Jill Bari Steinberg - Part III

After introducing you to Evan Nasteff yesterday, today we're back for Part 3 of our interview with Jill Bari Steinberg. I guess we're testing your ability to multi-task. I'd know for sure what we're doing but I'm too confused. Anyway, in case you need reminding, Jill Bari is appearing this weekend and next in Kimberly Akimbo, the quirky comedy that is attracting new fans every day. Kimberly is produced by Cadence Theatre Company in partnership with Barksdale's Theatre Gym. Following unanimously rave reviews, its final five performances are as follows: Saturday Oct 29 @ 8 pm, Tuesday Nov 1 @ 7 pm, Thursday Nov 3 @ 8 pm, Friday Nov 4 @ 8 pm, Saturday Nov 5 @ 8 pm. We hope you'll join us for the fun!

Q - Hi Jill Bari. We're glad to have you back. Sorry we had to bump Part 3 of your interview so we could sneak in a little promo for Becky's New Car?

A - Is that what that Evan the Bartender thing was all about?

Q - Well, sort of.

A - Yuuuch. (a Yiddish noise that sounds like a shoulder shrug) I did like his joke about the top hat. (deep, dirty chuckle)

Q - Anyway, Kimberly Akimbo concerns a dysfunctional family, and your character is a major part of the dysfunction. What does this family have to say to us? Why should we spend two hours with them?

A - “What dysfunction? I’m just trying to get to Miami . I don’t understand the question. Do you have a spare $20?” – That’s what Debra would say. I have yet to meet a family that was dysfunction-free. For that reason alone people should like this play. Either they will recognize themselves, recognize their family members, they will be happy they're not as crazy as the Levacos, or probably a little of all the above. Through the Levaco’s dysfunction there is a real positive message about living life.

Q - Speaking of living life, how did you meet Steve and how does he deal with your theatre habit?

A - I met Steve because of theatre. I was in a Firehouse show and the stage manager, Kathleen Boyle, had a birthday so we took her to a place she liked called Chuggers. I had never been there. Steve's band was playing a gig there and then we got married. It only took 8 years. As a musician he understands being an artist and has only ever supported me and encouraged me. He was even in Hedwig with me at the Firehouse. He was great!

Q - Barksdale strives to be a major national theatre. Does Richmond need a major national theatre, or would our community's artists and audiences be just as well served if all the theatres were of a smaller size?

A - I think the more theatre the better, that being said I do prefer quality over quantity, that being said many smaller theatres in Richmond put out great quality shows, that being said...oh, I don't know what I'm saying anymore. These questions are too hard.

It would be great if Barksdale was a major national theatre. They already are in my mind. And it would be great for our city if Barksdale gained even more national attention.

Q - All of us at Barksdale believe we benefit from constructive suggestions. If you could change one thing at Barksdale, what would it be?

A - A year ago I would have said please bring back Theatre Gym but that's what you just did! Now I wish only for calm seas and smooth sailing, financially speaking. And I know that's not easy.

Q - What's the weirdest audition experience you've ever had?

A - Years ago I was at an audition and I was in a packed room full of actors I didn't know. I read the scene and the director asked me to read it again. That was all he said – “Read it again." I don't like auditioning in front of crowds of other actors. Auditions are hard enough and that is a lot of pressure, especially in a room full of strangers. So I was already not feeling very confident and I had only been cast in two plays in Richmond at that point and didn't know a lot of people but I read it again anyway. The director looked at me and said loud enough so everyone could hear, "When I asked you to read it again I meant with more personality, not less." I must have looked like someone punched me in the gut. I just walked out. Now that I have been in this city so long I always make it a point to introduce myself to the new guys at the auditions if I can. I remember that feeling of being sort of an outsider and it sucked.

I have never had an experience like that since then and I never auditioned for that director again. But I hope he saw The Syringa Tree.

