Nuns, Nazis and Lederhosen

Posted by Bruce Miller
This Friday, May 28, we'll be presenting a FUN and FREE event in the lobby at Barksdale Theatre Willow Lawn. We hope you and your friends will come.

The program is entitled Nuns, Nazis and Lederhosen, and it's part of our community connections series. Sue Griffin, our smart and fascinating Director of Costumes, will take the audience on a tour of our extensive costume collection, and none of you will even have to leave your seat.

Sue and her staff have pulled a selection of costumes related to the time and place of our current hit musical, The Sound of Music. In her inimitable and informative style, Sue will dazzle you as she describes each garment, how and why it was made the way it was, and where each particular costume originated.

She's led similar programs for us in the past, and they're always just as fun as they are fascinating.

Here's the blurb:

Nuns, Nazis and Lederhosen - WWII Era Costumes from the Barksdale / Theatre IV Collection

Director of Costumes Sue Griffin has scoured our costume closet for liturgical, WWII era, and Bavarian gowns and garments from productions past. Once again, her guided tour through fashion history will set the stage for the feel and forms of our great spring and summer musical, The Sound of Music.

That blurb was written a year ago. In our conversation of a few days ago, Sue said that the bulk of what she will be bringing to this costume closet "show and tell" will be men's and women's fashions from the 30s and 40s, from both the U. S. and the Continent. Many of the garments will be authentic originals.

And I'm betting a nun and a Nazi will show up in there somewhere. Maybe even some authentic Austrian lederhosen.

Sue Griffin has been interested in costume design since her childhood. She was born in Norwalk CT during WWII. "When I was in second grade my family took a trip to Williamsburg," she recalls. "I saw those ladies walking around in long skirts and I was fascinated. From that time on, I was interested in historic clothing."

Sue learned how to sew at about that same age and would go to the library and check out books on historical costumes, some of which she still refers to today. Clothing, especially historical clothing, fascinated her. "Part of it was the fact you could sit down at a sewing machine and make those things," she says.

Although she sewed costumes for high school and college theatre productions, Sue wasn't aware that you could do it professionally--at least not at first. She earned a B. A. in Art History from Connecticut College in 1963. After college, while working as a buyer for Miller & Rhoads in Norfolk, she became involved in community theatre, then began working with the now defunct Norfolk Theater Center.

In 1980, she moved to Richmond and a new job as head of costumes for TheatreVirginia. She worked there for 22 years as Costume Director. When TheatreVirginia closed in the final days of 2002, she worked briefly for the Richmond Ballet, and then found her new home at Theatre IV / Barksdale in 2003.

Nuns, Nazis and Lederhosen is free-of-charge and open to everyone. No RSVP or tickets are required. The program will begin at 11 a.m. in the lobby of Barksdale Theatre at Willow Lawn.

Sue's presentation will be followed by a lunch buffet of sliced turkey, ham, roast beef, cheeses, lettuce, tomato, breads, salads, sweets, coffee, tea and sodas. A free-will offering of $5 for lunch is suggested for those who are able. About half of the people who will attend the program will stay for the lunch fellowship time.

I hope you'll join us this Friday morning. And I hope I'll see you at the theatre later on for a show. Now running: The Sound of Music at the historic Empire, and Crowns at the Gottwald Playhouse at CenterStage for the rest of this week. Thereafter, Crowns will transfer to Barksdale Theatre at Willow Lawn where it will play throughout the month of June.

--Bruce Miller

You Gotta Have Heart

Posted by Bruce Miller
I learned last night that John Porter, my good friend and one of our fair city’s most respected theatre critics, suffered a heart attack a few days ago and remains in the hospital. If someone knows which hospital, please comment and let me know. That’s John, pictured above in his days as a staff leader at TheatreVirginia.

My good friend Joe Inscoe preceded John to the cardiac care center about a month ago, enduring a minor heart attack, thank God, and rising from his hospital bed a day or two later to return to the rehearsal hall in preparation for Shining City. As we all know, the Joe must go on! From all accounts, Joe is now moving full speed ahead.

My good friend and Theatre IV’s longtime insurance broker, Kemp Matthews experienced chest pains a week or so ago, took a stress test and was rushed to the hospital, mid-test, for an immediate catheterization procedure, during which stints were placed in his clogging arteries, preventing a heart attack which appeared imminent. I remain thankful for the miracles of modern medicine.

God speed to these three irreplaceable men with great, albeit clogging, hearts. We’re all in our late 50s, early 60s. I guess it’s our time. They are in my prayers—especially John. Hang in there, buddy.

--Bruce Miller

It's a Wonderful Mystery

Posted by Bruce Miller
Scott Wichmann is not the only actor making headlines these days in the role of George Bailey. Duke Lafoon, who recently starred at Barksdale as Father Flynn in Doubt, was Richmond’s original George Bailey. He was a sensation in that role at TheatreVirginia in the mid-90s when they presented the musical version of the holiday classic, called A Wonderful Life. Now Duke is dazzling audiences in the same role yet again, starring in the musical at Westchester Broadway Theatre from Nov 20 through Feb 8.

