The Good and the Bad at Mill Mountain

Posted by Bruce Miller
We LOVE Mill Mountain Theater, one of our co-producers of Blackbirds of Broadway not so many years ago and a cultural cornerstone of Roanoke for over 40 years. It was with a heavy heart that I read this press release last night from their Board of Directors:

“Roanoke, Virginia, Jan 20, 2009

Mill Mountain Theatre’s Board of Directors announced today that the theater will close its doors on January 21 in order to focus on a reorganization of the Theater’s productions and business operations. Layoffs will begin on that date.

Sharply declining income, reduced state funding, lower than expected donations, changes in consumer entertainment choices, and the effects of today’s challenging economy have left the Theater unable to cover its operating costs. Existing debt is compounding the theater’s financial difficulties.

This difficult decision has been made after a long and thorough scrutiny of alternatives, reforecasts, and requests for relief made to donors and existing creditors.

‘Our traditional business model no longer works. We want to be responsible stewards of our community’s long-standing financial support so we are taking a break from business-as-usual to reinvent Mill Mountain Theater. We are taking an intermission,” says a theater spokesperson, “and plan to reemerge stronger and better than ever.’

Theater Board of Directors and staff are working closely with local officials and key contributors to create a model for the Theater’s future that acknowledges the organization’s historical importance to the region’s identify and tourism initiatives, while being sensitive to today’s economic realities. An aggressive fund-raising campaign based on the new business plan will begin upon the announcement of the plan’s details.

Theaters across the United States, including Broadway, are experiencing the effects of the economic downturn with rising costs and decreased attendance. According to the New York Times, ‘The annual post-holiday doldrums in the theater district are proving particularly doleful in 2009, as more than a dozen plays and musicals—almost half of the current lineup, incredible though it may seem—get ready to close by the end of the month.’ Regional theaters, all approximately the size of Mill Mountain, in Ohio, Florida, Minnesota, and Boston have all closed in recent months.

Theater officials assure Roanoke arts patrons, ‘Mill Mountain Theater is doing the responsible thing and securing its future by reinventing and reinvigorating how we do business.’ The first production of the newly reinvented organization is planned for the 2009 holiday season. Season ticket holders will receive vouchers for cancelled plays that can be applied to next season’s shows.

Of the plays remaining its current season (sic), Mill Mountain will present Driving Miss Daisy (WALDRON STAGE, January 21 – February 8, 2009). The theater box office will close on January 21 but tickets can be purchased by cash or check at the theater box office in the lobby of the Waldron Stage at the Church Avenue entrance one hour before the show.”

The Roanoke Times further reports today that Mill Mountain’s “staff will be let go as of this Friday, January 23, and plans for the theater’s future are uncertain.”

Our hearts and prayers go out to all of our colleagues who will be losing their Mill Mountain jobs at the end of this week.

The bad news is that Mill Mountain is in a position where they are forced to let go their staff and cancel the rest of their season. And that’s pretty bad news.

The good news, and we should celebrate this, is that the Board is facing these challenges responsibly. They are NOT closing the theatre. They are choosing to engage in the hard work of reinventing the theatre to suit emerging financial realities.

I am hopeful that Mill Mountain will return and once again light up its beautiful theatre in the heart of Roanoke. I congratulate the Board on NOT throwing in the towel and walking away. It takes courage, commitment and smarts to continue to fight the good fight, even when the Board, I’m sure, is broke, exhausted and demoralized. Three cheers and then three cheers more to all the Mill Mountain Board members who are refusing to let their institution die. That, my friends, is what it takes.

Business-as-usual is tough. Reinventing the business is a LOT tougher. But a small group of good people can make it work, and, in Mill Mountain’s case, it appears that that is exactly what's happening.

During the long hard days that now begin, Barksdale and Theatre IV will offer whatever support we can to the Mill Mountain Board as they take up this yoke of responsibility and move forward with determination and creativity. God speed.

--Bruce Miller

In Praise of Richmond Theatre

Posted by Bruce Miller
People are suggesting I add my voice to the comments on Dave Timberline’s fine blog, specifically his post of last Wed, Jan 7, entitled “Comment-ary.” To be honest, I tried to post a comment, but it didn’t work. I never seem to be able to post a comment from my home computer anymore. I don’t know what’s wrong; it just ain’t workin’.

