Coffee & Conversations - Fun, Free, Starts Friday

Posted by Bruce Miller
Today I'm excited to announce our 2011-12 Season of Rostov's Coffee & Conversations. If you've never been to one of these free, fun and informative events, you don't know what you're missing. We hope you'll mark your calendars now and plan to join us. It's a great way to start your day and connect with your theatre.

To kick off the series, we're having a Special Event this Friday, Sept. 30, 9:30 a.m. in the Barksdale Willow Lawn lobby. Melissa Johnston Price, star of Becky's New Car, will join in a panel with Charlie and Benita Staadecker, the amazing couple who originally commissioned this vibrant new play by Steven Dietz. They are visiting us this weekend from Seattle. I will moderate the discussion, and our director, Billy Christopher Maupin, will be on hand to offer additional insight. It's free. No reservations required. Please join us.

Now--back to the rest of our Coffee & Conversations season. Each program will focus on a fresh and lively panel discussion, providing a fun behind-the-scenes look into the shows and operations of Barksdale/Theatre IV--Central Virginia's nonprofit, resident professional theatre.

Following our Special Event this Friday, the Rostov's Coffee & Conversations series will take place on the second Tuesday of each month, October through July (excluding June). There will be no programs in August and September.

Rostov's coffee, tea and pastries will be provided free-of-charge at each event, with the continental buffet opening at 9:15 a.m. Moderated panel discussions will begin promptly at 9:30 a.m. and last one hour, with lots of opportunity for audience Q & A.

Events are normally held in the lobby of Barksdale Willow Lawn. If attendance approaches 70 or more, the program may be moved into our comfortable 204-seat theatre. Average attendance has been around 35, but we're hoping to grow the program this year. Please note that the July event will be held on the set of Spring Awakening at the historic Empire Theatre, located at 114 W Broad Street, downtown.

All Rostov's Coffee & Conversations programs are free and open to everyone. A $3 free-will donation is gratefully accepted from those who have the means. Donations are welcomed in the glass urn that sits on the pastry buffet table.

No reservations are required.

The 2011-12 Season is as follows. Panelists and moderators will be announced on this blog and elsewhere on our website about two weeks prior to each program.

Tuesday, October 11, 2011
Behind the Scenes of Lend Me a Tenor
Moderator - Jill Bari Steinberg
Panelists - Cast members Nick Ciavarella, Frank Creasy, Susan Sanford

Tuesday, November 14, 2011
Working Out - Our Theatre Gym Partnership with Cadence Theatre Company

Tuesday, December 13, 2011
Behind the Scenes of My Fair Lady

Tuesday, January 10, 2012
Build It and They Will Come - Barksdale's Set Construction Team

Tuesday, February 14, 2012
Behind the Scenes of God of Carnage

Tuesday, March 13, 2012
Public Funding for the Arts - Where Do Greater Richmond and Virginia Stand?

Tuesday, April 10, 2012
All in the Planning - The Future of Barksdale Theatre and Theatre IV

Tuesday, May 8, 2012
Behind the Scenes of our World Premiere Production of Scorched Earth

Tuesday, July 10, 2012 ***This program will be held in the historic Empire Theatre
Behind the Scenes of Spring Awakening

For more information, or more timely information, please visit www.BarksdaleRichmond.org. We hope you'll join us for each of these fun and informative programs.

--Bruce Miller

Steven's New Play Lights Up Hanover Tavern

Posted by Bruce Miller
Becky's New Car is the 39th play from 53-year-old American playwright Steven Dietz. When I posted this in the middle of last night, I said that I "thought" this was the first of his works to be produced professionally in Central Virginia. Never trust the memory of a 61-year old, particularly in the wee hours. I've now learned from two commenters (thank you both) that Triangle Players produced Lonely Planet by Dietz, Firehouse produced Private Eyes, and Henrico Theatre Company produced More Fun Than Bowling--all several years ago. Also, as I originally wrote, when VCU produced Dracula a few seasons back, they may well have performed Dietz's popular adaptation.

What I should have said is ... this is Barksdale's first Dietz, and all we can add is "it's about time." In 2010, Dietz was once again named one of the most produced playwrights in the nation. Excluding Shakespeare, Dietz tied with Tennessee Williams and Edward Albee as the eighth most produced playwright in America.

Dietz is married to TYA (theatre for young audiences) playwright Allison Gregory, and the couple split their time between Texas, where Dietz teaches playwriting and directing at the University of Texas at Austin, and Seattle (the setting for Becky's New Car).

