Saturday Salmagundi

Posted by Bruce Miller
It's another week's end grab bag post, but since I didn't really want to use the words "grab bag" again, I searched for synonyms and found "salmagundi," a noun, meaning "a salad plate of chopped meats, anchovies, eggs, and vegetables arranged in rows for contrast and dressed with a salad dressing (sounds good), or a heterogeneous mixture of anything, a hodgepodge." So, this post is not a Weekend Grab Bag; it's a Saturday Salmagundi!

Many thanks to singers Robin Harris, Christie Jackson, Katrinah Lewis, and Anthony Smith (who also played piano); narrator Phil Whiteway; and staffers Derek Dumais, Chase Kniffen, Bruce Rennie, and Brittany Taylor for pulling together the movie music cabaret we presented on Thursday evening for the Metro Richmond Convention and Visitors Bureau (under the title As Time Goes By) and on Friday for the Virginia State Rotary Convention (under the title Hooray for Hollywood). Both programs went very well, I thought, providing solid entertainment for their intended audiences.

Kimberly Akimbo, the inaugural production in our new Theatre Gym partnership with Cadence Theatre Company, previewed on Thursday and opened on Friday with two terrific performances. I'm going tonight (I was tied up with the cabaret on Thursday and Friday), and can't wait to see this fun, quirky, heartfelt comedy. Artistically, the show is a huge success, I'm told by people I trust, but ticket sales are sluggish. We had about 20 audience members on Thursday and 15 on Friday--five of whom were critics or their plus ones. The show runs in the Theatre Gym (81 seats) in the Empire complex now through Nov 5.

We know from lots of previous experience that reviving anything successful, like Theatre Gym, takes time. It's hard to sell tickets when three other shows (Lend Me a Tenor, Cat on a Hot Tin Roof, and The Merchant of Venice) are in their closing week, and Wicked and the Richmond Folk Festival are working their magic at other venues.

My hopes for the Cadence/Theatre Gym partnership are strong as ever. All of you who would like to see Theatre Gym return, or would like to support Anna Johnson's terrific Cadence Theatre Company, or who just want to see a great new show--please buy your tickets today by calling the Barksdale box office at 282-2620. Or, if you want to buy them online, you can do so at www.BarksdaleRichmond.org.

All box office receipts go to pay the salaries of the theatre artists participating (Cast: Richard Koch, Matt Mitchell, Jill Bari Steinberg, Debra Wagoner, Irene Ziegler; Director and Designers: Anna Johnson, Lily Lamberta, Matthew Landwehr, Terrie Powers; Assistant Directors, Stage Manager, House Managers, Other Staff: Tomas Bell, Brian Baez, Jason Campbell, Jay Paul Photography, David Powers, Melissa Rayford, Jesse Senechal, Susan Senechal, Claire Yenson--some of whom may be working as volunteers).

Top ticket price is only $26, with $19 tickets for Barksdale/TIV subscribers or groups of 10 or more, and $10 tickets for students. I'm hoping that tonight, tomorrow, and next weekend will do land office business. There's a special 7 pm industry performance (open to anyone) on Tuesday, Nov 1.

The Richmond Theatre Critics Circle Awards will take place tomorrow (Sunday) in the Empire Theatre at 7 pm. The orchestra is sold out, but there are still plenty of good seats upstairs in the balcony. (That's where Phil and I will be!) Tickets are only $15 for a grandly entertaining evening, and 100% of all box office receipts goes to support TAF (the Theatre Artists Fund). You can purchase tickets by calling the Barksdale box office at 282-2620, or online at www.BarksdaleRichmond.org. Click "Special Events & Programs" in the menu to the left of the home page, then click "RTCC on Oct 16" in the drop down menu.

Phil and I debated again this year whether or not to reserve a block of tickets for the theatre artists with whom we were privileged to work last season, and decided again not to do so. I've been told that Chamberlayne Actors Theatre, Henley Street Theatre (Jacquie O'Connor), Richmond Shakespeare (Grant Mudge), and Richmond Triangle Players all purchased blocks of seats to resell and/or distribute to their home teams, and some people have wondered aloud why we haven't. It appears that AART, Barksdale/TIV, Firehouse, and Swift Creek have all chosen not to try to seat their casts together.

