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

How We Help ... St. Christopher's

Posted by Phil Whiteway

Barksdale Theatre and Theatre IV were happy to help out St. Christopher’s School this past weekend. St. Christopher’s helps us each year with our after school enrichment program for less advantaged elementary students at St. Andrew’s Episcopal School on Oregon Hill. When our St. Andrew’s students attend a Theatre IV production in the Empire, high school students from St. Christopher’s accompany them as mentors and “big brothers.”

In January the St. Christopher’s Annual Auction Committee contacted Judi Crenshaw, our publicist extraordinaire, about the possibility of our providing historical characters to enhance their annual development event. St. Chris’s theme this year revolved around patriotism, and our partners at St. Chris were looking for actors to play George Washington, Abe Lincoln, Thomas Jefferson and Patrick Henry. These were paid gigs for the actors, but St. Chris asked if we at Barksdale would donate our time and expertise, helping out with organization, casting and costuming.

We said “yes.” Judi Crenshaw (our publicist) organized the project, Ford Flannagan (our company manager) assisted Judi in finding actors who came in the same size as the costumes, Sue Griffin (our costume director) managed wardrobe, and Catherine Dudley (our marketing assistant) recorded the donation. Our costume department in particular went well above and beyond the call of duty assembling garments, wigs, hats and various Colonial and Revolutionary accoutrements.

On Saturday, Feb 23, the Auction took place and our four “patriots” mingled with the 350 St. Christopher supporters. Fun times were had by all.

Barksdale and Theatre IV donate tickets and services to hundreds of fellow nonprofits throughout Greater Richmond every year. Through this How We Help spotlight series, we hope to make you more aware of this vital part of our operation.

--Phil Whiteway

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

Helping "Into the Woods" into their clothes

We would be a cast of bedraggled actors on Barksdale's stage if it wasn't for one special woman keeping us together during every performance of Into the Woods. That person is Renee Jones and she is the Dresser/Quickfixer/Magician, and every actors' best friend behind the scenes. Ever wonder how an actor can somehow magically appear three lines of dialogue later entering on the other side of the stage in a completely different costume head to toe and no sweat? .... No we do not conjure up magical fairy dust .... it has a name and that name is Renee Jones.

To explain more about the phenom that is Renee, we must understand where she comes from and what brought her to us here at Barksdale Theatre. She lives in the house she was born in right here in Richmond. Renee is a graduate of the dance program at Henrico High School's Center for the Performing Arts which, coincidentally is where Into the Woods director Robin Arthur was the school's first Head Director. Renee is also a graduate of UNC Wilmington. You may recognize the campus from Dawson's Creek episodes, as it was used as the set for the High School in the series. Her first professional production in Richmond was Theatre IV's Charlotte's Web at the Empire Theatre followed by Proof at Barksdale Theatre. Following other local shows she headed off to HersheyPark in PA to hone her skills even more. Recent credits since her return to Richmond include Mame, Intimate Apparel, and Beehive. On the right is a picture of Renee making sure everything is perfect on Adanma Onyedike's costume during Intimate Apparel.

It takes a person with a strong constitution to see and do the things Renee does. We're talking actors sweating buckets everywhere and people literally falling out of costumes. This woman has seen it all. Each costume change is like a choreographed dance between Renee and each actor. As you can imagine each actor has a different "modus operandi" so she has to accomodate each one. Although I do enjoy my time with Renee, I am lucky enough to have only one real costume change....of course this change is from a carniverous wolf in full make-up exiting stage left, and coming in 1/2 a page later as a dashing (sweat-free) prince entering stage right (see photo on the left). Not only does she keep us dressed, she also keeps us in good repair. The costume designers and staff do a superb job at assembling all our phenomonal costumes, but as you can imagine falls, tears, weight loss....or gain, and missing buttons happen. Renee can be seen post-show, intermission, and at many times doing upkeep on our costumes. She is a huge asset to this summer's production of Into the Woods, she is truly a star.

-Russell Rowland

* Firsthand account by Amy Hruska, one of Renee's "Dance Partners":

"After I walk onstage as "Sleeping Beauty", I have 3 lines and then appear again as "Granny". Renee has my "Granny" wig sitting atop her head and as she is velcroing me in, I snatch the wig off of her and place it on my head. A pair of glasses completes the ensemble. Remember all is done in 3 quick tempo lines. Renee stays calm through all of this and gets me back onstage on time every time."

** Sidenote: We also have a "Set" Dresser, in a way. His name is Ronnie, and among his other jobs is fitting Amy Hruska two times a show, in and out of a 9'-10' tree "costume" , moving branches and all.

*** Personally I miss my appearance as a large piece of white celery (Prize to the first person,vegetable , or mineral who can guess the show)

Barksdale Theatre and Theatre IV employees void.

Anyone else like to share their strangest or most outrageous costume?