Westchester is the longest running 52-week-a-year Equity theatre in the state of New York. A for-profit dinner theatre, Westchester opened in 1974 under the name An Evening Dinner Theatre. Over the last 34 years, Westchester has become a cultural mainstay in the tri-state area.

Westchester does all of its casting out of the Big Apple, but after reading their recent press releases and looking at their cast photos, I can’t help but wonder if there aren’t two Richmond musical stars playing leads in A Wonderful Life. There’s Duke, of course, but costarring with Duke, playing his wife Mary, is a beautiful young actress named Juli Robbins.

Some of you may remember that Juli Robbins was a gorgeous Richmond actress about five years ago, standing out in the ensemble of Barksdale’s hit production of Annie Get Your Gun, and shortly thereafter playing the lead in Spitfire Grill at Swift Creek.

Juli left town for bigger markets shortly after Spitfire, and honestly, I’ve lost track of her. I’ve been looking and looking at the photo above and to the left, and I can’t tell for sure if that is our Juli Robbins whom Duke is holding in his arms or some other city’s Juli Robbins.

Whoever reads this blog and can solve the mystery, please comment. Shoot, maybe I’ll just pick up the phone on Monday and give Duke a call.

Till then, break a leg to Duke and Juli. I hope to see the two of them (and each of you) in a Richmond theatre soon!

--Bruce Miller

Mayoral Candidates Weigh in on the Arts

Posted by Bruce Miller
Phil Whiteway, Tony Foley, Jeanie Rule, Janine Serresseque, Brad Tuggle and I (all staff members at Barksdale Theatre and Theatre IV) attended Tuesday night’s second Mayoral Forum, hosted at the Virginia Historical Society by Style Weekly and the League of Women Voters. Jason Roop, Editor of Style, did a great job as Moderator. Brandon Reynolds from Style, Sandra Jones from WTVR-TV Channel 6, and Michael Paul Williams from the Richmond T-D ably assisted as panelists, asking their own questions of the candidates and vetting questions from the audience.

The theme of the debate was Education and the Cultural Landscape, so lots of arts and culture professionals turned out. The five candidates (Paul Goldman, Robert J. Grey Jr., Dwight C. Jones, William J. “Bill” Pantele, and Lawrence E. Williams Sr.) all presented themselves well. But none of them seemed to have a real handle on the arts and cultural issues facing our city.

In an effort towards full disclosure, I mention that Robert Grey is a former Board member of Theatre IV, and he noted this credential during the debate. I appreciated the mention.

There was no mention from any candidate, however, of the large arts funding disparity that exists between Richmond and Norfolk, where the mayor has been a true champion of arts and cultural organizations, with significant success. There was talk from the candidates about Richmond being the cultural capital of the region, but it sounded more like well intentioned but uninformed cheer leading than anything else.

Most objective observers believe that Norfolk eclipsed Richmond as the “cultural capital” several years ago, and now functions as the arts flagship of Virginia. The five major things that will help Richmond catch up and re-establish its preeminence would be:
* a committed and vocal mayor,
* a committed and vocal business leader,
* an appropriately functioning Arts Council,
* an effective cultural plan (progress may be on the way on these last two fronts), and
* about an extra million per year in local public funding.

No candidate seemed to be aware of these issues. But then again, the panelists also seemed somewhat uninformed, and failed to ask the candidates to address any of the above.

There was only one real gaffe that I noticed, and it occurred when Jason Roop asked each candidate to name an arts event that had taken place in Richmond during the last five years that had particularly impressed him. Roop exempted last weekend’s Folk Festival, since that event had been so prominently featured in recent media coverage.

A couple candidates talked about First Fridays without mentioning any specific arts component. It was as if they’d heard about or perhaps experienced First Fridays as a festival designed to draw crowds to Broad Street, but they hadn’t actually connected with the art. A couple candidates mentioned public art in general, without discussing any specific work beyond "the fish project." Basically, all five candidates seemed a little stumped, unable to recall and describe a single performance or arts experience that had truly captured their imagination.

The gaffe occurred when Dwight Jones said, “The theatre at the Virginia Museum of Fine Arts makes it onto my calendar every year.” He was referring, of course, to TheatreVirginia. As you know, TheatreVirginia went out-of-business mid-season in 2002, drawing significant media coverage. However, Jones otherwise presented himself well.

Another regrettable comment—the word “regrettable” obviously reflects my subjective perspective—was when Robert Grey said that we all needed to be proud of “our major organizations—the Symphony, the Opera, the Ballet, and the Virginia Museum of Fine Arts.”

