The McAuley-Kilgore Memorial Library

Posted by Bruce Miller

Under the exemplary leadership of John Glenn, Barksdale Theatre moved from Hanover Tavern to its new digs at Willow Lawn in 1996. The plan at the time was to create a theatre library in honor of our founders, Nancy and Pete Kilgore and Muriel McAuley (pictured above, left to right). A tasteful room was built off the southern end of the lobby, and the words “McAuley-Kilgore Memorial Library” were emblazoned over the elegant French entry doors in letters of gold.
Predictably, the renovation that transformed the former second floor warehouse area into the intimate and comfortable theatrical setting we enjoy today required a larger investment of time and money than originally planned. And so the construction of permanently installed bookshelves in the “Library” was postponed until such time as resources became available for their design and assembly.

One thing led to another, and now, in 2008, we still have yet to transform our “Library” into a library.

Countless boxes of scripts, theatrical texts, showbiz biographies and original cast albums remain in storage, waiting for over a decade for their promised homeland. The collection of tomes has grown over the years as loyal Barksdalians have contributed their home libraries to our long anticipated public “Library.”

In the interim, a private theatre library was started at VCU in memory of the great director and theatre prof Ken Campbell. More recently, in association with RAPT, David Sennett has generously launched an internet-connected lending library from his home.

But the McAuley-Kilgore Library, when it finally comes to pass, will still fill an important void. When the general public wants to walk into a room and peruse shelves filled with theatrical scripts and reference works, there’s still no place in Central Virginia for them to go. For all their many strengths, our local public libraries are woefully short on scripts. Many a professional and amateur actor and/or theatrical student has searched for even a well-known play only to learn that a well stocked, “open to the public” theatrical library still doesn’t exist in Greater Richmond.

Until that day when the McAuley-Kilgore Library finally opens to meet at least part of that need, our “Library” is being put to good use. The Richmond Playwrights Forum has been meeting there on a monthly basis for years. Theatre IV’s Board of Directors and Barksdale’s Board of Trustees call the “Library” home for the lion's share of their Board and committee meetings. Countless production meetings have been held there, not only for shows at Willow Lawn, but also for shows at the Tavern and the Empire. Small armies of students and children have gathered around the table engaged in seminars and summer camp experiences.
Most tastefully of all, the “Library” has welcomed a cornucopia of buffets and party spreads in service to an endless parade of cast soirees and group outings.

Hopefully, the longed for end will soon be in sight. David Powers, our Technical Director at Hanover Tavern and carpenter extraordinaire, has designed and priced the shelves, and this year we will be in the process of raising $12,000 in capital funds to refurbish and install the inner workings that will one day allow our “Library” to live up to its name. If you or any of your associates would like to help with this fundraising effort, please email Emily Cole. If you would like to donate books and/or recordings of a theatrical nature, please contact Brad Tuggle at the same address.

Our goal is to refinish the handsome conference table and chairs donated by the Markel Corporation in 1996, enabling us to continue to use the “Library” for all of the multi-purposes that have emerged over the last 12 years. We also plan to continue to display the historic portraits of Pete, Nancy, Muriel and Pat Carroll. Surrounding these practical and cherished features, we’ll one day have a fine collection of theatrical reading and listening materials to meet our community's need.

Muriel, Pete and Nancy (especially Muriel) had the greatest reverence for books. One day soon, we’ll all be able to enjoy and benefit from the Library built in their name, with the greatest reverence for their memories, and all they meant to Central Virginia.

--Bruce Miller

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