Barksdale's Women's Theatre Project

Posted by Bruce Miller

As I begin my seventh season as Barksdale’s Artistic Director, the question I’m asked most frequently is, “How do you decide which plays to produce?” The process has so many layers (and so many players) it requires its own publication.

Part of the answer, however, involves a key commitment we made when we began selecting our first Barksdale Season in 2001-02. We pledged to ourselves, our artists and our audiences that we would, each season, produce at least:
· one work by a woman author,
· one work staged by a woman director, and
· one work that focuses on a strong, central woman.

We call this commitment our Women’s Theatre Project. The Member of the Wedding by the brilliant and legendary Southern author, Carson McCullers (pictured below and to the right), will open our Signature Season at Willow Lawn on September 21. It is a part of this Project.

At first glance, the commitment seems hardly necessary. What theatre wouldn’t, without even trying, produce such a season? And yet, if you review Barksdale’s history prior to 2001 and Richmond theatre history in general up to today, you’ll find that the majority of seasons fail to meet these minimal standards.

In the last seven seasons, we’re proud to have selected 15 plays and musicals by women authors. Several of these productions have been among our biggest hits, including The Little Foxes by Lillian Hellman, Annie Get Your Gun co-written by Dorothy Fields, To Kill a Mockingbird by Harper Lee, Crowns by Regina Taylor, and Intimate Apparel by Lynn Nottage—to mention only a few.

We’re proud that sixteen of our plays and musicals have been directed by leading women artists, including Robin Arthur, Nancy Cates, Jan Guarino, Leslie Owens Harrington, Susan Sanford, K Strong, Dawn Westbrook and Keri Wormald.

We’re proud of the powerful starring roles performed on our stage by Kathy Halenda, Dorothy Holland, Kelly Kennedy, Liz Mamana, Adanma Onyedike, Robyn O’Neill, Jill Bari Steinberg, Erin Thomas, Harriet Traylor and Irene Ziegler (to name a few), setting a standard for strong, active images of women.

In The Member of the Wedding, actress Katherine Louis (pictured to the left) and playwright Carson McCullers will join this roll of honor. We hope you’ll recognize, appreciate and support the commitments of our Women’s Theatre Project.

Throughout the run of Wedding, we will be exploring the issue of Women and the Arts in our Coffee & Conversations series, our new Cocktail Hour Conversations program, and here on the blog. Please join us in the discussion.

--Bruce Miller

Response to a Reader's Comment Regarding "Intimate Apparel"

We established this blog to enable an open conversation between Barksdale Theatre and others in the Metro Richmond family. We believe that open conversation is healthy and positive. Progress is never achieved through silence; understanding and respect come with patience and candor.

Today we received a comment from an anonymous reader responding to an earlier blog entry about Intimate Apparel. If you go to our archives and click on the “1 Comments” (sic) tab that follows the entry entitled “Intimate” Opening Wins Hearts and Minds, you will find it.

The comment reads: “Why is it that when white drama groups do plays about black people, they always show black women in their underwear and/or in sexually compromising positions with men? Living Word Stage Company, Richmond’s only black drama group, treats black women with respect. That’s why Living Word is so needed. Is this what we want our daughters to see?”

First, I agree with the opinion that Living Word Stage Company is needed. I believe that Living Word is a vital member of Metro Richmond’s cultural community, and we are all richer for their presence. In addition to working as Artistic Director of Barksdale Theatre, I’m the Artistic Director of Theatre IV, Barksdale’s sister company. Under my leadership, Theatre IV helped to get Living Word on its feet by allowing the young company to use our Empire Theatre home for free for their entire 2005-06 Season.

Second, I agree that black women have faced and continue to face cultural denigration that must be addressed. At the risk of alienating those who hold an opposing view on this complex issue, I am among those who support firing or boycotting entertainers who use their celebrity to promote misogyny and racism, whether it’s Don Imus or Snoop Dog or Nelly.

Finally, I applaud any parent who takes his or her responsibility seriously. I believe parents should always speak out when they feel like their child, or children in general, are being exposed to “entertainment” that is potentially hurtful or dangerous.

The deeply held principles that are reflected in the three paragraphs above are the same principles that make me so proud of our production of Intimate Apparel. Beautifully and sensitively written by a black woman playwright, Lynn Nottage, Intimate Apparel is, above all, a play about the respect that is due to every human being, even if an individual seems inconsequential or unimportant within the ruling social context of the day. The play is about the dignity and power of the human spirit, and the strength that can be marshaled by even the most powerless to rise above their circumstances and command their world. The play has universal themes, but chooses to focus on the power and glory of black women.

I do not know, but I suspect that our anonymous commenter has not seen Intimate Apparel. I suspect that she is reacting to photos that appear in our blog entry, depicting, as she says, women in their underwear and in positions with men that have the potential for sexual compromise.

