"Blue Ridge Mountain Christmas" on Hardscrabble Knob

Posted by Phil Whiteway
We're pleased to announce the cast of Blue Ridge Mountain Christmas, our world premiere holiday musical at Hanover Tavern, running Nov 25 - Jan 8. Returning from our Smoke on the Mountain trilogy will be five beloved actor/musicians: Emily Cole, David Janeski, Drew Perkins, Aly Wepplo and Eric Williams, all members of Barksdale's version of the Sanders Family. Joining the fun for the first time will be Katrinah Lewis, Nick Shackleford and Anthony Smith.

Direction is by Anna Senechal Johnson, with music direction by Drew Perkins. The original script is by our artistic director, Bruce Craig Miller (he uses his middle name only as a playwright, to avoid confusion with another writer named Bruce Miller). The music is mostly traditional mountain music with English and Irish origins. All instruments (guitar, fiddle, mandolin, banjo, dulcimer, flute, piano, harp, bass, etc.) are played by members of the cast. Kelly Kennedy is offering assistance with music and choreography. Set design is by Terrie Powers, and costume design by Lynn West.

A Little Background - In 1912, a team of U.S. Forest Service employees headquartered at an inn named Mountain House, located about 20 miles outside Staunton. They walked, drove, rode on horseback, and surveyed the mountains and valleys of Virginia's Highland, Bath and Augusta Counties. Their work led to the 1913 purchase of more than 38,000 acres on and around Shenandoah Mountain--some of the first property to be acquired for the Shenandoah National Forest.

Connecting Mountain House with Hardscrabble Knob, the second highest peak on Shenandoah Mountain, a creek called Ramsey's Draft flows freely through these high Allegheny Mountains. From its headwaters of mountain springs at nearly 4,000 feet in elevation, the stream drains the wilderness's 6,500 acres. In the 1930s, the Civilian Conservation Corps build a road that roughly followed the path of the draft, allowing Shenandoah Valley residents unique and previously unavailable access to Hardscrabble Knob.

On cold December evenings in the 20s and 30s, the mostly poor Appalachian residents who once owned this land would travel in horse drawn wagons, up the new rough road, toward Hardscrabble Knob. Before reaching the peak, they'd leave their wagons at road's end, and climb through a dense stand of old growth hemlock, giant trees that had begun as seedlings at about the time that Columbus was "discovering" America. At the rocky peak, they would join as a community to perform their treasured holiday traditions, sing and play their ancestral songs, and celebrate this Garden of Eden that their English, Irish, Scotch-Irish and German ancestors had settled in the 1700s.

Historian and writer Lella Smith, who's family has lived in the Blue Ridge Mountains since before the American revolution, writes that in the 1930s, two areas in the United States were acknowledged as sacred: the Four Corners area of Arizona, New Mexico, Utah and Nevada; and the mountains surrounding the Shenandoah Valley of Virginia. Several peaks contained "dancing grounds, sacred places where paths crossed and people gathered to dance by moonlight."

Today, Mountain House is nothing but a wayside parking lot with picnic tables. The road constructed by the Civilian Conservation Corps was washed away by Hurricane Camille in 1969. The majestic hemlocks have been devastated by an infestation of the wooly adelgid, and nearly all of the 500-year-old trees now have died.

In Blue Ridge Mountain Christmas, we'll venture back to December, 1938, to Hardscrabble Knob on Shenandoah Mountain (from which you can look east to the Blue Ridge), and revisit a merry night during the Great Depression when a group of warm-hearted Appalachians gathered in joy on a cold mountaintop to honor a sacred season and celebrate a magical land that was no longer theirs.

--Phil Whiteway

The Third Time is Charming

Posted by Bruce Miller
Has any theatre in Richmond ever produced three iterations (the original plus two sequels) of any show before? That’s what we’re about to do with Smoke on the Mountain Homecoming, the final of three bluegrass gospel musicals conceived by Alan Bailey and written by Connie Ray, all featuring a multi-talented fictional family church band from the 1940s—the Sanders Family.

I know that the Mill has produced umpteen annual sequels to their Drifty the Snowman holiday musical for children and families. And the Mill has also done the first two of the Sanders Family shows: Smoke on the Mountain and Sanders Family Christmas. Also, the Mill did land office business, I’m told, with Forever Plaid followed by Plaid Tidings, and Greater Tuna followed by A Tuna Christmas.

But can anyone think of a Richmond professional theatre that’s done THREE published (not original), inter-connected shows for adult audiences?

I’m not trying to start a trend. In general, I think sequels in theatre are a little silly. You won’t find us following our revival of Nunsense with any of its eight siblings: Nunsense 2: The Second Coming, Sister Amnesia’s Country Western Nunsense Jamboree, Nuncrackers: The Nunsense Christmas Musical, Meshuggah-Nuns!, Nunsensations: The Nunsense Vegas Revue, Nunsense A-Men (with an all-monk cast), Nunset Blvd (I can only imagine), and Sister Robert Anne's Cabaret Class. (These last three additions had previously escaped my notice and were provided to me by Billy Christopher Maupin.)

I’m not making this stuff up. Those are real sequels, produced somewhere, adored by millions.

Anyway, I LOVE the three Sanders Family shows (and please authors, let it remain only three), because they take me back to my rural Mennonite roots, they’re filled with wonderful characters and terrific music. Luckily for us, we have an exemplary cast that can act the roles, sing the songs, and play 22 different instruments between them.

It's a bluegrass concert fit to beat the band.

