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

Regina Taylor, Author of "Crowns"

Posted by Bruce Miller
Our current production of Crowns is co-produced with African American Repertory Theatre, and directed and choreographed by Leslie Owens-Harrington. This entertaining and inspiring musical is written by acclaimed American actress, Regina Taylor.

Taylor is the sixth African American woman playwright whose work has been produced on the Barksdale and Theatre IV stages. Playing the Six Degrees of Separation game, it's interesting to discover the people (and themes) that connect us with this exemplary American theatre artist.

I first encountered and grew to admire Regina Taylor in the early 90s when she starred in the critically acclaimed TV series, I'll Fly Away. My friend (and Barksdale favorite) Joe Inscoe also appeared in that television classic, playing a Southern antagonist to Taylor's character.

Some of you may best know Taylor from her more recent TV series, The Unit. She played Molly Blane, wife of Sergeant Major Jonas Blane. Molly was the strong-willed homemaker who held all the military wives together when their fighting men were called away on active duty.

The Unit was created and executive produced by another great American playwright, David Mamet. Co-starring with Taylor in The Unit was Scott Foley, who played Sergeant First Class Bob Brown. Foley's brother-in-law is acclaimed stage and screen actor Patrick Wilson, whose father, John Wilson, starred in Barksdale's productions of The Fantasticks in 1963 and Generation in 1968.

Taylor was born in Dallas, Texas. When she was in the second grade, she moved with her mother to Muskogee, Oklahoma. Her mother was a Social Service Administration employee and transfers were common.

Having a professional mother provided inspiration to Taylor as she was growing up. "She taught me never to set limits on who I could be," Taylor states in People. "I developed an active imagination very young and was always writing plays and musicals."

Taylor's mother also encouraged a sustaining sense of pride and identity in her daughter. When she entered seventh grade, Taylor enrolled in a newly integrated school. On the first day of session, a white classmate sitting next to Taylor loudly informed the teacher, "I do not want to sit next to this nigger."

Taylor was shaken when she encountered this level of racial hatred for the first time. "I thought, 'How can she hate me when she doesn't know me?,'" Taylor states in People. Later she realized that this early encounter helped her to understand the racial prejudice to which her mother's generation had been subjected. In many ways, this understanding helped to prepare her for her career.

When the founders of Barksdale moved to Hanover from New York, they encountered for the first time the racial hatred exemplified by the Jim Crow Laws, which prohibited mixed-race audiences at any arts event. Facing possible arrest, Muriel McAuley and Pete Kilgore defiantly invited African American leaders from Virginia Union University to attend their plays in 1954, becoming the first arts organization in the state to do so. Not only did they break the law, they broke the back of that particular Jim Crow Law forever.

During her high school years, Taylor and her mother moved back to Dallas. After graduating from high school, she enrolled at Southern Methodist University. While still a student, she was cast in the 1980 TV series Nurse and 1981's made-for-television movie Crisis at Central High, playing Minnijean Brown, one of the nine black students who in 1957 risked everything to proactively effect history when they enrolled in the previously segregated Central High School in Little Rock, AR.

After college graduation, Taylor moved immediately to New York. Her big break came in 1986 when she was cast in an innovative project of the New York Shakespeare Festival - Joseph Papp, Producer. The project was called Shakespeare on Broadway for the Schools. Three Shakespearean masterworks were produced in rotating rep for reduced-price student performances: As You Like It, Macbeth, and Romeo and Juliet. John Moon, who directed Barksdale's just-closed production of Is He Dead?, was working in the casting department of the Shakespeare Festival at this time. Taylor was cast as Celia in As You Like It, the First Witch in Macbeth, and Juliet in Romeo and Juliet, becoming the first actress of color to play this iconic role on Broadway.

In 1989, Taylor received national attention for her role as the drug-addicted mother of a gifted student in the hit film Lean on Me. This led to her TV stardom playing Lilly Harper in I'll Fly Away, winning for Taylor two Emmy nominations, a Golden Globe Award for Best Actress in a Television Drama, and an NAACP Image Award for Outstanding Actress in a Drama Series.