The play uses these images and situations not to define black women as sexual objects or victims, but rather to exalt their ability to rise above the circumstances into which they have been placed by society. The play is about triumph. Is this what I want my daughter to see? You bet.

Perhaps this is a good time to mention my perspective on matters of race as they relate to professional theatres. Although I understand and respect the perspective of the commenter, I do not consider Barksdale Theatre to be a "white drama group" or a "white" theatre. I don't think theatres have color unless their mission specifically stresses a particular racial focus.

Barksdale's mission indicates a commitment to the entire community. It is this commitment that led Barksdale in the 1950s to become the first performing arts group in Virginia to admit racially mixed audiences, thereby breaking the back of the Jim Crow laws of that time. It is this commitment that led Theatre IV to become the first major arts organization in Virginia (with a budget of $1 million or greater) to elect an African-American Board President. In fact, Theatre IV has now been led by three African-American Board Presidents. Anthony Keitt, Barksdale's current Board President, is also African-American.

I thank and respect the opinions of all those who choose to comment on our blog entries. I encourage you to see our work, particularly Intimate Apparel, and hope that our plays will prompt continuing conversation.

Note: Subsequent to this posting, Living Word Stage Company changed it's name to African American Repertory Theatre. We have amended the labels to reflect this change and link this post with future posts for African American Repertory Theatre.

**Please be aware that some of the following comments contain spoilers. Some people who have not yet seen the show should be aware that comments discuss the show's ending.

"Intimate" Earns Rave in Times-Dispatch

The first Intimate Apparel review is in, and everything’s coming up roses. Susan Haubenstock’s assessment appears in this morning’s Times-Dispatch (Sunday, April 15), and it begins as follows: “What an excellent synergy of writing, acting, directing and design is Barksdale’s Intimate Apparel, the Lynn Nottage drama that played off-Broadway in 2004 and won the 2004 Outer Critics Circle Award. With director Steve Perigard at the helm, Nottage’s carefully plotted tale is realized with perfectly tuned sensibility.”

If you’re a regular reader of this blog, you know how excited we at Barksdale are about Intimate Apparel. We’re excited because Intimate Apparel is a beautiful new play by Lynn Nottage, a playwright who is now establishing her place in the top tier of favorite playwright lists all around the country. This production is a Central Virginia premiere, and the latest product of the Women’s Theatre Project we kicked off in 2001. Through this project, we commit to the production of at least one work by a woman playwright each season. Intimate Apparel is beautifully plotted and written with a real reverence for character and language. It has been a delight to produce.

We’re excited because we have been able to recruit an exceptional cast. “Adanma Onyedike’s Esther is beautifully realized, lacking in self-possession at first but growing through her difficulties to become very much herself,” says Haubenstock. “There are wonderful discoveries in the performances of Tawnya Pettiford-Wates as Mrs. Dickson, Jennifer Massey as Mrs. Van Buren, and Katrinah Carol Lewis as Mayme. Andy Nagraj is touching as Mr. Marks, and every move of Chris Lindsay’s George is charged with feeling.”

We’re excited to have the chance to again experience the organic power of Steve Perigard’s sensitive direction, the full-flavored beauty of Kim Parkin’s handsome scenic design, the magnificent period costumes created by Sue Griffin, and the spellbinding lighting of Lynne Hartman. Paul Deiss has written a wonderful rag that is performed by Katrinah and Ida (the name by which everyone knows Adanma). It sounds like Scott Joplin reborn. And, as always, Amanda Durst has created an entire world with her dialect direction.

We’re trying to live up to the standard we have set for ourselves, a standard that is appropriate for Central Virginia’s leading professional theatre. I think Intimate Apparel is representative of the artistic growth we seek. I’m proud of our production.















For the full review go to: Richmond Times-Dispatch

"Intimate" Opening Wins Hearts and Minds

I just returned from the great Opening Night of Intimate Apparel by Lynn Nottage. Joining in the warm reception awarded the show were past and present Board leaders Ric and Rhona Arenstein, Roy Burgess, Phyllis and Paul Galanti, and Charlotte and Andy McCutcheon; Bifocals stalwarts Carlene and Tom Bass, Vaughan Gary, Lyde Longacre and Tom McGranahan; and audience member extraordinaire Essie Simms (a painful bout of sciatica was not about to keep her away from an Opening Night).

Also making merry were beloved volunteers Bob Boyd, Jean Hartley and Elizabeth Prevatt; loyal staff members Ford Flannagan, Jackie Gann, Lucas Hall, Russell Rowland, Wendy Vandergrift, Jennings Whiteway and Ginnie Willard; and alumna of our recent London/Paris trip Anne Ayer.