Drew Perkins (Burl, the Dad) plays guitar, fiddle, mandolin, banjo and ukulele. He also serves as music director. Kelly Kennedy (stepping into the Vera / Mama role previously filled by Julie Fulcher) plays guitar, piano, harmonium, accordion and spoons. Eric Williams (Uncle Stanley) makes merry on guitar, bass, harmonica and triangle.

Among the younger generation, Emily plays Denise (the female half of the twins). She also plays guitar, harp, mountain dulcimer, washboard, piano, bass, limberjack and tambourine. The male half of the twins (Dennis) is played by David Janeski, as are the guitar, bass, mandolin, limberjack and shaker. Billy Christopher Maupin, when he’s not involved in one of the 287 other theatre ventures that currently fill his dance card, plays Rev. Oglethorpe, who cuts loose on piano, bass and the occasional percussive noisemaker.

And then there’s Aly Wepplo. Aly performs ASL (American Sign Language)—a little less in this show than in the previous two—and plays some traditional and unique percussion instruments: tambourine, shaker, triangle, telephone bell, tugglaphone and wend-o-wheel. She also plays the trumpet. In the show, Aly portrays sister June, the wife of Billy Christopher Maupin’s character. In real life, Aly is married to David Janeski. They fell in love during the run of Smoke on the Mountain, and got engaged, in front of a live audience, following a performance of Sanders Family Christmas.

If you haven’t seen any of the previous Sanders Family musicals, I hope you’ll join us for Smoke … Homecoming. It’s funny, tuneful, and guaranteed to cheer your spirit.

It certainly cheers mine.

--Bruce Miller

A Smile a Day Keeps the Mortician Away

Posted by Bruce Miller
New research from Wayne State University in Detroit indicates that those who are most likely to be photographed with a big grin on their face can count on living a longer life.

Kathleen Doheny reports in HealthDay News that scientists have completed a study involving the evaluation of photographs of 230 Major League Baseball players, all of whom began their careers prior to 1950. The size and intensity of each ball player's smile was rated on a scale from nonexistent to robust. "People who had the most intense smiles lived the longest," said Ernest L. Abel, a professor of obstetrics, gynecology and psychology at Wayne State.

"The more intense smile, we infer, indicates an underlying happiness, if you will, a more positive attitude," he said. "It's hard to fake an intense smile."

As of June 1, 2009, all but 46 of the 230 players had died. On average, the longevity of the non-smilers was 72.9 years, 75 years for the partial smilers, and 79.9 years for the big smilers. The big smilers had what is known as a Duchenne smile, named after the French neurologist who discovered it. Cheeks and the corners of the mouth are raised, and crows-feet wrinkles appear around the eyes.

To get your Duchenne smile (and the extended lifespan that comes with it), we invite you to come see Shipwrecked! An Entertainment, opening this Friday at Barksdale Theatre at Willow Lawn, starring Joe Inscoe, Scott Wichmann and Carolyn Meade.

Then you can keep smiling with Smoke on the Mountain Homecoming, the bluegrass gospel musical, starring Drew Perkins, Kelly Kennedy, Aly Wepplo, David Janeski, Emily Cole, Billy Christopher Maupin, and Eric Williams. Smoke ... Homecoming is Part III in the Sanders Family trilogy, and it opens the following Friday at Barksdale Theatre at Hanover Tavern.

I can think of few more enjoyable ways to get crows-feet wrinkles to appear around your eyes. Hope to see you at the theatre!

--Bruce Miller

Being There for the Birth of a New Play

Posted by Bruce Miller
I first met my buddy David Robbins about a quarter century ago. A theatre major from William & Mary, David had followed his undergrad work with four years at the W & M Law School, followed by a year's work as an environmental attorney in SC.

Sometime around 1982, David gave up his law practice and returned to Richmond to be a freelance writer. If memory serves, he worked mainly for the ad agencies at first. That's when we met. Whatever he was writing, he seemed to be successful at it from the beginning. He's always been one of those smart guys who works hard--compliments I don't award easily. He's always seemed destined for great things.

He spent some time acting. He played a major role in Theatre IV's production of Isn't It Romantic? by Wendy Wasserstein, and he was Dracula at Dogwood Dell. Last night Joe Inscoe said he remembered David as a "sailor on roller skates," and he seemed to be referring to something theatrical rather than a wanton evening on Canal Street.

When Theatre IV purchased the Empire in 1986, David wrote (for free) the copy for the fundraising video we used to help pull together the $2.3 million we needed to purchase and execute Phase I of renovation. The video starred Dee Slominski, Meredith Strange-Boston and Jody Smith Strickler as the three twisted sisters from Macbeth. It was a hoot. More importantly, it worked; we raised the needed funds.

Sometime in the 90s, David began working fulltime as a novelist. His first book, Souls to Keep, is a voodoo mystery of sorts set in the Florida Keys (if memory serves) and has to do with switched personalities. Or maybe I'm getting mixed up. It was published in 1998 with little acclaim, but I bought (and still own) something like four copies cause I like to support my writer buds.

His second book, War of the Rats, was a HUGE success. Overnight it seemed, little ole David Robbins (actually big ole David Robbins--he stands something like 6' 4" tall) became David L. Robbins, the best selling author. War of the Rats focuses on the Russian / German snipers fighting in and around Stalingrad in WWII. It served as the inspiration for Jean-Jacques Annaud's hit film Enemy at the Gates starring Jude Law.

Rats was followed in quick succession by The End of War, Scorched Earth, Last Citadel, Liberation Road, The Assassin's Gallery, The Betrayal Game, and Broken Jewel. He's now hard at work on his next novel, The Devil's Waters. In preparation for that assignment, he's been travelling around the world on cargo ships and conferring with genetic scientists. You can read all about his writerly adventures on his website: davidlrobbins.com.