I certainly agree with that sentiment, but I regret that the word "theatre" was not included. Working in a permanent alliance with Theatre IV, Barksdale is somewhat larger in terms of annual budget, and significantly larger in terms of annual ticket sales, than either the Richmond Symphony, the Richmond presence of the Virginia Opera, or the Richmond Ballet. And yet, as is so often the case, no theatre was mentioned among the “major organizations.”

Again, otherwise, Grey presented himself well. He spoke of having appeared in a production of Women of Manhattan at the Firehouse, and mentioned his Board service not only at Theatre IV but also at the Richmond Ballet.

Clearly, those of us who care about theatre need to keep working hard to inform our mayoral candidates and all other community leaders that our art form is indeed a vital part of the mix. Barksdale/Theatre IV has an annual operating budget of $5.2 million, and enjoys annual Richmond attendance of over 82,000. Also, we tour extensively to schools throughout Virginia and 32 other states. Until everyone understands the impact that Barksdale/Theatre IV has on our community, the historical funding gap that continues to exist between Barksdale/Theatre IV and Richmond’s other major arts organizations will continue unchanged and unchallenged.

If you are a Richmond resident, be sure to vote in the upcoming mayoral elections. The candidates are good and capable men. I hope and believe that our next mayor will offer a step forward for our city.

--Bruce Miller

(Photos: The candidates pictured are: [top to bottom] Robert Grey, Dwight Jones, Bill Pantele, Lawrence Williams, and Paul Goldman.)

RAPT and Other Acronyms

Posted by Bruce Miller
A grand time was had by all tonight at the annual Open House hosted by RAPT, the Richmond Alliance of Professional Theatres. The guest speaker was Peggy Baggett, Executive Director of the Virginia Commission for the Arts and one of the most able state arts leaders in the nation. Peggy informed the 100 or so attendees about Virginia’s upcoming Minds Wide Open celebration, slated for March through June 2010. The theme of this statewide initiative will be Virginia Celebrates Women in the Arts. Peggy invited all artists and arts organizations in the Commonwealth to participate.

Phil Whiteway, our Managing Director, introduced Peggy and welcomed the diverse crowd of actors, directors and other miscellaneous theatre practitioners to Barksdale Willow Lawn. Barksdale was proud to co-host the festivities for the third year in a row. Christine Walters, the head cheese at Comedy Sportz Richmond and this year’s RAPT Pres, introduced the theatre producers who were there and generally emceed the evening’s announcements.

David Sennett (pictured to the right) announced the upcoming RAPT auditions and the free audition workshop, which he generously conducts. He explained that he doesn’t act in Richmond because he “can’t afford to,” and suggested to me publicly that if Barksdale should ever become “LOA” I should give him a call. As we all retired to the lobby, several actors came up and asked me what he was talking about.

Perhaps now is a good time to review a few of the AEA (Actors’ Equity Association) acronyms so that people can understand David's announcement. I hope no one will get the wrong impression, however. AEA works tirelessly on behalf of its members, and wants each member to be gainfully employed. They never prohibit a theatre, any theatre, from meeting David’s or anyone else’s salary requirements.

Having said that, lets go wading into the alphabet soup. LOA stands for Letter of Agreement, and it specifies a particular AEA contract. In fact, Barksdale has operated under an LOA contract for several shows, Crowns at the Empire being a recent example.

At Willow Lawn, Barksdale normally contracts with AEA actors using an SPT contract (Small Professional Theatre). Our minimum SPT contract pays marginally less than our minimum LOA contract, but we are always allowed to pay more to get the actors we want.

At Hanover Tavern, we work under a GA (Guest Artist) contract, and even though Hanover Tavern has fewer seats than Willow Lawn, we pay more under the GA contract because fewer contracts are awarded for any particular show. Some Hanover shows, like the upcoming Driving Miss Daisy, have no GA contracts at all.

Another AEA contract is the TYA (Theatre for Young Audiences) contract. There were several years when Theatre IV employed actors using TYA agreements. Still another is the SA (Special Appearance) contract. Firehouse and Henley Street use SA contracts when employing AEA actors. SA contracts are similar to GA contracts except they are for smaller theatres and have no health insurance requirements.

The big daddy of the regional theatre contracts is the LORT contract (League of Resident Theatres). TheatreVirginia was the only Richmond theatre to employ actors under a LORT contract. TheatreVirginia went out of business in 2002. Perhaps it was a LORT contract that David meant to refer to instead of an LOA.

Of course, David is right in one regard. Like a lot of smaller cities, Richmond underpays its theatre artists, whether they are actors, directors, designers or administrators. Barksdale continues to work faithfully to raise all salaries, including actor salaries, to more acceptable levels. The reason we proceed cautiously and responsibly is because we are determined not to suffer the fate of TheatreVirginia (see the vacated theatre seats pictured above and to the left in STYLE's 2002 coverage of TVA's closing). No one in Richmond or at AEA wants to see another Richmond theatre go belly up.