As always, several of our treasured actors were at the head of the line to welcome this terrific show to its new life in Richmond, including Robin Arthur, Tony Foley, Scott Melton, Robyn O’Neill, Stacey Reardon, Jill Bari Steinberg, Eddie Tavares, Erin Thomas and Robert Throckmorton. To whomever I’m leaving out, please forgive me. It’s late.

Director Steve Perigard, Stage Manager Chase Kniffen, Lighting Designer Lynne Hartman, and Light Op Lynwood Guyton all graciously accepted kudos as the audience waited for the actors to emerge from the dressing rooms and join the party. When they finally appeared, the six actors who comprise our remarkable cast (Adanma Onyedike [Ida to her friends], Tawnya Pettiford-Wates, Jennifer Massey, Andy Nagraj, Katrinah Lewis and Chris Lindsay) were showered with justly deserved praise and affection.

I will leave it to others to critique the show, but suffice it to say that Phil Whiteway and I are very proud of the production and all of the talented artists involved. We’re looking forward to a long and glorious run of this beautiful and important new play. If you enjoy great theatre, this is one you won’t want to miss.

Meet the Cast of "Intimate Apparel"

During a recent focus group that was a part of our marketing research, I was surprised to hear a Broadway Under the Stars subscriber say that she always went to BUTS (that’s the acronym, sorry) and never to Barksdale because she liked knowing that “all the BUTS actors were on Broadway last week, and the Barksdale actors are local amateurs.” Her comment, of course, could not be further from the truth. Many of the BUTS tours featured not a single Broadway actor; many of them were non-Equity tours produced in Maryland. On the other hand, Barksdale’s Signature Season features many of our nation’s top professional talents, veterans of Broadway, Hollywood and America’s leading regional theatres.

The acting company of Intimate Apparel by Lynn Nottage is a perfect example. This wonderful show is up next in our Signature Season at Willow Lawn, and it features an amazingly talented cast of professional actors working at the top of their game. We’re proud to include each of them in our Barksdale family. Intimate Apparel is written by Lynn Nottage, one of the most popular playwrights working in our country today. It's the latest show in our Women's Theatre Project. Richmond theatre lovers of both genders would be crazy to miss it.

Adanma Onyedike plays the leading role of Esther. She last appeared at Barksdale in To Kill a Mockingbird. She is a brilliant actor at the beginning of her professional career; her performance in Intimate Apparel will uplift your heart. She is a member of Actors’ Equity Association, the union of professional actors and stage managers in the U.S.A. Adanma’s other stage credits include Luminosity at UVA, The Tempest with the Richmond Shakespeare Festival, Northstar Light with the Carpenter Science Theatre, and Tribute 9/11 with Sycamore Rouge. Adanma is now an MFA Theatre Pedagogy candidate at VCU, where she teaches Black Theatre. She also teaches at the Henrico High School Center for the Arts.

Chris Lindsay plays her love interest, George. Chris is making his Barksdale debut after just starring in the national tour of I Have a Dream – The Life and Times of Dr. Martin Luther King Jr., produced by Theatre IV. Chris is also a member of AEA. Based in Florida, Chris played Valentine in Twelfth Night, the Apothecary in The Imaginary Invalid, and Shere Khan in The Jungle Book—all for the Orlando Shakespeare Festival.

Tawnya Pettiford-Wates is also making her Barksdale debut as Mrs. Dickson, but she brings to our stage the wealth of experience she has gained during a stellar international career. Dr. T, as she is known by her students, is the Head of Performance on the faculty of the VCU Theatre Department. She appeared on Broadway in For Colored Girls … before moving to the West Coast to appear on stage at Seattle Rep, the Intiman Theatre, and ACT, and on film in David Lynch’s Twin Peaks, Life or Something Like It with Angelina Jolie, and Under One Roof with James Earl Jones.

Jennifer Massey returns to Barksdale in the role of Mrs. Van Buren, after starring with us previously in Fifth of July and Light Up the Sky. Jennifer’s other regional stage credits include performances with The Alliance Theatre (Atlanta), Flat Rock Playhouse (NC), and for the new playwright’s project at Arena Stage (Washington D. C.). In Los Angeles, she appeared in numerous productions with the acclaimed Deaf West Theatre. Her extensive film and TV credits include The Wedding Crashers, One Tree Hill, The Practice, 7th Heaven, and Melrose Place. Since moving to Richmond, she has also appeared with the Firehouse Theatre Project in Dinner with Friends and The Secret of Madame Bonnard’s Bath.