I haven't read all his books--there's a short stack of them in my yet-to-get-to pile--but of the several I've read, Scorched Earth has always been my favorite. It concerns racial tensions in today's rural Virginia. It's a courtroom drama, full of flesh and blood characters, suspense and stirring action.

I was thrilled when David and his attorney, Barksdale Board member Bennett Fidlow, recently asked if I'd be interested in reading a stage version of Scorched Earth that David has just completed.

Last night, a small team of familiar Richmond stage faces--Ronnie Brown, Joe Inscoe, David Janeski, Thomas Nowlin, Jeanie Rule, Janine Serresseque, Jill Bari Steinberg, Ali Thibodeau, Scott Wichmann, Aly Wepplo, Eric Williams, and Irene Ziegler--performed a table read of the new script for David, Bennett, Phil Whiteway, Chase Kniffen and me. It went really well; we all were excited.

Barksdale is always eager to explore new work, and we are strongly considering producing David's new play, Scorched Earth, sometime in the near future.

Many thanks to David and all the actors who gave of their time and talents last night. I think I speak for everyone when I say it was a privilege for each of us to be together in that room.

I'll tell you more about Scorched Earth as things develop. Till then, hope to see you at the theatre!

--Bruce Miller

"Bus stop, bus go, she stays, love grows"

Posted by Bruce Miller
I've always loved the pop song Bus Stop by the Hollies. It was part of the soundtrack of my first romance. Ann Bristow and I started dating on Valentine's Day 1966, and by August we had exchanged high school rings and were officially going steady.

Bus stop, wet day, she's there, I say
Please share my umbrella
Bus stop, bus go, she stays, love grows
Under my umbrella
All that summer we enjoyed it
Wind and rain and shine
That umbrella we employed it
By August she was mine

Sondheim lyrics they ain't.

The song has nothing whatsoever to do with the classic American play Bus Stop by Pulitzer Prize-winning playwright William Inge. Bus Stop the play will open at Hanover Tavern on November 27, playing throughout the holidays.

The plots of the play and the song, however, are certainly similar. Weather conditions bring boy and girl into close proximity with each other. By the time the bus goes, the girl has decided to stay and romance is in the air.

Ah youth.

Our production of Bus Stop will be directed by Amy Berlin, who last manned the helm for Shirley Valentine. Terrie Powers and David Powers, who have co-designed every Tavern set since our return, are again creating this slice-of-Americana set, with lights by Slade Billew and costumes by Marcia Miller Hailey. Jonathan Hardison, who last acted with us in The Man Who Came to Dinner, will serve as Fight Choreographer. Tiffany Shifflett is providing stage management. Chase Kniffen is our Production Manager for Hanover Tavern.

Amy has assembled a top drawer cast.

Alia Bisharat will play Cherie, the Kansas City "chanteuse" who catches the eye of Bo Decker, a lovesick and decidedly not worldly wise ranch hand played by Jonathan Conyers. Alia and Jonathan are the two fresh-faced lookers in the top right photo.

Bill Brock is Carl, the driver of the bus that unloads our entire cast into a rural Kansas bus stop and diner in the midst of an unseasonably early blizzard. The object of Carl's affections is Grace Hoyland, the owner, chief cook and bottle washer of the roadside diner, played by Jacquie O'Connor.

Grace's teenage waitress, Elma Duckworth, is played to wide-eyed perfection by Emily Bradner. She catches the roving (lecherous?) eye of Dr. Gerald Lyman, an aging professor much too old to be casting his gaze upon teenage girls. Dr. Lyman is played by Christopher Dunn, last seen at Barksdale Willow Lawn in To Kill a Mockingbird.

Keeping watch over this diverse group of wayfaring strangers is the local sheriff Will Masters, played by Michael Hawke (The Full Monty, Mame), and Bo's mentor and best friend, Virgil Blessing, played by Eric Williams (Smoke on the Mountain and Sanders Family Christmas).

I love this funny, heartwarming, holiday play about finding ourselves in the love we find in others. We're now taking reservations for individuals, families and groups. Hope you'll join us for this colorful and charming American classic from 1955!

--Bruce Miller

John's Joy - "The Perfect Richmond Holiday Play!"

Posted by Bruce Miller

John Porter's rave review of Sanders Family Christmas was finally aired on WCVE-FM, and it was worth the wait. It seems to be the radio station's policy to air one review a week, so when shows open one on top of another, you have to wait your turn.

Rather than excerpt, I'll quote the entire review, since it is not available elsewhere in print. Many of you may have missed the radio broadcast.

Thanks, John, for your kind words. Here's the review!

. . . . . . . . .

"Sometimes writing these theatre reviews is easy, and sometimes it is much more difficult. This is one of those easy times, because it is my privilege to talk about Sanders Family Christmas, which is now playing at Barksdale Hanover Tavern. It is very close to being the perfect Richmond holiday play.

It’s a musical, with great seasonal tunes. It looks back at an earlier time—the United States entry into WWII—with nostalgia and reverence. The cast and crew are greatly talented and they know how to put on an entertaining show.

If you’re looking for deep truths revealed through a dark, twisted, psychological drama, you’re probably going to be disappointed. But if you’re looking for a fast show featuring good music, a little story telling, and a warm and fuzzy glow afterwards, then by all means, you’ve come to the right place.

The stellar cast includes Drew Perkins, a strong actor and great musician, as Burl Sanders, the leader of the gospel singing family, who has arrived in the snow to sing songs and witness during the holiday season. Julie Fulcher plays Vera, his equally talented wife and partner in the family business.