Our rationale is this: virtually every theatre artist who works at Barksdale and Theatre IV also works at other theatres in town. We really don't have and don't seek a "home team"; we think our "home team" includes everybody. We wouldn't want any artists to be put in a position where they had to decide which theatre's section they wanted to join for this community-wide celebration. Tomorrow night, the Barksdale/TIV family will be spread out throughout the audience, just as during the season they spread themselves out amongst all of Richmond's theatres. That seems appropriate to us. We mean no insult to anyone in the Barksdale/TIV "family," each of whom we respect enormously.

We're VERY excited that two of our nominees this year are coming to the awards event from out of town--and they're both competing in the same category! Best Actress - Musicals nominees Rachel Abrams and Michelle Lookadoo have their tickets reserved. Rachel flew in from St. Louis, and Michelle took time off from her current Broadway gig (Anything Goes with Sutton Foster; Michelle is pictured to the right, backstage with the beutiful women of Anything Goes, and onstage as Hope Harcourt) to come to Richmond with her husband for the event and some fall foliage hiking in the Virginia mountains. It will be WONDERFUL to see both of these talented women with us for all the fun!

Hope to see all of you at tomorrow's festivities! Good luck and congratulations to ALL nominees! Please remember, designated drivers can get their hands stamped and receive free sodas throughout the evening.

--Bruce Miller

Open Call Auditions - October 1

Posted by Bruce Miller
At Barksdale, our commitment is and always has been to professional theatre artists based in Central Virginia. The vast majority of the actors, directors, musicians, designers, stage managers and crew members whom we employ live in Greater Richmond. Changing this commitment is not under discussion.

One of our major goals for the next five years is to grow Barksdale into one of the preeminent regional theatres in the United States. We're well aware that this is an ambitious goal. We're excited to set our sights high.

As a component of strategic planning, we've been surveying our major stakeholders (ticket buyers, donors, volunteers, independent artists, colleague theatres), asking them for their input into the future of our nonprofit company. Virtually 100% of the people we've talked to agree that Barksdale should continue to seek national caliber excellence and recognition.

When we asked for suggestions of specific strategies Barkdale should pursue, the vast majority agreed that we should seek to attract nationally successful artists to Richmond to comprise 5 to 10% of our workforce, thereby adding to our national profile and providing local professionals with opportunities to network with guest artists who work at the national level.

Last season, four of our mainstage productions featured the talents of national professionals:
White Christmas - actors Kevin Earley, Daryl Joe, Kathy Halenda (RTCCA nomination), Ben Houghton, Freddy Kimmel, Michelle Lookadoo (RTCCA nomination), Andrea Rivette;
Legacy of Light - actors Patricia Duran, Tamara Johnson (RTCCA nomination), Ricardo Melendez;
The Bluest Eye (co-produced with Theatre VCU) - actor David Raine and director April Jones; and
Dirty Rotten Scoundrels - actors Rachel Abrams (RTTCA nomination) and Jeff McCarthy (RTCCA nomination).

Approximately 150 Richmond-based theatre artists worked with these 14 national guest artists to create Barksdale's ten mainstage productions in 2010-11.

If you would like to be cast in one of Barksdale's twelve 2011-12 mainstage productions (this figure includes our three co-productions with Cadence Theatre Company), we hope you will register for and attend our auditions on October 1. We will be conducting three multi-show auditions during the coming 12 months, open to both union and non-union actors. We ask all actors interested in working at Barksdale to participate in at least one open audition each year. The three auditions will be held in October, January and May.

The Saturday, October 1 Open Call will take place at the historic Empire Theatre, 114 W Broad Street, from 10 to 4, by appointment only. Pre-registration is required, and can be obtained by calling 804-783-1688 Opt. 3, Monday through Friday, 9 to 5.

We are seeking actors age 18 and up for the following productions: Always…Patsy Cline, God of Carnage, August: Osage County, The Stinky Cheese Man and other fairly stupid tales, Scorched Earth, Seussical, and Spring Awakening. The role of Patsy Cline will be played by Debra Wagoner. Three roles in August: Osage County have also been pre-cast (contact Cadence Theatre for more information). All other roles are open. Exact dates of these productions can be found on the websites of Barksdale Theatre, Theatre IV, and Cadence Theatre. All roles are paid.

