Revisiting the Days...

Posted by Billy Christopher Maupin

I was just revisiting two of the questionnaires that have been posted this season and since Ms. Louis and Ms. Roop are currently appearing on the boards in Barksdale's hit production of Doubt: a Parable, I thought I might relink them for your reading pleasure!

Katherine Louis, now turning in a show-stopping cameo performance as Mrs. Muller, came by and offered her thoughts in the fall when she was working on our season opener, The Member of the Wedding. You can revisit her post here.

Maggie Roop, who provides a beautifully honest portrayal of the young nun, Sister James, answered the questionnaire more recently as she was dazzling audiences in the ensemble of Theatre IV's production of Rumpelstiltskin's Daughter, while SIMULTANEOUSLY rehearsing for her current performance in Doubt: a Parable. The bulk of her questionnaire can be viewed here on the Theatre IV blog (as well as her talking about working on both productions), but there were a couple of answers that seemed just a bit too racy for The Children's Theatre of Virginia, so the rest of her questionnaire can be viewed here on the Barksdale Buzz.

Enjoy revisiting!

Oh, ALSO, Mary Burruss has a nice post on the Richmond VA Theatre blog that is primarily about Doubt. You can see that here.

Maggie Roop Does Double Duty

Posted by Billy Christopher Maupin


Maggie Roop is currently appearing as Lady Vennesse/ Granny/ Ensemble in Rumpelstiltskin's Daughter with Theatre IV (running at the Empire Theatre through next Sunday, while rehearsing the role of Sister James in Barksdale Theatre's production of Doubt: a Parable by John Patrick Shanley, both productions being part of the Acts of Faith Festival. Here she fills out the questionnaire and then talks about pulling double-duty in these productions.

Two questions that I felt I couldn't post the complete answers to on the Theatre IV blog are listed below:

Least favorite word: I think my new least favorite is "wimple"!! I really don't like "panties" either.

Must-see TV show: LOST!!!! Sex and the City is awesome over and over. My new fave is Life.

To view Maggie's complete questionnaire and to read about her experience working on two productions simultaneously, visit the Theatre IV Blog at www.theatreiv.blogspot.com.

The Reviews are in for RD

Posted by Billy Christopher Maupin

What some are saying about Rumpelstiltskin's Daughter at Theatre IV:

Mary Burruss (a regular theatre critic for STYLE Weekly) writes on the RichmondVATheater Blog:

"[My seven-year-old daughter and I] both walked out with big smiles on our faces."

"Engaging for kids of a variety of ages and the adults who escort them, funny, enlightening with it's message, politically correct for our time, colorful and just the right length"

"new, well directed, well acted, well designed and crafted set, sound, and lighting, appropriate, fun, well thought out costumes, excellent make-up, choreography that is appropriate for the show and its actors, and wonderfully talented cast who's abilities are utilized properly to make a show that flows seemingly flawlessly across the stage"

"hilariously wicked duo of Jackie Jones and Matt James"

"fell in love with Richard Koch as the King"

"really great theatre"

Susan Haubenstock writes in today's Richmond Times-Dispatch review:

"Dawn A. Westbrook is the director/choreographer, and she brings lots of fun to the show, aided especially by Elizabeth Weiss Hopper's witty costumes and Greig Leach's brightly colored scenic design. Westbrook's dance numbers are especially amusing, and she gives her villains--the hilarious Jacqueline Jones as the Queen Mother and Matthew James as the Duke of Bonfire--loads of funny business to do."

"Richard Koch, who gives a hysterical performance as the King. He's greedy, he's vain, he dresses funny, and he talks silly -- he's a perfect buffoon."

YAY! Congrats to Theatre IV!!! Get your tickets! It closes in only two weeks on February 10.

Also be sure to be on the look out for another free ticket contest and the "An Actor Prepares" blog at http://www.theatreiv.blogspot.com/.

