Emergency Escape Routes Shut Down to Keep Casts Cool

Posted by Bruce Miller
If you happened to be driving down Broad Street not too many days ago, and you noticed it was blocked off to traffic, and you wondered why, here's your answer.

Theatre IV finally replaced the giant air conditioning unit that sits atop what historically was the Little Theatre and then the Maggie Walker Theatre. This is the unit that provides cooling to our dressing rooms, costume shop and rehearsal hall. Fortunately, it was this unit, not the one that sits atop the Empire and provides cooling to the theatre itself, that went on the fritz just prior to the final two weeks of Dirty Rotten Scoundrels.

There were a couple of cast members who would not agree with me about the "fortunately" part. When the cooling suddenly stopped in the dog days of August, our initial plan was to repair the unit and immediately restore a livable environment backstage. We tried, but were quickly told that repair was no longer possible. The unit was dead; no one of this world was going to be able to bring it back to life.

So we rented a portable air conditioning system that had giant plastic tubes that I could crawl through running down all the hallways, and enormous fans creating gale force winds that were capable of cooling the backstage spaces while at the same time blowing your wig into Kentucky. It was not an ideal situation. But it was manageable, and we thanked our hard-working cast profusely for putting up with it all.

There were a couple folks who wondered aloud why we didn't just replace the unit that had died, as if it were something you could just pop out of a window and toss into the dumpster. The reasons it took us several weeks were:

1 - money (it cost $22,000 and we didn't have that amount just sitting in a drawer),

2 - finding a final resting place for the old unit which was about the size and weight of a '68 Buick, and

3 - getting the necessary permits to close off Broad Street so that we could hire a crane to take down our old deceased buddy and hoist up our new one.

If you've ever tried to close off Broad Street, you know it's not the easiest thing to do. Probably since the Civil War, Broad Street has been THE legally designated emergency escape route that will allow hundreds of thousands of Richmonders to flee whatever and head to Charlottesville. Look out UVA, we're comin'. It takes practically an act of Congress to shut it down. Well, more accurately, it takes about seven weeks.

But finally all the pieces and parts were put into place, including the giant crane pictured above.

So now, all that ominous tubing that looked like something pulled from where IT lived in A Wrinkle in Time has been removed. And if you'd like to come cool down in our rehearsal hall, dressing rooms or costume shop, please, as Lumière and all his kitchen companions would say, be our guest.

--Bruce Miller

"Scoundrel"'s McCarthy Takes on Challenge in New Tuner

Posted by Bruce Miller
At least two reviews are in as of this writing (Saturday morning), and it looks like Jeff McCarthy, the dashing Broadway-leading-man star of Barksdale's Dirty Rotten Scoundrels, has created another critically acclaimed character. In the New York premiere of the new musical, Southern Comfort, which opened last night, McCarthy stars as Lola Cola, a real life, transgender woman currently living in rural Georgia.

McCarthy is no stranger to playing dynamic leading roles on Broadway. Before earning his Richmond Theatre Critics Circle Award nomination for Best Actor in last summer's Dirty Rotten Scoundrels at Barksdale, Jeff created memorable leading man roles in the Broadway productions of Urinetown, Side Show, The Pirate Queen, and Smile. He also replaced male leads on Broadway in Beauty and the Beast, Chicago, Zorba, and The Pirates of Penzance.

This is the first time that Jeff, with all his athletic baritone masculinity, has played a woman.

Jeff co-stars with Annette O'Toole (pictured with Jeff to the right), who received an Emmy nomination for Outstanding Lead Actress for her performance in the ABC miniseries The Kennedys of Massachusetts. She is best known for her co-starring role as Clark Kent's mother in the hit CW series Smallville, and has had a recurring role on Nash Bridges, in addition to numerous TV guest appearances. With her husband, Michael McKean, she received an Oscar nomination for co-writing the song A Kiss at the End of the Rainbow, featured in A Mighty Wind. Her Off-Broadway credits include Kindness at Playwrights Horizons and The Seagull at the Classic Stage Company.