Coincidentally that was also the day I won a Phoebe Award for A View from The Bridge. After I left that horrible audition I ran into my friend Paul James in the lobby and he said “Congratulations, Jill Bari!” I looked at him like he had two heads and said “What do you mean, Congratulations? I was just humiliated in that audition!” He just smiled and said “You just won a Phoebe.”

It ended up being a pretty good day after all.

(Photo captions: top - hosting the first RTCC Awards, with Duke Lafoon and Vicki McLeod; middle - appearing in The Laramie Project with Theatre IV; bottom - her legendary performance in The Syringa Tree)

Jill Bari/JB - Call Her Anything 'cept Late for Casting Call

We're back for another visit with Richmond favorite (and Theatre Gym veteran) Jill Bari Steinberg. From what I've observed, most of Jill Bari's friends call her "Jill Bari" ("Bari" being pronounced exactly the same as "Barry"), although JB also seems to be popular. At least one close friend consistently calls her Jill. Jill Bari is married to musician Steve Organ.
Q - Thanks again for taking the time to talk with us. Should I call you Jill Bari, or JB, or Jill?

A - Yes.

Q - Do you have a day job, other than acting?

A - I work at the Library of Virginia. It's wonderful being surrounded by history, genealogy, and so many books. It's also nice to see people research their own family records. Corrie Barton, Jacquie O'Connor and Dan Stackhouse also work there, so one of us is always promoting one Richmond production or another. There's a group of my co-workers that comes to see most of my shows, and that group seems to be growing, so that's nice. We all have to do what we can to build the Richmond audience.

Q - You've had the opportunity to play a great variety of characters. Does any one role stand out as being particularly challenging or invigorating?

A - There's something challenging about every role and every performance. Sometimes I feel good about my work, and sometimes I fail miserably, but there is always a lot to learn from every experience and from every person you get to work with. I think I've had the chance to work with and learn from the best directors in town--Anna (who's directing Kimberly), Steve, Keri, Bruce, Scotty, Bo, Rick (St Peter--I'm new and had to ask), to name a few. The role I'm currently playing is challenging and fun because she's crazy and grounded at the same time. Luckily, I'm not alone. I have Anna to guide me, and an amazing cast of actors to listen to on stage. With Irene Ziegler, Debra Wagoner, Richard Koch and Matt Mitchell by my side, performing the role of Aunt Debra is a real blast.

Q - What's the best thing about working with Anna Senechal Johnson?

A - She's positive and supportive and wicked smart. This production is her vision of this great material brought to life. It's not easy to tell a bunch of seasoned (ie: old) actors what to do, but Anna always knows what will work best for the play. She directs with equal parts listening, problem solving, kindness and skill.

One of my favorite Anna directing moments happened during rehearsals for My Children! My Africa! (mid-90s). There's a moment in the script when the character I was playing has a complete meltdown--she screams, cries and even collapses. At the time that seemed like the scariest thing in the world to me, so I tried convincing Anna that it would be a lot stronger moment if I held back and didn't go there. She didn't agree and said something like, "That's what that moment is all about, losing all your confidence and comfort and control. Use your fear. I know you can do it." What resulted was--for me--a real breakthrough and one of my favorite moments ever on stage. That is something cool that the best directors I've worked with all have in common--they have always said something along the lines of "This is something you can do." That confidence in you from someone you admire goes a long way.

Q - If you go just by the numbers, one could say that the majority of the Richmond mass audience attends only touring blockbusters like Wicked or The Lion King, touring shows at the Landmark. What would you say to these masses to encourage them to attend a locally produced production?

A - First I'd say, "Good for you! You went to the theatre! Didn't you love it?" Then I'd gently suggest that they're really missing out if that is all that they're seeing. If they love musicals, I'd tell them to go see whatever musical is currently playing at Barksdale or Theatre IV or Swift Creek, and suggest we talk about it afterward. Dirty Rotten Scoundrels, Putnam County Spelling Bee, Once on This Island, Joseph, Annie, Seussical, Urinetown, The Sound of Music--the list of truly great, splashy, locally produced musicals goes on and on, and all of them were better than any bus and truck show I've ever seen. We buy local produce and goods because they are just better. It's the same with theatre. Not that I'm biased or anything.