Dietz has never had significant success in New York; he has never been produced on Broadway. But his most popular plays (More Fun Than Bowling [1986], God's Country [1988], Lonely Planet [1993], Private Eyes [1996], Dracula [1996], Rocket Man [1998], Sherlock Holmes: The Final Adventure [2006], and now Becky's New Car [2008]) have become staples in regional, university, and community theatres.

If I were a bettin' man (I've never even bought a lottery ticket), I'd wager that Becky's New Car will shortly become Dietz's most popular play ever, if it hasn't already.

Born and raised in Denver, Colorado, Dietz began his career as a director of new plays at The Playwrights' Center in Minneapolis. While simultaneously serving as artistic director of his own small company, Quicksilver Stage, he began writing his own work. In the late '80s, A Contemporary Theatre in Seattle (now known as ACT Theatre) commissioned Dietz to write God's Country. Dietz moved to Seattle while working on that production, and lived there permanently from 1991 to 2006.

His work has been recognized with the PEN U.S.A. Award in Drama for Lonely Planet, the Kennedy Center Fund for New American Plays Award (Fiction and Still Life with Iris), and the 2007 Edgar Allan Poe Award for Best Mystery for Sherlock Holmes: The Final Adventure. Two of his plays (Last of the Boys and Becky's New Car) received Best of the Year recognition from the American Theatre Critics Association.

Dietz is a frequent contributor to American Theatre Magazine. Currently he is working on 360 (round dance) - an adaptation of Arthur Schnitzler's 1900 play, La Ronde.

Being tied with Tennessee Williams and Edward Albee for the eighth most produced playwright in America in 2010 is an amazing feat. If you want to see what all the fuss is about, I hope you'll join us for Becky's New Car, starring Melissa Johnston Price, David Bridgewater and Gordon Bass, directed by Billy Christopher Maupin, now playing at Barksdale Theatre at Hanover Tavern.

--Bruce Miller

"Becky" and Billy C Cruise Into Spectacular Opening

Posted by Bruce Miller
One of the responsibilities of a regional theatre is to provide work opportunities to the best and brightest talents within its community. In today's highly competitive arena, up-and-coming theatre artists must choose whether to earn their stripes after moving to major theatre markets like NYC, Chicago or Philly, or build the resumes they need to launch their hoped-for theatrical careers in a city like Richmond.

It's a tough decision. I would argue in favor of the latter, but only if Richmond's regional theatres continue to provide significant opportunities that allow young artists to work at the top of their game with other equally talented pros.

Case in point - Billy Christopher Maupin. He's been passionate about theatre since Hector was a pup. He left his small hometown in Kentucky to venture to Cincinnati to audition for a touring actor position with Theatre IV. (TIV had an office and tour operation in the Queen City from 1996 to 2006.) After touring for a year with our Ohio-based team, BC asked to transfer to our larger operation in Richmond. Ford Flannagan, who handles all our tour casting, said "yes" and brought him right here to River City.

After working in our national tour for a couple years, Billy Christopher transitioned into the Theatre IV / Barksdale marketing position he continues to hold today. His salary sucks--not quite as much as it did initially--but it allowed him to keep body and soul together as he set out to build a resume and career. Like a lot of talented theatre artists, BC chose to complete his training in the school of work experience rather than a university theatre program.

There was that year early on when BC left Theatre IV and moved to New York. Because he's a talented guy, and, I suspect, in part because of the touring experience he had with us, he was cast in a national tour with TheatreWorks USA (Theatre IV's biggest national competitor). Like hundreds of other young hopefuls, he earned his union card through this gig, but soon thereafter encountered the stigma that comes with earning your card, perhaps, too soon. (go to Google, type "stigma theatreworks")

Billy Christopher, like many other talented theatre artists before and after, left New York and moved back home to Richmond. He took a leave of absence from Equity (it's really hard to get union gigs in Richmond if you're young), and set about auditioning and campaigning for directing assignments as if his life depended on 'em.

Carol Piersol, artistic director at the Firehouse, and I are of a similar mind when it comes to the responsibilities our two nonprofit theatres have to eager, talented young artists. Directing jobs are THE HARDEST positions to get in Richmond, probably in any theatre city. The stakes are so high. Nonetheless, through perseverance, patience, passion and talent, Billy Christopher earned the chance to direct a reading at Firehouse, then a cabaret at Barksdale, then more readings, and finally several mainstage directing assignments.