Like many acts of great intention, I'll Fly Away was not without controversy. African American film studies scholar Mary Helen Washington argued that the show focused too much on the white characters (the family headed by Sam Waterston) and too little on the character of Lilly, her family and friends. "Isn't it ironic," Washington asked, "that black people, who produced, directed, cast, and starred in the original Civil Rights Movement have become minor players in its dramatic reenactment? Isn't it tragic that after all the protests, all the freedom songs, and all the marches against white domination, black images in media are still largely controlled by whites?"

Similar arguments have been, are currently, and will continue to be leveled against Barksdale whenever we offer to work in partnership with African American Repertory Theatre and/or choose to produce black theatre ourselves. Any nonprofit theatre that follows its heart has to learn to listen to and respect such criticism, while still continuing to do its best to work proactively for the community's good.

During the period when critics like Washington were questioning the focus of I'll Fly Away, Taylor herself said this in an interview with Essence: "In terms of fully exploring a female character, I believe I have the best television role for a woman, black or white."

Caitlin Collins, a Northwestern University student who worked with Taylor during a recent residency, stated the following: "One of the ideas Regina passed onto us, which will stick with me, is the notion that others may try to label you as one thing or another, to name you, but you have the power to name yourself and to follow your own inspiration."

Billy Siegenfeld, professor of dance at Northwestern, added: "Regina Taylor lives a fiercely open-minded creative life, one that constantly questions the received wisdoms about how one should behave as well as the habits of generalization that drive people to categorize each other unjustly."

In recent years, Taylor has also become one of America's most popular playwrights. Crowns was the most performed musical in the nation in 2006. Her most recent work, Magnolia, is set during the beginning of desegregation in Atlanta in 1961. The world premiere was presented at Chicago's Goodman Theatre last year, after a development workshop in 2008 at this year's Tony Award-winning National Playwright's Conference at the Eugene O'Neill Theater Center, where Phil Whiteway's nephew, Preston Whiteway, serves as Executive Director.

I hope you'll join me soon for our revival of Crowns. We're earning standing ovations at every performance, and the show is thrilling to watch, both as entertainment and inspiration.

--Bruce Miller

Photo Captions (starting at the top): The set and cast of Crowns, playwright and actress Regina Taylor, Shalimar Hickman Fields as Jeanette in Crowns, Margarette Joyner as Mother Shaw in Crowns, Preston Whiteway - Executive Director of the Eugene O'Neill Theater Center.

A Look Back / A Look Ahead

Posted by Bruce Miller
Phil, Donna, Terrie and I celebrated the 35th Anniversary of the founding of Theatre IV last night at the opening of The Sound of Music. It was on May 14, 1975 that the State Corporation Commission officially recognized Theatre IV's birth as a nonprofit business in the Commonwealth of Virginia. The years have flown by. I can think of no more satisfying way to pay tribute to the past than to sit proudly in that audience, enjoying a magnificent production that so significantly heralds Theatre IV's future.

If you don't have your tickets to The Sound of Music yet, you'd better hurry. It's a terrific show--extraordinarily moving and entertaining. If it doesn't become the smash hit of the season, I'll eat my Tyrolean hat.

The Sound of Music is the final show in Barksdale's (and Theatre IV's) 2009-10 Signature Season. Two days ago, subscriptions went on sale for the 2010-11 Barksdale roster. I'm very proud of the titles that are, as the characters in our first play might say, in the offing. Here's a sneak peek at our new season's opener.

Shipwrecked! An Entertainment - by Donald Margulies

Acting treasures Joe Inscoe and Scott Wichmann appear together for the first time (it's hard to believe, but that's what Scotty tells me) in this thrilling, brand new comic adventure, the latest offering from Pulitzer Prize-winning playwright (and current Tony nominee), Donald Margulies.

Margulies is also the author of Brooklyn Boy and Collected Stories (both produced in the last decade at Barksdale) and Dinner with Friends (a relatively recent offering at the Firehouse).

Margulies created this ingenious frolic in response to the recent spate of discredited memoirs, such as A Million Little Pieces, the allegedly nonfiction bestseller penned by James Frey and selected by Oprah Winfrey for her star-maker book club. Shipwrecked! An Entertainment presents itself as a theatrical defense offered by a discredited memoirist from days gone by (the real-life fantasist Louis De Rougemont), and offers a consideration of the validity of both literal and metaphorical truth.