Our offices are closed today, Labor Day, Monday, September 5.

Auditioning actors should prepare either:
1) a brief song (bring sheet music in your key; accompanist provided), or
2) a brief monologue, or
3) 16 bars of a song and a brief monologue.

All actors should bring a resume and headshot stapled together.

For more information; call 804-783-1688 Opt. 3.

Hope to see you there.

--Bruce Miller

Anything Goes at the Tony Awards

Posted by Bruce Miller
Part of what makes watching the Tony Awards so much fun is when you know someone involved with a nominated show. The theatre community is relatively small. If you stick around in the business long enough, you wind up knowing a lot of people who work on Broadway. When it comes to Anything Goes, Sunday night’s Tony winner for Best Revival of a Musical, there are at least two representatives of the Richmond theatre community working in the production.

Michelle Lookadoo joined the company of Anything Goes last night, and she was there on Sunday to experience the thrill of victory with the rest of her cast. Michelle is in the ensemble and covers the leading role of Hope Harcourt, the beautiful socialite who wins the heart of Billy Crocker, the dapper hero of the show.

Michelle began her musical theatre career in Barksdale’s 1999 production of Joseph and His Amazing Technicolor Dreamcoat. She moved to New York immediately thereafter, and her career has been going great guns ever since. She was in the Broadway casts of Beauty and the Beast, The Little Mermaid, and then Mary Poppins. While in Mermaid, she was the stand-in for the leading role of Ariel and played the role during several performances. Michelle returned to Barksdale this past season to star as Judy Haynes in Irving Berlin’s White Christmas.

On Sunday night, she celebrated the Tony win with the company of Anything Goes, including Tony-winning director and choreographer, Kathleen Marshall. (See the two of them together in the photo above.)

Also working on Anything Goes is Monica Costea (her self-portrait photo is posted to the right). Monica worked for Theatre IV, TheatreVirginia and King's Dominion in the 1980s and 90s. Like Michelle and a large number of Broadway professionals, Monica tends to flow from show to show. She is a hair stylist. She joined Anything Goes this winter, leaving the hair styling department at Billy Elliott, where she had been working since that show opened in 2008.

When Phil and I led our group of theatre patrons to New York last March, both Michelle and Monica came to speak to our hearty troop of Richmond theatergoers about their extensive experiences on the Great White Way.

We wish the two of them, and everyone in the company of Anything Goes, years of success.

--Bruce Miller

How Does Barksdale Approach Casting

Posted by Bruce Miller
It's been fun and interesting to read the recent casting discussions on Dave's blog. Thanks, Brother Timberline. In hopes that people will understand the institutional objectives that I have established at Barksdale Theatre, in close association with our Board, staff and leading independent artists, I'd like to comment here on a few points raised about Barksdale's casting decisions.

I've done some rough, quick figuring from home. Please forgive me if I'm off by one or two. During the season that is about to conclude, Barksdale employed 80 actors in its nine mainstage productions. Eleven of the 80 actors live out-of-town. Sixty-nine of the 80 call Greater Richmond their home. I believe this is an appropriate ratio. Our commitment always has been, and will be for the remainder of my tenure, to Central Virginia's professional acting community.

Of the 11 who came from out-of-town, three used to be locals. Michelle Lookadoo (White Christmas) began her career at Barksdale. Kathy Halenda (White Christmas) and Ben Houghton (White Christmas) grew up here. We love bringing outstanding working professionals back to town.

Another two of the 11 (Patricia Duran and Ricardo Melendez - both in Legacy of Light - pictured to the left) were cast because of their talent, to be sure, but also because we have a commitment through our Hispanic Theatre Project to cast Latino actors in at least one production per year. We believe that if Richmond theatre in general is to increase attendance from Central Virginia's Latino community (the fastest growing segment of our population), theatres must begin allowing Latino audiences to "see themselves on stage." I mean in no way to marginalize the amazing talents of Tricia and Ricardo, both of whom I greatly admire. Nonetheless, I'm proud of our commitment to Latino audiences.

