Three Theatres - Three Times the Fun

Posted by John Steils

I'm just getting used to my new Barksdale and Theatre IV home. Or I guess I should say "homes." I arrived in September after a year-long internship with a single-theatre company in the mid-West, and I was glad to discover that I now had three theatres to explore.

My first exposure was to the historic Empire and it was love at first sight. What a magnificent performance facility. One step inside the door and you feel like you're in a Broadway house that's been transported to Broad Street. As Virginia's oldest theatre, the Empire is one of Richmond's greatest treasures. I loved Stuart Little (I've never seen an actor and puppet become "one" more than David Janeski and young Stuart), and I can't wait for A Christmas Story, Rumpelstiltskin's Daughter, Peter Pan and Guys and Dolls!

I'm reading all the hoopla in the Times-Dispatch about restoring the Carpenter Center. I won't pretend to understand it all, but apparently it's been a crazy ride. That makes me all the more impressed that throughout the last 20 years Theatre IV has owned, restored and maintained the landmark Empire without, I'm told, so much as a paragraph of controversy.

As much as the Empire is a treasure, Barksdale's Willow Lawn home is a jewel. Tom McGranahan--a treasure himself--told me that he used to work in that exact area when he was a Procter & Gamble sales rep and the vast second-floor space that is now an attractive theatre was then a storeroom for the five-and-dime.

The Barksdalians (Barksdalers?) who were responsible for the design and execution of this transformation did an amazing job. I went to see The Member of the Wedding and couldn't have loved it more. It's a perfect, intimate theatre. From the outside, you think it's going to be this tiny shoebox of a space. But then you go up the stairs and enter this huge lobby and fully equipped 204-seat theatre. It's an ideal home for those of us who like to see every expression and hear every word.

I was picking up some fliers from the development office two days ago, and walked into the theatre expecting to revisit the beautiful set for The Member of the Wedding. Instead, it was like entering a jungle. Bruce Rennie, Matt Landwehr, Derek Dumais and Joe Bock were in the middle of the new light hang for Moonlight and Magnolias, and they had disconnected all the lights so that they could re-position and re-connect them to match Lynne Hartman's light design for M & M. Light cables--I think they called them "pigtails"--were dangling down from hundreds of unconnected instruments, making it seem like a small battalion of carnivorous vines (or snakes, being the day before Halloween) was getting ready to attack from the ceiling above the stage.

My first visit to Hanover Tavern was for Deathtrap, so I think I'll always be a little frightened if I have to go out there by myself. When the lighting flashed at the end of Act II, revealing that freaky cigar store Indian that stood at the foot of the stairs, I thought I was seeing a ghost. Jeannie Kilgore told me that Muriel used to swear there was a ghost in the Tavern. Now that Halloween has come and gone, I'll be brave enough to find out more.

If you haven't purchased your tickets yet for A Christmas Story at the Empire (you remember that movie with the leg lamp?), Moonlight and Magnolias at Willow Lawn (a hilarious backstage story about the making of Gone with the Wind), or Swingtime Canteen at the Tavern (a recreation of an actual USO show from the early 40s), please call today.

Whichever show and whichever theatre you choose, you're sure to have a great time! And you'll be doing your part to keep professional theatre in Richmond alive and well.

--John Steils

Finding the We of Me - Opening Night at "The Member of the Wedding"

Posted by Bruce Miller

I've just returned from the wonderful Opening Night of The Member of the Wedding by Carson McCullers at Barksdale Willow Lawn. Along with James Joyce's The Dead, The Member of the Wedding is that rare commodity on our Signature Season--a highly theatrical evening that is language- and character-driven rather than plot-driven. I love the variety and depth that it adds to our roster. I especially love this production.

Scott Wichmann has directed an evocative evening that emotionally transports us back to the sultry Southern summers of Carson McCullers' early adolescence. The Member of the Wedding is a part of our continuing Women's Theatre Project, and the story it tells is certainly born in a woman's heart.

At least one vibrant post-show discussion revolved around whether McCullers' classic tale is the story of Berenice Sadie Brown, the big-hearted domestic brilliantly played by Katherine Louis in a star-making performance, or the story of Frankie Addams (or F. Jasmine Addams as she prefers to be called), the lonely and precocious 13-year-old played with staggering sensitivity by real-life 13-year-old Lexi Langs.

Part of the magic woven by McCullers, Wichmann and our two outstanding actresses is that the evening somehow manages to focus alternately and simultaneously on both. It's almost as if the soul of the play combines both women into one: half adult and half child, half grounded and half lost, half privileged and half trodden down. Not unlike Carson McCullers herself (pictured above and to the left with the original Berenice, Ethel Waters).

Joining in the standing ovation awarded the production were steadfast supporters Mr and Mrs Reid Ashe, Tom and Carlene Bass, Page Bauder, Rosanna Bencoach, Dr. John and Mary Jane Board, Cammie Carlton, Carrie Galeski, Bev Kniffen, Charlotte and Andy McCutcheon, Suzanne Pollard, Essie Simms and Isabella Witt. That's the back of Charlotte's head in the photo above and to the right talking with director Scott Wichmann at the post-show party.

Other theatre artists in attendance included Jan Guarino and her children Nora and Zack (Jan is starring in our upcoming Swingtime Canteen at Hanover Tavern); Julia Greer, Hannah Miller and Ali Thibodeau from the cast of Disney's High School Musical (Julia and Hannah are pictured to the left); Annie Hulcher from Annie Get Your Gun; Alex Samawicz and his date (Alex played trumpet in Into the Woods); Melissa Johnston-Price and her daughter Meg (Melissa rushed in from rehearsal for Spinning Into Butter at the Firehouse); Terrie Powers (our designer extraordinaire at Hanover Tavern); Stacy Reardon (actor alum from The Full Monty and The Wizard of Oz); and Russell Rowland fresh from his Princely duties in Into the Woods.

Hard working staff members on hand included Emily Cole Bitz, Andy Boothby, Judi Crenshaw, Catherine Dudley, Jackie Gann and her newlywed husband Bobby, Jean Hartley, Lucas Hall, Chase Kniffen, Sara Marsden, Billy Christopher Maupin, Steve Perigard, Joy Ross, Janine Serresseque, Wendy Vandergrift, Jennings Whiteway (responsible for the wonderful party), Phil Whiteway (laughing with our leading lady at the post-show celebration), and Ginnie Willard.

Providing all the luster were the stars of the evening: director Wichmann; designers Brian Barker (sets), Derek Dumais (sound) and Lynne Hartman (lights); stage managers Bo Wilson and Jody Smith Strickler; console operator Lynwood Guyton; props master Lynn West; and cast members Katherine Louis, Lexi Langs, Eric Evans, Carl Calabrese, Christine Schneider, David Bridgewater, Jill Bari Steinberg, Alec Stephens III, Tony Cosby (WELCOME HOME TONY!), Erin Kate Bradner, Katy Burke and Zac Wilson. That's Eric, Zac and Lexi in the photo above and to the left, at the post-show party.

No one can say what the critics will think, but please know that Phil Whiteway and I are very proud of this production. We hope you'll join us soon for this compelling, soul-stirring and uniquely American classic.

--Bruce Miller