Whatever combination of initials a theatre may use, no talented actor should be discouraged from auditioning because of the contract a theatre employs. If a theatre wants to work with an actor, and the actor wants to work with the theatre, then the actor can always try to negotiate a contract that meets his or her needs, despite its initials. No matter which contract a theatre uses, AEA doesn’t prohibit a theatre from paying more than the minimum if an actor’s unique contributions to the production justify the payment.

Also present at tonight’s RAPT Open House were two of Barksdale’s high school talents, Hannah Miller and Jack Schultz from Trinity Episcopal School. Their video coverage of the evening will be added to this post soon as the first edition of Barksdale Backstage, our new video blog commentary. Stay tuned. We’ll post the video as soon as it’s edited into shape.

--Bruce Miller

Panel to Debate Relevance of the All African-American Cast of Cat on a Hot Tin Roof

Posted by Billy Christopher Maupin
There has been quite a bit of buzz surrounding the revival of Tennessee Williams' Cat on a Tin Roof, which opens tonight at the Broadhurst Theatre. Why? It's been seen on Broadway in four different productions before:

1955- Director Elia Kazaan, Starring Burl Ives and Ben Gazzara

1974- Director Michael Kahn, Starring Elizabeth Ashley

1990- Director Howard Davies, Starring Polly Holliday, Charles Durning, and Kathleen Turner

2003- Director Anthony Page, Starring Ashley Judd

This is the first of these five productions to feature an all African-American cast. However, in many of the articles about the show, TheatreVirginia is mentioned as having produced what is considered to be the ONLY all African-American production prior to this revival.

The revival boasts a spectacularly talented cast with three Tony Award winners (Phylicia Rashad for A Raisin in the Sun, James Earl Jones for The Great White Hope and Fences, and Anika Noni Rose for Caroline, or Change, also recently seen in the motion picture adaptation of Dreamgirls), as well as the Oscar-nominated Terrence Howard. But the buzz doesn't center on all that prestige.

Today on Playbill.com a headline caught my eye: Ashley and Lahr Will Debate Cat Revival on March 8 "Theater Talk". They are to "debate the relevance and implications of doing Tennessee Williams' fifties Southern family drama Cat on a Hot Tin Roof with an all-Black cast."

There are four panelists in this discussion.

Elizabeth Ashley, star of the 1974 revival. (You may also remember her from Evening Shade or perhaps as the original Corrie in Neil Simon's Barefoot in the Park.)

John Lahr, critic for The New Yorker

Susan Haskins, Executive Producer of Theatre Talk.

Michael Riedel, a writer for the New York Post.




These four people will be debating the relevance of an all African-American cast of Cat on a Hot Tin Roof.

What are your thoughts? The floor is open for comments!

(Oh, and if you would like to contact Theater Talk, you can click here. Their email address is theatertlk@aol.com.)

--Billy Christopher Maupin

Looking at LORT, Crunching the Numbers

Posted by Bruce Miller
Over the last six years, there’s been a lot of fervent discussion about whether Barksdale should become a LORT theatre. Quite a few folks have been involved in these discussions, and all opinions are welcome.

LORT stands for the League of Resident Theatres, which is a membership organization comprised of the nation’s leading professional theatre companies. LORT exists for many reasons, but one of the most important is to represent the 76 member theatres in collective bargaining with the three artist unions: AEA for actors and stage managers, SSDC for directors and choreographers, and USA for designers.

It takes money to operate as a LORT theatre. To super-generalize, LORT regulations require higher ratios of union (AEA) actors than Barksdale uses currently. This would make it more difficult, at least philosophically, to hire non-union locals.

Those ratios are one big issue. Barksdale has a long standing commitment to Richmond-based theatre artists. Money is another.

TheatreVirginia was a LORT theatre. TheatreVirginia went out of business in 2002. There are lots of reasons why, but a fundamental reason was that as ticket sales and funding failed to grow, TVA could no longer meet the expenses of its LORT obligations.

The STYLE report card implied that Richmond’s current lack of a LORT theatre was one of the reasons for actors moving on to larger markets. As I've mentioned earlier, I'm not convinced that artists are leaving at a greater rate than before, and I'm even less certain that the lack of a LORT theatre is the reason for the departure of the ones who are choosing to move on. But we're very open to everyone's input as we continue to analyze the pros and cons of such a major decision.

The global view is this. I think there are at least ten metropolitan statistical areas (MSAs) that are larger than Richmond and don’t have a LORT theatre: Sacramento, CA (#26), Orlando, FL (#27), San Antonio, TX (#29), Las Vegas, NV (#31), Columbus, OH (#32), Charlotte, NC (#36), Austin, TX (#37), Nashville, TN (#39), Jacksonville, FL (#40) and Memphis, TN (#41).