Eric Williams is Stanley, the brother, who despite his shady past has moved on to enjoy fame singing on the radio and in the movies. The twins, Denise and Dennis, are played with gusto by Emily Cole and David Janeski, and they manage to wring out their own separate identities despite being lumped together all the time. This may be Dennis’s last appearance with the family, as he is shipping off to boot camp right after the holidays.

The oldest child, June, is warmly played by Aly Wepplo, who despite her character’s self-professed inability to play or sing still joins in with great support and occasional sign language, if anyone needs it. Her wide-eyed innocence is heartwarming, and Ms Wepplo shows a great deal of promise in this role.

Lastly, the Rev Oglethorpe, who has arranged this evening, is delightfully played by Billy Christopher Maupin. His portrayal is of an earnest young man who will do anything to keep his church open, and who is very sincere in his affection for one special member of the Sanders Family. Don’t worry; it becomes very obvious very quickly.

Director Bruce Miller has once again made his job easier by putting together a winning cast and a very capable design team. The old country church that has been created by set designer Terrie Powers and David Powers is comfortable, cozy, and gives you the feeling of a landmark held together more by love and prayer than by brick and mortar.

Lights are by Slade Billow, and costumes are by Sue Griffin, who once again does a terrific job with her creation.

Sanders Family Christmas is solid family entertainment from beginning to end, and features some of Richmond’s best talent performing in an intimate space in the country.

For this critic’s money, you just can’t go wrong with that combination.

For WCVE Public Radio, I’m John Porter."

--Bruce Miller

Coffee & Conversations for Evening Viewing

Posted by Bruce Miller
Rostov’s Coffee & Conversations is a weekday talkback event in which theatre enthusiasts meet in Barksdale’s Willow Lawn lobby on the second Tuesday of each month (October through July) to participate in a panel discussion with some of our community’s leading theatre artists. Working folks who can’t make it to these 9:30 a.m. programs frequently ask if we can repeat them in the evening. We're attempting to do so. Until then, we will broadcast the discussions on YouTube and provide links to these snippets on this blog.

The following links will connect you to the Coffee & Conversations event that was a part of our recent Sarah Ruhl Festival. Steve Perigard, associate artistic director of Barksdale and director of The Clean House, moderates. The panel is comprised of Rusty Wilson (director of Eurydice at the Firehouse Theatre Project), Laine Satterfield (Eurydice in Eurydice at the Firehouse), Kelly Kennedy (Lane in The Clean House at Barksdale), and Bianca Bryan (Matilde in The Clean House at Barksdale).

The ancestry of Bianca Bryan is discussed in one of these video snippets. The full story isn’t included on the tape. Bianca is of Chilean ancestry on her mother’s side. She was born in South Africa and spent her earliest years in the Azure Islands, where Portuguese is the native language. As she mentions in the video, most of her childhood was spent in Argentina, where she became fluent in Spanish.

We hope you enjoy watching these selections from our October Coffee & Conversations event.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=d7YS3TjP4LU – in which Steve asks the panelists if this is their first Sarah Ruhl experience, and invites discussion regarding Ms Ruhl’s qualities as a playwright

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TrWPqR49V8M – in which Steve prompts a discussion of the difference between reading Ms Ruhl's plays and playing and/or seeing them, and Bianca launches a sidebar discussion of Ms Ruhl’s stage directions

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HDjVfUXSZ0U – in which Steve mentions reading that Sarah Ruhl hopes to create ordinary characters who say exceptional things and exceptional characters who say ordinary things, leading into a discussion of the joke in Portuguese that opens The Clean House

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7L7N-7ZRsFM – in which the panelists respond to audience questions about language, design and bashert

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XMcMkEUsCYo – in which the panelists engage in further discussion of language, building relationships between characters, and managing real life relationships among theatre artists

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=E21JMXHA8j0 – in which Kelly discusses developing her character (Lane in The Clean House), and the group discusses Ms Ruhl’s use of silence, imagery and punctuation

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MM03ebxGawI – in which a question from the audience prompts a discussion of the technical aspects of Eurydice and The Clean House

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=76Q4gBEVmHk – in which Rusty discusses an email communication between Joe Inscoe (the actor who played Eurydice’s Father) and Ms Ruhl

December’s Coffee & Conversation program will feature Eric Williams (Uncle Stanley in Sanders Family Christmas) interviewing Scotty Wichmann (actor) and John Moon (director) about This Wonderful Life.

Hope to see you at the theatre!

--Bruce Miller (with IT help from Brad Tuggle)

Susie's Sizzle - "A Warm Holiday Treat"

Posted by Bruce Miller
I know I'm not supposed to care about reviews. But the truth is, I rush to read Ms. Haubenstock's opinion the minute I wake up on a Sunday morning following a Friday opening night.

I form my own opinion about whether a show has opened well or not before the first set of bowing actors return to an upright position. And that opinion seldom changes based on the opinions of the critics. I respect what the critics have to say, but sometimes I agree and sometimes I don't.

I'm a producer as well as a director. And any producer who tells you s/he doesn't care about reviews is pulling your leg. Historically, a good review in the Times-Dispatch is worth about $20,000 at the Barksdale box office. And for this I'm not supposed to care?!

Anyway, I was thrilled to read Susan Haubenstock's review this morning of Sanders Family Christmas. It's a review that will sell tickets. And it will make all the artists involved, including myself, happy because she says nice things about everybody. I read the review, and immediately felt a 20,000 lb. weight lift from my shoulders.