Tickets can be purchased online or by calling the box office at 344-8040. (Or you can purchase tickets through the Barksdale Theatre box office with the same phone call, while you're purchasing tickets for Doubt: A Parable [Starring Duke Lafoon, Irene Ziegler, Maggie Roop, and Katherine Louis]).

Dawn Westbrook...Questionnaire...'Nuff Said

Posted by Billy Christopher Maupin

Dawn Westbrook, our hysterical director of Rumpelstiltskin's Daughter, has filled out the new questionnaire! This woman is a riot! So I'm just gonna let it speak for herself. And if you wanna see her hysterics onstage, come check out RD at Theatre IV, opening THIS FRIDAY!

Hometown: Sandston, Virginia

Audition song: "Don’t Rain on My Parade" from Funny Girl

Special skills:Right now??? Doctoring up gold coins to make them shiny.

Favorite word: Cozy

First show ever saw: Professional would have been at Theatre VA and I think it was Tintypes

If you could go back in time and catch one show (Broadway or otherwise) what would it be?: The original cast, opening night of A Chorus Line.

Favorite show tune: I love “The Story Goes on” (if sung well)… from Baby.

Least favorite word: No

Favorite play: I loved watching Take Me Out sometimes I can’t tell if I enjoy great direction and magical moments, or the writing better. It is GREAT when they are both present. This one had both!

Favorite musical: I absolutely ADORE Avenue Q!!!!!

Most played song on your iPod (or CD player): "Love is Gone" at the gym or running.

Last book you read: Eat, Love, Pray but I am currently reading Obama’s newest book The Audacity of Hope.

Sound or noise you love: Mommie!!! Being screamed by my daughter when I come home.

Must-see TV show: My husband and I love American Idol, but I haven’t had a chance to watch it this season due to rehearsal conflicts. My favorite show is Entourage.

Last good movie you saw: Juno, which was recommended by my friend Jacquie O’Connor. My husband and I were able to finagle a date during rehearsals and one of my Friday nights off we caught dinner and this movie. Made for a great date night. And again…I’m back to “cozy” and “good direction and writing” all in one evening. Nothing better, my friend, nothing better.

Sound or noise you hate: The word NO. I hate saying it and I HATE hearing it.

Worst job you ever had: Working for a man I didn’t respect at Northwestern Mutual Service with 9-5 hours.

First stage kiss: South Pacific in High School with former Richmonder R.L. Rowsey

Worst costume ever: There are worst designs and then there are one’s that just didn’t flatter. I think I’ll leave this one alone.

What turns you on (creatively, spiritually, emotionally)?: Creatively would have to be “Yes, I think we can do that!” Spiritually would have to be when justice and harmony are present and make their energies known to the universe. Emotionally …is a little more difficult to describe, but I think it’s when I FEEL the presence of justice, harmony and/or love in a moment, because I think that gives us a glimmer into what GOD is all about.

Billy-Christopher Has Surrendered to the Questionnaire

Posted by Billy Christopher Maupin

My turn! (Makes me think of Bronson Pinchot in the Broadway revival of Putting It Together when he came out to sing "Buddy's Blues" from Follies. Anybody? ...Nobody?)

I thought I wouldn't do the questionnaire, since it might seem a bit odd to do it and post it myself. And my boss (the fabulous Sara Marsden, Director of Marketing) also thought it was odd), but I figured what the heck. I'm in a show daggone it; and the mood struck me, so here it is: (Just ignore the rather dated headshot there at the top.)

Hometown: Campbellsville, KY

Audition song: "Not a Day Goes By" from Merrily We Roll Along (for EVERYTHING!!!) I auditioned for a pop show in NY with this song and the casting director asked me to learn a pop song and he would like to see me again. Very nice guy.

Got my Equity card singing this song in the style of Huck Finn!!! Special skills: hehehe...a bad Katherine Hepburn imitation. And I can eat popcorn out of my nose without using my hands.