Here's what this morning's critics have to say:

"As touching as it is idiosyncratic, Southern Comfort effectively redefines the term 'family musical.' Based on a 2001 Sundance award-winning documentary, it features perhaps the strongest family to be seen on a New York stage. The show movingly depicts the characters’ constant struggle for respect and tolerance from both family members and the community. The patriarch of the clan is the 50-something Robert (Annette O’Toole), who’s dying, ironically enough, of cervical cancer. His partner is Lola (Jeff McCarthy), a hulking figure who struggles to wear blouses that downplay her massive shoulders. The gentle country/bluegrass-flavored score, performed by a four-piece band whose members also play minor roles, is filled with a few too many emotive ballads of self-empowerment. But some of the songs, such as Bird, Lola’s lament about “the cruel sound of my own voice,” are very touching. If there was ever a show with its heart in the right place, it’s this one. The comforts it provides are far more than just the Southern variety." - Frank Scheck, New York Post

" The strapping, deep-voiced McCarthy strikes a resonant chord in Bird as Lola bemoans the disparity between the "pretty little thing" she knows herself to be "when I see behind my eyes" and her actual, physical being, which will never come close." - Sandy McDonald, TheatreMania.com

The new musical is based on Kate Davis's 2001 documentary, also named Southern Comfort. Davis's film won the Grand Jury Prize at the Sundance Film Festival. Subsequent awards included First Prize at the Seattle International Film Festival and Special Audience Award at the Berlin Film Festival.

Southern Comfort tells a true story about transgender friends living life openly, honestly and courageously in rural Georgia. After an initial reading at Playwright's Horizon, this is a limited run AEA Approved Showcase produced by CAP 21 Theatre Company, which bills itself as "America's Musical Theatre Conservatory." The showcase is supported in part by the National Fund for New Musicals (a program of the National Alliance for Musical Theatre) and the National Endowment for the Arts.

Also in the cast is Richmond theatre alum Allison Briner. Since her work here at TheatreVirginia and the Haymarket, Allison has appeared on Broadway as Rosie in Mamma Mia!, and in the national tours of Mamma Mia!, Titanic, and Les Miserables. Off Broadway, Allison starred in Forbidden Broadway, Listen to my Heart, Pete 'n' Keely, Jacques Brel is Alive and Well and Living in Paris, Song of Singapore, and Return to the Forbidden Planet.

Jeff seems to be having a grand time in this terrific new role. He checked in to say that rehearsals were going well, and he was excited for Opening Night. We're really proud of him for taking on this challenge. We wish both Jeff and Allison all the best.

--Bruce Miller

New Actor Brings Positive Energy to "Lend Me a Tenor"

Posted by Bruce Miller
According to this morning's scale, I gained 1.8 pounds at yesterday's Opening Night cast party of Lend Me a Tenor. It was worth it. As always, Jennings Whiteway prepared a tasty table of treats for everyone to enjoy post-performance. But it was the good company and overall sense of celebration that prompted my indulgence. The show was TERRIFIC. All parties involved had one heck of a good time.

Allow me introduce you to one of the actors (a star of Lend Me a Tenor) who is actuating all this good cheer--Barksdale newcomer, Nick Ciavarella (pronounced Shiv-a-rel'-la).

Nick plays Max, the eager beaver young assistant to the Executive Director of the Cleveland Opera in 1934. Max is fervently in love with the director's daughter, and a definite divo wannabe.

Nick lives in NYC, where he is artistic director of Sound and Space Theatre, a new company that specializes in site-specific productions. He holds an MA in Classical Acting from the prestigious Central School of Speech and Drama in London. While in England, he appeared in The Factory's production of Hamlet, touring throughout the UK.