(Part 3 coming soon to a blog near you! Photo captions: as the daughter in On Golden Pond with Joe Inscoe, as the mother in Last Days of Judas Iscariot with Jesse Mattes, as the niece in How I Learned to Drive with Gordon Bass)

Theatre Gym Veteran JB Steinberg Discusses "Kimberly"

This week we're posting a three-part interview with Jill Bari Steinberg, one of Richmond's finest. JB is currently starring as the truly dysfunctional Aunt Debra in Kimberly Akimbo, by Pulitzer Prize-winning playwright David Lindsay Abaire, running for two more weekends at Theatre Gym, the 81-seat studio theatre space in the historic Empire Theatre complex. Kimberly is directed by Anna Senechal Johnson, and produced by Cadence Theatre Company in partnership with Barksdale's Theatre Gym. Theatre Gym used to be the name of Theatre IV's initiative through which facilities and other services were shared free-of-charge with independent artists who wanted to co-produce outstanding, contemporary, provocative theatre. Today, Theatre Gym is the name of not only the initiative, but also the facility itself. The 81-seat studio space is no longer named The Little Theatre--it's now Theatre Gym. New signage will be coming soon! Jill Bari is practically a founder of Theatre Gym. The Barksdale Buzz was pleased to catch up with her to discuss present and past experiences.

Q - Thanks for talking with us, Ms. Steinberg. I'm told you grew up in Portsmouth. What brought you to our fair city?

A - I came to Richmond for VCU and stayed. My first professional Richmond production was Boys' Life, directed by Dan Ruth and produced by Keri Wormald. For a couple wonderful years Dan and Keri had a small stage company called Shadowcast Theatre Works. It was a great experience. The show was performed upstairs at what was then the Paradise Cafe-- now it's the deLux Diner & Lounge--one of the many Richmond theatre spaces that have come and gone.

Q - Has Richmond theatre changed that much over the years?

A - I think we have more theatre companies around now. That's a good thing in that it gives more people a chance to develop their craft.

Q - You've performed a lot in Theatre Gym. What's the experience like?

A - I love Theatre Gym because of its intimacy. In its early days, Theatre Gym provided a venue to a lot of actors and directors when not many other spaces were open to them, a way to produce something yourself to show the world what you had to offer. I feel like I grew up there in an artistic sense, having acted in My Children! My Africa!, How I Learned to Drive, Heathen Valley, The Cripple of Inishmaan, A Devil Inside, and the initial run of The Syringa Tree--as well as working behind the scenes on Jack and Jill and Raised in Captivity.

The intimacy of the space is great, but it also offers challenges. For some reason, people in the front row think it's OK to rest their feet on the stage. I guess it's nice that they're so comfortable there, but it drives me crazy. One night during The Syringa Tree, a gentleman's cell phone rang, which would have been bad enough but he decided to answer it, and then, while talking to his friend, he proceeded to walk across the stage to the actors' exit door. All 24 characters in my head wanted to scream at him. But I stayed cool, ignored him and continued the play.

One of my funniest moments on stage happened during A Devil Inside (pictured to the right). My character was dead after throwing herself under a moving train. Bill Blair and Bridget Gethins were playing a scene next to my decimated body. Bridget was supposed to shoot Bill at the end of the scene, and then he dies--I think just about everybody in that play died in the end. Anyway, Bridget goes to shoot Bill and the gun doesn't make a sound. So Bill grabbed his chest, started to collapse with a final death groan and haltingly shouted, "Oh! A silencer!!"

My poor little train-ravaged body started shaking with laughter and I couldn't stop. Since the audience was only three feet away, someone had to have noticed. Now if only I'd had that silencer when the guy with the cell phone walked across stage...