Along the way, Kaye Weinstein Gary at K Dance became a BC "believer." Grant Mudge at Richmond Shakes also gave him a shot. And later this season, Chamberlayne Actors Theatre is giving BC the chance to direct his first Lillian Hellman. It took several years. You can ask him whether or not it was worth it.

Which brings us to last night. Carol Piersol and I were both in the house for the Opening Night of Becky's New Car, the sparkling new comedy by Steven Dietz that Billy Christopher directed at Barksdale / Hanover Tavern. I can't speak for Carol, but I'll bet that, like me, she watched the proceedings with a significant sense of pride.

It's taken several long years, and what seems like a gazillion projects, for Billy Christopher to earn the shot he had last night. And the great news is ... he came through with flying colors.

Becky's New Car is top notch--a perfect marriage of script, actors and director. Billy Christopher had the chance to work with a major new play, a cast as professional and accomplished as any you'll find anywhere (see the show pics of Melissa Johnston Price, David Bridgewater, and Gordon Bass), first-rate designers, a reasonable budget, and a fairly large and discerning audience.

What he has delivered is worthy of the confidence others have placed in him. Becky's is an exceptionally enjoyable show that is sure to be one of the highlights of Richmond's 2011-12 season.

It would be foolish for me to oversell it. It ain't King Lear or Who's Afraid of Virginia Woolf. But, in my humble opinion, it's a significant step forward for a major young talent who, hopefully, will be revving up the engine of Richmond theatre for years to come.

With 20/early 30-something directors like Chase Kniffen and Billy Christopher Maupin--and Justin Amellio (assistant to Patti D'Beck for White Christmas, RTCCA-nominated director for [title of show]) starting to come on strong--it seems like Richmond theatre is in capable hands.

--Bruce Miller

Of Fall, Hot Tin, and Names Above the Title

Posted by Bruce Miller
Fall is really here. The calendar says we have to wait till Sept 23, but I'm not buyin'. The 2011-12 theatre season is well underway, marked by the openings of Central VA's first comedy of the year (Lend Me a Tenor), drama (Cat on a Hot Tin Roof), and musical (Keep on the Sunny Side).

As Lucian Restivo from Stage B posted Friday on Facebook, "it's cardigan and scarf weather," and he couldn't be happier. After the dog days of summer, I'm right there with him.

I made my reservations for Hot Tin and I'm really looking forward to it. It's definitely one of the new season's highlights for me. I loved Who's Afraid last season from the same Rusty Wilson / Firehouse directing / producing team. Hot Tin is a great play--a masterwork--and Rusty's assembled an unbeatable cast: Alan Sader, Laine Satterfield, Adrian Rieder, Jackie Jones, Larry Cook, Dean Knight, Andy Boothby, Laura Rikard, Stephanie M. Hill, and three talented no-neck-monsters.

Susie Haubenstock wrote a great review, and I've heard nothing but glowing word-of-mouth. If you don't have your tickets yet, I encourage you to get them. I suspect they'll start selling out most performances pretty soon.

I'm excited that Rusty will be directing In the Next Room or the vibrator play with Cadence in Barksdale's Theatre Gym next summer.

This coming Friday, we'll open Becky's New Car, a very clever and contemporary new comedy from Steven Dietz, at Hanover Tavern. We're trying something new, and if you have a reaction, I'd love to hear it.

Bouncing off my desire to celebrate and promote Richmond's "stars" with a little more fanfare, Billy Christopher Maupin, who is not only directing Becky's but marketing it as well, decided to place Melissa Johnston Price's name above the title in our promotional materials--not our standard practice.

At first, I buzzed B C and asked him not to do that again without checking with me first. I was worried about setting precedents and all that. But then I decided that this will be a good experiment.

Melissa Johnston Price is certainly a local star, holding a prominent place in the pantheon of Virginia's most revered actors. And the character of "Becky" certainly is the leading role in the play. Why the heck not let the ticket-buying public know that this is a special opportunity to see an exceptional artist in a terrific part?

Sometimes I think we Richmond producers need to set aside all timidity and begin to blow the horn a little louder about Central Virginia's brightest and best. If we don't, aren't we failing to create the public excitement we need to create in order to grow the overall Richmond audience?

What do you think? When we're lucky enough to have a star in a major role, should we put his or her name above the title? You can communicate with me publicly as a comment to this post, or privately as an email.