We discovered Nick this summer when he ably starred with the Virginia Shakespeare Festival in Comedy of Errors (Antipholus of Syracuse) and Hamlet (Horatio). The Virginia Shakespeare Festival is presented each summer in Williamsburg under the direction of Christopher Owens, husband of Barksdale actress Tamara Johnson.

Casting often requires very specific qualities. For example, the role of Otello in the opera-within-the-play is described as huge, manly and intimidating. In several lines, the Lend Me a Tenor characters wax lyrical about Otello's great size and prowess. We knew that the actor who would play Tito Merelli (who would be cast as Otello in the opera-within-the-play) had to be tall and robust. Tito is played in our production by Joe Pabst.
Therefore the character of Max had to be of equal height, since Max and Tito must be mistaken for each, at extremely close quarters, several times during all the farcical goings on. (The picture above and to the left show Nick and Joe in their Otello costumes and makeup.)

At the same time, much is made of the fact that Max isn't large enough to play Otello, so we knew we needed an actor who was very tall but also very thin--someone who matched Tito's profile only after he donned considerable padding. Nick, God bless him, is tall and trim--exactly what we needed.

He also has all the other qualities we were looking for--leading man good looks, the ability to appear kind of nebbishy before his glasses and insecurities come off, great comic timing, and an overall ability to command the stage. Nick also appears to be right on the cusp between youthfulness and manliness--exactly where Max needs to be.

When our brilliant director, Scotty Wichmann, saw Nick's video audition and became aware of his abundant talents, he knew he'd found the right man for the job. We're very fortunate that Nick is joining us for this comic romp. We hope and trust this first gig in Richmond won't be his last.

During the run of Lend Me a Tenor, Nick is living in Bon Air in one of Theatre IV's five actor/intern houses. Actually, he's in the same house and room occupied by Jeff McCarthy during our summer run of Dirty Rotten Scoundrels. When Nick arrived via train about a month ago, he graciously commented on how this was the best actor housing he'd ever been provided.

Little did any of us know that a week or so into rehearsals Nick and his new Bon Air home would be visited by that vixen Irene. Neither did we foresee that Nick's adopted neighborhood would be one of the last to be blessed with a restoration of power.

New to town, with no friends except the few he had just met, Nick lived ten days in the dark with no refrigeration or hot water. He learned his lines by candlelight, but also had the good sense to turn lemons into lemonade. "It was a blessing in disguise," he says. "It forced me to leave the house every morning and explore all of Richmond's many neighborhoods and attractions. I had a great time. Richmond now feels like home."

If you'd like to meet Nick (pictured to the left in a previous production of The Philadelphia Story) and experience firsthand his joie de vivre, call the Barksdale box office today at 282-2620 to purchase your tickets to our new comedy smash, Lend Me a Tenor. I know you'll be glad you did.

--Bruce Miller

Why "Lend Me a Tenor" Made It onto our Signature Season

Posted by Bruce Miller
All right. I won't start out with a fib.

I wanted the first show in our 2011-12 Signature Season to be Summer and Smoke by Tennessee Williams. When Carol Piersol told me about her idea for a Tennessee Williams Centennial Festival in Richmond, and invited Barksdale to join in with the Firehouse and Triangle Players, I was VERY excited and I wanted to participate. (The pic of Marlon Brando and Kim Hunter, to the right, appears on the Firehouse website as a sort of Festival logo. You can visit http://www.williamscelebration.org/ for more information.)

I knew Summer and Smoke was the perfect show for us to enter into the Festival, because:
a. it's my favorite Williams play,
b. it's been on my list of plays I'm very eager to direct for a long time, and
c. Barksdale co-founder Stu Falconer left his job as stage manager of the landmark Off Broadway production of Summer and Smoke when he moved to Richmond in 1953 to co-found B'dale.

But life is made up of tough choices. Another project that will be taking place during the coming year, about which I am equally passionate, is our upcoming partnership with Cadence Theatre Company, and our co-pros of Kimberly Akimbo by David Lindsay Abaire, August: Osage County by Tracy Letts, and In the Next Room or the vibrator play by Sarah Ruhl.

