We're Off to See the Witches

In April, someone commented on the Where Are They Now blog entry I wrote about Clay Jackson, a former Theatre IV touring actor who was named the new Maytag Repairman. “If you're going to do a Where Are They Now column, why not do one on Emily Skinner?” the anonymous commenter asked. “I LOVED her when she used to act in Richmond with you guys, and I haven't heard much from her since her Tony nomination for Side Show.”

Well, it may have taken me three months, but I’m proud to offer a little on Emily’s latest project, and state with considerable excitement that Phil and Donna Whiteway, my wife Terrie and I will all be going up a week from Saturday to see Emily on stage.

Emily is currently starring in the American Premiere of The Witches of Eastwick at the Signature Theatre in Arlington, Virginia. Signature is a terrific regional theatre led by Artistic Director Eric Schaeffer. In addition to being a nationally acclaimed Sondheim specialist, Schaeffer is a stage director with a considerable international reputation. He was Artistic Director for the Sondheim Festival at the Kennedy Center a few seasons back, and directed the World Premiere of The Witches of Eastwick on London’s West End in 2000.

Based on the novel by John Updike and the Warner Bros. motion picture that starred Jack Nicholson, Cher, Susan Sarandon and Michelle Pfeiffer, The Witches of Eastwick features book and lyrics by John Dempsey and music by Dana Rowe. Dempsey describes the plot as follows: “In the tiny New England town of Eastwick, Rhode Island, three modern day witches innocently plot and conjure over a heady brew of weak martinis and peanut butter brownies. But when their longings are made flesh in the arrival of one Darryl Van Horne, all hell breaks lose. Quite literally.”

Emily’s co-stars at Signature are Christiane Noll and Jacquelyn Piro Donovan as the other titular witches, and acclaimed Broadway leading man Marc Kudisch as Darryl Van Horne.

The reviews have been very favorable. “Witches of Eastwick spells wicked fun … carnally enjoyable,” states The Washington Post. “A funny and enjoyable show with obvious audience appeal and a laudable ability to laugh at itself,” adds Variety. “It definitely gets an A for attitude.”

“The Witches of Eastwick is a bewitching musical,” continues the Baltimore Sun. “An exuberant production” was the descriptive phrase used by the Arlington Sun Gazette.

Emily herself has received unanimous praise.

Among those few Richmond actors who have gone on to national success, Emily and Blair Underwood are certainly the two who have gone the farthest. In Richmond, she appeared in numerous shows at Theatre IV, Swift Creek Mill and, to a lesser extent, TheatreVirginia, throughout her teens and twenties. She spent her college years in Carnegie Mellon’s prestigious theatre program (as did Underwood, by the way, and as does Zak Resnick, now appearing in Into the Woods), and she achieved almost immediate success in New York, culminating in her Tony- nominated leading performance in Side Show.

I’ve enjoyed Emily in every show I’ve ever seen her in, from her earliest work as a high schooler through her recent performance as Gooch in Mame at the Kennedy Center. She is one of America’s treasures, and I can hardly wait to see her in Witches.

Best of all, Emily continues to be as gracious and down to earth as she’s always been. We hope you'll continue to keep your eye on Emily. We certainly will. She’s truly one of our nation’s great musical theatre stars, and every Richmond theatregoer should be enormously proud of this exceptionally talented home town girl made good.

--Bruce Miller

Three Days at the Kennedy Center

Anne Murphy Douglas, President of the Board of Theatre IV, and Bennett Fidlow, new Board member at Barksdale Theatre, joined Phil and me for a three-day seminar with Michael Kaiser and others at the Kennedy Center. We returned yesterday afternoon after a highly informative, intensive and fun learning experience. We’re eager to put our newfound insights to good use here in Richmond.

For those who don’t know, Michael Kaiser (who also recently spoke at the University of Richmond’s Modlin Center) is a world-renowned arts leader. Prior to becoming President of the Kennedy Center in 2001, Michael served as Executive Director of the Royal Opera House (the largest performing arts organization in the UK), Executive Director of American Ballet Theatre, Executive Director of the Alvin Ailey Dance Theater (the world’s largest modern dance organization), and General Manager of the Kansas City Ballet.

Spending two and a half days with Michael feels a little like cramming a year of arts administration training into 20 hours. Part of his brilliance is that he is able to speak clearly and simply, boiling down his extensive experience and research into comprehensible two-hour sessions. His focus areas at seminars such as this include Building an Effective and Energized Board, Strategic Planning, and Institutional Marketing. Other senior executives from the Kennedy Center staff spoke from their areas of expertise: Business Management, Development, Technology and Program Marketing.

Phil and I have been in our positions for 32 years, and never have I felt more in sync with a speaker. In point after point, it was clear that Michael knew exactly what he was talking about. And the points he made applied not only to mammoth international organizations (the Kennedy Center has an annual budget of approximately $160 million) but also to large regional organizations like Barksdale Theatre and Theatre IV (combined annual budgets of approximately $5 million).

If you’ve been to many seminars like this, you know that experts can sometimes speak for hours in a theoretical realm, offering little practical advice. Michael knows how to cut to the chase—how to identify the challenges we face and then offer specific suggestions on how to address these challenges. It really was a terrific learning experience, very validating, mind-stretching and informative.

Special thanks to the Virginia Commission for the Arts for funding our participation through their Technical Assistance grant program, and to Anne and Bennett for giving up their time to join us. This is one seminar that I think will pay off handsomely in the futures of Barksdale Theatre, Theatre IV and the Metro Richmond arts scene in general.