In order to meet budget, Theatre IV and Barksdale combined need to sell about $70 K worth of tickets and tour shows and raise about $30 K in contributions every week of the year. Our $5.2 million annual budget covers the cost of a staff of 40 or so who are paid every two weeks, over a hundred theatre artists who are paid for performances, the mortgage and/or rent payments on four major facilities, and significant other expenses. Meeting budget is not an easy task in today's economy. Susie's nice review will help in all quarters.

Here are the quotes I'll be hanging in the Tavern lobby:

“Lovely!
Runs away with the audience’s hearts
Expertly Handled ~ Just Right
Old hymns and beautiful harmonies warm the soul
The humor is gentle; the laughs are big;
the smiles don’t quit
A Warm Holiday Treat!”

--Susan Haubenstock, Richmond Times-Dispatch

Best of all, in my opinion, every word of the praise is deserved. This great cast and design team manage the impossible--they deliver a very corny and sentimental script with the utmost sincerity, winning laughs and tears while maintaining complete respect and affection for their oversized characters. And on top of all that they play a whole orchestra of bluegrass instruments and sing fit to beat the band.

Aly, Billy Christopher, David J., Drew, Emily, Eric, Julie, Brad, Catherine, Christina, David P., Jeannie, Slade, Sue and Terrie are the BEST. I loved the show on opening night, and I believe it will be a huge hit.

If you have the chance to see it, and if you have an open heart, I think you'll have a grand time.

I hope to see you at the theatre!

--Bruce Miller

Déjà Vu All Over Again

Posted by Eric Williams

Eric appears as Stanley in Sanders Family Christmas. By day he is the Director of Tour Operations for Theatre IV.



Tonight is Opening Night again - sort of. It will be 1941, and the Sanders Family will descend once more on Mount Pleasant Baptist Church in the Appalachian foothills of North Carolina.

Sanders Family Christmas has been in rehearsal for several weeks now and the experience has been both exciting and scary. About two years ago Bruce Miller gathered together a motley collection of actors who also sing and play instruments and guided us to what became Smoke on the Mountain. It was a successful venture with theatre lovers having to be turned away because so many of the performances were sold out—exactly the kind of problem any theatre would like to have.

The cast and theatre had conflicts making it impossible to extend the run, so when the idea was floated that we could reunite at Christmas time and do the sequel, we all jumped at the chance.

The entire cast and director are back. It was like putting on a pair of your favorite old shoes when we got together--very comfortable. We already knew all of the characters, so all that was left was to learn the new script and music. Piece of cake! None of us had actually seen the new script and music but how hard could it be? After all, we’d done it before and this sequel was just like the original, right?

Well, not exactly. While the format of Sanders Family Christmas is similar to Smoke on the Mountain, the two-hour script certainly was all new. And the music … well let’s just say I had to go on the Internet to find out how to play some of the newfangled power chords asked for in this new score.

Rehearsal was fun but urgent. We had some big, and I mean big, laughs. But there was business to be done too. Billy Christopher Maupin, a.k.a. Reverend Oglethorpe, plunked our notes over and over and over again. And that was just the vocals. We had not added the instrumentation yet.

Our cast was still a bit far flung. Our music director extraordinaire Drew Perkins was in Blowing Rock, NC until 3 weeks before opening. Aly Wepplo was in a show in Idaho at Company of Fools. David Janeski was performing at Busch Gardens (when he wasn’t off to Idaho to visit Aly).

Ok, now I was scared. We all had to learn 105 pages of new and difficult (at least to my fingers) music. Thank goodness we have really talented cast members who stepped in to plunk and help musically (the aforementioned Billy Christopher, Emily Cole and Julie Fulcher). There were several music rehearsals with just three or four of us. Bruce kept giving reassurances that everything would be just fine.

Finally, when Drew returned to Virginia, it all began to come together. Nonetheless, this has been a most challenging time—but challenging is good, isn’t it?

Our hard work is about to get the final test - the audience. As rehearsals come to an end and performances start we have a couple of things that you should know. The entire cast enjoys each other and we want you to enjoy yourselves too. Come slip on that old pair of shoes that is the Sanders Family and spend a little Christmas down home.

--Eric Williams

Sanders Family Christmas runs through January 25, 2009 at Hanover Tavern. Performances are already selling out quickly. Call (804) 282-2620 or purchase tickets online.

Hail and Farewell to Betty Ann Grove

Posted by Bruce Miller
On Friday at noon, a small group of us met for lunch to toast our lovely, charming and funny friend, Betty Ann Grove, who moves this week to the Actors Home in Englewood, New Jersey. Going left to right, that's me, Robyn O'Neill, Lauren Leinhaas-Cook, Janine Serresseque, Eric Williams, Larry Cook and Betty Ann. Phil's the one taking the picture.

On the Richmond theatre scene, Betty Ann has been the cream in our coffee for just over 16 years now. We celebrate with her during this transition, and we look forward to hearing all the news about her new New Jersey adventure. We especially look forward to bringing Betty Ann back home to Richmond for an upcoming production or special appearance.

Betty Ann was a cultural treasure in our very midst, and thankfully we had the good sense to appreciate her. She appeared at Swift Creek Mill in Driving Miss Daisy, Something’s Afoot and Smoke on the Mountain. She joined us at Theatre IV in Da and The Music Man. Most recently, Betty Ann dazzled our Bifocals’ audience with her one-woman presentation, My Life on the Great White Way.

So what was Betty Ann’s showbiz life like before she and her late, beloved husband Roger Hunting brought their good will to Richmond? Well, I wouldn’t be telling a lie to say that for about five years in mid-century, Betty Ann Grove was America’s sweetheart. The photos of Betty Ann scattered throughout this post are merely what I could find in one evening on eBay.