Then the more I thought about it, the less inclined I felt to jump in. I have too much to say, and it wouldn't really work as a comment.

The post and the 15 comments that follow it on Dave's blog discuss two, and only two, anonymous opinions that were among the several comments posted online at the Style website, responding to Dave’s year-end wrap-up article. The first comment reads:

“My husband and I moved here from Bethesda, MD almost seven years ago. We were frequent patrons of the theater in Washington, although we never subscribed anyplace. We have been disappointed by the lack of professional theater in Richmond. Most of the shows in Richmond are more like the community theater shows in Washington, which has an excellent community theater scene, but it's just that - community theater. The things that Richmond theaters consider cutting edge look like old hat in other cities. I agree that Scott Wichmann is a wonderful actor, and I look forward to seeing Audra Honaker soon. We would love to see more talent in Richmond. If that means more union theaters, that is what we should try to get.”

I pretty much agree with this comment, and I don’t feel in any way offended by it. None of us should. She’s basically saying that when Richmond theatre features talent like Scotty and Audra, she feels satisfied. When the cast is less talented that these two A-teamers, she feels like she’s watching community theatre. I could add ten names of Richmond actors whom I consider to be in the same league as Scotty and Audra, and my guess is that the Bethesda theatre fan hasn’t seen those ten, or at least hasn't seen them doing their best work. I’ll bet she’s seen other shows that feature B-teamers, or C or D-teamers, and when she does, she longs for her theatres back home in D. C. that can afford to hire Scotty’s and Audra’s all the time. She makes the “if that means more union theatres” comment seemingly unaware that Audra is non-union.

I basically feel the same way she does. I think Richmond has some shows that come off as “professional,” and a lot of shows that come off as “community theatre.” As Ms Bethesda hastens to add, there’s nothing wrong with good community theatre. Would all of Richmond’s theatres like to offer “professional” shows and nothing but? Probably. Do we? No way. Why? Money.

Of course it's not just about actors. Set, costume and light design and construction also effect considerably whether or not a show comes off as "professional." Ditto direction, choreography and music direction. Each of these components is also tied to that old standby ... money.

And yes, what Richmond audiences consider "cutting edge looks like old hat in other cities." Other larger cities, yes. You could say the same thing about any other aspect of Richmond's culture--music, dance, restaurants, bars, clubs, museums, etc etc etc.

The second comment is so much the same-old-same-old that I bet I know who wrote it. It reads:

“Much of the problem, and one of the distinguishing features of Richmond's theatre scene from that of other, demographically similar communities, is the lack of professionalism in the industry in Richmond. There is almost no serious union work, which means the most talented and dedicated professionals have to go to some other, more supportive market to ply their trade. With just a single union theatre, operating on the lowest paying union contract, and the occasional "Special Performance" contract non-union theatres use (terrible money, no benefits), and very limited union TV/film work, there's no incentive for talent to remain here. And audiences are to be congratulated for opting not to spend large sums of money to see theatre which is less than fully professional. The symphony and opera and ballet would never dare use non-professionals (except for children in the Nutcracker, of course) why is theatre allowed to get away with doing so?”

I think this comment is mostly hogwash. With only a few exceptions, Richmond does NOT offer less AEA work than most “demographically similar communities”; Richmond offers more. Richmond's "single union theatre"--I presume he means Barksdale--does NOT operate on "the lowest paying union contract." There are several AEA contracts that pay less. Some talented and dedicated professionals leave Richmond for work in other markets; others stay—Scotty and Audra being two prominent examples. As I've opined before, this is a sign of Richmond theatre's strength, NOT its supposed weakness. Who would say, "Several VCU grads moved on to pursue their doctorates at Harvard and Yale," and consider that to be a negative?

Those who always see “other, more supportive markets” as being greener, should check-in on a regular basis with actors in the D. C. talent-pool. I hardly ever hear from a D. C. actor who doesn’t complain that there’s “no work” in D. C., and talk about how lucky we are here in Richmond. And as for the symphony, opera and ballet never using “non-professionals”—I will in no way disparage my talented colleagues who perform with these great organizations, but if Anonymous is defining “non-professional” as “non-union,” and he is, a significant number of them are non-union and work with compensation packages similar to or less than the compensation packages offered at Barksdale.

