show Powhatan Co VA, 1 show New Kent Co VA
Little Red Hen - 2 shows Towson MD
Sleepy Hollow - 2 shows Mamaroneck NY
Snow White - 1 show Lancaster Co VA
Tales as Tall - 2 shows Wautoma Wisconsin

Thursday, Oct 13
Becky's New Car - 8 pm Hanover Tavern
Lend Me a Tenor - 8 pm Willow Lawn
Kimberly Akimbo - 8 pm Theatre Gym
As Time Goes By - 8 pm RCVB
Frog Prince - 1 show Bedford Co VA
Hugs and Kisses - 2 shows Albemarle Co VA, 1 show Madison Co VA
Little Red Hen - 2 shows Hartford CT

Friday, Oct 14
Becky's New Car - 8 pm Hanover Tavern
Lend Me a Tenor - 8 pm Willow Lawn
Kimberly Akimbo - 8 pm Theatre Gym
As Time Goes By - 8:30 pm VA Rotary Convention
Frog Prince - 1 show Hanover Co VA, 1 show Powhatan Co VA
Hugs and Kisses - 1 show Prince William Co VA
Little Red Hen - 2 shows Hartford CT
Sleepy Hollow - 1 show Henrico Co VA, 1 show Goochland Co VA
Snow White - 1 show Loudoun Co VA

Saturday, Oct 15
Becky's New Car - 8 pm Hanover Tavern
Lend Me a Tenor - 8 pm Willow Lawn
Kimberly Akimbo - 8 pm Theatre Gym
Snow White - 1 show Westhampton Beach NY

Sunday, Oct 16
Becky's New Car - 2 pm Hanover Tavern
Lend Me a Tenor - 2 pm Hanover Tavern
Richmond Theatre Critics Circle Awards - 7 pm Empire Theatre

Hope to see you at the theatre!

--Bruce Miller

Learn More About "Lend Me" Over Coffee and Danish

Posted by Bruce Miller
Our first regularly scheduled Coffee & Conversations event is tomorrow, Tuesday, October 11, in the Barksdale Willow Lawn lobby. I hope you'll join us for this fun and informative program. Doors will open at 9 a.m., and the continental breakfast buffet will be set up by 9:10. The program will begin at 9:30 a.m. and last one hour.

Tomorrow's program will be Behind the Scenes of Lend Me a Tenor. Jill Bari Steinberg will moderate a panel comprised of three members from the Lend Me a Tenor cast: Nick Ciavarella, Frank Creasy, and Susan Sanford.

Nick (pictured to right) plays Max, the young, eager beaver assistant to the general manager of the Cleveland Opera. Nick himself is a dashing, NYC-based newcomer to Richmond theatre. He earned his Equity card with this production. Acting and other theatrical pursuits are his only job. His perspective will be a little different from the local professionals we all know well and love.

Frank (pictured below and to left) plays Saunders, the general manager, father of the beautiful young woman whom Nick's character would like to wed. Frank himself has been working in Richmond theatre for the last 30 years, and is one of our most respected and reliable character actors. He is not a member of Actors Equity. Frank is married, owns a home here, and is employed full-time by Anthem Blue Cross Blue Shield.

Susan (pictured below and to right) plays Maria, the passionate Italian wife of the world renowned operatic tenor of the title. Susan herself is, in terms of her life's commitments, somewhere between Nick and Frank. She's one of the finest comic actresses you'll find anywhere. She is married to another theatre artist, Foster Solomon, and they are the proud parents of two sons. She earned her Actors Equity card a few years ago, I think, in either a Barksdale or Theatre IV production. She is Richmond-based. She tries, and mostly succeeds, to earn her living exclusively with work in the theatre. As she'll tell you, it ain't easy.

One of the defining features of professional theatre in Central Virginia is that we're sort of betwixt and between. Ever since the collapse of TheatreVirginia, we haven't had a LORT theatre that uses full-time professional theatre artists almost exclusively. In my opinion, and I think I can be trusted on this one, Richmond doesn't have a LORT theatre today because Richmond cannot support a LORT theatre under current realities. When you add up the resources available in terms of contributions and ticket sales, and divide those resources among ten professionally-striving theatres, there simply is not enough money to elevate any one theatre to LORT status. If you want a #1 reason why TheatreVirginia went belly up, in my opinion, that's it.

So at Barksdale and Theatre IV you'll see a mix of AEA artists and non-union theatre professionals who earn their living working 9 to 5 somewhere else. Out of town professionals who come here to work are frequently stunned that we rehearse only in the evenings. Personally, I LOVE the mix, and think it's a strong part of what makes our theatre community so rich. The majority of theatre artists you'll meet in a Richmond theatre are REALLY invested in our community.

One of the reasons we have programs like Coffee & Conversations is so that we can talk about the unique aspects of Richmond theatre, and the impact these realities will have on the future of our artists, audiences and institutions. Everyone I know who comes to Coffee & Conversations has a REALLY good time. I hope you'll join us for this and subsequent programs, so that you can see what really goes on behind the scenes. We hope to see you there, sometime before 9:30 a.m. I know you'll be glad you came.

--Bruce Miller

Interview with "Lend Me a Tenor"'s Frank Creasy - Part 3

This is the final installment in a three-part interview with Frank Creasy, one of the stars of Lend Me a Tenor. We greatly appreciate his taking the time to talk with us. The picture to the right is a recent promo shot Frank made for the Virginia State Fair.

Q - You've played some terrific parts over the years, and your current role in Lend Me a Tenor is certainly among them. Are there any dream roles that you'd still like to play?

A - Can I send you the complete list in an Excel spreadsheet? Okay, okay...truth be told, I’ve had some dream roles already, such as George Schneider in Neil Simon’s Chapter Two at CAT (that's a role I’d like to do again, actually). And although I love character parts and I love comedies (see previous question and answer in yesterday's installment), I’d like to have the chance to tackle the role of Johnny in Frankie and Johnny in the Clair de Lune by Terrence McNally. Probably without the nudity. As a “man of a certain age,” I’m not sure that would appeal to ANYONE. But I absolutely love the play and the role.