Favorite word: lascivious

First show ever saw: Cats (ech...ech...sorry, hairball)

If you could go back in time and catch one show (Broadway or otherwise) what would it be?: First replacements in Sweeney Todd: Dorothy Loudon (Tony winner as the original Miss Hannigan) and George Hearn

Favorite show tune: "I Dreamed a Dream" from Les Miserables; such an incredibly well-crafted piece.

Least favorite word: How about phrase? "You're too young." I've heard that several times lately.

Favorite play: The Zoo Story by Edward Albee (who turns 80 on March 12!!!)

Favorite musical: Oh...so hard to choose... Godspell, Les Mis, Jekyll and Hyde (concept version, not that mess that ended up onstage), Sweeney Todd, ...

Most played song on your iPod (or CD player): currently anything on Patti Lupone's The Lady with the Torch album

Last book you read: Pillowman by Martin McDonagh. Disturbing. Wish that I hadn't started, but once I did, I couldn't put it down.

Sound or noise you love: a creek

Must-see TV show: Golden Girls (hehehe)

Last good movie you saw: Across the Universe (I bow to Julie Taymor)

Sound or noise you hate: Macy Gray singing.

Worst job you ever had: McDonald's (four times; three different McDonald's), which was rivaled only by a theatre I did summerstock with, but we'll let that lie.

First stage kiss: I was 21, she was 15 (and in her first professional production). I had just moved from Kentucky to take my first fulltime professional acting job in The Diary of Anne Frank. She remains to be one of the most professional actors I have ever worked with.

Worst costume ever: The Secret Garden. Dickon. Knickers. Vest. Neither of which are very flattering to guys that are not small. I was quite not small then.

What turns you on (creatively, spiritually, emotionally)?: A great connection. Onstage or off. Indefinable. But you can feel it when it happens. Especially when you're sitting in an audience watching it happen...or sitting across a table from that person and it's happening.

RTD Takes a Peek at RD

Posted by Billy Christopher Maupin

Sunday's Richmond Times-Dispatch featured a fantastic feature about Rumpelstiltskin's Daughter with a HUGE picture of Gigi!

You can check it out at InRich.com. The piece is by Celia Wren, who does a lot of really great coverage of theatre here in Richmond, as well as in several other publications, including American Theatre magazine.

http://www.inrich.com/cva/ric/search.apx.-content-articles-RTD-2008-01-20-0081.html

Rumpelstiltskin's Daughter Grows a Bit of Magic Herself with the New and "Improved"(?) Questionnaire

Posted by Billy Christopher Maupin

Guinea pig number two turns out to be the actress playing the title character in Theatre IV's AMERICAN PREMIERE production of Rumpelstitskin's Daughter. Gigi Galiffa is a 17-year-old senior at Atlee High School. 17!!! Playing the title character!!!!! And her singing the song "Secret of Gold"!!!!!!! I would buy a ticket just to hear her sing this song. Even if there weren't a gazillion other fantastic things about this show, Gigi singing this song is...yeah...the first time I heard her sing it was during a run-through and I was sitting off-stage talking to Thomas and apparently dropped out mid-sentence to listen. It's really stunning. Aside from being a great talent, she's so much fun! Such a fun cast we have!

There's even more stuff about the rehearsal process, etc. on Theatre IV's blog now. So be sure to keep checking in there as well! http://www.theatreiv.blogspot.com/

So, without further ado...(where are the timpanis when you need them?)...Gigi's questionnaire!

Hometown: I’ve lived in the Ville my whole life (aka Mechanicsville, VA).

Audition song: For Rumpelstiltskin’s Daughter I sang “A Place Called Home” from A Christmas Carol. I recently sang “Home” from Maury Yeston’s Phantom for another audition…. Hopefully singing about home is my good luck charm =].

Favorite word: Serendipity: an aptitude for making desirable discoveries by accident. I like the movie, too.

First show ever saw: The first show I can really recall seeing was The Best Christmas Pageant Ever when I was in 4th grade. And where else but Theatre IV? Then 4 years later, I actually got to be in the same show at Theatre IV. Now it’s about 4 years later and I’m in Rumpelstiltskin’s Daughter, the first show I’ve been in at Theatre IV since then. Funny how things work out, huh?