But I won't make it all sound too serious. This show is a hoot and a half.

The real-life De Rougemont was quite a character. Consider this bio excerpted from Wikipedia (a reliable source for literal truth if ever there was one):

Louis De Rougemont (Nov 12 1847 - June 9 1921) was a would-be explorer who claimed to have had adventures in "Australasia." He was born Henri Louis Grin (love that name) in 1847 in Suchy, Switzerland. He left home at the age of 16, and found employment in a variety of jobs, including a footman for the actress Fanny Kemble, a servant to a Swiss banker, and a butler for the Governor of Western Australia. He worked as a doctor, a "spirit photographer," and an inventor. He married and abandoned an Australian wife.

In 1898, Grin began to write about invented adventures in the British periodical The Wide World Magazine, writing under the name Louis De Rougemont. He described his alleged exploits in search of pearls and gold in New Guinea, and claimed to have spent 30 years with "Indigenous Australians" in the outback. He claimed that the tribe with whom he had lived had worshipped him as a god.

Various readers expressed disbelief in his tales from the start, claiming, for example, that no one can actually ride a sea turtle. De Rougemont had also claimed to have seen flying wombats. The fact that he refused to place his travels on the map aroused suspicion. Readers' arguments in the pages of the London newspaper, The Daily Chronicle, continued for months.

De Rougemont subjected himself to examination by the Royal Geographical Society. He claimed that he could not specify exactly where he had been because he had signed a non-disclosure agreement with a syndicate that wanted to exploit the gold he had found in the area. He also refused to talk about Aboriginal languages he had supposedly learned. Still, his supporters continued to find precedents to his exploits, fervently wanting to believe that his adventures were real.

In 1898, The Daily Chronicle announced that a businessman named F. W. Solomon had recognized De Rougemont and identified him as Louis Grin. Australian journalist Edwin Greenslade Murphy also helped to expose him, claiming that his memoirs consisted mainly of collected tidbits gathered during visits to the Reading Room of the British Library.

Grin defended himself by writing a letter to The Daily Chronicle, using his original name, and expressing consternation that anybody would confuse him with Louis De Rougemont. The Daily Chronicle was very willing to publish the letter. The Wide World Magazine exploited the situation by preparing a Christmas double issue of De Rougemont's adventures. Sales of both papers soared. De Rougemont himself disappeared from the public view.

In 1899, Grin travelled to South Africa as a music-hall attraction: "The Greatest Liar on Earth." On a similar 1901 tour of Australia, he was booed from the stage. In 1906, he appeared at the London Hippodrome and successfully demonstrated his turtle-riding skills. During World War I, he reappeared as an inventor of a useless meat substitute. He died penniless in London in 1921.

Joe Inscoe will play De Rougemont. Scotty Wichmann and an actress yet to be cast will appear as all the other characters in Grin's life and imagination. If you want to catch Inscoe riding a sea turtle (with Wichmann at shotgun?), don't miss Shipwrecked! An Entertainment.

I hope you'll subscribe today, and encourage your friends to join you. All of Richmond's professional theatres need your support.

--Bruce Miller

Shining Actors

Posted by Bruce Miller

I saw Shining City tonight. I loved the way Henley Street (or whomever) has upgraded the space. I love the new risers and raked seating. I didn’t see True West last season (I heard it was great). But I’ve seen many other shows at Pine Camp. Shining City was by far the most satisfactorily produced play I’ve seen there. Sets, lights, sound and overall ambiance seemed indeed to have been kicked up a notch.

I loved James Ricks’s pre-show speech—very casual, friendly, confident, charming and short. Those speeches are tough and few people do them well. James's speech was great.

I can’t say enough about the talents of Joe Inscoe. He’s world class—as good as anyone you’ll see anywhere. What an amazing actor. He’s a Broadway star right here in Richmond. I’m being completely serious.

If I ever go to see a therapist, I hope he’s just like Larry Cook. Larry's was a very comforting presence. I thought he was great.