Q - Have you dabbled in any other arts activities?

A - Believe it or not, I did a semester with the modern dance company at Longwood. You’ll notice I’ve never been asked to dance in any Richmond theatre productions; I guess that speaks to my skill as a dancer more than anything else I could say.

Q - Does your wife Carol (pictured with Frank to the left) share your interest in the arts?

A - Carol sang in the UVA women’s chorus and still has a lovely voice to match those beautiful eyes. She also did all the interior design and decorating in our home. Guests always ask who we hired. "I didn’t hire someone," I tell them, "I married someone."

Q - When you're not at work at Anthem, or acting in a production at a Richmond theatre, what are your other interests? What other aspirations have you pursued?

A - I was a “jock” in school – wrestling was my thing, and during my first year of college at George Mason (before Longwood), a pinched nerve in my neck led to an x-ray. That’s when I learned about an injury two years before that had caused a dislocated cervical vertebra. I'd been wrestling for two years with a dislocated vertebra! I'm very lucky that I didn't wind up in a wheelchair. I quit wrestling after that, under doctor's orders. I got healthy, took up acting after transferring to Longwood, and the rest, as they say, is history.

Q - Why do you think theatre has held your interest all these years?

A - I just really enjoy it, I guess. I come to the theatre to have fun. But I approach what I do very seriously. It could be a farce like Lend Me a Tenor (the picture to the right shows Frank with Tenor co-star Jan Guarino), or a violent epic like The Spanish Tragedy (Henley Street Theatre), or a brand new avant garde piece where I’m playing an apartment building, like I did in Crumble (Lay Me Down, Justin Timberlake), a show I did last year at the Firehouse. Whatever show it is, first and foremost, I try to be entertaining and interesting because the people who work hard and pay for their tickets deserve that.

I try to be versatile, to honor the play and the role and the direction, to create a character who is unique, who has a little bit of “Frank” in him, but is still, hopefully, different from anything else I’ve done before. I'm not really interested in rehashing a previous performance or falling back on some schtick from my acting “bag of tricks."

To me, my highest achievement would be for an audience member to see my name in a playbill and think, “Frank Creasy is in this play. That should be fun. Wonder what he'll do this time.”

Creasy Talks More about "Tenor" and Richmond Theatre

We're pleased that Frank Creasy, one of the leading actors in Lend Me a Tenor, agreed to talk with us about his experiences on and off stage. Both show shots are from Lend Me a Tenor (the first picture also features Aly Wepplo, the second also features Chris Stewart). This is Part 2 in a three-part interview with Mr. Creasy.

Q - Thanks again, Frank, for responding to all these questions. You've been in a lot of shows, and participated I'm sure in a lot of auditions when you weren't cast. What advice would you give to actors who feel like they audition and audition, and seldom get offered the roles they want?

A - The same advice I give to myself. Be ready to give your strongest audition initially so that you're invited to call backs. Listen carefully to the directions given during call backs. Come prepared to read the character you want to play in a variety of ways, based on what the director asks for. If you get to read several times, try it slightly differently each time. Perhaps most important, be ready to throw out everything you’ve prepared and do something completely different on the fly if requested.

You can’t control whether you’re too tall or short or skinny or fat or young or old for a role. Just be flexible, commit to your choices, and have fun. And by all means, be pleasant, friendly and courteous to everyone in the theatre. No one wants to work with someone who’s a pill or a pain in the neck.

Q - What's most fun about performing in Lend Me a Tenor?

A - I don’t think you'll have enough space to include all the things that are fun. Some highlights: the role (Saunders) is a gem; the script is extremely well written, every single character and scene; the actors I work with are absolutely first rate, top to bottom, and I love and respect what each one of them brings to the production. Our director, Scott Wichmann, put together an amazingly tight, funny, wonderful production, and behind the scenes, our stage manager Rick Brandt and our dresser Caron Sinnenberg keep things running seamlessly.

Q - Other than that Opening Night wine bottle, has anything else funny or unusual happened thus far in the run?

A - Usually things go smoothly, but with that much running around something is bound to happen. One night, as I ran into the bedroom with Max (Nick Ciavarella) in Act II, I pushed the door open and accidentally caught my jacket on the door handle, suddenly getting yanked backwards. In “Saunders fashion” I blamed Max and barked at him as if it was all his fault.

Q - What don't people in the rest of the world realize about Richmond theatre?

A - The vast amount of talent we have here. Truth be told, there are some folks at auditions or in some local productions and, honestly, I don’t believe they're all that wonderful. But then-- and this happens all the time--I'll see someone I've never seen before, and they just impress me greatly with their talent. All in all, it confirms for me how lucky I am to work so often with such talented, interesting, fun people.

Q - Do you prefer comedies or dramas, classical works or contemporary pieces, musicals or non-musicals? Why?

A - TOUGH question, and I know so many actors would say “Oh I love them all” and such...but if I had to choose one, I’d probably say contemporary comedies. I love Neil Simon and I love well written comedic roles and I love to hear audiences laugh, because then I KNOW they’re enjoying it. Hard to tell if they’re enjoying an intense drama until the curtain call and the applause lets you know where you stand.
Doing comedy well is really hard, because timing, delivery, expression and body language all have to come together in just the right way to tickle the vast majority of people. And some of those skills, sorry to say, are innate: you have to feel it. I don't think it can be taught.

Comedies don’t usually win lots of acting awards, but they’re tremendously challenging. They entertain and make people happy. What could be better than that?

(to be continued)

Interview with "Lend Me a Tenor"'s Frank Creasy - Part 1

Frank Creasy is among Central Virginia's most reliable character actors, and he's now playing the leading role of Saunders, the opera manager, in Lend Me a Tenor. The Buzz caught up with Frank to discuss his background, his three decades in Richmond theatre, and his backstage experiences during the run of this riotous farce. This is Part 1 of that interview.

Q - Thanks for talking with us today, Frank. You're doing a terrific job in Lend Me a Tenor. (That's Frank in Tenor to the left, with Nick Ciavarella.) It's so much fun to watch you work.