Once Phil, Tracy and I started adding up every nickel and dime that will make up our $5 million annual operating budget, it became clear that I had to choose between partnering with Firehouse and Triangle on the Tennessee Williams Festival or partnering with Anna Johnson on the Cadence co-pros. Obviously, I chose the latter.

But I can't wait to see the great programs planned for the Tennessee Williams Festival, and I encourage everyone to give this exciting Richmond event your full support, even if Barksdale is unable to be involved.

What those pesky budget figures made obvious was that I needed to open our 2011-12 Signature Season with a comedy instead of a drama. The simple truth is this: at Barksdale (maybe everywhere), comedies sell more tickets that dramas. Besides, for the last 58 years, our mission at Barksdale has been to create in Central Virginia national caliber productions of the GREAT comedies, dramas and musicals--past, present and future. I'm proud that we produce our fair share of each.

And I LOVE comedies. Who doesn't. Especially great American comedies like our opening production - Lend Me a Tenor.

When exploring comedies written for the stage, there are several time-honored traditions to celebrate, one of which is farce.

A farce seeks to entertain its audience by placing likable (if often misbehaving) characters within improbable and exaggerated situations. The stakes are high; discovery and disaster seem imminent. The characters negotiate their treacherous circumstances, often at break-neck speed, using trickery, mistaken identity, disguised persons or voices, and verbal humor of varying degrees of sophistication. Physical comedy, linguistic nonsense, slamming doors and broadly stylized performances are staples of theatrical farce.

Not counting our musicals (Dirty Rotten Scoundrels, for one, includes many aspects of farce) Barksdale's previous farces include:
* Boeing-Boeing (a French farce written in 1960; revived at Hanover Tavern earlier this summer),
* Is He Dead? (written by Mark Twain in 1898; produced at Willow Lawn in 2010),
* No Sex Please, We're British (an English farce written in 1971; produced at Hanover Tavern in 2006), and
* Scapino! (an English adaptation of a 1671 Moliere classic, adapted in 1971; revived at Willow Lawn in 2005).

The last time we staged a contemporary American farce was our 1993 Hanover Tavern production of Arthur Kopit's wacky Oh Dad, Poor Dad, Momma's Hung You in the Closet and I'm Feelin' So Sad. Wow. Who knew it had been nearly two decades since Barksdale produced a contemporary American farce.

In our current sociopolitical environment, American farces seem particularly apt. That's why I decided it was time to end our 18-year fast. As I reviewed the GREAT contemporary American farces, Lend Me a Tenor was right there waiting for me at the top of the heap.

I'm excited that the show is now about to open. I hope to see you at the theatre.

--Bruce Miller

Letter to the Editor - Does "Scoundrels" Offend?

Posted by Bruce Miller
In this morning's Times-Dispatch, under the headline "Mocking the disabled isn't funny," a gentleman named Miles F. Johnson wrote a thoughtful letter, excerpted below:
"I saw Dirty Rotten Scoundrels now playing at Barksdale's Empire Theater and wonder if I saw the same show the reviewer, Julinda Lewis, did. She wrote in the Times-Dispatch, 'I laughed so hard and so often during this musical comedy that my face hurt.'

Personally, I found the scene regarding brother Rubrecht to be offensive. Scott Wichmann portrays a man who is mentally and physically challenged. The word 'chromosome' is used in the dialogue, suggesting that Ruprecht's problems are congenital. Anyone with such challenges is not funny and certainly not a subject for laughter. The authors, by including this scene, exhibited total insensitivity regarding these challenged folks and their families.

I know this is a musical comedy, but expecting the audience to laugh at Ruprecht is, well, inappropriate. Am I a stick-in-the-mud? A wet blanket? Does grouchy, old curmudgeon come to mind? Perhaps, but when you see the show, ask yourself: 'Is the character, Ruprecht, really funny?' Think about it.