Same thing for Jacob Pennington, except different profession.

I think Lyddall Bugg is a talented actress, and I’m sorry I didn’t become more familiar with her work when she toured in Huck and Tom and the Mighty Mississippi for Theatre IV.

Bo Wilson is one of the smartest guys in Richmond theatre and an astute director. I need to ask him to direct something at B'dale someday.

Henley Street is growing impressively. New artistic director James Ricks has hit the ground running. I applaud his talent, vision and ambition.

--Bruce Miller

PS Some anonymous commenters tell me I see plays at Virginia theatres other than Barksdale for terrible reasons. They say I'm trying to be like a plantation master proving that all the other theatres are beneath Barksdale and needy of my largesse. They say I write about the things I like at other theatres mostly to damn through omission those things I don't like. They say I want to make the other theatres look and feel small.

God help me if that is how this is coming off. None of that is my intention.

I go to other theatres to be supportive of other theatres. I think it's important for me to be supportive, and I take that responsibility seriously. I write about other theatres also to be supportive--of the theatres themselves and the artists who work there. If any artistic or managing director would prefer that I not come to their theatre and/or not write about their theatre on this blog, just let me know. You all know how to reach me. Thanks.

Some commenters still think I hate the Richmond critics; they believe I viewed the recent Artsie awards with derision and contempt. I don't and I didn't. If I come off that way, chalk it up to my being a horrible writer who can't make his opinions clear. I'm nothing but respectful of the critics, and actually quite fond of the several of them I know. I LOVED the Artsies. I've said it, I've written it, and I mean it.

Last but not least, when I recently wrote nice things about some Richmond theatre artists who didn't win Artsies, some commenters suggested I must really have it in for Joe Doran, Ron Keller, Audra Honaker, Ali Thibodeau, Marta Reiner and Jeff Cole (the Jeff part came from a response I wrote to a 'Rick Gray comment). You can believe me or not, but the truth is I actually care a lot about Joe, Ron, Audra, Ali, Marta and Jeff. I'm actually pretty crazy about them. I admire their talents. They are my friends.

That's all for now. Thanks.

--Bruce Miller

You Gotta Have Heart

Posted by Bruce Miller
I learned last night that John Porter, my good friend and one of our fair city’s most respected theatre critics, suffered a heart attack a few days ago and remains in the hospital. If someone knows which hospital, please comment and let me know. That’s John, pictured above in his days as a staff leader at TheatreVirginia.

My good friend Joe Inscoe preceded John to the cardiac care center about a month ago, enduring a minor heart attack, thank God, and rising from his hospital bed a day or two later to return to the rehearsal hall in preparation for Shining City. As we all know, the Joe must go on! From all accounts, Joe is now moving full speed ahead.

My good friend and Theatre IV’s longtime insurance broker, Kemp Matthews experienced chest pains a week or so ago, took a stress test and was rushed to the hospital, mid-test, for an immediate catheterization procedure, during which stints were placed in his clogging arteries, preventing a heart attack which appeared imminent. I remain thankful for the miracles of modern medicine.

God speed to these three irreplaceable men with great, albeit clogging, hearts. We’re all in our late 50s, early 60s. I guess it’s our time. They are in my prayers—especially John. Hang in there, buddy.

--Bruce Miller

Meet the Cast of Driving Miss Daisy: Jim Bynum – “Hoke”

By Joseph Pabst (Director of Driving Miss Daisy)

(Note: Driving Miss Daisy runs through November 2, 2008 at the Barksdale at Hanover Tavern. Over the last several weeks, we have highlighted the other two members of the cast – Garet Chester and Joy Williams.)

If you attend a performance of Driving Miss Daisy, you may find yourself wondering, “Why does the guy playing Hoke seem so familiar to me?” Depending on your familiarity with & experience in the Richmond area, the answer may be, “From TV.” Jim Bynum was one of the regular spokespersons (spokespeople?) for “The” Grocery Store, when it was still in business. Along with K Strong, another Richmond theatre favorite, Jim came into everyone’s living room on a regular basis (via television, that is) to let Richmonders know about the specials on “The” Grocery Store’s shelves. For a time, Jim & K were firmly seated in Richmond’s pop culture, although Jim concedes, “K is prettier, of course, and was the real star of the ads!”

