Thanks to My Fair Cast

Posted by Bruce Miller
There's an old saw that goes "Nine tenths of directing is casting"--the point being that if a director is fortunate enough to be able to cast the right actors in the right roles, everything else sort of takes care of itself. Of course, this is overly simplistic crazy talk. Yeah. But it's also kinda true.

In my own experience, I'm reminded of Do Lord Remember Me, Crimes of the Heart, The Normal Heart, The Little Foxes, Boleros for the Disenchanted, and the Smoke on the Mountain trilogy. Somehow I wound up with perfect, surprising, wonderful casts in each of those shows, and my job in rehearsals became refreshingly joyful and easy.

The same is true with My Fair Lady. Will any theatre anywhere have a more perfect cast for this irreplacable classic? I don't think so. Of course, these are the words of a lovesick director so they cannot be trusted. Most of you already know to take this and everything I ever write with a grain of salt. If you didn't know that before, you now have been so advised.

Having admitted that, here's some gospel truth you can take to the bank. Any stage director who has the privilege to work with Stacey Cabaj, Joe Inscoe, Jason Marks, Suzanne Pollard, Matthew Costello, Lauren Leinhaas Cook and Ben Houghton should count him/herself blessed. And having a supporting cast that includes Brian Baez, Andy Boothby, Dawn Hall, Robin Harris, Michael Hawke, Maggie Horan, Christie Jackson, Paul Major, Mark Persinger, Russell Rowland, Ali Thibodeau, Alana Thomas, Durron Tyre and Ingrid Young ... well, that's just an embarrassment of riches.

Not only are these people talented, experienced and smart, they're fun to be around, they expect serious and focused work from each other, and they give every moment of rehearsal and performance everything they've got.

The show is going great guns, and prompting among the most enthusiastic audience feedback (phone calls, emails etc.) that I've ever encountered. These are the first people I need to thank. And I do so, now, with a full and happy heart.

--Bruce Miller

A Reading of Dead Man's Cell Phone by Sarah Ruhl

Posted by Billy Christopher Maupin

"You know what's funny? I never had a cell phone. I didn't want to always be there, you know."

What would you do in response to an incessantly ringing cell phone as you were trying to enjoy your lobster bisque in a near-empty cafe? Jean, who lies at the center of Sarah Ruhl's most recently published (and my personal favorite) play, Dead Man's Cell Phone, answers it. As it turns out, the owner of the phone, Gordon, is dead. But Jean continues to answer Gordon's phone and finds herself meeting his family, falling in love with his brother -which results in a room full of floating stationery in "classic" Sarah Ruhl style-, meeting his mistress...AND his wife, and becoming involved in organ trafficking.


Charles Isherwood writes in the New York Times:

"A beguiling comedy ... a hallucinatory poetic fantasy that blends the mundane and the metaphysical, the blunt and the obscure, the patently bizarre and the bizarrely moving. As Dead Man's Cell Phone takes surprising twists and leaps, the lament for the supposed coziness of pre-digital culture takes on layers of nuance and contradiction. Characters in Ruhl's plays negotiate the no man's land between the every­day and the mystical, talking like goofs one minute and philosophers the next. And her characters' quirkiness is in keeping, too, with the play's doleful central theme, that each human being is a book full of surprises even to intimates, and that one is destined to be left unfinished. Ruhl's affec­tion for the unexpected phrase, the kooky observation, the unlikely juxtaposition, is essential to her central belief that the smallest and most trivial things in life can be charged with meaning. She writes surrealist fantasies that happen to be populated by eccentrically real people, comedies in which the surface illogic of dreams is made meaningful­ -made truthful- by the deeper logic of human feeling."

On Monday, October 6, on the Barksdale Theatre Lobby Stage at 8PM, Barksdale and The Firehouse Theatre Project will co-produce a reading of Ms. Ruhl's Dead Man's Cell Phone featuring cast members from our production of The Clean House (see Rave Reviews below) and Firehouse's production of Eurydice. This continues as part of the Sarah Ruhl Festival. (Don't forget that audience members who see both Eurydice and The Clean House receive a discount on tickets!)