Miles F. Johnson
Richmond"

This letter struck a chord with me. My first "career" was in special education. For four summers in high school and college, it was my privilege to work at Camp Baker for developmentally disabled children and young adults. I began as a junior counselor, then a senior counselor, then creative arts director, then assistant camp director. During each of those summers, I lived for ten weeks with some of the most loving, creative, inspiring individuals I'll ever know. It's not an exaggeration to say that those summers changed my life.

Later, I worked for a year as a teacher at the Developmental Training Center. The reason I left Special Ed as a career was that I was unable to distance myself appropriately from the children and young adults in my care. I took all of their challenges home with me. I wanted to solve problems I couldn't solve; offer cures and corrections when none were available. The pressure wasn't healthy for me.

When I read Mr Johnson's letter, I thought it was appropriate and represented a thoughtful and reasonable point of view. I didn't think he was a "grouchy old curmudgeon"--the phrase he uses. I thought he was a loving, thoughtful advocate. Clearly we hurt his feelings with our production, and I deeply regret that. I take his criticism to heart and thank him for it. He makes an excellent point, and I'm sure he is not alone in feeling the way he does. God bless all loving, thoughtful advocates. I hope I'm one of them.

Having said that, I think there is another point of view that is equally valid. Dirty Rotten Scoundrels is about two con men, one skilled and one ridiculous, who do any and everything in the course of 2 1/2 hours to achieve their dastardly, silly ends. It is clearly a comedy without a serious bone in its body. The musical does not ask nor expect the audience to laugh at a disabled person. In fact, Scott Wichmann does NOT portray "a man who is mentally and physically challenged." Scotty portrays a dirty, rotten con man who pretends to be "a man who is mentally and physically challenged."


I'm not trying to split hairs. I'm trying to explain why I and, I believe, most people feel comfortable with Dirty Rotten Scoundrels--why we don't feel like we're laughing at people with disabilities.The musical asks the audience to laugh at the two central flim flam men, both of whom are occasionally tasteless, crude, insulting and inept as they go about their business of conning women out of money. It doesn't give away anything substantive to say that at various points, one of the two antiheroes pretends to be a wheelchair-bound veteran, an Irish priest, a royal prince, a sadistic Austrian psychiatrist, a Spanish real estate tycoon, a mute, a psychologically damaged contestant in a nationally televised dance contest, and, yes, a wacky, misfit brother.

The brother, Ruprecht, is not referred to as "disabled." He is described in song as follows:

Every royal family, by its nature,
Has a sort of price that it must pay.
Every noble lineage has
One loose gene-
Small as a molecule,
Flitting 'round the family pool.

It's the sort of thing
One sees in Appalachia
Or in the odd inbred bichon frise.
It really can be such a
Nasty stain on the escutcheon
When a wisp of DNA
Begins to fray, then goes astray.

Caligula had the tempre,
The Hapburgs had the chin.
George the Third went cuckoo-bird
And Nero had that violin.
Richard, you'll remember,
Had the hump and the withered limb.
The Bushes of Tex
Were nervous wrecks
Because their son was dim.
But look what happened to him.

Alas, our family also carries a bit of a curse.
But darling, it could be a great deal worse.

Ruprecht is a character that the other characters make up. He exists only as part of a scam. The characters in Dirty Rotten Scoundrels offend everyone in sight. That's part of what makes them dirty and rotten. It's their outrageousness that is funny, NOT the people they offend.

One could argue persuasively that the current style of comedy trends purposefully toward the irreverent (think Jon Stewart, South Park, The Book of Mormon, Spamalot, Avenue Q, etc). Dirty Rotten Scoundrels is clearly in sync with that trend.

When our production offends kind, thoughtful men like Miles Johnson, I'm very sorry. But it is not our intent to offend. We're offering a light summer comedy, crude and tasteless as some of the characters may be. Most audiences are laughing their hindquarters off, as mentioned in our five rave reviews.