Andy Nagraj is pleased to be playing the Jewish fabric merchant, Mr. Marks. A graduate of the University of Richmond and the Steppenwolf Theatre Company’s Professional School in Chicago, Andy has performed in concert in France, Italy, Germany, Austria, the Czech Republic and, most recently, Spain. Previous Virginia credits include one of the titular roles in Disney’s Beauty and the Beast at Theatre IV, Forever Plaid at Swift Creek Mill, and A Midsummer Night’s Dream with the Virginia Shakespeare Festival in Williamsburg.

Last in this cast listing, but near and dear to our hearts, Katrinah Carol Lewis returns to Barksdale after starring as the Girl in our smash hit production of Crowns. A BFA performance grad from VCU, Katrinah also studied at the Levine School of Music in Washington, D. C. She was a featured soloist at the opening of the Guggenheim Museum in Bilbao, Spain with the Children of the Gospel Mass Choir. With the same group, she sang at the Kennedy Center and at the Inauguration of President William Jefferson Clinton. This summer, she will be singing with Barksdale again in Into the Woods.

In an upcoming blog entry, I’ll discuss the non-actor members of our award-winning company of Intimate Apparel. Please support Barksdale Theatre and our wonderfully talented professional cast by buying your tickets today. You’ll be glad you did.

Meet the Woman Behind "Intimate Apparel"

All of us at Barksdale are excited about the next play in our Signature Season at Willow Lawn, Intimate Apparel by Lynn Nottage. Introducing this beautiful new drama to the Richmond audience doesn't exactly make us trailblazers. Intimate Apparel was America’s most produced play in 2005-06. It won the American Theatre Critics New Play Award and was short-listed for the Pulitzer Prize in 2004. And Nottage was first presented to Richmonders in Benny Sato Ambush’s lovely production of Crumbs from the Table of Joy at TheatreVirginia in 2001-02.

Nonetheless, Lynn Nottage is a brilliant, fresh and inviting voice in American theatre—a playwright whom Richmond theatre artists and audience members need to know. Last year, she was one of three women pictured and identified on the cover of American Theatre Magazine as America’s most impressive emerging female playwrights.

I’m told that Nottage rhymes with “cottage.” It’s revealing that when I first encountered this amazing African-American playwright, I mispronounced her name with a continental élan, guessing incorrectly that you put the emphasis on and softened the second syllable, rhyming it with the visual art term “collage.” It’s quite true that Nottage finds eloquence, poetry and zest in everyday lives. She explores the extraordinary exuberance of individuals who would otherwise almost certainly appear to be lost in the mundane. But I fear that what was revealed by my mispronunciation was not my enthusiasm for her joyous and poetic language or the acute sensitivity of her character studies. More likely it was the subconscious association I made between “African American woman playwright” and the exotic and rare.

Lorraine Hansberry (A Raisin in the Sun), Suzan-Lori Parks (Top Dog / Underdog) and Regina Taylor (Crowns) notwithstanding, African American woman playwrights are still struggling to find their well-deserved place in the front ranks of American arts and letters. In fact, women playwrights in general find themselves in a similar boat.

But here’s where Richmond can step forward with pride and say that Barksdale Theatre is ahead of the pack. Not only have we produced the plays of Hansberry, Parks, Taylor, and now Nottage, but we’ve included the works of women authors in every season since Barksdale and Theatre IV began working cooperatively in 2001. In fact, if you count our soon-to-be-announced seventh season (2007-08), the new Barksdale will have produced 14 plays and musicals written by women authors in half that many years. No other theatre in Virginia and few theatres nationally, can equal this record of commitment and inclusion.

Many if not most theatres produce seasons on a regular basis that include only works by male writers. In Barksdale’s ten years prior to the 2001 connection with Theatre IV, five of the ten were all male.

In 2001, we established our Women’s Theatre Project, committing ourselves to producing great plays by women authors. Many of our biggest hits have been produced as a part of this project: The Little Foxes by Lillian Hellman, To Kill a Mockingbird by Harper Lee, Crowns by Regina Taylor, Annie Get Your Gun co-authored by Dorothy Fields, The Exact Center of the Universe by Joan Vail Thorne, The Syringa Tree by Pamela Gien, and our current Hanover Tavern hit, Smoke on the Mountain by Connie Ray.

We’re very proud of Intimate Apparel, and in the next few weeks we’ll be discussing it in greater depth in these blog entries. I hope you’ll do yourself the favor of coming to see it. Until then, please help us spread the word about Barksdale’s Women’s Theatre Project, and read more about Lynn Nottage and her important work. You can find terrific interviews with the playwright at:

www.roundabouttheatre.org/fc/spring04/nottage.htm ; www.ket.org/americanshorts/poof/nottage.htm ; www.tcg.org/publications/at/Oct05/nottage.cfm ; www.phillytheatreco.com/pdfs/PTCplaywise_2006_intimate.pdf .