A - Thanks. All of us are having a great time because the audience is having a great time. I'm going to be really sorry when this one closes on October 16.

Q - Tell us a little bit about yourself. Where did you go to college? What was your major? What brought you to Richmond?

A - I grew up in Winchester, VA, and went to Longwood, majoring in sociology. I first moved to Richmond in the summer of 1979, between years at Longwood. I've always had relatives in the Richmond area. My father's mother grew up on Church Hill and attended St. John's Church all her life. Several aunts and uncles also live in Richmond. When I was growing up, my family always came to Richmond every Thanksgiving and Christmas. Also, a lot of the friends I made in college were from here. It just seemed like a natural place to settle down, I guess. Although I'm not sure exactly when the "settling down" part happened.

Q - What was your first job after graduation?

A - Believe it or not, my first job out of college was at Theatre IV in the 1982 production of Mister Roberts. (That's Frank in the picture to the right, just a couple years before Mister Roberts.) Theatre IV rented the Little Theatre a few years before buying the entire Empire complex in 1986. Ford Flannagan was part of that cast, along with some other terrific actors.

Q - Where do you work now? Are your co-workers aware of your theatrical activities? Do they come see you in shows?

A - Anthem Blue Cross and Blue Shield is my employer. I work as a help desk manager supporting the Anthem website. At least three co-workers have come to see Lend Me a Tenor, and others at Anthem outside my department have seen it and very graciously stopped by my desk to tell me how much they loved the show.

Q - After Mister Roberts, what were your next theatre jobs in Richmond? How did it feel to audition in a new city where you were not that well known?

A - I was cast in Mister Roberts almost right away, in the spring of 1982. Auditioning back then was a little scary for me, right out of college. I auditioned once for Muriel McAuley, one of Barksdale's co-founders, when she was casting Elephant Man at the Tavern. She called to tell me that I read wonderfully but I was just too young for the role. It was a lovely rejection--the first of many to come. Muriel's kindness sticks with me to this day.

Q - Like many actors, you started out in smaller roles, and over time worked your way up to leads. What was that experience like?

A - You know, I played my fair share of leads in college (Paul in Barefoot in the Park, Mortimer in Arsenic and Old Lace, among others). And I've had good experiences playing leading roles at other theatre companies in town. But as a character actor, supporting roles are often where I land, and I'm glad to do them. (That's Frank to the left, as Charlie Martin in On Golden Pond at Barksdale Hanover Tavern.)

I would like to think that my talents have improved, because I've worked purposefully to get better show by show. I've tried to take direction and carefully watch what successful local actors do onstage: David Bridgewater, Scott Wichmann, Joe Inscoe, to name a few who I've watched and worked with, studying how they approached their performances.

I've always believed that if you want to be one of the best, there's no better training than watching what the best in the field do and then modeling your behavior accordingly. It works in all walks of life; acting is no different. Of course, those guys I mentioned have talents some of the rest of us may only aspire to but never fully achieve. My hope is that one day I'll be close enough, in that regard, that someone would think of actors of that caliber as my "peers." To me, that would be the highest compliment.

(to be continued)

A Little Bit of This, A Little Bit of That

Posted by Bruce Miller
A bit of a grab bag today.

If you want to know the best diner in the city of your choice, or the best auto repair shop in Richmond, go to Gordon Bass (pictured to the right in our current production of Becky's New Car). In addition to his acting assignments, Gordon is the full-time Tour Manager at Theatre IV. If you ask him for restaurant and mechanic tips, he won't send you to the fancy schmancy places, usually, but he'll give you the names of reliable and affordable places. He toured with us for something like twelve years, eating a gazillion meals on the road, and during the ten or so years since, he's been managing our fleet of nine tour vans.

Anyway, on Saturday, 15 minutes before auditions, one of our actors called to tell me that my daughter's Buick, which he was driving during his stay in Richmond, was making a terrible noise. Chase was just about to start his pre-audition instructions, so I called Phil to ask him to take care of it.

Phil made arrangements for our actor to take the car to a Merchants on Broad. Phil then went to Merchants, gave the actor his own car, learned from the Merchant's mechanic that my daughter's car was dead. Fugetaboutit. It was all over accept for the weeping.

Phil then remembered Gordon's car guy, Abe's Auto Service on Chamberlayne Ave. Phil paid the Merchant guy, drove the car (very slowly and noisily) to Abe's, and Abe just called me this morning to tell me that he thinks he can fix it good as new for $320.

You gotta love Gordon. And Phil. And Abe.

Today's the first day of the big GiveRichmond campaign at the Community Foundation. I hope it worked for other people. I decided I'd make my $50 contributions to the three theatres that emailed me (plus Barksdale and Theatre IV), and used the link provided in the email from Firehouse to connect with the GiveRichmond website. I registered. I clicked Find, found the theatres I was looking to support, I clicked Give, and nothing happened. I spent 40 minutes trying to make contributions, and never made it past first base.

Granted, I'm a computer dunce. But I was really trying, and there are a lot of people a lot worse than me. I hope the rest of you were more successful than I was.

Today is our first student matinee of the year--Lend Me a Tenor. I LOVE seeing shows with students. Couldn't go today, but I'm excited that we offer these. Student matinee sales in early October are never any good, but throughout the rest of the year, we should have a full crop of highschoolers coming to see our shows. Hopefully I'll be able to join them for My Fair Lady ... and beyond.

Today is also the annual trade show for one of our sponsors, The Supply Room. Terrie Powers and David Powers have been creating lots of painted cardboard displays and design elements for the trade show. We get free office supplies during the year, and they get free scenery for their biggest annual business event. It's a win/win.

Tomorrow the Whiteways and the Millers make it out to the Firehouse for Hot Tin. Can't wait.

Hope to see you at a theatre!

--Bruce Miller

PS - I tried again today to log onto GiveRichmond, this time using the Triangle link, and had no problems. Perhaps there was a glitch yesterday morning during heavy traffic. Whatever happened, it appears today that Triangle and Henley Street made it into the first group to bring in 50 contributors and therefore receive bonuses of $2,500. Congratulations!