She graduated with stars in her eyes from Cambridge Public Schools in Massachusetts just at the end of WWII. To tell the truth, there must be something in the water up there. Other Cambridge graduates include Walter Brynnan of The Real McCoys, the great American poet e e cummings, Peggy Cass of all those game shows we used to watch in the 60s, Donald Regan (Chief of Staff for President Ronald Reagan), Olympic Gold Medalist and NY Knicks superstar Patrick Ewing, Orson Bean (I seem to remember him with Peggy Cass on those game shows and also in Dr. Quinn, Medicine Woman), and a couple of mugs named Matt Damon and Ben Affleck.

Within three years after graduation, Betty Ann found herself starring on the hit TV variety show, Stop the Music. Cole Porter saw her, loved her, and selected her to replace Lisa Kirk in the major role of Bianca in Broadway's original Kiss Me, Kate (see photo to the left), a gig that she continued until 51.

For a while, she was starring on TV (Stop the Music, The Bert Parks Show [see photo to the right]) at the same time she was starring on Broadway, dashing from TV studio to Broadway playhouse and often just making it in time for curtain. One day when her TV broadcast ran late, she had to start changing into her Broadway costume as she was running down the New York streets.

After Kiss Me, Kate closed, it was back to the small screen for Betty Ann. She starred in The Big Payoff (51), The Red Buttons Show (52 – 54), Summer Holiday (with co-star Merv Griffin in 54), and the Jane Froman Show (she shared guest host honors with John Raitt while Jane was on vacation). For a while, she and Merv Griffin co-starred again in the Merv Griffin / Betty Ann Grove Show (see photo above to the left).

In 1953 she made the cover of TV Digest. Shortly thereafter, she was on the cover of Look Magazine as one of “America’s Most Televised Women.” Her recording of Waltzing Down the Aisle was a chart-topping hit.

In the late 50s, she co-starred on radio with Jim Backus in The Jim Backus Show. In the early 60s she moved on to regional theatres and the straw hat circuit, starring in stock productions of The Sound of Music, Hit the Deck and many others.

In the late 60s, it was back to Broadway, where she created the role of George M. Cohan’s mother in the hit Broadway musical George M!, starring with Joel Grey and Bernadette Peters. Shortly after George M! closed, Betty Ann married the love of her life, Roger Hunting, a successful trial lawyer and, eventually, New York City Civil Court Judge.

Betty Ann returned to Broadway in 1979 with I Remember Mama, opposite Liv Ullman, and again in a revival of Rodgers and Hart's On Your Toes in 83 and 84, appearing with Natalia Makarova and Dina Merrill.

In the early 90s, Betty Ann and Roger moved to Richmond, and we fell in love with the both of them.

Betty Ann, please know how much we’ll miss you, and how much more we’ll be thrilled to see you again when you return to us down here and/or we visit you up there. You’ve earned your way into our hearts, and no matter how famous you are on the national stage, all of us in the Richmond theatre community will always claim you as one of our own.

--Bruce Miller

Stage Explorers

Posted by Billy Christopher Maupin
Stage Explorers has now come to a close. In case you're not familiar, Stage Explorers is Barksdale's annual summer day camp for rising 1st through 6th graders. Campers take workshops/classes in singing, stage lighting, choreography, theatre games, acting for the camera, set design, masks, face painting, costuming, how to audition, backstage tours, acting, playwriting, and scene painting.

The exciting new thing about Stage Explorers 2007 was that not only were there two sessions at Barksdale Theatre at Willow Lawn, Barksdale Theatre at Hanover Tavern this year boasted one simultaneous session of its own!

Wendy Vandergrift and Janine Serresseque were the ladies in charge of pulling off this monumental task, beginning months prior with registering campers and managing more phone calls than I would like to think about (especially after both Willow Lawn sessions completely filled up). In addition to all the duties Janine and Wendy had in preparation, they also taught classes (along with Catherine Dudley, Sarah Grady, Audra Honaker, Chase Kniffen, Billy Christopher Maupin, Bruce Miller, Kim Parkin, Eric Williams and Joy Williams).

Each group of campers (divided at Willow Lawn into Winkies, Munchkins, and Flying Munchkins by grade) had a fantastic counselor who stayed with them through their journey to their different classes. Emlyn Crenshaw, Andrew Darnell, Jennings Whiteway, Eileen Barnett, Katrinah Lewis, Lauren Paullin, Christina Kilgore, and our purple angel Brenda Meier who volunteered her time to do practically anything for the Hanover session.

At the end of each session, friends and family were invited for a special performance showcasing the songs, choreography, set designs, etc. that the campers had worked on for two weeks. Can you imagine? It's one of the most adorable and wonderful things I've ever seen. To see these children performing, many for the first time in their life and having an absolute blast is such an immensely gratifying and fulfilling experience.

If you're interested, you can sign up for the eNewsletter to be among the first to sign up for next year's camp. Sign ups are in January and Februay. By March, Willow Lawn is usually booked up. This was our first year at Hanover Tavern, so there still seems to be availability there.

--Billy Christopher Maupin

Meet the Cast of "Into the Woods" – Part II

Every few months, someone will step forward to complain that Barksdale and Theatre IV keep casting the same people over and over, and that new people may as well not audition, because Richmond’s theatres run closed shops.

It is completely true that Barksdale and Theatre IV benefit greatly from an informal company of national caliber/Richmond-based actors who, if we’re lucky, perform once or twice a year on our stages. We believe this practice serves both audiences and artists well.