And there are plenty of great theatres that we all know and love that aren’t LORT. In Chicago, of the 55 AEA theatres, only three are LORT. And the 52 that are not include Steppenwolf, Victory Gardens, Chicago Shakespeare and Lookingglass. Closer to home, neither Signature Theatre in NoVA nor Wooly Mammoth and Studio in D. C. work under LORT contracts.

Barksdale Theatre at Willow Lawn’s current SPT contract allows for a higher ratio of non-union locals (the union uses the term non-professionals). Currently our seasonal contract requires that we issue AEA contracts to 60% of all cast members and 100% of all stage managers, with a cap of six AEA actors required for shows with casts of ten or more.

So what does LORT really mean? Well, for one thing, it gives you a seat at the adult table in terms of national standing. As Dave Timberline mentioned, David Leong at VCU would love to see us join LORT, because it would add more prestige to the resumes of his students who work with us.

You would not be off the mark to say that, in terms of “professionalism” and "national standing," SPT is one notch below LORT, and one or more notches above several of the other options that are out there. Barksdale Theatre at Willow Lawn is Richmond’s only SPT. Prior to 2001, Barksdale used AEA actors only in rare instances and employed them under Guest Artist agreements. Barksdale at Hanover Tavern still uses Guest Artist agreeements.

There are currently 76 major professional theatres that are members of LORT. Of these, 61 are located in MSAs larger than Richmond/Petersburg. One, the Actors Theatre of Louisville, is located in the 42nd largest MSA, only slightly larger than Richmond/Petersburg, the 43rd largest MSA (if you separate Washington D. C. and Baltimore into two MSAs). Fourteen are located in MSAs smaller than Richmond/Petersburg.

These 14 professional theatres, listed in order of the size of their MSAs, are:

Goodspeed Musicals in East Haddam, CT, the 44th largest MSA;
Hartford Stage Company in Hartford, CT, also in the 44th largest MSA;
Studio Arena Theatre in Buffalo, NY, the 46th largest MSA;
Geva Theatre Company in Rochester, NY, the 49th largest MSA;
PlayMakers Repertory Theatre in Chapel Hill, NC, the 51st largest MSA;
Capital Repertory Theatre in Albany, NY, the 57th largest MSA;
Clarence Brown Theatre Company in Knoxville, TN, the 77th largest MSA;
Arkansas Repertory Theatre in Little Rock, AR, the 79th largest MSA;
Syracuse Stage in Syracuse, NY, the 80th largest MSA;
Portland Stage Company in Portland, ME, the 97th largest MSA;
McCarter Theatre in Princeton, NJ, the 134th largest MSA;
Alabama Shakespeare Festival in Montgomery, AL, the 135th largest MSA;
Barter Theatre in Abingdon, VA, the 152nd largest MSA; and
Berkshire Theatre Festival in Stockbridge, MA, the 301st largest MSA.

In an effort to compare apples to apples, we’ve been looking at these 15 professional theatres to see how they are able to afford LORT membership in communities similar to or smaller than Richmond/Petersburg. I encourage you to investigate these theatres yourself and join in our strategic planning.

More to come.

--Bruce Miller

Oh Christmas Tree! Oh Christmas Tree! Look!! The Show I Did in '63!!!

Posted by John Steils

The good men and women of Barksdale’s Bifocals Theatre Project—our dynamic initiative for senior theatre artists and audiences—are launching a new program. During the next several months, they will be working independently and with Barksdale’s artisans to create handcrafted Christmas tree ornaments to represent each of the approximately 300 mainstage shows that Barksdale has produced since its founding as Richmond’s first professional performing arts organization in 1953.

Simultaneously, we will all begin creating ornaments for each of the mainstage productions at Theatre IV and the Virginia Museum Theatre / TheatreVirginia, the two other great stage companies whose resources and energies contribute so much to make Barksdale the powerhouse it is today.

Eventually, all these ornaments will be hung each year on the festive trees located in the lobbies of our Willow Lawn, Hanover Tavern, and historic Empire performance facilities. Christmas and Hanukkah are an ideal time to remember and celebrate all the great professional productions that have made Richmond the theatrical capital of the region. Who knows, maybe other theatres will join in the project to create memory trees of their own.

During my three months at Barksdale, I’ve had the privilege to meet and talk with many of the hundreds of theatre artists, Board leaders etc. who make up this landmark institution. Kevin Kilgore, Jacqui O’Connor, Essie Simms (she’s seen every B’dale production since 1953!) and many, many others have shared stories of the Tavern that have made the historic Barksdale come alive for me. Ford Flannagan, Gordon Bass, Terrie Powers and their pals have related stories that go back to Theatre IV’s founding in 1975, allowing me feel like I was in those touring vans myself. Did Jan Guarino really learn the entire score to Jubilee! while riding in the van on the way to a Newport News performance?