Why "Becky's New Car" Made It onto our Tavern Season

Posted by Bruce Miller
With millions of plays out there, each one yearning for production, how and why do I pick the plays that wind up on one of our Barksdale and Theatre IV seasons? That is our #2 FAQ. #1 is, "Why did you guys name it Theatre IV?"

Beginning with Why "Lend Me a Tenor" Made It onto our Signature Season (9/08/2011), I'm starting a new blog series to address that #2 question. Each post in the series will be tagged with the label "Why," so if you ever want to go back and read previous posts in the same series, you'll be able to do so by clicking on the "Why" label that will follow each article.

Barksdale's mission is to produce in Central Virginia national caliber productions of the GREAT comedies, dramas and musicals--past, present and future. In other words, we seek to produce plays that have significance and import, plays that leave a lasting impact on the field.

If the assessed "greatness" is in the arena of literature or art, we tend to present the play in our Signature Season at Willow Lawn and the historic Empire. If the assessed "greatness" is in the arena of entertainment or popularity, we tend to schedule the play at Hanover Tavern.

Re-reading, them sounds like fightin' words--and I'm in no way seeking a dispute. Yes, I think Becky's seeks and achieves "greatness" as literature and art. I also know for a fact that it clearly has achieved already "greatness" as popular entertainment. It is one of the most frequently produced new American plays created between 2000 and 2009. Securing 24 regional productions in three short years is a feat of which most playwrights could only dream.

Only time will tell whether Becky's New Car will earn its place as one of the artistically great American comedies of the aught decade of the 21st Century. I think it might.

There is another rationale that led to our selection of Becky's New Car.

Our goal at Barksdale Theatre is to establish in Central Virginia a major, nonprofit, professional theatre of national standing. Three years ago, during strategic planning sessions, our Board of Trustees asked various stakeholders what new initiatives were needed to grow the national reputation of our company. Our audience, our artists, our funders and our colleague organizations suggested that there were four things Barksdale should do to participate more fully in the American professional theatre community, thereby enhancing Richmond's profile among the nation's great theatre cities.

1. We should create on a regular basis world premieres of new comedies, dramas and musicals that originate here and then earn productions at other professional theatres around the country.

2. We should further support new work by being an early producer of new plays created at other regional theatres, relying less on plays that have already been successful on and off Broadway.

3. We should recruit theatre artists of national standing to come to Richmond to work side-by-side with our outstanding local professionals.

4. We should mount national caliber productions here and then seek to transfer the best of those productions to New York or other major national markets.

Following in the footsteps of our productions of Boleros for the Disenchanted by Jose Rivera (2009-2010) and Legacy of Light by Karen Zacarias (2010-2011), Becky's New Car by Steven Dietz (2011-12) is our third effort to fulfill the second objective noted above. In the coming months, we will address the first objective with our world premieres of Blue Ridge Mountain Christmas and Scorched Earth.

This is an exciting time for Barksdale Theatre and Theatre IV. We're taking seriously our goal of increasing the national impact and prominence of our theatre. We're choosing not to rest comfortably on the status quo. If we (and that "we" involves a LOT of people) are able to create a theatre of national prominence here in Central Virginia, I believe it will benefit greatly every theatre, theatre artist, and theatre lover in town.

I hope you'll buy tickets to both of our current comedies: Lend Me a Tenor at Willow Lawn and Becky's New Car at Hanover Tavern. They are fun and exciting shows. We need and are working hard to earn your support.

--Bruce Miller

Barksdale Theatre / Theatre IV - Next Week's Schedule

Posted by Bruce Miller
Fall is here! This is the week our touring operation begins to run on all cylinders, with in-school performances of The Frog Prince, Hugs and Kisses, Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs, The Legend of Sleepy Hollow, Tales as Tall as the Sky, and The Little Red Hen. More on each of those productions later. We'll be presenting 49 performances next week. Here's some of what's happening at your theatre.

Sunday, Oct 2
Becky's New Car - 2 pm matinee - Hanover Tavern
Lend Me a Tenor - 2 pm matinee - Willow Lawn
Open Call Auditions - 6 pm to 11 pm - Empire

Monday, Oct 3
Sleepy Hollow - 1 show Brunswick Co VA
Snow White - 2 shows Manassas VA
Tales as Tall - 2 shows Henrico Co VA

Tuesday, Oct 4
Sleepy Hollow - 1 show Spotsylvania Co VA
Snow White - 1 show Spotsylvania Co VA
Tales as Tall - 1 show Bedford Co VA, 1 show Lynchburg VA

Wednesday, Oct 5
Becky's New Car - 2 pm matinee - Hanover Tavern
Hugs and Kisses - 2 shows Richmond VA
Little Red Hen - 2 shows Wilkesboro NC
Sleepy Hollow - 1 show Spotsylvania Co VA
Snow White - 1 show Dinwiddie Co VA

Thursday, Oct 6
Becky's New Car - 8 pm Hanover Tavern
Lend Me a Tenor - 8 pm Willow Lawn
Frog Prince - 2 shows Newport News VA
Hugs and Kisses - 2 shows Powhatan Co VA
Little Red Hen - 1 show Chesterfield Co VA
Sleepy Hollow - 1 show Baltimore MD
Snow White - 1 show Chesterfield Co VA, 1 show Richmond VA
Tales as Tall - 3 shows Vevay IN

Friday, Oct 7
Becky's New Car - 8 pm Hanover Tavern
Lend Me a Tenor - 8 pm Willow Lawn
Frog Prince - 1 show Chesterfield Co VA, 1 show Hanover Co VA
Hugs and Kisses - 2 shows Prince William Co VA
Little Red Hen - 1 show Chesterfield Co VA
Sleepy Hollow - 2 shows Pittsylvania Co VA
Snow White - 2 shows Bedford Co VA
Tales as Tall - 3 shows Vevay IN

Saturday, Oct 8
Lend Me a Tenor - 8 pm Willow Lawn
Snow White - 1 show McLean VA

Hope to see you at the theatre!