Favorite musical: Holy cow. Where do I start? If I had to pick one, it would probably be Hairspray.

Most played song on your iPod (or CD player): Most likely something by Michael Buble or the Candyskins.

Last book you read: I read The Kite Runner after I got it for Christmas. It was one of the most powerful books I’ve ever read and I definitely recommend it. Now I’m reading Dracula, but I’ll probably have to set that aside to read Pride and Prejudice (one of my all-time favorites) for English class.

Sound or noise you love: Waves crashing at the beach. A racquet hitting a tennis ball.

Must-see TV show: The Biggest Loser. They change people’s lives on that show! I love it!

Last good movie you saw: Shakespeare in Love…*sigh*

Worst job you ever had: Well seeing as I’ve only had one job…it wasn’t bad. I was a hostess at the Grapevine II in the Short Pump area.

First stage kiss: Two years ago in Guys and Dolls. I played Sarah Brown and my friend who played Sky Masterson is about 5834956289305732 feet tall. Haha. It was interesting.

Worst costume ever: I could tell you about several dance costumes, but here’s one of the worst. Picture a black biker shorts unitard with cap-sleeves. Oh, and it gets better…a huge, red, sequin-bordered, velveteen, broken heart covering the entire surface area of my third grade stomach and chest. And we mustn’t forget the accessories: bright red bobby socks worn with pink ballet shoes and a red and silver sequined headband worn hippie-style. Song, you ask? "Don’t Go Breaking My Heart."

Rumpelstiltskin Weaves Some Magic

Posted by Billy Christopher Maupin

There are some new and exciting things happening on Barksdale Theatre's sister theatre's blog these days. You can check it out here!

One of these fun new things is (drum roll please...)

The new, improved(?) questionnaire has arrived! I have combined questions from James Lipton's adaptation of Pivot's questionnaire (featured on Inside the Actor's Studio), added several questions from Playbill.com's Cue & A, and decided to see how things play without pictures. I'm working toward creating a questionnaire completely (or relatively) unique to Barksdale Theatre and Theatre IV, but for now it's fun to play around with others' ideas.

Our first interviewee is David Janeski who plays Rumpelstiltskin in the American premiere of Rumpelstiltskin's Daughter at Theatre IV (opening next Friday). David also appeared in Smoke on the Mountain (as Dennis, one of the twins; "[He's] the boy.") and Agatha Christie's The Mousetrap at Barksdale Theatre at Hanover Tavern, as well as Mame in Barksdale Theatre's Signature Season.

So...on to the questionnaire!

Hometown: Haymarket, VA. It used to be nowhere. Now it’s where Disney got kicked out, now holds the title of first outpost of DC Traffic. Thank you over development without infrastructure. Grr.

Audition song: I should have one shouldn’t I? I don’t parade myself as a “musical theatre actor;” I think not having a song repertoire is my subconscious way of keeping that. I once sang 8 bars at a 16 bar audition. I offered to sing it twice. They declined.

Special skills: EVERYONE involved in a production has special skills. Skills like imagination, promptness, teamwork.

Favorite word: Whatever my line is :)

First show ever saw: It was a Langston Hughes something at the Kennedy Center

If you could go back in time and catch one show (Broadway or otherwise) what would it be?: Somewhat hesitantly I would go back and see a performance that happened in Richmond December 26th 1811 entitled Raymond and Agnes or The Bleeding Nun, during which the scenery overhead caught fire and burned the place to the ground in

Favorite show tune: Aw really? You know not all of us are in love with musicals. I’ll go with “Till There Was You,” the Beatles version.

Least favorite word: Words mispronounced. ie: Exspecially.

Favorite play: I think this answer for most of us is influenced by the latest plays we’ve read. In that regard I’ll say An Enemy Of The People Ibsen w/ Miller

Favorite musical: Ragtime

Most played song on your iPod (or CD player): Eisley, "Many Funerals." It’s the 1st song on their latest album entitled Combinations

.Last book you read: 1491 by Charles C. Mann. It explores the pre-Colombian societies in the Americas and how they rivaled and even surpassed those of Eurasia.