Sue Griffin, Meredith Stanley Scott (pictured with husband Alfred in the '70s to the left), Bob Albertia and dozens of others have shared their tales of VMT / TVA, keeping that company very much alive in the hallways, dressing rooms and rehearsal halls of Barksdale. Did you know that six of our current staff members, scores of our talented theatre artists, even our artistic director are all VMT / TVA vets? Shoot, the evening gown that Jan Guarino wears nightly in Swingtime Canteen was first created for and worn in Bubbling Brown Sugar at TheatreVirginia, and Jan herself starred in countless TheatreVirginia productions (in between those notorious van rides at Theatre IV).

You generous people in Richmond’s vibrant theatre community have had the good sense to combine and unite your passions to create a current company that thrives on all the strengths of the various companies that preceded it. That’s a pretty amazing achievement, and I don’t think there are many theatre communities that could pull it off. Pete, Nancy and Muriel (and Leslie Cheek, Robert Telford et al) must have been amazing people to have created the family you have become. Now, the three memory trees you are creating will represent their and your star-studded history in all its glory. You have my undying admiration.

Sadly, sort of, for me, this is my last blog entry. I came to Richmond at the end of September to be with my sister, who was seriously ill. The wonderful news is that she is now SO much better and I am able to return home. While I was here, Barksdale was kind enough to welcome me into the fold, and give this theatrical fish-out-of-water a temporary home. My part-time internship with the marketing department has been a lifeline for me during a somewhat stressful time, and I can’t thank you all enough.

So Merry Christmas and Happy Hanukkah! I will miss you all, and I thank you for being the most amazing theatre I’ve ever had the privilege to know. Long may you thrive!

--John Steils

Money Woes Convince Ambush to Step Down from ACTC Appointment

Posted by Phil Whiteway

We were sorry to learn this week from the Washington Post that Benny Sato Ambush, former artistic director of TheatreVirginia, has resigned his new position as artistic director of the African Continuum Theatre Company in Washington, D. C.

In Where Are They Now – Benny Sato Ambush (Sunday, Nov 4 2007), I wrote in this blog about Benny’s excitement for his new appointment, and about our excitement to welcome him back to the region. On Nov 14, Jane Horwitz reported in the Post that Benny now has decided to step down as acting artistic director and will not be accepting the fulltime position.

“The theater had announced a season it couldn’t afford to launch,” Benny is quoted as saying. “It was a cash flow crisis, you bet.” Stating that his relationship with the African Continuum was always amicable, Benny commended the ACTC Board for “some really good and hard work” in determining the extent of their financial challenges. He acknowledged that if he had known earlier about the theatre’s cash troubles, “I would have stayed clear of the job.”

In earlier articles in the national press, Benny has lamented that he had not been adequately informed about TheatreVirginia’s money woes until after arriving in Richmond.

As always, we wish Benny the best, and remain confident that his freelance career will continue to flourish, as it has since he left Virginia in 2002.

--Phil Whiteway

Sneak Peak at Rehearsals - Swingtime Canteen

Posted by John Steils

I think Swingtime Canteen is going to be a GREAT show, and the rehearsals have been fascinating to watch. The marketing office at Theatre IV is connected to the tech booth of the Little Theatre. Nosy marketing interns (who, me?) can watch what’s going on in the Little without disrupting anything. And with Swingtime Canteen rehearsing on the Little stage, a LOT’s been going on.

Steve Liebman, who smiles in real life a lot more than he’s smiling in this internet photo, came down from New York to vocal direct the production. Steve is much beloved in Richmond, I’m told, for his work at TheatreVirginia, where he played Pseudolus in A Funny Thing Happened on the Way to the Forum and the radio D J in A Closer Walk with Patsy Cline. Liebman fans should know that he’s just as warm and hilarious as a music director as he is as the star of a show.

For a week and a half he led Vilma Gil, Jan Guarino, Audra Honaker, Katrinah Lewis and Debra Wagoner through their vocal paces. They’re an amazing, hard-working cast, and the three, four and five-part harmonies in Swingtime make the most of their talents. That's Audra in the photo to the left, appearing as Little Red Riding Hood in last summer's Into the Woods, opposite Russell Rowland.

Weeks before Steve arrived, Bruce Miller (director of the show, pictured below and to the right) began hunting for a pianist to play the run. The usual suspects were all booked. So the net was expanded and a parade of previously unknown pianists (at least unknown to Bruce) began arriving one by one.

The biggest challenge, it seemed, was the loosey-goosey nature of Swingtime’s printed score. Pianist after pianist would come in, look at the hand-written and photocopied sheet music, struggle to decipher the musical penmanship of the arranger, and ultimately throw his or her hands up into the air.

Sam French, if you’re reading this, the musicians in Richmond all agree that it’s time to upgrade the Swingtime orchestra materials to something more complete and more readable!