--Bruce Miller

Coffee & Conversations - Fun, Free, Starts Friday

Posted by Bruce Miller
Today I'm excited to announce our 2011-12 Season of Rostov's Coffee & Conversations. If you've never been to one of these free, fun and informative events, you don't know what you're missing. We hope you'll mark your calendars now and plan to join us. It's a great way to start your day and connect with your theatre.

To kick off the series, we're having a Special Event this Friday, Sept. 30, 9:30 a.m. in the Barksdale Willow Lawn lobby. Melissa Johnston Price, star of Becky's New Car, will join in a panel with Charlie and Benita Staadecker, the amazing couple who originally commissioned this vibrant new play by Steven Dietz. They are visiting us this weekend from Seattle. I will moderate the discussion, and our director, Billy Christopher Maupin, will be on hand to offer additional insight. It's free. No reservations required. Please join us.

Now--back to the rest of our Coffee & Conversations season. Each program will focus on a fresh and lively panel discussion, providing a fun behind-the-scenes look into the shows and operations of Barksdale/Theatre IV--Central Virginia's nonprofit, resident professional theatre.

Following our Special Event this Friday, the Rostov's Coffee & Conversations series will take place on the second Tuesday of each month, October through July (excluding June). There will be no programs in August and September.

Rostov's coffee, tea and pastries will be provided free-of-charge at each event, with the continental buffet opening at 9:15 a.m. Moderated panel discussions will begin promptly at 9:30 a.m. and last one hour, with lots of opportunity for audience Q & A.

Events are normally held in the lobby of Barksdale Willow Lawn. If attendance approaches 70 or more, the program may be moved into our comfortable 204-seat theatre. Average attendance has been around 35, but we're hoping to grow the program this year. Please note that the July event will be held on the set of Spring Awakening at the historic Empire Theatre, located at 114 W Broad Street, downtown.

All Rostov's Coffee & Conversations programs are free and open to everyone. A $3 free-will donation is gratefully accepted from those who have the means. Donations are welcomed in the glass urn that sits on the pastry buffet table.

No reservations are required.

The 2011-12 Season is as follows. Panelists and moderators will be announced on this blog and elsewhere on our website about two weeks prior to each program.

Tuesday, October 11, 2011
Behind the Scenes of Lend Me a Tenor
Moderator - Jill Bari Steinberg
Panelists - Cast members Nick Ciavarella, Frank Creasy, Susan Sanford

Tuesday, November 14, 2011
Working Out - Our Theatre Gym Partnership with Cadence Theatre Company

Tuesday, December 13, 2011
Behind the Scenes of My Fair Lady

Tuesday, January 10, 2012
Build It and They Will Come - Barksdale's Set Construction Team

Tuesday, February 14, 2012
Behind the Scenes of God of Carnage

Tuesday, March 13, 2012
Public Funding for the Arts - Where Do Greater Richmond and Virginia Stand?

Tuesday, April 10, 2012
All in the Planning - The Future of Barksdale Theatre and Theatre IV

Tuesday, May 8, 2012
Behind the Scenes of our World Premiere Production of Scorched Earth

Tuesday, July 10, 2012 ***This program will be held in the historic Empire Theatre
Behind the Scenes of Spring Awakening

For more information, or more timely information, please visit www.BarksdaleRichmond.org. We hope you'll join us for each of these fun and informative programs.

--Bruce Miller

Of Fall, Hot Tin, and Names Above the Title

Posted by Bruce Miller
Fall is really here. The calendar says we have to wait till Sept 23, but I'm not buyin'. The 2011-12 theatre season is well underway, marked by the openings of Central VA's first comedy of the year (Lend Me a Tenor), drama (Cat on a Hot Tin Roof), and musical (Keep on the Sunny Side).

As Lucian Restivo from Stage B posted Friday on Facebook, "it's cardigan and scarf weather," and he couldn't be happier. After the dog days of summer, I'm right there with him.

I made my reservations for Hot Tin and I'm really looking forward to it. It's definitely one of the new season's highlights for me. I loved Who's Afraid last season from the same Rusty Wilson / Firehouse directing / producing team. Hot Tin is a great play--a masterwork--and Rusty's assembled an unbeatable cast: Alan Sader, Laine Satterfield, Adrian Rieder, Jackie Jones, Larry Cook, Dean Knight, Andy Boothby, Laura Rikard, Stephanie M. Hill, and three talented no-neck-monsters.

Susie Haubenstock wrote a great review, and I've heard nothing but glowing word-of-mouth. If you don't have your tickets yet, I encourage you to get them. I suspect they'll start selling out most performances pretty soon.

I'm excited that Rusty will be directing In the Next Room or the vibrator play with Cadence in Barksdale's Theatre Gym next summer.

This coming Friday, we'll open Becky's New Car, a very clever and contemporary new comedy from Steven Dietz, at Hanover Tavern. We're trying something new, and if you have a reaction, I'd love to hear it.

Bouncing off my desire to celebrate and promote Richmond's "stars" with a little more fanfare, Billy Christopher Maupin, who is not only directing Becky's but marketing it as well, decided to place Melissa Johnston Price's name above the title in our promotional materials--not our standard practice.

At first, I buzzed B C and asked him not to do that again without checking with me first. I was worried about setting precedents and all that. But then I decided that this will be a good experiment.

Melissa Johnston Price is certainly a local star, holding a prominent place in the pantheon of Virginia's most revered actors. And the character of "Becky" certainly is the leading role in the play. Why the heck not let the ticket-buying public know that this is a special opportunity to see an exceptional artist in a terrific part?

Sometimes I think we Richmond producers need to set aside all timidity and begin to blow the horn a little louder about Central Virginia's brightest and best. If we don't, aren't we failing to create the public excitement we need to create in order to grow the overall Richmond audience?

What do you think? When we're lucky enough to have a star in a major role, should we put his or her name above the title? You can communicate with me publicly as a comment to this post, or privately as an email.