The remaining 6 of the 11 are Kevin Earley, Andrea Rivette, Freddie Kimmel, and Darrell Joe in White Christmas; Jeff McCarthy (pictured above and to the right with Harriet Harris and Stephen Sondheim in last season's Sweeney Todd at Barrington Stage Company) and Rachel Abrams in Dirty Rotten Scoundrels.

Honestly, we think of Rachel as a local, even though she's based in D. C. She has strong Richmond connections. She's starred with us in Into the Woods, Guys and Dolls and Annie.

Darrell Joe was recruited because we were seeking an African American male ensemble member with GREAT triple threat skills, and, based on who showed up at extensive Richmond auditions, we had to go out-of-town to find a dancer/singer at Darrell's level.

That leaves four actors out of 80--Kevin (pictured to the right starring on Broadway in Tale of Two Cities), Andrea, Freddie and Jeff--who we honestly can talk about when we discuss Barksdale's "bringing in actors with Broadway credits to help sell tickets." I'm paraphrasing from one of the points raised by a commenter to Dave's blog.

In each instance, these actors were cast because the powers-that-be (that includes the directors and me) thought they were the best artists for the roles. Also, as an institution, we have a commitment to bringing in Broadway actors, for four reasons, in this order of importance:

1 We believe their unique talents will enhance each show. Barksdale's mission statement states that we will create national caliber productions. We take this responsibility seriously. We are not exactly like every other theatre in town, each of which has its own mission. We believe our Broadway guest artists help us create national caliber work.

2 Despite what a couple folks say in comments on Dave's blog, Richmond audiences want to see Broadway performers in our shows, along with our best local artists. We've paid for lots of focus groups where we sat on one side of the mirror and Central Virginia's theatregoers sat on the other. Over and over again, we heard Jane and John Q Ticketbuyer talk about the allure of "Broadway" performers. In his comments on Dave's blog, Frank Creasy is absolutely right when he suggests that Barksdale's biggest competition is the Broadway series. We are proactively and strategically trying to address that competition by featuring wonderfully talented Broadway stars in our shows.

3 We believe a major regional theatre has a responsibility to provide its best local performers the opportunity to work side-by-side with major national talents. If you're a young professional theatre artist beginning your career in Richmond, having the opportunity to explore work in larger markets is a good thing, not a bad thing, even when it means moving on. And those opportunities are enhanced if you have resume credits in shows that featured nationally-known talents like Kevin, Andrea, Freddie, Jeff and Michelle (pictured to the left and above starring on Broadway in The Little Mermaid). And don't get me started on networking.

4 Barksdale is Central Virginia's resident professional theatre. Because of our strong audience and contributions bases, which have been developed through decades of hard work and strategic planning, we have the unique opportunity and responsibility to put Richmond theatre on the national map. I believe that it benefits every company in town if the national theatre community begins to recognize Richmond as a "theatre town." Due to the size of our metro area, this is not an easy task. We are working hard to gain the national attention that we believe Richmond deserves. Bringing in national stars is one part of our strategic efforts to gain national attention. One of Dave's anonymous commenters groused that Richmond audiences don't know who Jeff McCarthy is. I somewhat disagree, but I understand the point. Please let me add this, the national theatre community definitely knows who Jeff McCarthy is. They also know Kevin Earley, Andrea Rivette, Michelle Lookadoo and Freddie Kimmel. And they are impressed that Richmond theatre in general is beginning to attract performers of this caliber.

For each and every role that was filled by a national professional who was brought in from out of town, we had local auditions. GREAT people auditioned. In the opinions of the directors, choreographers and music directors in charge, the pros brought in from out of town were more suited to the roles than the local auditionees. Had these directors been blown away by the local auditionees, we would NOT have brought someone in from out-of-town.

Casting is a subjective process, and people will always have differences of opinions about casting decisions. My intention here is not to "defend" casting choices, but to make our institutional motivations clear. This is what you can expect from Barksdale theatre, God willing, for the next five years.

Having said that, let me add that nothing is ever carved in stone. All of us always welcome and listen to your input, be it supportive or constructively critical. Thanks.

In a future post, I'll discuss pre-casting vs open auditions.

--Bruce Miller