Do Two Slam Dunk Reviews Make Doubt: A Parable a Hit?

Posted by Billy Christopher Maupin

If they don't, then perhaps four sold out shows in the first two weekends of performances do.

Dave Timberline's review "Nun Better" appears in tomorrow's issue of STYLE Weekly.

A few highlights:

"No need to think twice: Barksdale’s

Doubt: A Parable is a winner."

"...an edgy and engrossing delight."

And my personal favorite quote from the review:

"Under Keri Wormald’s meticulous direction,

the Barksdale’s cast doesn’t just do justice to

John Patrick Shanley’s

Pulitzer Prize-winning script;

it delivers a precision-cut gem of a production,

each facet sharp and sparkling."

Tickets may be reserved online through the Barksdale Theatre website or by calling the box office at 282-2620.

(The full review may be viewed by clicking "Nun Better" above or via http://www.styleweekly.com/article.asp?idarticle=16373.)

Making the Most of Moonlight Memorabilia

Posted by John Steils

Moonlight and Magnolias was the original working title of the novel that you and I know and love as Gone with the Wind. Moonlight and Magnolias is also the title of a hilarious new comedy by Ron Hutchinson that is making the rounds of lots of regional theatres nationwide and will be opening in its Virginia premiere at Barksdale Willow Lawn tomorrow night.

This very funny new play is about an extraordinary rescue mission devised by film producer David O. Selznick, portrayed by Joe Pabst in the photo above and to the right with Joy Williams as his secretary Miss Popenghul. The making of Gone with the Wind was not going well, history tells us, so Selznick fired his original director, George Cukor and, playwright Hutchinson imagines, escaped for five days to his locked office with new director Victor Fleming (portrayed by David Bridgewater in the foreground of the photo above and to the left), and dramatist Ben Hecht to rewrite the screenplay and rescue the film.

Comic madness ensues.

We’re really excited about Moonlight and Magnolias, and we want Richmond to be excited too. We want coming to see Moonlight and Magnolias to be an EVENT, just like going to see Gone with the Wind was an EVENT in the early 40s.

So our marketing department contacted John Wiley, Jr., a great guy and Richmond resident who also happens to be one of the nation’s foremost collectors of Gone with the Wind memorabilia. John’s museum-quality collection has not been shown publicly in Richmond since 1989. But for the last week, John and Judi Crenshaw, our publicist extraordinaire, have been assembling the fascinating memorabilia in our lobby gallery.

Now there are two reasons to visit Barksdale Willow Lawn during the next six weeks—a great play AND a great exhibit. My camera doesn't do justice at all to the artifacts, so please imagine them in much better light.

The gallery display includes copies of nearly every book and biography ever written about David O. Selznick, Victor Fleming and Ben Hecht, the three major characters in the show. There are life-size color cutouts of Vivien Leigh as Scarlett and Clark Gable as Rhett, created originally as lobby displays for the film. There’s an autographed first edition of the novel, with dust jacket—signed by Margaret Mitchell herself.

There are actual front pages from The Atlanta Journal and The Atlanta Constitution on the days that Ms Mitchell was injured and died. Among a wealth of other Mitchell memorabilia, there are signed Christmas cards and the shiny green book band that was added to all copies of Gone with the Wind after it won the Pulitzer Prize.

Two Richmond women also figure in the collection. The first is Marcella Rabwin, a Richmond-native who wrote Yes, Mr. Selznick after serving as his executive assistant for 15 years. Ms Rabwin’s character is portrayed in the play by Joy Williams. And then there’s Em Bowles Locker Alsop, a Richmond native who was one of only 31 women to be brought to Hollywood for a screen test for the role of Scarlett. Photos and other mementos from both women are featured prominently in the display.

There are also original posters, an original film reel (complete with the film itself), a press badge from the opening of the film in Atlanta, and endless magazine covers, paper dolls and sheet music, many in different languages. Among my favorite items are a series of signed costume sketches.

So, if you enjoy comedy, if you enjoy history, if you enjoy having a great night on the town, don’t miss Moonlight and Magnolias, starring Dave Bridgewater, Joe Pabst and Scotty Wichmann (pictured to the left), and directed by Steve Perigard. And join us in thanking John Wiley, Jr. for sharing his remarkable and fascinating collection with all of Richmond.

--John Steils

Wepplo, Carter Todd and Wagoner Succeed as Fools

Posted by Bruce Miller

Great news from our friends in Idaho! Richmond actress Aly Wepplo (the shy daughter in Smoke on the Mountain at Hanover Tavern and Older Patrick's wife at the end of Mame) was such a hit in this summer's Spitfire Grill in Hailey that she's been invited back for Company of Fools' Fall Season opener, Doubt by John Patrick Shanley. She'll be playing Sister James. The show runs in Idaho Oct 17 through Nov 3.

Barksdale will be staging Doubt (winner of the 2005 Tony Award and Pulitzer Prize) this season as well on our Signature Season at Willow Lawn, February 15 - March 16, starring Irene Ziegler under Keri Wormald's direction.

Adding icing to the Idaho cake, the four person cast of Doubt at Company of Fools will also feature another of Richmond's talented alumnae, Michelle Carter Todd (Fairy Godmother in Theatre IV's Cinderella) as Mrs. Muller. Michelle and her husband Cliff have been living in L A for the past several years, and doing quite well. It's been a pleasure to keep up with them as their careers have continued to flourish.

The only actor already cast in the Barksdale production of Doubt is Irene Ziegler.

A final congratulation goes out to Debra Wagoner (Glenda in Theatre IV's most recent Wizard of Oz). After her many roles at Company of Fools, she was named a Company Artist this summer in Idaho, an honor she shares with world-famous Demi Moore and Bruce Willis, and Richmond-famous Dennis Rexroad, Laine Satterfield, Robert Throckmorton, and Joel Vilinsky.

You can learn more about the wonderful work at Company of Fools by visiting http://www.companyoffools.org/ . As always, we're so happy for their continuing success.

--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