Last year we produced The Sound of Music; this coming Christmas we'll be doing My Fair Lady. Dirty Rotten Scoundrels is not one of these classic American musicals. It adds a welcome variety to what we do. It's contemporary and silly. It is also, arguably, fresh and funny.

We hope all audience members will enjoy the show in the spirit that it is written and presented.

--Bruce Miller

"Whaddaya Mean? We Only Get to See 5 Minutes of It?"

Posted by Bruce Miller
Many years ago, my dear friend Cynthia Theakston, working in group sales at Theatre IV at the time, came up to me after I'd made some stupid mistake or other and asked, gently, "Now Bruce, what have you learned from this?"

I hear Cynthia's voice every now and then to this day.

There are two things I've learned from my recent decision to add previews to the beginning of the run of Dirty Rotten Scoundrels:

1. Follow my instincts. It was the right thing to do. The cast and crew felt significantly safer and cared for. And the preview performances are going off without a hitch.

2. Define the word "preview" next time. Richmond theatregoers at large don't know what it means.

I'll estimate that two-thirds of the three hundred or so callers who've contacted us at the box office misunderstood what we meant by a "preview" performance. In hind sight, I should have known this. At least in Richmond, "preview" is an insider word.

You know those five-minute promotional teasers you see during the first-half hour of your 21st Century movie-going experience? Many people today call them "trailers," which is their proper name. People of my generation, however, spent decades calling them "previews." If I'm not thinking, I'd probably still call them "previews" if and when I ever had the opportunity to talk about them.

When we announced in the paper that we were re-designating the early performances of Dirty Rotten Scoundrels as "previews," a LOT of ticket holders thought we were going to be showing them a 15 or 20 minute "trailer" of the show, rather than the entire production.

Now we know. We should have defined the word "preview" in the press release we sent to the paper.

A "preview," in theatrical lingo, is a FULL, 99% finished performance of the show being presented, not a snippet. Most folks attending these Dirty Rotten previews tell us that they can't see anything that needs fine-tuning.

Wikipedia defines a theatrical "preview" as follows: "Previews are a set of public performances of a theatrical presentation that precede its official opening. The purpose of previews is to allow the director and crew to identify problems and opportunities for improvement that weren't found during rehearsals and to make adjustments before critics are invited to attend. The duration of the preview period varies, and ticket prices may be reduced."

We've long discussed having previews before all Barksdale productions. What do you think? Should we incorporate "previews" into the schedule of every show we do, and sell them as a subscription option in our brochures?

--Bruce Miller

Ambition

Posted by Bruce Miller
A fabulous time was had last night at the first preview of Dirty Rotten Scoundrels. The show's not quite all that it's going to be yet, but it's highly entertaining, on the road to dazzling, and pretty damned impressive, I think, for a homegrown production in a community the size of ours.

Did I make the right decision to delay Opening by a week and convert this weekend's existing performances into Half-Price Previews? Others will make that decision, not me.

Last night was the first time we were able to run through the show without stopping. The set changes are complicated, to say the least. Night before last, our world-class stage manager, Ginnie Willard, wisely stopped the show five times. Safety is her number one concern, and God bless her for that.

On Wednesday night, when I made the decision to delay Opening immediately following Act One, Ginnie stopped the show maybe ten times.

Here's my bottom line. I will never ask a cast and crew to jump to full performance level in a show this complex before they've had the chance to run through it several times without stopping. Call me crazy, but please don't call me reckless.

I greatly appreciate all the kind comments from audience members last night who loved the show and couldn't see any reason why I changed the first week to previews. I too thought the show went really well. I couldn't be more proud of our directors, stage managers, cast, orchestra and crew. I also think the entire team was more able to do their best work because they knew the pressure was off.

Everyone, including last night's audience, knew that Ginnie was fully empowered to stop at any moment if she felt anything less than fully in control. That knowledge, I believe, leant a lot of freedom to the proceedings. The cast was able to relax and have fun--because they knew they were safe.