I agree that Richmond theatre should be better funded and be able to employ more AEA actors, thereby encouraging more AEA actors to move to or remain in our community. I’m all for better pay for all theatre artists. But wishing for money doesn’t make it magically appear. And I’ll be damned if I’m going to congratulate audience members for ignoring Richmond theatre simply because state and local funding falls so far below national norms. There’s a lot of great theatre in Richmond, and those who can’t see it are, for whatever reason, blinded to the truth.

I’m not trying to say we can shrug off constructive criticism. I don’t think we can or should. I don’t think we do. The Richmond theatre community lacks nothing when it comes to being self-critical and self-assessing. I know very few members of the theatre crowd who support the status quo. My worry is NOT that we sit around congratulating ourselves and basking in glory. My worry is that we eat our young. Negative voices are often the loudest and get the most attention.

Friends, there are people out there with axes to grind. They are resentful of Richmond theatre’s successes. They’ve been hurt, they feel abused, they can’t stand someone or other’s guts. Probably mine.

And they blog on and on, almost always anonymously, and then we debate on and on regarding the validity of their beefs. I think it’s time to be positive and move on.

It’s time we start appreciating what we have here. Often, our published voices paint a picture for the rest of the community that says we don’t think we're very good. The published voices supporting dance, music and opera in Richmond are not nearly as self-critical.

I LOVE theatre in Richmond, warts and all. I believe there are a million ways to make it better. I feel like I’m dedicating my life to doing just that. So are a lot of other talented people. When it comes to talking about Richmond theatre to the general public, I'm going to say it's GREAT, because in many ways it is, and because that's an important step to bringing in new audience members.

Many of the naysayers, in my opinion, have their own agenda that has little to do with improving theatre in Richmond. Maybe I’m all wet. I don’t think so.

--Bruce Miller

Happy Birthday to Linda and Harry!

Posted by Bruce Miller
Please join me in wishing a very Happy Birthday to two of Richmond’s greatest theatre scribes: Linda Escalera Baggs and Harry Kollatz, Jr. I’m privileged to call each of them my friend. Unlike their fellow birthday celebrant, J. R. R. Tolkien, Linda and Harry tend to base their writing on personal experience and history rather than fanciful acts of the imagination.

I first encountered Linda Baggs on a flight back from London in 2003. Phil and I had just led our first theatre trip abroad, and I was seated next to one of the maiden voyagers who had accompanied us, the wonderful Gerri Escalera. As we talked, she began telling me about her daughter Linda, who had recently left a successful advertising career to become a fulltime playwright. I remember being amazed that here was a mom talking about an adult child leaving a lucrative career to pursue a theatrical dream, and she sounded excited about it. “What a great mom!”, I thought.

And what a great daughter! One year later Barksdale produced Silent Heroes, a new play written by that daughter based on the “Marine wife” experiences of that mom.

Linda Escalera Baggs is one of Virginia’s foremost playwrights. Apparently theatre has been in her genes since her conception, but it took a while to bubble to the surface. Her grandmother was an actress born in Hollywood, but when push came to love Grandma gave up an opportunity to appear on Broadway and chose instead to marry Linda’s grandfather.

Linda’s father was a Marine, and so she spent her childhood moving frequently up and down the East Coast from one base to another. Linda wrote her first short story in the 4th grade as a present for her theatrically inclined granny, and immediately discovered that she loved to write. As she matured, Linda’s practical side convinced her artistic side that she should pursue a career in advertising, and so she did. For 18 years she earned a living, great acclaim, and a couple of ANDY’s and Clio’s writing commercials and assorted ad copy.

In 2000, she heard a funny story and her creative juices transformed it into a one-act play called Who’s Margaret?. When the Richmond Playwrights Forum selected the play for a public reading, and actors breathed life into her characters for the first time, the audience roared with laughter. Linda was hooked. She gave up advertising to pursue playwriting fulltime.