I can't type my email directly cause little robots that do nothing but surf blog posts 24/7 pick it up and start sending me even more spam. Or so I'm told by our IT gurus. So here's today's puzzler. My address is: b.miller@ the name of either of our theatres followed by the word Richmond.org.

Thanks.

--Bruce Miller

Two Treasures

Posted by Bruce Miller
Congratulations to Carol Piersol, co-founder and Artistic Director of Firehouse Theatre Project, who is recognized in and on the cover of the September issue of Belle Magazine as one of Richmond's seven outstanding women in the arts.

Her fellow honorees include Sarah Shields Driggs, Architectural Historian, Save Outdoor Sculpture; Ashley Kistler, Director, Anderson Gallery, VCU; Pamela Kiecker Royall, Benefactor and Collector; Andrea Orlosky, Executive Director, Art on Wheels; Greta Brinkman, Musician and Music Director, WRIR; and Maya Payne Smart, Author and Vice Chairwoman, James River Writers.

Carol co-founded the Firehouse in 1993 with Jeff Clevenger, Bill Gordon, Anna Senechal Johnson, and Harry Kollatz Jr., and has served as artistic director for the last 18 years. The best way to understand the incredible value of her leadership is to watch Parts 1 and 2 of the terrific Firehouse documentary created by Richmond filmmaker Alan Futterman.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=z5wju_o0jl4 and
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GWSuD1qN0ag&feature=related.

In the documentary, eight of Virginia's finest actors (Jeff Clevenger, Justin Dray, Sara Heifetz, D. L. Hopkins, Bill Patton, Melissa Johnston Price, Amy Sproul and Scott Wichmann) speak eloquently and movingly about Firehouse's steadfast commitment to its artistic values.

Carol has embodied these values, steered and protected this commitment for nearly two decades. All the while, she and her colleagues have continued to improve the Firehouse's production quality, year after year, while also maintaining its historic facility, and growing its audience and operations. Her contributions to Richmond's theatre community inspire me more than I can say.

She's also been a good friend to Theatre IV and Barksdale for a long time. Congratulations, Carol, on this well deserved recognition.

On a second and equally jubilant note, our beloved facilities manager and indispensible jack-of-all-trades, Tom McGranahan, is back in the saddle with us after his recent surgery. I think he's supposed to still be in bed, but you can't keep a good man down.

I've known a few saints in my life: my father, Phil Whiteway's mother and father, my late Sunday School teacher Barbara Maynard, and Tom McGranahan. He's a bawdy saint, to be sure. But a saint nonetheless. I look at Tom McGranahan and I see the hand of God.

Welcome back, Tom. The old place wasn't the same without you.

--Posted by Bruce Miller

Maupin Masterminds Mischief in Modern Merrymaker

Posted by Bruce Miller (liberally quoting B C Maupin)
With Becky's New Car, we're glad to welcome Billy Christopher Maupin back into the driver's seat at Hanover Tavern. B C has to be among the most turbocharged theatre artists working in Virginia today. As his German friends opine, he is mit turboaufladung. (Sorry. Sometimes these amazing things pop up in a word search and I can't help myself.)

Billy Christopher starred at the Tavern as the Reverend Mervin Oglethorpe in all three musicals in the Smoke on the Mountain trilogy. Back in 2010, he directed our heartwarming Hanover hit, Butterflies are Free.

More recently, B C earned great acclaim for his staging of Dog Sees God and You're a Good Man, Charlie Brown at the Firehouse.

Billy Christopher was honored last spring by STYLE Weekly as one of Richmond's "Top 40 Under 40." In the recent build-up to the Richmond Theatre Critics Circle Awards, he is a Best Actor nom for his work in Something Intangible, also at the Firehouse. When not involved in evening rehearsals, he spends his daytime hours as Marketing Manager here at Barksdale/Theatre IV.

Billy Christopher was the one who introduced me to Becky's New Car. His director's notes indicate that when he encountered this new comedy, the attraction was immediate.

"My first professional job in the theatre was in 2000 in a production of Bram Stoker's Dracula adapted by Steve Dietz. Thus began my love affair with Dietz' work. A master of dramatic tension, zany plots, tender moments, and incredibly natural dialogue, Dietz is a rare treasure of the American theatre.

When his newest play, Becky's New Car, was published last year, it jumped to the top of my list of plays to read. And when I did, I fell in love before it was even over. I remember finishing the first act and immediately calling Melissa (Johnston Price) and saying, 'I think you might need to look at this play that I just started reading.' As soon as I finished it, I called her back: 'Melissa, you need to read this play.'