Which leads me to my other bottom line. I'm not going to ask any audience to pay full price for a performance when there's a likelihood that the stage manager will have to stop the show. By next Friday, that likelihood will be reduced to close to zero. At that point, let the full price performances commence!

So how did we get in this situation? We're a live theatre. We're ambitious. We make art. These things happen.

I'm not going to place blame on anyone, but for those who want to place blame, I'm happy to offer this opinion. When a show isn't ready on time, nine times out of ten it's because of deficiencies in planning and budget. Both of those key components are controlled by the producers. At Barksdale, that's me and Phil Whiteway--please excuse my bad grammar.

I'm happy this morning. And proud. And excitedly looking forward to a fun and prosperous summer. I'm glad that Barksdale continues to be ambitious, to bite off more than we reasonably can be expected to chew. I'm crazy about our audience, 95% of whom are supportive and caring, fun-loving and adventurous. I'm grateful to be working in a theatre community like ours, where the vast majority of theatre artists actively route for each other's success.

Dirty Rotten Scoundrels is off to a promising start. The critics will weigh in next Friday and I can't wait. Let the good times roll!

--Bruce Miller

Half-Price Previews Added to "Dirty Rotten Scoundrels"

Posted by Bruce Miller
At last night’s rehearsal for Dirty Rotten Scoundrels, I made the decision to delay the Opening of our summer musical by one week. Dirty Rotten will now open on Friday, June 24. The performances scheduled for Fri June 17, Sat June 18, Sun June 19, Wed June 22, and Thurs June 23 all will take place as originally planned, but they are being converted to Half-Price Previews.

As much as we would prefer not to change plans mid-stream, about once every three or four years it becomes advisable to do just that. Delaying the Opening of a show that isn’t quite ready is a national, responsible practice. The last time it happened to us was a few years back with our revival of The Wizard of Oz. The last time a delayed Opening at another theatre affected me personally was earlier this season when, on the day I was scheduled to drive to D. C. to see the first performance of Oklahoma at Arena Stage, I received a call from the box office (I’m an Arena subscriber) advising me that Oklahoma wasn’t ready to open and therefore that evening’s performance had been cancelled.

What does it mean when we say a show isn’t ready? Theatre is a collaboration, and when a production goes smoothly, all partners in that collaboration are able to work effectively, quickly and in sync with each other. Sometimes, especially with complex shows like Dirty Rotten Scoundrels, the creative partners need an extra few days to get in sync. Maybe the costumes, lights and sound are ready, but the set and props haven’t quite caught up. We’re making art here, not widgets.

Whenever production elements approach completion at slightly different times, it causes actors and/or musicians to lose focus. Last night, I could tell that our terrific cast was unable to concentrate fully on their performances because they were still somewhat unsure as to what exactly was going on behind or beside them. There are two turntables in the show, countless flies, giant panels that move on from stage left and right, several hundred costumes, a free moving giant staircase completely dependent on working hydraulic casters, and a singing/dancing/running cast and crew of close to thirty.

As of today, these talented, hard working theatre pros still have not had a single run through of either act during which the stage manager hasn’t had to stop the proceedings cold. Last night, when one of the hydraulic casters on the giant staircase blew out with a loud pop and hiss in the middle of a set change, I knew it was time for me to step in and give this terrific cast and crew just a little more time.

I can’t ask or expect talented actors to place all their focus on their performances when, for safety’s sake, they still have to direct some of their focus on the two ton unit that is barreling toward them from off stage left.

The show will go on tomorrow night, and I’m confident that audience members who choose to attend the Half-Price Previews will have a great time. But I’ll feel a lot better knowing that the pressure has been lessened, and all involved will now have the chance to participate in several successful run throughs before knocking it out of the park on Opening Night.

If you are holding tickets for one of these Half-Price Previews, and would like to exchange for a later performance, please call our box office at 282-2620. Of if you decide to come and be part of the exciting process, be ready just in case the stage manager has to holler “Stop!” Also, please know that we are endlessly grateful for your understanding and support. Best of all, if you paid full price, a $25 voucher is on its way covering more than half of your original purchase price.