(To be continued... Photo captions: middle photo--Jill Bari with her husband Steve Organ; bottom photo--the cast of A Devil Inside: [back row, left to right] Steve Perigard, Bill Blair, Rick Brandt, [front row, left to right] Jill Bari Steinberg, Bridget Gethins, and an actress whose name Bruce can't remember, 'cause he doesn't think it's Donna Coghill but he might be wrong. Can someone help us please?])

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

Theatre Gym Returns with Cadence's "Kimberly Akimbo"

Posted by Bruce Miller
With Thursday's preview and Friday's opening night performances of Kimberly Akimbo, our fabled Theatre Gym series will rise again like a phoenix from the ashes. Kimberly Akimbo is produced by Cadence Theatre Company in partnership with Barksdale's Theatre Gym. Directed by Anna Senechal Johnson, this quirky comedy by Pulitzer Prize-winning playwright David Lindsay-Abaire stars four of Richmond's favorite actors: Irene Ziegler, Debra Wagoner, Richard Koch, and Jill Bari Steinberg, joined by recent Theatre VCU grad Matt Mitchell.

Theatre Gym began in 1991 as an indie initiative of Theatre IV. Through our Theatre Gym program, independent theatre artists were given the opportunity to produce edgy work of their own choosing for adult audiences. Theatre IV provided free-of-charge use of the Little Theatre, box office services, and access to our set, costume and prop inventories. One hundred percent of ticket revenues went to the independent producer, and artists were paid a percentage of those revenues rather than a set fee.

Outstanding Theatre Gym productions included My Children! My Africa! by Athol Fugard, The Cripple of Inishmaan by Martin McDonagh, Jails, Hospitals and Hip Hop by Danny Hoch, Oleanna by David Mamet, How I Learned to Drive by Paula Vogel, The Syringa Tree by Pamela Gien (pictured with Jill Bari Steinberg to left), Topdog/Underdog by Suzan-Lori Parks, Italian American Reconciliation by John Patrick Shanley, Heathen Valley by Romulus Linney, Life Under Water by Richard Greenberg, Lobby Hero by Kenneth Lonergan, Keely and Du and Jack and Jill by Jane Martin, Rules of the Lake by Irene Ziegler, Boom Town by Jeff Daniels, SubUrbia by Eric Bogosian, Jesus Hopped the A Train by Stephen Adly Guirgis, The Dead Monkey by Nick Darke, Abundance by Beth Henley, and Raised in Captivity by Nicky Silver, and many others.

One of our 1990s Theatre Gym productions was A Devil Inside, an early work by then novice playwright David Lindsay-Abaire, directed by Anna Senechal in her pre-Johnson years. Anna was and is friends with Lindsay-Abaire's wife, Chris, and Theatre IV's Theatre Gym was one of the first companies in the nation to produce his work. Twenty years later, Lindsay-Abaire would win the Pulitzer for Rabbit Hole. Now, once again, Anna Senechal Johnson (pictured to the right with Cadence's cast of Fool for Love) will be directing another of his plays, Kimberly Akimbo, in partnership with Theatre Gym.

There are two major changes in Theatre Gym now vs Theatre Gym then.
1) It used to be that the initiative was named Theatre Gym, but the performance facility was named the Little Theatre. Now, both the initiative and the facility are named Theatre Gym.
2) It used to be that each Theatre Gym production was co-produced by a different independent producer. In 2011-12, and we hope beyond, all Theatre Gym productions will be produced by Cadence Theatre Company in partnership with Barksdale's Theatre Gym.

Barksdale still provides the performance venue, box office services, and access to set/costume/prop inventories free of charge. We also provide limited PR and lots of producing advice. All ticket revenues are still used to pay the artists involved with the production.

Theatre Gym has been on hiatus for the last several years, initially because of interior damage caused by a leaking roof, and then because we were just too busy with other projects to add anything else to our plates. By partnering full-time with Cadence Theatre, we hope to be able to keep the program going without over-burdening our already ridiculous workloads.

If you would like to be a part of history re-making itself, please join us for Kimberly Akimbo, opening this Friday evening. It's going to be a great show, and herald the long-awaited return of an important and innovative Richmond theatre initiative.

--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