I can't type my email directly cause little robots that do nothing but surf blog posts 24/7 pick it up and start sending me even more spam. Or so I'm told by our IT gurus. So here's today's puzzler. My address is: b.miller@ the name of either of our theatres followed by the word Richmond.org.

Thanks.

--Bruce Miller

Ruminations from the Old School

Posted by Bruce Miller
To one and all-- I'm sorry I ever wrote my spoof of Susie's review of Lend Me a Tenor. Over on Dave's Theatre Blog, which I enjoy, it seems to have created a mini-firestorm, which was not my intention.

Here's what people seem to think. I read Susie's mixed but mostly favorable review of Tenor, didn't think it was favorable enough, wrote a scathing attack on her and Richmond critics in general, posted it on the Barksdale blog, at which point someone calmer and wiser "dropped the hammer" on me, and commanded me in fear and trembling to take the post down.

Here's what I think happened. I read Susie's mixed to mostly favorable review and thought it was pretty much on the mark. I also thought it was a crystal clear example of subjective, rather than objective criticism. Since it was a mixed but mostly favorable review, and pretty much on the mark, and since Susie is my professional friend, I thought it was safe for me to spoof the review, with everyone knowing that my spoof was written in good clean fun.

Call me crazy.

I think it's a very good thing that all of us, theatre artists and critics, are passionate about what we do. I also think it's very easy for blog posts, and particularly anonymous comments, to come off as nastier than they're intended to be. That's a lesson I should have learned long, long ago.

For the record, I never thought that Susie wrote a negative review of Tenor. I read her review just like you did. I'm not stupid. I know it was mixed but mostly positive. If I had written a review of Tenor, which I think is a real crowd-pleaser and lots of fun, my review would have been mixed but mostly positive. I don't think everything we produce is perfect. Quite the opposite. I think all of us at Barksdale are our own toughest critics. I'm glad about that. I think that's what has encouraged and allowed our artistic quality to improve over the years.

My point in writing the spoof was to shine a light on what I guess is an "old school" / "new school" debate in journalistic circles. Dave reports that during the recent criticism seminars he attended in California, a prominent film critic and speaker stressed the importance of avoiding the "dreaded O," or something like that, with "O" standing for objectivism.

When I took criticism in college a very long time ago, around 1972, we were taught the exact opposite. "When you write subjectively, " our professor would say, "you make the critique about you. Your readers are not picking up the paper to know more about you. They want to know about the play you are critiquing."

If you write subjectively, we were taught, your criticism risks being influenced by what you had for dinner, whether or not you have a head cold, whether or not your bills are paid, whether or not you just had a fight with your significant other, whether or not you could find a date for the performance. None of this is relevant to the quality or success of the performance you are reviewing. None of it should be included in your review, consciously or sub-consciously. All that personal stuff is relevant only to you.

If we ever wrote "I believe" or "I feel" or "it seems to me" or anything like that, it was crossed out with a big red pen and our grade was lowered for each offense. "It's not about you," was the mantra. It's about the play.

What I was taught, and what I believe, is that artists are entitled to informed, objective criticism, not a personal reaction based even in part on previously established bias or state of mind. I think Mark Persinger's comments on Dave's blog are on the mark, sorry, in this regard.

Dave seems to think, and I can somewhat understand, that objective criticism is impossible, because all journalists write subjectively, like it or not.

Those are our opinions. So be it. "New school" is no more right or wrong than "old school," and vice versa. But, perhaps, it's worth consideration.

In all my journalism classes, we were taught to write in "inverted pyramid" style, even in reviews. My journalism mentor, legendary U or R professor Joe Nettles, long revered as the "dean of Richmond journalism," stressed that the "inverted pyramid" style (I encourage you to Google it and find more info than you need) not only led to good, effective writing, it also allowed readers to opt out of any given article after a paragraph or two having learned the most important information the writer needed to convey.

Readers of my age (61) or older have been trained, subconsciously, to expect the most important information to be in the first few paragraphs. Most of Richmond's ticket buyers (not all, thank God) are my age or older. If they skimmed the first five paragraphs of Susie's review of Lend Me a Tenor, and read no further, they would have closed the paper believing that the most important information was that the T-D theatre critic hates farce and invites others to join her. They would have read nothing in the first five paragraphs about Susie's opinion of this production of Lend Me a Tenor.

It's not the end of the world, my friends. I'm not steaming with anger. I just thought it was a perfect time to discuss "subjective" vs "objective" journalism.

I wrote the spoof because I thought it would be funny, in a Jon Stewart kind of way. I copied the first several paragraphs of Susie's review almost word for word. I simply exchanged the words "subjective criticism" for "farce."

It came off nasty. I'd forgotten that that's what emails and blog posts do sometimes. You can't type in tone of voice, raised eyebrow, glint in eye, or twisted smile.

That's when I take blog posts down--when I become aware that they're being interpreted in a way not intended. When my trusted colleagues, Chase Kniffen and Billy Christopher Maupin, told me that the social media world was abuzz regarding my "attack" on Richmond's critics, I followed their suggestion and removed it from public view. I apologized publicly, on the blog, and privately to Susie. She was great about it all, as I suspected she would be. My apology was and is sincere. Not cause I'm kissing up to her or any critic. I just think everyone who means no harm is due respect. I never intended otherwise.

Susie is a valued professional friend, as is Dave. As a side note to one of Dave's commenters, it's a small community, and a lot of us are going to be friends. I think that's just the way we're wired, not any attempt on anyone's part to win influence with anyone else. The good news is, none of the current critics hang out in the lobby after a show and play kissy face / drinking buddy with the artists they are about to review. Only one critic in my memory did that, which I too found unprofessional. That critic is no longer here.

As for the objective/subjective issue, debated at length on Dave's blog, well, I think Dave and I will just have to disagree. Nothing wrong with that. I find some validity to his point of view. I expect he finds some in mine. I know we both respect each other.

Perhaps what is most interesting is that when Susie began her review by proposing a test, suggesting that all readers who enjoyed farce stand over there, and inviting all readers who hated farce to stand over here, with her, critics seemingly could not understand how that could be offensive to theatre artists. When I spoofed the review, and suggested that all readers who enjoyed "subjective" criticism stand over there, and invited all readers who hated "subjective" criticism to stand over here, with me, the general reaction was that I was issuing a "pointed" attack.