The reading will feature Laine Satterfield - currently appearing as the title character in Eurydice - as Jean (played in the New York production by Mary Louise Parker, Tony Award winner for her performance in Proof by David Auburn, also the star of the hit Showtime series, Weeds), Andy Boothby - Big Stone in Eurydice - as Gordon, the "Dead Man" of the title, Robin Arthur - Ana and A Woman in The Clean House - as Mrs. Gottlieb, Lauren Leinhaas-Cook - Loud Stone in Eurydice - as Gordon's widow, Hermia, John Moon - Charles and A Man in The Clean House- narrating, Bianca Bryan - Matilde in The Clean House - as The Other Woman, and Chris Hester - Orpheus in Eurydice - as Dwight. The reading will be staged by Jase Smith from The Firehouse Theatre Project.

Both Bruce Miller and Carol Piersol (Artistic Director of The Firehouse Theatre Project) will speak prior to the reading. A cash bar will be available in the lobby beginning at 7PM and will also be available at intermission. There is no admission charge and seating is general admission.

Don't miss out on this exciting collaboration!

"Stuart Little" Delivers Presents from Iraq

Posted by Bruce Miller

From the It’s a Small World After All Dept. …

Sgt P. J. Whiteway IV, Barksdale and Theatre IV’s envoy to Iraq (through the Virginia National Guard), was discussing “folks back home” with a friend and fellow guardsman, Sgt Ernest Woods, earlier this week. Sgt Woods happened to mention that his son and wife were looking forward to an upcoming school field trip to Richmond to see Stuart Little.

Bells of recognition rang in P. J.’s head, and he told his buddy that the son and wife must be going to Theatre IV. P. J. knows these things because, although he may look like a soldier today [that's Peej 2007 in the photo to the left], it wasn't long ago that he played a Munchkin on the Empire stage. After P. J. 'fessed up to his TIV connections, the two military men came up with the seed of a plan.

Sgt Woods missed his son Jacob a lot. Was there any way that P. J.’s contacts at Theatre IV could obtain and deliver a small present to Sgt Woods’ son as a surprise gift from his dad in Iraq? (The photo to the right was taken by Mike Morones for the Free Lance-Star at the most recent deployment of the Virginia National Guard.)

After a couple of inter-continental phone calls and emails, it all came to pass. Yesterday morning, as the bus from Central Elementary in Palmyra, Virginia pulled up to the Empire to unload, Jennings Whiteway (P. J.’s sister and Theatre IV’s Events, Access and Food Services Manager) was on hand to identify covertly the targeted mother and son.

Before the show began, Andy Boothby took the stage. After the familiar theatre manners speech, he continued:

“We’re especially happy this morning to welcome two new members to the Theatre IV family, only they don’t know it yet. Will Amanda and Jacob Woods please stand?”

With looks of surprise on their faces, they both arose.

“One of our longstanding family members here at Theatre IV, Sgt P. J. Whiteway IV, is serving with the Virginia National Guard in Iraq. We’re proud of him, and think about him every day. We were pleased and surprised earlier this week to hear from Sgt Whiteway, and learn that one of his best pals in Iraq was thinking about Amanda and Jacob Woods, and their upcoming field trip to see Stuart Little right here at Theatre IV.

Jacob’s father, and Amanda’s husband, is Sgt Ernest Woods, also with the Virginia National Guard. After he learned that his friend and fellow soldier in Iraq was part of the Theatre IV family, Sgt Woods asked if he could work with Theatre IV to send a special gift to his son and wife, to let them know that he was thinking about them and missing them every day.

So Amanda and Jacob, we’re honored to pass on to you this small present from your husband and dad, who asked also that we tell you that he can’t wait for the day when he’ll be home with you again.”

Jennings Whiteway then delivered a gift bag (Theatre IV t-shirt, etc) to the startled mom and son, and everyone in the audience applauded. The applause was for Amanda and Jacob Woods, I’m sure, but also for the tens of thousands of men and women who represent our nation abroad and the tens of thousands more who wait for them back home.

The lights went down, and Stuart Little and company began their joy-filled message of family and friends and growing up. The message seemed to resonate with the children in the audience even more than usual. And as Stuart rode off in his toy car into the sunset, all of us said a silent prayer for the safe and speedy reunion of all families now separated by the troubles of our world.

--Bruce Miller