I feel so fortunate to be able to be a part of creating theatre in a community that is so rich in artists. It is such a thrill to be able to explore this wonderfully funny and beautiful play with such an incredibly talented cast, crew and design team.

I hope you enjoy the ride.

Billy Christopher Maupin"

If you're a fan of Billy Christopher's work, I hope you'll join him and his stellar cast as they put the pedal to the metal beginning September 23. You'll be glad you did.

--Bruce Miller

New Faces and Old Favorites Rev up for Becky's New Car

Posted by Bruce Miller
When Steven Dietz's brand new comedy, Becky's New Car, starts its engines in 11 days at Barksdale Theatre at Hanover Tavern, the audience will be charmed by a high octane cast of seven, three of whom will be performing at Barksdale for the first time.

Becky is played by none other than Richmond acting queenpin, Melissa Johnston Price (pictured to the right). Believe it or not (I scarcely believe it myself), this will be Melissa's first, full-fledged Barksdale production.

It's true. At least I think it is. Melissa's credits have been the stuff of legend in Richmond for the last three decades, but her reputation for excellence has all been earned elsewhere.

To be precise, Melissa did appear last fall in the Bootleg Shakespeare production of Titus Andronicus, co-pro'ed by Henley Street Theatre and Barksdale. But the wonderfully wacky Bootleg performances, by design, are barely fledged at all. The entire cast rehearses all morning and afternoon on the day of performance, and that's it.

Also, Melissa starred in The Full Plate Collection, co-pro'ed by Erin Thomas Foley, Jenny Jones Hundley, Irene Ziegler Aston and Barksdale during 2010's Minds Wide Open--Virginia Celebrates Women in the Arts. Our role in that partnership was to provide a performance space and a little advice every now and then, and otherwise stay out of the way. So I don't think we can count Full Plate as Melissa's Barksdale debut.

Melissa also has appeared with Theatre IV, but it was quite a while ago, in our co-productions of Who's Afraid of Virginia Woolf (with The Production Company) and Boom Town (with Essential Theatre). Even then, Theatre IV's involvement in the actual artistic product was next to nothing.

So, here she is, identified only a few months ago as one of Central Virginia's two favorite actresses by the readers of STYLE Weekly, FINALLY joining the pit crew at Richmond's nonprofit, resident professional theatre. We're counting our lucky stars.

The other two newcomers in Becky's cast are Christine Fonsale (pictured above and to the left), a Virginia actress who is well known to audiences in Williamsburg and the DC area, and Evan Nasteff (pictured below and to the right), best known by those Richmonders who savor him as the suave and sultry bartender at Off The Hookah in Shockoe Slip.

Christine is an audio book narrator for the Library of Congress. She received theatrical training at the Theatre Lab School of the Dramatic Arts' Honors Conservatory Program in Washington, DC, and participated in Master Classes at DC's nationally renowned Shakespeare Theatre Company. Her credits include Tales of Love and Sausages for Faction of Fools, DC Microfictions for the Alliance Française of Washington, and I Ought to Be in Pictures for the Little Theatre of Norfolk.

In her hometown of Williamsburg, Christine appeared in Polly Honeycombe, Cry Witch!, A Salute to Our Nation, His Excellency's Pleasure Garden, and Lady Dunmore's Ball, all for the Colonial Williamsburg Foundation's Evening Programs.

Evan holds a BA in Theatre from Hampden-Sydney College. Previous stage credits include MacBeth, Richard III, Rashomon, Art (by Yasmina Reza, author of God of Carnage), Waiting for Godot, and Noises Off!

Rounding out the terrific cast under Billy Christopher Maupin's direction are Barksdale favorites:
* Gordon Bass (green shirt - To Kill a Mockingbird, Melissa Arctic, Das Barbecu),
* David Bridgewater (yellow shirt - Is He Dead?, Moonlight and Magnolias, The Drawer Boy, The Lark, The Crucible, Cyrano de Bergerac, Annie Get Your Gun, Over the River and Through the Woods, The Odd Couple),
*Daniel Moore (red tie - Circle Mirror Transformation, The Little Foxes), and
*Maggie Roop (green bracelet - First Baptist of Ivy Gap, Doubt, Guys and Dolls).

I look forward to seeing you at the theatre, in whatever colored clothing and/or accessories you choose to wear. In 11 short days the garage door opens and Becky's New Car finally hits the road.

--Bruce Miller