Finally Bruce connected with Ryan Corbitt, a professional jazz pianist who has taken this lemon of a printed score and made lemonade. (Ryan is the tuxedoed young man in the photo to the left with jazz great James Moody.) In Ryan's talented hands, the improvised sections soar and the authentic 40s flavor of the vintage arrangements is beginning to emerge.

After the week and a half of singing, Bruce and Jan Guarino (choreographer, pictured to the right) spent a week staging the 30+ numbers. Bruce and Jan make an excellent team, and apparently have worked together on lots of previous hit musicals, including Annie Get Your Gun and Anything Goes. The staging of the Andrews Sisters Medley is 90% Jan and 10% Bruce. The rest of the movement is probably 70 / 30. Maybe even 60 / 40.

Bruce calls himself the “anti-choreographer,” and one look at him trying to demonstrate a move that he wants the women to do justifies his terminology. With all due respect, Bruce dances like a gorilla impersonating Homer Simpson. But he comes up with some really fun staging ideas, and then Jan “translates” his moves into something that can actually be replicated by a human. They have a lot of give and take, and obviously a lot of respect for each other’s talents.

All five women in the cast are terrific dancers and phenomenal singers. And they all seem custom-made for their characters. I can’t imagine a more talented or “perfect” cast, anywhere. That's Katrinah Lewis to the right, performing with Hannah Zold in last summer's Into the Woods.

Vilma Gil, the strongest dancer in this troupe of strong dancers, is still recovering from the major knee surgery she had just a few months ago. During a dance mishap at another theatre, Vilma did some serious damage to her knee joint, and wound up having her left knee replaced with bones from a cadaver. That’s right folks. “Cadaver knee” jokes have been flying left and right as decisions were made regarding which knee to pivot on, etc.

This week, Bruce and stage manager Joseph Papa are beginning to add props to the show, and they include everything from a vintage Roy Rogers double holster (complete with dye-cast cap guns) to authentic Zippo lighters to Hollywood Canteen aprons to two air cannons that will fire, over the sixteen week run, a thousand dollars worth of red white and blue streamers over the heads of the audience.

Interestingly, the cap guns were among the hardest things to find. After careful searches through Toys-R-Us, KayBee Toys, Wal-Mart, Target, Party City and several variations of the Dollar Store, no holstered cap guns were to be found in Greater Richmond. Eventually the perfect set was purchased on line.

If the performances of Swingtime are half as much fun as the rehearsals, we’re in for a great run. That's Debra Wagoner in the photo to the right, and she sings her heart out in Swingtime Canteen. The show opens Nov 16 at Hanover Tavern, and has already been extended to run through March 2. Thankfully, tickets are going fast. Call for yours today!

--John Steils

Where Are They Now - Benny Sato Ambush

Posted by Phil Whiteway

When TheatreVirginia closed its doors unexpectedly in 2002, Barksdale and Theatre IV launched five major initiatives to help Greater Richmond deal with the loss.

We produced TheatreVirginia’s cancelled production of The Laramie Project, fulfilling seven actor, director and designer contracts that had been promised to some of Greater Richmond's most talented theatre artists. We brought six of TheatreVirginia’s full time employees onto our staff, allowing them to stay in Richmond and remain employed. We honored, at no additional cost to ROSMY, a fundraiser for which ROSMY had purchased and paid for 500 tickets from TheatreVirginia and received nothing when the theatre closed. We purchased the remnants of the TheatreVirginia costume collection for $10,000, ensuring that this Richmond asset stayed in town and in tact. And we honored approximately 5,400 tickets held by TheatreVirginia subscribers for the three shows that were cancelled.

We did all this out of respect – respect for the cherished institution that had meant so much to so many for over four decades; respect for the board leaders, artists, volunteers and audience members who were most directly effected by the closure; and respect for Benny Sato Ambush, the nationally acclaimed director who had come to Richmond to try his mightiest to save TheatreVirginia during its final year-and-a-half.

On July 27, The Washington Post reported that Benny had been named Artistic Director of the African Continuum Theatre Company in D. C. All his friends were thrilled for him. “I’m ready for the adventure,” said Benny. “I’m ready to get busy.”

He was to begin work fulltime last month, replacing company founder Jennifer L. Nelson who left on August 31 after 11 years at the helm. Last week, The Post reported that the African Continuum’s board had decided to postpone its fall and winter shows and present a shortened season in the spring, citing a severe “cash-flow crunch.” The board also decided to delay, perhaps until February, a full-time commitment to Benny, who has been commuting from his home in Winston-Salem to Washington for the last several months.

Quoting from The Washington Post: “’I’m clearing the deck, so to speak, of my prior commitments as a freelancer, directing and teaching,’ Ambush said. ‘But even when out of town, I still work on behalf of the African Continuum Theatre Company.’ Board Chairman Rubie G. Coles said Ambush was working on the company’s spring season ‘and we’re hoping that in the next two or three weeks, we’ll be able to announce what we’re doing,’ an expectation seconded by Ambush.”

