Firehouse Rises to Top of Artsie Tally

Posted by Bruce Miller
Ya gotta give kudos where kudos are due. Depending on how you measure it, the Firehouse currently holds a resounding lead in the two-year race for Artsies (the annual awards presented by the Richmond Theatre Critics Circle – RTCC).

The good folks at Firehouse (Carol, Morrie et al) are revered colleagues and friends. We bow to their current supremacy, even if we are all the more determined to catch up with them next year.

But, for the moment, it is quite true that Firehouse has been awarded exactly twice as many Best Play and Best Musical Awards as any other theatre in Central Virginia. The scorecard reads like this: Firehouse – 2 (last year’s Henry Moss and this year’s Eurydice [which I’m finally learning to spell correctly]), the Mill – 1 (last year’s Urinetown), and Barksdale – 1 (this year’s Millie).

Thank God for Millie – that’s all I’m saying.

Of course, there are other ways to keep score. We have a slight lead in terms of the number of talented theatre artists who’ve worked on Barksdale shows and been honored with their own Artsie. But even using that method of tabulation, the Firehouse, the Mill and Richmond Shakes are all nipping at our heals.

And the artists themselves get to take home those chotchkies. The only ones we can keep on our mantle in the conference room are the ones (make that “the one”) we won for Best Play or Best Musical.

So, with my ego appropriately tamed, let me shout out congratulations to all of Richmond’s many fine theatres for their nominations and wins. And congrats to the Richmond Theatre Critics Circle for working hard to recognize a diverse body of great work. IMHO, that’s exactly what you should be doing. We’re honored to be in such outstanding, award-winning company.

--Bruce Miller

If you haven't heard yet, here's the 2009 roster of Barksdale's wins. Our greatest thanks and congratualtions to the honorees.

Best Musical: Thoroughly Modern Millie

Best Direction - Musical: Patti D'Beck, Thoroughly Modern Millie

Best Actor - Musical: Zak Resnick, Thoroughly Modern Millie

Best Supporting Actor - Musical: Timothy Ford, Thoroughly Modern Millie

Best Supporting Actress - Musical: Ali Thibodeau, Thoroughly Modern Millie

Best Musical Direction: Paul Deiss, Thoroughly Modern Millie

Best Choreography: Patti D'Beck, Thoroughly Modern Millie

Best Actress - Play: Robin Arthur, The Clean House

Outstanding Achievement in Costume Design: Sue Griffin, Thoroughly Modern Millie

Outstanding Achievement in Set Design: Ron Keller, Thoroughly Modern Millie

Outstanding Achievement in Hair / Makeup Design: Sue Griffin, Thoroughly Modern Millie

New Music

Posted by Bruce Miller
It’s been a busy few evenings. On Saturday, the Miller family of four made it out to Eurydice at the Firehouse. All of us at Barksdale are honored to be partnering with Carol Piersol and the Firehouse Theatre Project on the Sarah Ruhl Festival. Eurydice is a greatly acclaimed component of this effort. We enjoyed it very much.

On Sunday, Terrie, Curt and I attended the kick-off concert of Stretchin’ at Barksdale—another terrific evening of entertainment. On Monday, I had a great time at Dead Man’s Cell Phone, a slightly staged reading directed by the talented Jase Smith and featuring half the cast of The Clean House and half the cast of Eurydice. Tonight, Phil and I joined the throng of celebrants at the One Night Only Concert Event—Ragtime, The Musical, presented as a fundraiser by Chase Kniffen, Peggy Thibodeau and Stage 1 Theatre Co.

I've irked some folks in the past when, on this blog, I've pointed out the Barksdale and Theatre IV connections of various theatre artists working at other stage companies. I've been accused of adopting an inappropriately paternal attitude when I say I'm proud of theatre artists, in a familial way, when they're working for someone else or for themselves. I'll probably irk someone again now. I'm sorry.

There were two things that moved me deeply tonight at Ragtime.

1. When Desiree Roots Centeio’s wide-eyed young son toddled onstage during the stirring conclusion, portraying Coalhouse and Sarah’s surviving son, while all 55 members of the cast joined in a rousing reprise of Wheels of a Dream, I was swept away by the overpowering realization that Barack Obama was at that very moment concluding his second debate, taking him one step closer to becoming President of the United States. The Wheels of a Dream indeed. I thought it was very moving.

2. When I looked up onto the stage, and into the audience, and throughout the lobby, and across to the various backstage tech positions, and saw face after familiar face, with the great majority of faces coming from the ranks of people I’ve worked with time and time again, all turning out to support Chase and Peggy and Richmond theatre itself, I was intensely proud of our theatre community in general and the Barksdale and Theatre IV family in particular.

I don't know why, but I’ve always had a strong sense of being a small part of a far greater whole. When I began my career at the feet of my teachers Bernard Schutte, Marian Waymack and Jack Welsh, and my more senior colleagues Buddy and Betty Callahan, Pete and Nancy Kilgore, and Muriel McAuley, I greatly appreciated the opportunity to learn from them and work to earn their friendship and respect. I hope my playbill bios over the decades have reflected this. Now I find myself on the other end, having the opportunity to learn from younger colleagues who are charting new paths and working together to achieve great things.