But Jim is no stranger to live theatre by any means. He has enjoyed a rewarding on-stage career playing many diverse and challenging roles. He’s played senior citizens (Do Lord Remember Me, Driving Miss Daisy), the mentally challenged (The Boys Next Door), the physically challenged (Shadow Box), the psychologically challenged (Fences), and even the musically challenged (Mayor Shinn in The Music Man).

The most exciting roles of his career have come about as the result of “blind casting”, casting without regard to race or physical type. These highlights include Mayor Shinn in The Music Man, King Duncan in Macbeth, and Troy in Fences. “Troy is listed because the role called for a much larger man,” says Jim. “As a rotund citizen, I need to restate that. Fences called for a much TALLER actor. The director felt that my loud mouth would make up for loss in size.”

This production marks Jim’s second opportunity to play Hoke. He first chauffeured Miss Daisy around in a production staged by the Swift Creek Mill Theatre (or Playhouse, as it was known then) in 1991, playing opposite Betty Ann Grove as Daisy, and Joe Inscoe as Boolie. So what brought him back to the role this time? “I was drawn to Driving Miss Daisy because I love everything about the show. Actually, I would have missed the audition had Alice Shreiner not called to inform me. Thanks, Alice!”

Jim has a lot of admiration for the character he plays on stage. “Hoke is a survivor, and so am I. He is a proud man who quietly circumvents cultural and educational barriers to establish unlikely, life-long friendships.” Jim is also taken with Hoke’s loyalty and perseverance. “I would love to have those characteristics!”

Life off stage is very busy for Jim. Or “as Hoke would say, ‘… a mess.’” He has a strong background in education, even having served as the spokesperson for Richmond City Schools. “That was an exciting job, except the times when unpopular decisions caused some to want to shoot the messenger – and not with a camera!” Now, on any given day, he can be found teaching in a university classroom, conducting a workshop for educators in another city, editing dissertations, or delivering food to those who can’t get around. The work and service he provides through the Rotary Club of Richmond is enjoyable and very rewarding. His greatest joy is interacting with his grandchildren, Justin and Jayla. He’s also kept busy “loudly saying ‘yes’ to whatever my wife tells me to do around the house, around the car, around the neighborhood. (That’s what Hoke and I really have in common!)”

While Jim’s character spends most of his life driving as a career, Jim has spent most of his adult life traveling for the fun of it. He’s been to every state in the Union, and even visited five continents. “That’s right! Plans are in the works for Antarctica!”

It’s a good bet he won’t be driving to get there…

--Joe Pabst

Richmond's Role in American Theatre

Posted by Bruce Miller

To clarify one thing from my last post … A couple folks thought I was intending sarcasm when I said “maybe after I retire, Terrie and I will be so lucky” as to hang with Dave and Holly Timberline. No sarcasm was intended. Terrie and I like the Timberlines a lot.

And for whatever it's worth, here’s another thought on the STYLE “report card.” This one relates to actors leaving town for larger markets. Call me a glass half-full kind of guy (I am), but may I suggest that the fact that Richmond theatre artists sometimes move on to greener pastures is a testament to the strength of the Richmond theatre scene, not the weakness.

Throughout my 33 years, there has always been a percentage of talented theatre practitioners who start their careers in Richmond and then move onward and upward. From where I stand, that percentage hasn’t become noticeably larger or smaller in recent years. It’s pretty much stayed the same. That’s healthy.

Talk to Woody Eney. He left Richmond many years ago to seek the opportunities available in larger markets. So did Hansford Rowe, Blair Underwood, Steven Furst, Emily Skinner, Joe Inscoe, Dianne Pennington, Rusty Wilson, Burt Edwards, Denise Simone, Dee Slominski, Bev Appleton, Jeri Cutler, Sean MacLaughlin, Duke Lafoon, Jason Butler Harner, Skip Harris, Joe Doran, Michael Cole, Tom Hewitt, Foster Solomon and Susan Sanford, Kathy Halenda, Scott Wichmann, Maury and Yvonne Erickson, Cliff Todd and Michelle Carter, Lynn Keeton and Alan Flannagan, Laine Satterfield, Eddie Pierce, Kris Koop, Tia James, Scott Nogi, Chris Evans, Sara Heifetz, Robert Easter, Walker Jones, Brad Greenquist, David Winning, Michael Kingman, Jake Mosser, Jerrold Solomon, Michael Hersh, Larry Shue, Jack Cummings, Corey Bradley, Susann Fletcher, Andy Umberger and countless others whose names didn't immediately come to mind in the 30 or so seconds it took me to type this sentence.

