Feet Don't Stick to Floor No More

Posted by Bruce Miller
Richmond CenterStage finally opened this evening. It was a wonderful, almost miraculous night! Many in the crowd spoke sentimentally about the first public announcement of the renovation and expansion, which occurred either 8 or 8 ½ years ago, depending on whose talking.

Having earned my stripes as a grand old man of Richmond theatre, I couldn’t stop thinking of the Symphony’s original purchase of the Loew’s in 1980, and Theatre IV’s 1981 Season—the first performance season by any group in the history of this magnificent building.

In those earliest of days, what is now the Carpenter Theatre was named the Virginia Center for the Performing Arts. Nina Abady, the legendary Richmond administrator who provided staff leadership for the $6 million campaign to pay off the mortgage and restore the landmark venue (yes, only $6 million), was just beginning to raise the needed funds. In order to create public interest, she wanted to bring people into the theatre. But she had no money for programming, and the theatre itself, frankly, was a sticky, rickety mess.

All those years as a movie palace (and a declining movie palace during the 1970s) had taken their toll.

During that same time, Nina served on the Board of Directors of Theatre IV. She had attended all three shows in our 1980 Season, which had taken place in another performance facility where your feet were apt to stick to the floor—the Westover (movie) Theatre, South of the James at 4712 Forest Hill Avenue.

The Westover was nothing more than a wooden platform stage that we constructed in front of the movie screen. Despite its humble pedigree, we had staged Theatre IV’s first “adult” audience season there in 1980: The Diary of Anne Frank, A Raisin in the Sun, and The Philadelphia Story. I remember being very proud of all three shows.

Nina knew we were hungry for grander digs. So she struck up a deal with us--a win/win for both parties involved.

If Theatre IV agreed to repair the 2,000 seats in the former Loew’s, scrape all the gum and muck off of the historic tile floors, and produce at least three shows designed to attract a mass audience, she would let us rent the facility for a dollar per seat sold.

We leapt at the chance. It took us about six months to tighten and/or replace all the nuts and bolts on the 2,000 or so seats, most of which had been literally falling into pieces. My dear dad, Curt Miller, who had recently retired from the Defense General Supply Center at Bellwood and was looking for something to do, joined another volunteer named Ralph Antell, who I think was a recent retiree from Philip Morris. Together, the two of them slaved away every day on their hands and knees until all of the seats were once again ready to be used.

Phil and I (and many, many other volunteers) attacked the floor-bound gum and goo with chisels and putty knives, scraping up more hardened grime from the bathroom floors and theatre aisle-ways than I care to remember. I think we must have filled a hundred or so Hefty bags with petrified remains of countless movie theatre snacks.

At last the theatre was ready. Well, "ready" may be too strong a word. At last the theatre was no longer disgusting.

We staged two hit productions of West Side Story (with a 26-piece orchestra no less) and the classic American comedy, Born Yesterday. We also mounted a third production, Agatha Christie’s Ten Little Indians, about which the less said the better. Suffice it to say that Roy Proctor's review was headlined "Who Dunnit? Who Cares!"

By the following year (1982), Nina had raised enough money to begin renovation, and so Theatre IV had to move on to our next rented facility … which turned out to be the Empire Theatre. And the rest, as they say, is history.

Way back in 1981, we LOVED being the first arts group to welcome Richmond’s performing arts audience back into the former Loew’s.

Tonight, 28 ½ years later, we LOVED joining with our wonderful friends and colleagues at African American Repertory Theatre, Elegba Folklore Society, Richmond Ballet, Richmond Jazz Society, Richmond Shakespeare, Richmond Symphony, SPARC, and the Virginia Opera as together we welcomed a new generation of Richmonders back into this great atmospheric treasure.

Congratulations to EVERYONE who has been working so hard for so long to make tonight happen. Whether you date back to 1980, or only 2001 ... Job Well Done!

--Bruce Miller

In Memoriam: Murry DePillars

Posted by Bruce Miller
Our friend Murry died last Saturday at his Richmond home. He was only 69 years old, which surprised me. It’s not that he seemed older; he didn’t. Spiritually he was perpetually vibrant and young. But he was such a towering figure in the Richmond arts community, I always imagined that he had to be more than a mere 12 years older than I.