Actors, directors, designers, musicians, stage managers, technicians, house managers, contributors, subscribers and staff members with strong Barksdale and Theatre IV connections turned out in droves tonight to support Stage 1. These same artists and enthusiasts proudly support and work with many other nonprofit theatres in town as well. I think this spirit of cooperation and support for the Richmond theatre community in toto is something relatively new. It has not always been like that, and in some quarters, it's not like that today. It was great to see.

My friends did a beautiful job this evening, and they should be thrilled. It was especially gratifying to see Jerold Solomon take time off from his Broadway gig in South Pacific to return to Richmond for this benefit concert. He and Desi brought down the house more than once, ably assisted by Katrinah Lewis. Jan Guarino's "wheeee's" accompanied by that unforgetable Haynes smile were a hoot and a half. The incomparable Debra Wagoner amped up the power grid and stopped the show on Back to Before. The remarkable Eric Pastore showed once again how much old timers like Chase Kniffen have to look forward to from the next generation. And Tom McGranahan was younger than springtime as a feisty and lovable codger of a grandfather.

Richard Koch, Michael Hawke, Chris Stewart, James Opher, Lillie Izo, Brett Ambler, Joe Thibodeau, Mark Persinger and Robyn O'Neill ably added to the momentous achievement. And music director Sherri Matthews and her 17-member band of renown gave Richmonders a rare sense of a true Broadway sound.

The evening was a tribute to Richmond theatre in general, and testament to the talent, commitment and can-do leadership that Chase and Peggy are bringing to their new venture. I can’t wait to see each of the shows in Stage 1’s great new season.

I hope to see you at the theatre—be it one of ours or someone else’s.

--Bruce Miller

A Reading of Dead Man's Cell Phone by Sarah Ruhl

Posted by Billy Christopher Maupin

"You know what's funny? I never had a cell phone. I didn't want to always be there, you know."

What would you do in response to an incessantly ringing cell phone as you were trying to enjoy your lobster bisque in a near-empty cafe? Jean, who lies at the center of Sarah Ruhl's most recently published (and my personal favorite) play, Dead Man's Cell Phone, answers it. As it turns out, the owner of the phone, Gordon, is dead. But Jean continues to answer Gordon's phone and finds herself meeting his family, falling in love with his brother -which results in a room full of floating stationery in "classic" Sarah Ruhl style-, meeting his mistress...AND his wife, and becoming involved in organ trafficking.


Charles Isherwood writes in the New York Times:

"A beguiling comedy ... a hallucinatory poetic fantasy that blends the mundane and the metaphysical, the blunt and the obscure, the patently bizarre and the bizarrely moving. As Dead Man's Cell Phone takes surprising twists and leaps, the lament for the supposed coziness of pre-digital culture takes on layers of nuance and contradiction. Characters in Ruhl's plays negotiate the no man's land between the every­day and the mystical, talking like goofs one minute and philosophers the next. And her characters' quirkiness is in keeping, too, with the play's doleful central theme, that each human being is a book full of surprises even to intimates, and that one is destined to be left unfinished. Ruhl's affec­tion for the unexpected phrase, the kooky observation, the unlikely juxtaposition, is essential to her central belief that the smallest and most trivial things in life can be charged with meaning. She writes surrealist fantasies that happen to be populated by eccentrically real people, comedies in which the surface illogic of dreams is made meaningful­ -made truthful- by the deeper logic of human feeling."

On Monday, October 6, on the Barksdale Theatre Lobby Stage at 8PM, Barksdale and The Firehouse Theatre Project will co-produce a reading of Ms. Ruhl's Dead Man's Cell Phone featuring cast members from our production of The Clean House (see Rave Reviews below) and Firehouse's production of Eurydice. This continues as part of the Sarah Ruhl Festival. (Don't forget that audience members who see both Eurydice and The Clean House receive a discount on tickets!)

The reading will feature Laine Satterfield - currently appearing as the title character in Eurydice - as Jean (played in the New York production by Mary Louise Parker, Tony Award winner for her performance in Proof by David Auburn, also the star of the hit Showtime series, Weeds), Andy Boothby - Big Stone in Eurydice - as Gordon, the "Dead Man" of the title, Robin Arthur - Ana and A Woman in The Clean House - as Mrs. Gottlieb, Lauren Leinhaas-Cook - Loud Stone in Eurydice - as Gordon's widow, Hermia, John Moon - Charles and A Man in The Clean House- narrating, Bianca Bryan - Matilde in The Clean House - as The Other Woman, and Chris Hester - Orpheus in Eurydice - as Dwight. The reading will be staged by Jase Smith from The Firehouse Theatre Project.

Both Bruce Miller and Carol Piersol (Artistic Director of The Firehouse Theatre Project) will speak prior to the reading. A cash bar will be available in the lobby beginning at 7PM and will also be available at intermission. There is no admission charge and seating is general admission.

Don't miss out on this exciting collaboration!