Others like John Glenn, R. L. Rowsey, Denise Simone (the second time she left), Rick St. Peter and Jack Parrish left Richmond for full time opportunities in smaller markets, and they’re doing great.

Some of those who emigrate return; some find success on Broadway and/or in Hollywood; some switch careers. It’s all good. It's sad to see each of them move (really sad for me in a couple cases because they were close friends). But their departures were and are a fact of life—nothing less, nothing more.

Richmond is not New York, Chicago, L. A. or Philadelphia. It never will be.

But for those who appreciate the many wondrous things that Richmond has to offer, it’s better than a major market. It’s home. Ask Joe Inscoe.

What I don’t understand is why anyone would look on this as some sort of negative blot on the profile of Richmond theatre. It doesn’t make us look bad, it makes us look good. We should wear it like a badge of honor. Many of those whose names appear in the list above have established major careers; a few have achieved national recognition. Would any of them have done so well in the national spotlight were it not for the experiences, opportunities, successes and failures they encountered here in Richmond? We are and should be proud of our artists who move on, and proud of ourselves for ably filling the niche that Richmond fills in the national theatre scene.

Robin Harris-Jones (my friend who is quoted in STYLE and on this blog) and the others who have moved on most recently (Chris Steward, Hannah Zold, Andy Nagraj, Jonathan Spivey, Christopher Clawsen) will continue to be in the Richmond theatre family until they decide to cut the tie. And you know what? Most theatre artists who move on don’t cut that tie. They stay in the family forever.

The world is a small place and getting smaller every day. Richmond plays a vital role in the national theatre scene. The artists who leave town to pursue opportunities elsewhere are not gone, forgotten or unreachable. Many of them return to Richmond for a show every now and then, and are welcomed back with open arms. Ask Duke Lafoon.

Or better yet, come see him in Doubt, opening at Barksdale Willow Lawn on Feb. 15, and see for yourself what he's up to. And will Duke's performance in Doubt be all the better because of the experiences, opportunities, successes and failures he’s encountered since moving to NYC? You tell me.

--Bruce Miller

That Championship Reading

Posted by Bruce Miller
We had a great time last night reading That Championship Season by Jason Miller in the Kilgore McAuley Library at Barksdale Willow Lawn. The reading was pulled together by Scott Wichmann. The late Jason Miller is the man who introduced Scott to theatre a couple decades ago. Miller is also the actor whom everyone knows for having played, brilliantly, the younger priest in the film The Exorcist.

In the 1980s, Scott was a mere lad of 12, and he and Miller both lived in Scranton, PA, setting of That Championship Season. More than a decade earlier, Miller had received tremendous national acclaim for writing Championship, which opened on Broadway in 1972 and won the Pulitzer Prize for Drama in '73. Miller immediately followed that triumph by playing the younger of the two titular priests in The Exorcist, the most popular film of 1973. For his role in The Exorcist, Miller received an Oscar nomination. In the late 70s / early 80s, Miller chose to retreat from the limelight and return to his hometown of Scranton.

It was there that Miller directed a community theatre production of A Thousand Clowns, and Scott auditioned for the 12-year-old boy. It’s a GREAT part, one for which Scott was perfect, so of course he nailed it. It was Scott’s first show, and it was directed by one of the most nationally acclaimed playwrights and film actors of the time. Talk about fate.

Scott has never forgotten Jason Miller, and the two stayed in touch until Miller’s untimely death in 2001. One of the things the two had discussed was Scott’s desire to one day play the role of Tom, the cynical alcoholic in That Championship Season.