However, it is completely untrue to say that newcomers don’t stand a chance. During the Signature Season that is now concluding at Willow Lawn, we cast 62 different roles in five productions. The great news is that 31 of the actors who performed those roles were performing at Barksdale Willow Lawn for the first time since we assumed leadership in 2001.

Three of these exceptional “newcomers” are playing leads in our hit summer musical, Stephen Sondheim’s Into the Woods. All three attended high school in Greater Richmond, and have since moved on to larger markets to pursue their careers. All three are performing with Barksdale for the first time.

Rita Markova is doing an absolutely magnificent job as Cinderella. She’s beautiful, as anyone can see in an earlier blog entry, and acts and moves with intelligence and assurance. But it’s her voice, an exceptional lyric soprano, that simply knocks me off my feet. Rita recently played Maria in West Side Story at the Arts Center of Coastal Carolina and New Jersey Concert Opera. She also appeared in Cats at Northern Stage, Titanic at Media Theatre, and Godspell, A Chorus Line and Grease at Shawnee Playhouse. Coincidentally, Rita originated the title role in the world premiere workshop of Rumpelstiltskin’s Daughter at the Edinburgh Fringe Festival. Theatre IV will be presenting the official World Premiere of the finished script during our 07-08 Season.

Rita attended Godwin High School during several of her student years, and is a graduate of New York University with a Bachelor of Music degree in Vocal Performance.
Visit Rita's website

Zak Resnick cuts a dashing figure as Rapunzel’s Prince and a second Wolf. Again, I refer you to the photo that appears in a previous blog entry. A rising junior at Carnegie Mellon, Zak is truly someone to watch. Last summer, Zak vaulted to the big time when he was cast in Broadway and Beyond with the legendary Ann Reinking and Ben Vereen. Shortly thereafter, Zak made his NYC debut in Scott Alan’s prestigious Monday Night’s New Voices series.

But Richmond audiences are not unfamiliar with Zak’s many talents. At the Firehouse, he appeared in Bat Boy and starred in The Last Five Years. He also saved our necks once a couple of years back. Due to some difficulty I can no longer recall, we were forced to cancel a performance of one of our Willow Lawn productions—it may have been Anything Goes. As fate would have it, the Virginia Museum of Fine Arts had booked a large number of seats for the cancelled performance on behalf of a group of supporters who were coming in from out-of-town. We couldn’t bring the group in to see our show, so, at the last minute, faithful friend Stephen Rudlin put together a full evening’s cabaret performance to take to the Museum, and Zak agreed to perform. Not only was he terrific, he helped us fulfill a major responsibility and defuse a potentially explosive situation.

The third “newcomer,” at least to us, is Drew Seigla, who is charming everyone’s socks off as Jack (of Fee Fi Fo Fum fame). Drew is studying classic voice as an undergrad at Juilliard in NYC (probably the most prestigious performance training program in the nation). He made his opera debut with Le Nooze di Figaro in Rome two summers ago. Last summer, he was an apprentice at Flat Rock Playhouse, the State Theatre of North Carolina. One earlier summer during his Richmond high school years, he appeared with SPARC in Footloose at Theatre IV’s Empire Theatre.

Referring back to Part I in this Meet the Cast series, if anyone can give Ford Flannagan a run for his money in the physically fit competition, Drew is probably the man to do it.

One of the best features of the Into the Woods cast is that the supporting roles are filled by new and veteran talents who are just as amazing as the leads. Amy Hruska (Cinderella’s Mother, Granny, Giantess, Sleeping Beauty) was our hard-working music director and pianist for Annie Get Your Gun, James Joyce’s The Dead, Olympus on my Mind, They’re Playing Our Song and Where’s Charley?, but she hasn’t acted on Barksdale’s stage since appearing as one of the sisters and the cousins and the aunts in Gilbert and Sullivan’s H.M.S. Pinafore at Barksdale Hanover Tavern way back in 1981.

Jackie Jones, on the other hand, is back as Jack’s Mother in Into the Woods, but she works so steadily in Richmond’s theatres that it’s hard to think of her as “back.” Jackie recently brought down the house as Letitia Peabody Primrose in Henrico Theatre Company’s On the Twentieth Century, somehow shoehorning that star turn in after two consecutive gigs at Barksdale Hanover Tavern in Over the River and Through the Woods and Agatha Christie’s The Mousetrap, which immediately followed her critically acclaimed turn at Swift Creek in Steel Magnolias. As busy as she is beloved, Jackie is a true charmer.Visit Jackie's website

Katrinah Carol Lewis (Lucinda) is back after performing so beautifully in Intimate Apparel.




Kim Reuter (Rapunzel) lends her magnificent voice to Into the Woods after completing a year of touring with Theatre IV.





Craig Smith (Cinderella’s Father) is sharing his talents with us at Willow Lawn while simultaneously sharing his theatre with us at Steward School. All right, the state-of-the-art Kramer Center is not exactly his theatre, but it’s where he teaches Acting and English and heads the theatre program during the school year. And Steward School will be sharing the Kramer Center with us for the second incarnation of the Greater Richmond High School All Star Musical, which opens in July.

Harriet Traylor (Cinderella’s Stepmother) is truly a Barksdale favorite, having graced our stage as Regina in The Little Foxes and Miss Maudie in To Kill a Mockingbird.




Eric Williams (Steward) is being all aristocratic now, but a few months ago he brought tears to every eye as the brother recently released from prison in Smoke on the Mountain at Barksdale Hanover Tavern.