Sound or noise you love: The tearing of a perforated edge.

Must-see TV show: Frankly, none of them. Aside from a football or baseball game I don’t watch television.

Last good movie you saw: Stardust

Sound or noise you hate: Screeching brakes; I hope nothing serious happened.

Worst job you ever had: I worked as a surveyor for a couple of summers. I carried a compound bucket full of wooden stakes, a small sledge hammer, radio, 5’ metal pole for shooting topography, and drug it all through briars, bogs, and wherever else was still undeveloped in northern Virginia in the late 1990’s. A wasp stung my eyelid; an hour later it looked like I was hiding a golf ball under there. Woo fun!

First stage kiss: I played Romeo in college in a production directed by Richmonder Jack Parrish. That stands as my only stage kiss.

Worst costume ever: Worst as in didn’t fit the show, poorly constructed, I would never wear it but on stage? As Puck in college I wore fur overalls cut for a flood

What turns you on (creatively, spiritually, emotionally)?: Wit coupled with intelligence.

So have a looksey at the Theatre IV blog and bring your kids (or just yourself) to see the American premiere of Rumpelstiltskin's Daughter!

www.theatreiv.blogspot.com

Another Fantastic Cabaret at the Empire Theatre

Posted by Billy Christopher Maupin

I am often accused of not sharing information early enough, so even though there are a lot of exciting things going on next Friday for First Friday at the Empire, I wanted to start getting the word out about the cabaret that will be playing in the lobby FOR FREE (which seemed to be the big question last time: "How much is the cover?"). FREE ENTERTAINMENT; How cool is that?
We featured an incredibly well-received cabaret for First Friday in September; so well-received, in fact, that we are featuring another next week, with several returning faces/voices and several new ones as well.

This time around Corey Davis (most recently of Stuart Little at Theatre IV and Austin's Bridge at the Firehouse Theatre Project, also to be seen in the upcoming Rumpelstiltskin's Daughter at Theatre IV),

Billy Christopher Maupin (seen in Mr. Marmalade and Austin's Bridge at the Firehouse Theatre Project and earlier this year in Smoke on the Mountain at Barksdale Theatre at Hanover Tavern),

Audrey Snyder (Stuart Little with Theatre IV, Frankenstein Lives! at the Carpenter Science Theatre, Where's Charley? at Barksdale Theatre),

and Chloe Williams (Barksdale Theatre's smash hit production of Mame) will return to the stage.

And the vibrant new voices of Taylor Baltimore (currently rehearsing as Petra in Stephen Sondheim and Hugh Wheeler's A Little Night Music with Live Arts in Charlottesville),

Catherine Dudley (who just closed as Snowbell in Stuart Little),

Jacquie O'Connor (recently seen in The Full Monty and Scapino! at Barksdale, as well as I Love You, You're Perfect, Now Change at Swift Creek Mill Playhouse),

and Jonathan Spivey (Barksdale's Cyrano de Bergerac, numerous performances at the University of Richmond, and a stunning Lady #3 in Paul Deiss' adaptation of The Magic Flute with Theatre IV) will join them.

The upcoming cabaret will feature songs from Cabaret, Chicago, Dreamgirls, Side Show, South Pacific, Thoroughly Modern Millie, and more!

So come check out all the exciting things happening, grab a drink at the cash bar and check out a fine cabaret. Life is, after all, a cabaret, ol' chum. So...(yeah...you're singing it...)

Friday, November 2, starting at 7:30PM at the historic Empire Theatre in Downtown Richmond!

(Pictured at right, from September's cabaret are Robin Harris-Jones, Billy Christopher Maupin, Russell Rowland, Janine Sears, Andrea Ross, Audrey Snyder, Corey Davis, Chloe Williams, and Keydron Dunn.)

(NOTE: Headshots appear in order of mention and not necessarily adjacent to name.)