Special thanks to all the talented artists involved with Dirty Rotten Scoundrels for continuing to be just as dirty, rotten and scoundrel-ous as any producer could want. When you Break a Leg on Opening, I pray it will be metaphorical.

--Bruce Miller

Announcing Barksdale's 2010-11 Signature Season

Posted by Bruce Miller
"Brilliant" - defined by TheFreeDictionary.com as "Full of light. Shining." Exactly how I feel about the five plus one shows in Barksdale's 2010-11 Signature Season.

Somewhere near the top of the list of my most important responsibilities is selecting which plays we will produce. Play selection is not something I do alone or in a vacuum. Suggestions come from virtually everywhere (Board members, subscribers, single ticket buyers, teachers, theatre artists of all stripes, contributors). I honestly appreciate and benefit from all the ideas you throw my way.

Direct input into the process comes from Phil Whiteway (of course, he's the one who has to pay the bills), Chase Kniffen (he will assist me in selecting the artistic teams that will bring each title to life), Sara Marsden (she'll sell the tickets), Judi Crenshaw (she has to articulate the strengths of each title to the media outlets and the general public), plus Joy Ross Davis (group sales), Sue Griffin (costumes), Bruce Rennie (tech director), and several others.

At the end of the day, the buck stops with me. If you hate (or love) a play produced by Barksdale, I'm the guy to blame (or congratulate).

From the millions of titles that exist (surely the world must have given birth to at least several million comedies, dramas and musicals by now), there are perhaps a couple hundred titles that make it on to one or another of the lists that always float around the Barksdale offices. From this wealth of great work, five or six titles ultimately emerge. The criteria against which each title is assessed are:

* is it a "great" play (Barksdale's mission is to produce "the great comedies, dramas and musicals--past, present and future")

* do we have the capacity, based on existing resources, to produce a first class production (our mission charges us to create "national caliber productions")

* will our production be fresh, unique and alive

* will it captivate the audience

* does it have the potential to expand our subscription base (lots of lengthy and very personal discussion here; remember, the productions that have passed this test include everything from Guys and Dolls to Intimate Apparel to Boleros for the Disenchanted to The Little Dog Laughed to Cyrano de Bergerac to Melissa Arctic to Is He Dead?)

* does it add to the diversity and breadth of our work and offer new opportunities to our artists and audiences (we try very hard not to produce on our Willow Lawn season the same type of play over and over again)

* is there or will there be a considerable font of energy created around this title among our artistic leadership and family

* is there a unique "hook" that will allow us to extend this energy to single ticket buyers, group sales leaders, and playgoers / playmakers at large

* does the season feel good as a whole--is the total greater than the sum of its parts

* would the season make our founders (Pete, Muriel and Nancy) proud; will it engender pride among our Board of Trustees and staff

This year there was a special emphasis on a final criteria.

* Will it make money?

With the continuing sluggishness in the economy, the significant declines in governmental and corporate support, and the increasing competition coming from CenterStage and the "Broadway" season, there is no margin for financial error. I know that admission is not very high-minded. I'm just being honest.

Five titles (with a sixth subscriber option) have run this gauntlet and emerged with colors flying. I'm very excited to announce Barksdale Theatre's 57th Signature Season!

Shipwrecked! An Entertainment - by Donald Margulies
White Christmas - Music & Lyrics by Irving Berlin, Book by David Ives & Paul Blake
Legacy of Light - by Karen Zacarias
Contemporary Broadway comedy - title TBA
Dirty Rotten Scoundrels - Music & Lyrics by David Yazbek, Book by Jeffrey Lane
The Bluest Eye - by Lydia Diamond, based on the novel by Toni Morrison

More to come tomorrow about each of these wonderful shows. I hope you'll subscribe!

--Bruce