I’m elevating Phil and myself by calling Murry our “friend.” If he thought of us at all in recent years, I’m sure he didn’t honor us with so personal a moniker. It would be more accurate to call Murry a mentor—a mini-mentor perhaps, not one of the ones who made it into our playbill bios, but a mentor nonetheless. More than anyone else, Murry DePillars convinced us that the arts were meant to be populist rather than elitist. He taught us that an artist who elevated himself over his community may not be an artist at all.

After serving as an assistant dean, Murry was promoted to Dean of VCU’s School of the Arts in 1976, one year after Phil and I founded Theatre IV. He held that position for 19 years. During his entire tenure, there was little institutional reason for Murry to take notice of Phil or me. He was a visual artist and a lover of jazz, and we were theatre upstarts with, during most of those years, little influence and even less power in the Richmond arts community.

And yet, from day one, Murry acted like we were worthy of his notice and friendship. He was Dean of the School of the Arts—a huge deal—and yet he willingly and eagerly gave us his attention and respect. And it wasn’t just us. He gave full credence to artists who chose to remain in Richmond, and never made us feel like anyone worth their salt would have moved on to New York. If anything, he made us feel like he awarded extra points to those who chose to grow where they were planted.

When Theatre IV purchased the historic Empire in 1986, Murry was among the few who made it possible.

Here's a brief history. In the mid-70s, a dashing and successful Varina home developer named Mitchell Kambis bought and cosmetically renovated the Empire. After a financially challenging stint as an impresario, Mitchell turned over ownership of the Empire to the mortgage holder, Central Fidelity Bank. The late Carroll Saine, who was Chairman and CEO of CFB at the time, was a close friend of the late Richmond icon Nina Abady. In the early 80s, Nina was a volunteer on the Theatre IV Board, but she was employed as Director of the Virginia Opera Association (VOA) – Richmond Office. Central Fidelity Bank donated the Empire to the VOA, under the condition that they continue to own it for at least two years.

Unfortunately, the Empire was too small for most operas. So as soon as the VOA’s two-year commitment concluded, they sold the Empire to a real estate developer from Roanoke.

In 1986, this developer began to actively seek buyers for the facility. Three parties expressed interest in the building: a Richmond-based developer who planned to convert the building into retail space and condos, Murry DePillars on behalf of VCU’s School of the Arts, and Theatre IV. Obviously, VCU could have outbid Theatre IV (we had no assets to speak of at the time), but the minute Murry learned that we were interested, he called us in for a meeting.

He said that his main interest was in preserving the historic building and keeping it out of the hands of those who wanted to convert it into commercial use. He said that if we were seriously interested, VCU would support us in our efforts to buy the building rather than bid against us. He made suggestions as to where we could go for financial support, and stood by our company until the building was purchased later that year and securely in our hands.

There were no power plays and no conditions—only encouragement and support.

Phil and I have missed Murry DePillars ever since his retirement from VCU in 1995. And we’ll continue to miss him and remember him with the greatest affection and respect. He was a giant in the development of Richmond’s arts community. When Theatre IV produces A Year with Frog and Toad in the Empire next spring, complete with a jazzy score Murry would have loved, we will dedicate the show to the memory of Dr. Murry N. DePillars, our mentor and friend.

--Bruce Miller

Catching Up with Caroline

Posted by Bruce Miller

In a previous blog entry (When Off Broadway Began, Barksdale Was There [Aug 5]), I wrote about the late, great Josie Abady, mentioning her as one of the Richmond connections to the legendary Off Broadway company, Circle in the Square. A thoughtful anonymous commenter subsequently wrote: “I am so sorry to learn of Josie Abady’s death. I knew her in her youth, and had no idea that she had died. What a wonderful and inspirational family. Such strong women. What’s happening with her sister Caroline, do you know? I appeared with her years ago in a Dogwood Dell production of Winnie the Pooh.”

I’m going to try to get in touch with Caroline, pictured above and to the left with co-stars Kevin Spacey and William Ullrich at the NYC premiere of Beyond the Sea, to see if she’ll write a blog entry to bring her Richmond fans up to date. I'm afraid I don't know or remember anything about this particular production of Winnie the Pooh, but if it's true, and I have no reason to doubt that it is, then here's a GREAT example of a Dell alum moving onward and upward to become a NYC and Hollywood success.

Until I'm able to contact Caroline (if I'm able), here’s what I know (sorta).