Now, three full-length plays, two short plays and three one-acts later, Linda has earned 18 nominations and awards, and 13 productions (including stagings in NYC, at Barksdale and at the Firehouse). Along with Paul Deiss, Doug Jones, Randy Strawderman, Bo Wilson and Irene Ziegler, Linda is one of the Virginia playwrights to whom Barksdale offers an on-going commitment. Hopefully we’ll see more of Linda’s work on one of Barksdale’s stages soon.

Until then, you can catch her show Silent Heroes opening next week on Jan 8 in New York City produced by the Round Table Ensemble. How cool a birthday present is that!?

Harry Kollatz Jr., I’ve decided, is my mirror image, only he looks good in hats and I don’t. And then there’s that little matter of him being more than a decade younger than me, but who’s counting?

Harry Kollatz and I are both Richmond natives. He graduated from VCU in 1986; I graduated from U of R in 1974. Harry co-founded the Firehouse in 1993; I co-founded Theatre IV in 1975. Harry married Richmond artist Amie Oliver in 1994; I married Richmond artist Terrie Powers in 1985. (Amie and Terrie are colleagues, friends, and alumnae of 1708.)

Harry earns his living writing for Richmond Magazine and publishing books; I earn my keep at Theatre IV writing plays for young audiences and grants. Harry’s most successful writing is inspired by local history (his regular column “Flashback” at Richmond Mag, his new book Richmond in Ragtime, his first book True Richmond Stories). Many of my most successful plays also are based on local history (Buffalo Soldier, The Maggie Walker Story, Arthur Ashe – Champion of Honor). Harry brought local history to life as an interpreter at the Valentine Museum; I did the same directing Do Lord Remember Me at the Valentine.

Harry was in the first acting company of the Playbooth Theatre on Palace Green in historic Williamsburg; my daughter Hannah was just accepted to William & Mary.

Harry keeps the blogosphere abuzz with The Blue Raccoon; I make my regular contributions to the b’o’sphere at the B’dale Buzz. Harry co-created the Theresa Pollak Awards for Excellence in the Arts in 1998. I won one in 2006.

All coincidence, or some twisted trick of the parallel universes? You decide.

Anyway, if you haven’t read one of Harry’s amazing books, you should. I’ve been a longtime fan of True Richmond Stories. Phil just bought his copy of Richmond in Ragtime: Socialists, Suffragists, Sex & Murder at a local book signing. I ordered mine today on Amazon.com.

Linda and Harry are invaluable assets to our Richmond theatre community. As they blow out their candles, we all wish them a wonderful 2009!

--Bruce Miller

"Theater Talk" Talks Back with Barksdale

Posted by Bruce Miller
Theater Talk is an acclaimed PBS television series devoted to the world of the stage. To the best of my knowledge, it provides the nation’s preeminent in-depth, theatre-focused TV coverage. The show began on New York television in 1993, and continues to be co-hosted today by Michael Riedel (Broadway columnist for the New York Post) and the series producer Susan Haskins, pictured above and to the left.

Theater Talk is one of the few independent productions on PBS and now airs weekly on Thirteen/WNET in New York and WGBH in Boston. CUNY TV also rebroadcasts the show each week, offering NYC viewers additional opportunities to catch each new interview.

Thirty-five other PBS affiliate stations around the country pick up the program, including WHTJ in Charlottesville, WUNC in Raleigh/Durham/Chapel Hill, WUNE in Charlotte, and WHUT and WETA in Washington D. C. Alas, the show is not currently being aired on WCVE in Richmond, but that gives us (and John Porter?) something we can work on in 2009. If enough of us in the community begin to promote the same idea, our Community Ideas Station may respond positively by broadcasting the show.

For the time being, theatre aficionados in Greater Richmond can keep up with the show on line, by visiting the program’s website at http://www.theatertalk.org/. You can watch streaming videos of current and/or archived programs, and subscribe to their podcast.

I bring all this up because I was delighted to receive a comment to our blog, on New Year’s Day no less, from Susan Haskins, producer and co-host of Theater Talk. She had recently read Billy Christopher Maupin’s article of Monday March 10, 2008 announcing an upcoming episode of Theater Talk during which Haskins and Riedel planned to interview the all black Broadway cast of Cat on a Hot Tin Roof. Apparently that show never took place, and she wrote in to the Barksdale Buzz to explain why.