Benny is an exemplary theatre professional and will be a great asset to the Mid-Atlantic once he makes the move to D. C. His goals for African Continuum are still taking shape, but he hopes “to build the infrastructure of the theatre, to extend its reach in the region, strengthen its relevance and solidify its essentialness in the theatrical landscape of the District.”

Benny Ambush is the perfect man for the job, and we wish him tremendous success.

--Phil Whiteway

Only Wallets Make Wishes Come True

Posted by Bruce Miller

September is a ‘comin, which means the opening of Richmond’s newest theatre, Henley Street Theatre Company, named, we’re told by founder Alex Previtera (pictured), for the street address of Shakespeare’s birthplace. Alex seems like a dedicated and serious young man, and we wish him all the success in the world.

Henley Street’s first production is The Night Thoreau Spent in Jail, which hasn’t been seen in Richmond, to the best of my knowledge, since the 70s, when it was produced by both TheatreVirginia and the University of Richmond. Thoreau is by the late playwriting team of Lawrence and Lee, the same guys who wrote Mame and Inherit the Wind, two Barksdale hits of seasons recently passed.

Everyone I know is wishing the new company well, but we need to put our wallets where our wishes are. I remember what it was like to start a theatre—it’s only been 32 years. Those of you who think the words “only” and “32 years” should never be in close proximity of each other can stop laughing now. Bottom line—it’s next to impossible to start and maintain a new theatre. So everyone who’s wishing Henley Street success needs to buy at least two full-price tickets to their first production. It’s as simple as that.

Theatre people are notorious for not going to theatre, and for demanding heavily discounted tickets when they do. Let’s all give Alex Privitera a break. He’s shelling out more than you’ll ever know to get his show on the road. The least we can do, and should do, is buy a pair of tickets.

--Bruce Miller

Summertime Thoughts on the Fourth of July

Posted by Bruce Miller
It's a DAY OFF!! As I enjoy it, I'm reminded of why the summertime has become so crazy at B'dale and TIV.

A unique and important characteristic of our two nonprofit companies—one that is seldom noticed, at least publicly—is that we employ our core team of 40 professional theatre artists year round. In this way we’re different from our peer organizations, the Richmond Symphony and the Richmond Ballet, and our predecessor theatre, TheatreVirginia. Our core artists do not take the summer off. They earn vacations, to be sure (two to three weeks, depending on the number of years they’ve been employed). But they also earn paychecks – 52 weeks a year.

We do this for one simple reason. We believe theatre professionals deserve the security of year-round employment just like everyone else. We don’t send our core team on hiatus in the summer because we want to enable them to continue to work at Barksdale and Theatre IV year after year. All management studies suggest that seasonal employment encourages turnover, whereas year-round employment encourages stability.

Our employment records at Barksdale and Theatre IV seem to prove these findings. For years our companies have benefitted from the longest employee longevity and the lowest turnover of any major arts organization in the Commonwealth.

In order to make this year-round employment possible, we engage in year-round programming. In fact, the sun-drenched days of summer are now among our busiest.

Throughout July, we will be continuing the run of our hit musical Into the Woods at Barksdale Willow Lawn (featuring Audra Honaker and Russell Rowland as Little Red Riding Hood and the Wolf, pictured to the left). And we'll be keeping the laughs coming with our hit comedy The Odd Couple at Barksdale Hanover Tavern (featuring Jen Meharg and Jennifer Frank as the Pigeon Sisters, pictured below and to the right).

In partnership with Steward School, we will be opening the Greater Richmond High School All-Star Musical, which this year happens to be Disney’s High School Musical, involving nearly 50 students from 20 area schools in a fully produced three-week run at the magnificent Cramer Center in Richmond’s West End.

We have enrolled 100 elementary school students in our hugely popular Stage Explorers day camp, this year operating out of both our Willow Lawn and Hanover Tavern facilities. We have extended our Coffee & Conversations program, sponsored by Rostov’s Coffee & Tea, into July, and continued our essential Bifocals Theatre Project for senior artists and audiences into the month of June.

This Friday, a terrific vocal ensemble from the cast of Disney's High School Musical will even be singing the national anthem at the Diamond.

And this Sunday, an All Star Jam will conclude the 06-07 season of our terrific live music series, Stretchin' at Barksdale, produced by Richmond's most charming impresario, B. J. Kocen. Brad Tucker, Craig Evans, Harry Gore, Chris Fuller, Jackie Frost, Stephen Leckey and the Beej himself will be making organic music all evening long for a meager $10 cover charge--the best live music deal in town.

So, “Why is the summer so busy!?” Because we're working our hardest, every day, to increase the professionalism of our company, with one goal in mind—living up to the responsibilities of being Virginia’s leading professional theatre.

--Bruce Miller