Caroline Abady was born and spent her entire youth in Richmond. If memory serves, she went to Douglas Freeman High School. I think I met her maybe once or twice; she's a couple of years younger than me, but we were teen theatre enthusiasts in Richmond at the same time. Kind of like Chase Kniffen and Gray Crenshaw about five years ago. As I've mentioned earlier, I knew her mother Nina very well.

Caroline has had the kind of long term career success that most actors only dream of. She may not be a household name, but she works constantly in high profile projects with our nation's top tier of theatre artists. Her professional name is Caroline Aaron. If you go to http://www.imdb.com/name/nm0000715/ , you can access a complete list of her film and TV credits. Or if you go to http://www.ibdb.com/person.asp?id=74908 , you can access a complete list of her Broadway credits.

The great news is that Caroline is scheduled to be back on Broadway this fall for the first time in 16 or so years, opening in October at Studio 54 in Roundabout’s upcoming revival of The Ritz, written by Terrance McNally and directed by Joe Mantello (pictured to the right). You gotta be impressed by the company she keeps.

Here’s more information that I pulled from Caroline’s bio on the IMDb site:

Caroline Aaron “performed a one-woman, two-character play, Call Waiting, in 1994 and again in 2001. She later filmed it in 2004. The 87-minute film won the Best Comedy Jury Prize at the Santa Barbara International Film Festival.”

Ms. Aaron is an “earthy, plump-figured stage actress of Broadway (Come Back to the 5 & Dime, Jimmy Dean, Jimmy Dean; Social Security; I Hate Hamlet) who appeared as a character actress on film and TV. She was a main ensemble player in several of Woody Allen's films during the late 80s and 90s, essaying many of his typical Jewish relatives, neighbors and/or friends in traditional New York settings.

Her late mother, Nina Friedman Abady, was a Selma, Alabama civil rights activist who walked with Martin Luther King in the 60s. She had to endure cross-burnings on her Virginia front lawn. More tragically, the family suffered the loss of their husband and father when he was 38.

Her older sister was Josephine R. Abady, a prominent artistic director of the Cleveland Playhouse (1988-1994) and Circle in the Square Theater (1994-1996). A noted stage producer, director and theater owner, Abady resisted employing her younger sister because they were related. This caused resentment and sibling friction for a period of time until Abady was diagnosed with breast cancer. Abady battled the disease for several years and died on May 25, 2002, at age 52. The Los Angeles-based Caroline returned to New York frequently to aid in her sister's illness.

Aaron did appear under her sister's stage direction in The Boys Next Door, co-starring David Strathairn and John Amos. Abady also cast Aaron in To Catch a Tiger, a 1994 AFI film which told the story of their mother's civil rights work. Caroline played their mother in the film and Abady's husband, Michael Krawitz, wrote the screenplay.”

For those who share my penchant for exploring connections, it's fun to note that not too long ago Caroline starred at George Street Playhouse in a reading of Spine, one of the new plays by Bill C. Davis (pictured to the right), playwright of Austin's Bridge.

I hope this helps inform Caroline’s childhood friends of her current success. As I mentioned, I’ll try to contact Caroline and see if she’ll give us more information. Along with Emily Skinner and Blair Underwood, she’s one of the Richmond theatre alum who has earned a lifetime of national success.

Thanks to our anonymous commenter for prompting this post.

--Bruce Miller

When Off Broadway Began, Barksdale Was There

The strapping young man in the photo to the left is Stu Falconer, pictured with Nancy Adams in Barkdale's 1957 production of The Little Hut. When I was researching old newspaper articles for my five part Happy Birthday Barksdale! series, I discovered that not only was Falconer here for the founding of Barksdale, he also was there for the founding of Off Broadway. In all my years in Richmond theatre, I've never heard anyone make note of this before. So I've decided to make note of it now.

Two of the newspapers that wrote about the founding of Barksdale Theatre at Hanover Tavern in 1953 mention that one of our six co-founders, Stu Falconer, worked as a stage manager at Circle in the Square in New York prior to moving south to help begin Barksdale. One of these papers identifies the show that Falconer managed as Tennessee Williams’ Summer and Smoke. Checking out the dates, it appears that he left the production in mid-run. Although Falconer may not have comprehended this at the time--the newspaper reporters certainly didn't--that particular production of Summer and Smoke is now credited as being the beginning of Off Broadway.