Bottom line: I have affection and respect for the critics and the artists. I mean no ill will toward anyone. I prefer my drama to be on the stage. I do think it's interesting to consider and discuss these things, however, even while remaining truly sorry that my initial spoof caused the reaction it did.

--Bruce Miller

New Actor Brings Positive Energy to "Lend Me a Tenor"

Posted by Bruce Miller
According to this morning's scale, I gained 1.8 pounds at yesterday's Opening Night cast party of Lend Me a Tenor. It was worth it. As always, Jennings Whiteway prepared a tasty table of treats for everyone to enjoy post-performance. But it was the good company and overall sense of celebration that prompted my indulgence. The show was TERRIFIC. All parties involved had one heck of a good time.

Allow me introduce you to one of the actors (a star of Lend Me a Tenor) who is actuating all this good cheer--Barksdale newcomer, Nick Ciavarella (pronounced Shiv-a-rel'-la).

Nick plays Max, the eager beaver young assistant to the Executive Director of the Cleveland Opera in 1934. Max is fervently in love with the director's daughter, and a definite divo wannabe.

Nick lives in NYC, where he is artistic director of Sound and Space Theatre, a new company that specializes in site-specific productions. He holds an MA in Classical Acting from the prestigious Central School of Speech and Drama in London. While in England, he appeared in The Factory's production of Hamlet, touring throughout the UK.

We discovered Nick this summer when he ably starred with the Virginia Shakespeare Festival in Comedy of Errors (Antipholus of Syracuse) and Hamlet (Horatio). The Virginia Shakespeare Festival is presented each summer in Williamsburg under the direction of Christopher Owens, husband of Barksdale actress Tamara Johnson.

Casting often requires very specific qualities. For example, the role of Otello in the opera-within-the-play is described as huge, manly and intimidating. In several lines, the Lend Me a Tenor characters wax lyrical about Otello's great size and prowess. We knew that the actor who would play Tito Merelli (who would be cast as Otello in the opera-within-the-play) had to be tall and robust. Tito is played in our production by Joe Pabst.
Therefore the character of Max had to be of equal height, since Max and Tito must be mistaken for each, at extremely close quarters, several times during all the farcical goings on. (The picture above and to the left show Nick and Joe in their Otello costumes and makeup.)

At the same time, much is made of the fact that Max isn't large enough to play Otello, so we knew we needed an actor who was very tall but also very thin--someone who matched Tito's profile only after he donned considerable padding. Nick, God bless him, is tall and trim--exactly what we needed.

He also has all the other qualities we were looking for--leading man good looks, the ability to appear kind of nebbishy before his glasses and insecurities come off, great comic timing, and an overall ability to command the stage. Nick also appears to be right on the cusp between youthfulness and manliness--exactly where Max needs to be.

When our brilliant director, Scotty Wichmann, saw Nick's video audition and became aware of his abundant talents, he knew he'd found the right man for the job. We're very fortunate that Nick is joining us for this comic romp. We hope and trust this first gig in Richmond won't be his last.

During the run of Lend Me a Tenor, Nick is living in Bon Air in one of Theatre IV's five actor/intern houses. Actually, he's in the same house and room occupied by Jeff McCarthy during our summer run of Dirty Rotten Scoundrels. When Nick arrived via train about a month ago, he graciously commented on how this was the best actor housing he'd ever been provided.

Little did any of us know that a week or so into rehearsals Nick and his new Bon Air home would be visited by that vixen Irene. Neither did we foresee that Nick's adopted neighborhood would be one of the last to be blessed with a restoration of power.

New to town, with no friends except the few he had just met, Nick lived ten days in the dark with no refrigeration or hot water. He learned his lines by candlelight, but also had the good sense to turn lemons into lemonade. "It was a blessing in disguise," he says. "It forced me to leave the house every morning and explore all of Richmond's many neighborhoods and attractions. I had a great time. Richmond now feels like home."

If you'd like to meet Nick (pictured to the left in a previous production of The Philadelphia Story) and experience firsthand his joie de vivre, call the Barksdale box office today at 282-2620 to purchase your tickets to our new comedy smash, Lend Me a Tenor. I know you'll be glad you did.

--Bruce Miller

The Provenance of "Lend Me a Tenor"

Posted by Bruce Miller
In the early 1980s, a British stage manager named Denise Deegan wrote a comedy entitled Daisy Pulls It Off. It was a parody of wholesome adventure stories, and portrayed life in a 1920s British girls boarding school. A little known stage director named David Gilmore read it, and convinced his colleague, Andrew Lloyd Webber, who had just opened his early megahit, Cats, to produce Daisy (pictured above and to the left) in London's West End. The resulting production was a huge hit, running at the Gielgud Theatre (then named the Globe) from April 1983 to February 1986.

At the same time, a little known D. C. lawyer named Ken Ludwig (Harvard Law School, Class of '75) wrote a comedy entitled Opera Buffa. It debuted at the American Stage Festival, a small summer theatre in New Hampshire, receiving considerable local acclaim. Somehow, word of the fledgling comedy travelled to Gilmore and Lloyd Webber in London. They were looking for a show to follow Daisy Pulls It Off on London's West End. They requested and read a perusal copy of the Opera Buffa script, loved it, and convinced Ludwig to change his new play's title to Lend Me a Tenor. Gilmore and Lloyd Webber opened the World Premiere of Lend Me a Tenor at the Gielgud in March 1986, only three weeks after Daisy closed.

Lend Me a Tenor was an instant smash. It ran ten months on the West End and was nominated as Comedy of the Year in the Olivier Awards. In 1989 it opened on Broadway, starring Philip Bosco and Victor Garber, earning seven Tony nominations and two wins. Two decades later, Tenor was revived on Broadway starring Tony Shalhoub and Justin Bartha. Once again it knocked 'em dead, earning kudos (and Tony nominations) for its classic hilarity.