Completing our cast of 17 is Hannah Zold (Florinda), who is fast becoming a Barksdale and Theatre IV musical mainstay. She recently turned in wonderful performances in The Wizard of Oz, Mame and The Full Monty.



Richmond theatre is blessed to have so many talented artists working in its midst. I hope you’ll catch their inspired performances this summer in Into the Woods.

--Bruce Miller

Stories of the Past

Posted by Robert Albertia

The year was 1963 and I was thrilled to be a member of the cast of Twelve Angry Men directed by David (Pete) Kilgore. Those were magic times at Hanover Tavern. I had not yet reached my 30th year and to work at this marvelous theatre was, for me, a great milestone. The cast was filled with Barksdale favorites: Jay Lundy, Glenn Crone, Mike Pettinger, and Pete himself.

The association with Muriel McAuley and Nancy Kilgore along with Pete was one that has remained a joyous and constant reminder of the creative individuals I have had the good fortune of working with in almost forty-five years in the theatre. I wouldn't change that for anything.

It would seem that I have lost count of the many productions I have worked on, however, there are standouts among that list: playing opposite Mallory Freeman and Edie Williams as my parents in the brilliant production of Da; the hilarious My Fat Friend with Helen Ball Williams, a life-long friend; numerous productions with Helen Levinson (too many to mention)--in fact many people thought we were married!

In most of those productions, I wore my own clothes since the theatre had almost no costume budget. I never minded because of the joy of doing a part in any Barksdale production was an opportunity not to be missed.

Even today I feel the same way and continue to accept delightful roles that continue to challenge me as an actor and feed my soul.

Barksdale Theatre is one of my great loves. Those marvelous actors I have worked opposite remain with me always.

Closing Thoughts on "Smoke on the Mountain"

Tonight was the closing performance of Smoke on the Mountain at Barksdale Theatre at Hanover Tavern. It was a bittersweet time, I suppose. We had, after all, been working on the show since January (including rehearsals), so we definitely had a healthy run of (so I'm told) around 40 performances. Several Broadway productions have run for less than that (Carrie-the musical- officially ran for 5, not counting 16 preview performances, which still only comes up to 21).

But I suppose I'm not really feeling the humor tonight. Although there was lots of humor to be had and was had during the run of Smoke, onstage and off. If you happen to run into one of the cast members, be sure to ask them about Aunt Judy, a special figment of Julie Fulcher (Vera)'s brilliant mind.

Smoke on the Mountain, I think, is quite possibly the most fun I have ever had doing any show. The chemistry in this cast was sensational. Every single one was a delight. I do hope that the Sander's Family and Reverend Oglethorpe might emerge on a Richmond stage again someday not too far away. No matter where I am, I think the call to step back into Reverend Oglethorpe's shoes would be a temptation too alluring to pass up.

The love, comraderie, and joy that was shared on that stage each night is something that doesn't come with every show. Perhaps it's something that happens only once in a lifetime. I hope that's not true, but if it is, I'm glad I was there on that stage with Aly, Julie, Drew, David, Eric, and Emily. It's an experience that I will never forget.

A much-deserved "Thank you" goes out to director Bruce Miller for allowing the seven of us to be together on that stage 40 times and to stage manager Joseph Papa for holding it all together.

And that, dear readers, is my small love letter.

Hail and Farewell to

Our sold out production of Smoke on the Mountain closes this Saturday evening. I’m going to be sorry to see it go. Along with Brooklyn Boy at Barksdale Willow Lawn (another show that I loved), Smoke was our entry in this year’s Acts of Faith Festival. I couldn’t have had more fun directing (and watching) this small but heartwarming musical.

Every time you pick or direct a show, it says a little bit about you. I like what Smoke says about me. It connects two important parts of my life—my life as a theatre professional and my life as a person of faith.

I enjoy being an elder, liturgist and Sunday School teacher at Bon Air Presbyterian Church. But like many Presbyterians, I’m not particularly comfortable wearing my religion on my sleeve. To tell the truth, I’m feeling a little uncomfortable now writing this blog entry.

Religion is a personal thing to me; my faith is something I hold on to with a quiet humility. Smoke on the Mountain is not quiet, but it’s certainly humble. It takes place in a small Southern Baptist church in 1938. The central message of the play, to me, is Jesus’ teaching that we should love and accept each other rather than judge and exclude.

In Smoke, Eric Williams is really wonderful as a recovering alcoholic who has recently been released from prison. In Act II, he delivers a moving monologue about how Jesus shared the loaves and fishes with a multitude of men including unlikely congregants like himself. That monologue always chokes me up.

If there’s one thing I’m sure about in my faith journey, it’s this. God loves and extends his grace equally to all of us. Those Christians who choose to judge and shun rather than embrace their fellow men are missing the point.

Smoke was my breath of fresh air. I thank so much the wonderful cast: Emily Cole Bitz, Julie Fulcher, David Janeski, Billy Christopher Maupin, Drew Perkins, Aly Wepplo and Eric Williams. They lit up the stage every night with their open, loving hearts—and their great talents.

I thank our inspired designers: Bennett Fidlow, Heather Hogg, Terrie Powers and David Powers. Their church in the valley by the wildwood was a sanctuary of good will in these troubling times. More than once in the past couple of weeks have I recalled my favorite lyric from the show.

Soft as the voice of an angel breathing a lesson unheard

Hope with a gentle persuasion whispers a comforting word

Wait till the darkness is over, wait till the tempest is done

Hope for the sunshine tomorrow after the darkness is gone

Whispering hope, oh how welcome thy voice

Making my heart in it’s sorrow rejoice

I rejoice in Smoke on the Mountain. Thanks to artists and audiences alike for this opportunity.