The Lortel Archive, named in honor of Off-Broadway legend Lucille Lortel (pictured to the left), is the semi-official internet database for Off-Broadway. When you look up the particulars of this production of Summer and Smoke, you’ll find the following quote: “Off-Broadway, for historical purposes, may be said to have begun in Sheridan Square on the evening of April 24, 1952 when Summer and Smoke with Geraldine Page opened at Circle in the Square and became the first major theatrical success below 42nd Street in thirty years.”

It seems that Stu Falconer left one legendary experience to start another.

Summer and Smoke was written by Tennessee Williams in 1948, shortly after the phenomenal success of The Glass Menagerie in 44 and A Streetcar Named Desire in 47. In the late 40s, Tennessee Williams was America's most famous playwright, even making it onto the cover of Time. With Smoke, Williams again wrote a play with a strong female lead, Alma Winemiller, a proper, unmarried minister’s daughter who is courted by her childhood sweetheart, the sexually-charged rake, Dr. John Buchanan.

Summer and Smoke opened on Broadway at the Music Box Theatre on October 6, 1948, directed by Margo Jones and designed by Jo Mielziner. The play received decidedly mixed reviews, with the conventional wisdom being that Alma Winemiller was a pale facsimile of Amanda Wingfield and/or Blanche DuBois. It ran for a disappointing 102 performances.

In 1952, the brilliant director and Eugene O’Neill champion, Jose Quintero (pictured to the left), decided that Summer and Smoke was a much better play than its Broadway production had indicated. He revived Williams’ script at his relatively new Off Broadway theatre, Circle in the Square, located at 159 Bleecker Street in the heart of Greenwich Village. In the leading role of Alma Winemiller, Quintero cast a relatively unknown Southern actress named Geraldine Page.

The rest, as they say, is history. This Off Broadway production of Summer and Smoke was a smash hit with both critics and audiences. It ran for 356 performances, putting Off Broadway on the map for the very first time. The production catapulted Circle in the Square to the front of the Off Broadway movement. It also made Geraldine Page a star. She went from obscurity to being universally recognized as one of the finest actresses on the American stage. Her reputation was so great that, when Paramount made a film of Summer and Smoke in 1961, they insisted that Ms. Page play Alma. Her performance was nominated for an Oscar. The photo to the right is a publicity still from the film.

After her performance, Tennessee Williams himself began telling everyone that when he considered all the characters he had ever created, he considered Alma Winemiller to be his personal favorite.

Stu Falconer is not the only Richmond theatre connection to this story of the birth of Off Broadway. Due in no small part to the success of Summer and Smoke, the Circle in the Square became an Off Broadway icon, achieving so much success in the 50s and 60s that it chose to make the big move to Broadway proper in 1972. The Circle in the Square theatre we know today on W. 50th—home of Putnam County Spelling Bee—was build as the Broadway home for the Circle in the Square company. It is one of only two “thrust” theatres on Broadway, with audiences surrounding the stage on three sides, similar to our Barksdale spaces in Richmond and Hanover.

Over the next 20 years, the Circle in the Square company, with its Off Broadway sensibilities, found it increasingly impossible to succeed on Broadway. In 1994, the leadership of the company was passed from its co-founders, Jose Quintero and Theodore Mann, to former Richmonder Josie Abady (pictured to the left). Josie was the daughter of the late Theatre IV Board member Nina Abady. Josie had a tough time at Circle in the Square, and after only two years the reins were passed again to Gregory Mosher. More recently, Josie returned to Richmond to direct Wit at TheatreVirginia. It was to be her last production. She soon thereafter succombed to brain cancer, a disease she had been battling for years. It was a tremendous loss to American theatre.

In 1997, the Circle in the Square theater company closed its doors forever. However, the theatre facility that carries its name is still in operation today as a commercial Broadway theatre. In addition to housing smaller Broadway productions like Spelling Bee, the facility houses the Circle in the Square Theatre School, the only accredited training conservatory associated with a Broadway theatre. Our own Chase Kniffen is an alumnus of the Circle in the Square School.

As for Summer and Smoke, Williams revised the script in 1964, re-titling it Eccentricities of a Nightingale. Nightingale was produced on Swift Creek Mill’s Sunday Series in the late 70s, starring Janie Bushway and our own Phil Whiteway.

--Bruce Miller