Today, Tenor has been performed in 30 nations with translations into 20 languages, becoming one of the favorite comedies of the 20th Century.
--Bruce Miller

Looking for a Playwright? Lend Me a Lawyer.

Posted by Bruce Miller
This Friday, September 9, marks the opening of the first show of Barksdale's 2011-12 Signature Season--Ken Ludwig's classic farce, Lend Me a Tenor. Interestingly, when Ludwig began his career, he never imagined he'd be a professional playwright. He was a lawyer ... and we all know what Shakespeare said about lawyers.

Today, Ludwig is an internationally acclaimed playwright whose several hits on Broadway, in London’s West End and throughout the world have made his name synonymous with modern comedy. He has won the Laurence Olivier Award, England’s highest theatre honor, as well as three Tony Award nominations and two Helen Hayes Awards. His work has been commissioned by the Royal Shakespeare Company and performed in at least thirty countries in over twenty languages.

His major plays and musicals include Crazy For You, Lend Me A Tenor, Moon Over Buffalo, Twentieth Century, The Adventures of Tom Sawyer, Shakespeare in Hollywood, Leading Ladies, Be My Baby, An American in Paris, A Fox on the Fairway, The Game’s Afoot (or Holmes for the Holidays), and adaptations of The Beaux’ Stratagem, Treasure Island, and The Three Musketeers.

Crazy for You ran for four years at the Shubert Theater on Broadway, won the Tony, Drama Desk, Outer Critics Circle, Los Angeles Critics Circle and Helen Hayes Awards as Best Musical of the Year, as well as the Olivier Award for Best Musical in London, and was broadcast nationwide on the PBS television series Great Performances.

Lend Me a Tenor was originally produced on Broadway by Andrew Lloyd Webber, revived in 2010 starring Tony Shalhoub and Justin Bartha, and has proved to be one of the world's most popular comedies of the past three decades. In London it was nominated for the Olivier Award as Comedy of the Year. On Broadway it was nominated for nine Tony Awards, including Best Play and Best Revival, and won two Tonys, four Drama Desk Awards and three Outer Critics Circle Awards. It has been translated into at least twenty languages and produced in over thirty countries around the world.

Moon Over Buffalo was nominated for two Tony Awards and marked Carol Burnett’s triumphant return to Broadway after 30 years, where she starred opposite Philip Bosco. Subsequent Broadway casts included Lynn Redgrave and Robert Goulet. In London it played at the legendary Old Vic starring Joan Collins and Frank Langella.

Twentieth Century, his adaptation of the Hecht-MacArthur comedy, was premiered at Virginia's Signature Theatre in Arlington (Ludwig lives in the D. C. metro area), and played to sold-out audiences on Broadway in 2004, where it was produced by the Roundabout Theatre Company starring Alec Baldwin and Anne Heche.

The Adventures of Tom Sawyer appeared on Broadway during the 2001-02 season. A one-hour children’s version had a triumphant run at the Kennedy Center, and subsequently toured the country for two years.

Shakespeare in Hollywood was commissioned by The Royal Shakespeare Company. It premiered at Arena Stage in Washington, D.C. and won the Helen Hayes Award as Best Play of the Year. Leading Ladies premiered at the Alley Theatre in Houston in the fall of 2004 under the author’s direction and is now being performed in theatres throughout the country.

Be My Baby opened the 2005-2006 season at the Alley Theatre starring Hal Holbrook and Dixie Carter. Ludwig was honored to be asked by the Estate of Thornton Wilder to complete Wilder’s adaptation of The Beaux’ Stratagem, a new version of the Restoration comedy by George Farquhar. The play received its world premiere production at the Shakespeare Theatre in Washington, D.C. under the direction of Michael Kahn and will be published by TCG.

Ludwig's adaptation of Robert Louis Stevenson’s Treasure Island premiered in 2007 at The Alley Theatre. It later opened at the Theatre Royal, Haymarket in London's West End in fall of 2008. Treasure Island won the 2009 AATE Distinguished Play Award for Best Adaptation.

Ludwig was commissioned by The Bristol Old Vic in London to write an adaptation of The Three Musketeers for an 8-week run during the theatre’s 2006 Christmas season. Ludwig’s stage version of An American in Paris with the music of George and Ira Gershwin—in the tradition of their collaboration on Crazy for You—premiered at the Alley Theatre in spring of 2008. The Fox on the Fairway, Ludwig’s new comedy set in the world of golf, premiered in the fall of 2010 at Signature Theatre in Arlington, starring Barksdale's Jeff McCarthy.

Sherlock! (or Holmes for the Holidays) is Ludwig’s newest play, a comedy-mystery about the great actor William Gillette who originated the role of Sherlock Holmes. Other plays include Sullivan & Gilbert (a co-production of the Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts and the National Arts Centre of Canada, voted Best Play of 1988 by the Ottawa critics); a new adaptation of Where’s Charley? for the Kennedy Center; the Off-Broadway hit Divine Fire; and a mystery, Postmortem. For television, he co-wrote the 1990 Kennedy Center Honors for CBS (Emmy Award nomination), and a television pilot for Carol Channing. For film he wrote Lend Me a Tenor for Columbia Pictures and All Shook Up for Touchstone Pictures and director Frank Oz.

Ludwig is a founding member of the Board of Trustees of the Shakespeare Theatre of Washington and an Honorary Trustee of the Shakespeare Guild. He has served on the New Play Committees of the National Endowment for the Arts and the American College Theater Festival, where he annually chooses and presents the Mark Twain Award for outstanding comic performance. He has lectured on drama at various universities around the country, and recently established the Ken Ludwig Scholarship in playwriting.

He graduated from Haverford College (B.A.), Harvard Law School (J.D.) and Cambridge University (LL.B.). He studied music at Harvard with Leonard Bernstein and theatre history at Cambridge. He practiced law for several years with the firm of Steptoe & Johnson, where he remains Of Counsel. He received an Honorary Doctorate of Humane Letters from York College of Pennsylvania. He is married and has two children.

We hope you'll join us for our first production by this important American playwright.

--Bruce Miller