So last night, Scott called together some pals (Joe Inscoe, Larry Cook, Grant Mudge, and, of course, the current other half of Scott’s Odd Couple, Dave Bridgewater). They sat around the conference table acting their hearts out, drinking bottled water and eating Chex Mix. Phil Whiteway and I enjoyed the privilege of listening in.

All five men were terrific. The play reads beautifully today, and it reminded me how visceral 70s Broadway was. The language is intense. Five middle aged men assemble for the 20th Anniversary of a high school basketball triumph, and explore the limits of macho gamesmanship and the power of friendship and forgiveness. After the reading was over, we all talked about the messages of the play to a 21st Century audience.

I don’t know if Barksdale will produce a revival of Championship or not. After last night's powerful reading, we're certainly considering it.

Barksdale first produced the show at the Tavern in 1975 with Jay Lundy, Burt Edwards, Lloyd Shockley, Frank Howarth and William C. Smith. In the early '80s, the play was made into an acclaimed film, directed by Jason Miller, and starring Robert Mitchum. Martin Sheen, Stacy Keach, Bruce Dern and Paul Sorvino.

Thanks to Scott and his pals for bringing this searing classic back to life.

--Bruce Miller

Cole II - Fun with Photo / Singing on Soundtrack

Our Where Are They Now blog entry on Michael Cole received a welcomed comment from Carol de Giere (picutred to the left), webmaster of a comprehensive, free Stephen Schwartz e-zine (http://www.theschwartzscene.com/), brought to you by http://www.musicalschwartz.com/, the official fan site for Stephen Schwartz. The article and photo that appear below are sent by Carol, and they're a fun addition to the Michael Cole / Stephen Schwartz saga. We post them here with Carol and Michael’s permission.

Those with good memories (and some longstanding Richmond theatre knowledge) will know that the face that has been replaced by Stephen Schwartz's visage in the photo Carol sent is none other than Richmond’s own Joe Inscoe, TheatreVirginia’s Ebenezer Scrooge extraordinaire, pictured here (seated to the right) in our production of The Drawer Boy, with Brett Ambler and David Bridgewater.

And now the story from Carol:

Michael Cole doctored a photo that started as a publicity still from a production of Dickens’ A Christmas Carol at TheatreVirginia, in which Michael portrayed the role of Fred. Stephen Schwartz's face was added later. Michael provides background explanation for this playful photo in the text that follows.

"It doesn't happen often, but sometimes I sit down at my desk in my office on West 54th Street and among the to-do's and checks and bills, I find a hand written note from Stephen Schwartz on a yellow

legal pad asking me to go on some crazy errand. This errand might involve cab rides or trips on the subway. It might also include meeting so-and-so at such-and-such a place to pick up a package to be addressed and delivered to Federal Express so it will arrive at its destination by the next business morning. Or the note might instruct me to take the keys from the kitchen counter and move his car from one side of the street to the other on the days when 'alternate side of the street parking rules are in effect.' This errand includes sitting in the car for an hour until the parking rules allow me to legally park his car again.

One day Stephen was feeling very "Dickensian" as he was scribbling a note to me that would send me running all around the city doing his chores. He invented a "Pen name" and jokingly signed the letter Ezekiel Scrubb, Esq. When I see a note signed "Ezekiel" I know I'm off on a merry chase. He always apologizes to me before he sends me on one of these errands, and though I appreciate it, I never feel an apology is necessary. Aside from doing the usual bill paying and office managerial duties, a big part of my job is to do anything I can to make his life easier and less stressful. I decided I wanted my own pen name and now sign my notes to him simply 'Boy.' "

Michael also sends this current news:

Folks might like to know that Stephen Schwartz has a new Disney movie coming out in November of this year, and I had the terrific pleasure of singing on the soundtrack. Here is a link to the fantastic trailer for Enchanted - Music by Alan Menken, Lyrics by Stephen Schwartz:

http://www.collider.com/entertainment/news/article.asp/aid/4505/tcid/1

This is actually a different link than the one that Michael provided, but I couldn't make his link work on my computer. More info on Enchanted can be found on Carol’s e-zine at:

http://www.musicalschwartz.com/disney-movies-enchanted.htm