She didn't have to write. The post was nearly nine months old, and her responsibilities to explain her program to theatre lovers in Richmond VA are minimal, seeing as how the show isn't even broadcast in this market. But write she did. I was mightily impressed.

More and more the national theatre scene is noticing what’s going on here at Barksdale and in Richmond, and this is all to the good. The more our theatre community connects with national institutions and artists, the stronger we become.

We appreciate Ms Haskins taking notice and corresponding with us. We hope to begin a friendly grassroots campaign to bring Theater Talk to WCVE on a regular basis.

--Bruce Miller

Give YOUR Regards to Broadway

Posted by Bruce Miller

Broadway.com published its Best of the Year list today for 2008, and the top three productions selected are South Pacific, Billy Elliott and In the Heights. You can read the full report at http://www.broadway.com/broadway_information_html/5018280.

You can catch video clips of the three shows at:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=B2Rd7Cpx-Ss

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=j2EOjUqAKvg&feature=related

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7S3rlvt5yCw

These three megahits also happen to be the shows we selected last spring for our March 2009 theatre junket to NYC. We purchased terrific orchestra seats nearly a year in advance to these sold out hits. We also lined up friends in the companies of South Pacific and Billy Elliott to talk with our group backstage after the show. (We’re working on lining up something from In the Heights as well, but can’t promise anything yet.)

Forty Richmond theatre enthusiasts will be venturing to the Big Apple from March 5 – 9. We’ll be traveling in our own Amtrak coach, staying at the sumptuous Marriott Marquis in Times Square, and seeing these three great shows (there's time for more shows for those who want to buy additional tickets on their own).

I’ll be leading a fun and fact-filled walking tour of Broadway’s theatre district, Phil will be leading enthusiastic post-show discussions in the Marriott’s bar overlooking Broadway, and we’ll re-connect with some of Barksdale’s Broadway alumni during a special breakfast in the Rainbow Room at the top of 30 Rock (the 56th floor of Rockefeller Center).

There's even an NYC welcoming dinner at the Playwright's Tavern.

There are still a few slots available in our group of 40. We already have enough people going to guarantee the trip. But if you’d like to join us, or if you know someone who may like to join us, we’d love to hear from you. It's going to be great fun!

You can learn more at http://www.barksdalerichmond.org/trip.html.

Interested in even more information? Contact our tour leader at Covington International Travel, Dee Dee White, at (804) 747-4129, or email deedeew@covtrav.com.

We’ll all yell “Martha Newell” when we set our first feet on the Great White Way. If you don't know why, we'll explain. Hope to see you there and then!

--Bruce Miller

Happy New Year! Happy Birthday!!

Posted by Bruce Miller

It’s New Years Day! Time to wish a very Happy Birthday to young Mr. Kniffen and my late grandmother, known to one and all in the Bon Air block of my youth as Gagy. That’s Gagy with a broad A please, and a G not a J at the beginning of the second syllable. Ga as in Gandhi / gy as in the second syllable of baggy. Gagy.

Her proper name was Gertrude Parsons Bale, but I don't remember anyone calling her Gertrude. My older brother created "Gagy" when he was 10 months old, if family legend is to be believed. And it is.

I’ve known Chase since he was a little kid acting at Theatre IV when he was less than half the age he is now. If my math works (sometimes it doesn’t), he turns a whopping 24 today. Chase and Peggy co-founded Stage 1 when he was 23; Phil and I co-founded Theatre IV when I was 24 and Phil was 22.

It may sound a little weird, but the affection and respect I have for Chase (pictured to the right with Gray Crenshaw) is somewhat different from what I feel toward most others in the circle of our theatre community. It’s at least half “parental,” at least half peer-to-peer. Jennings Whiteway ranks just ahead of him in this track, of course, and the young Crenshaws and Sinnenbergs follow him only slightly. They all grew up acting at Theatre IV from an early age. Their parents are all my friends. I humor myself to think that they are my friends too.

The notion of being friends with someone 34 years your junior doesn’t seem odd when you’re 58. When I think back to when I was in my 20s, I don’t know if it would have occurred to me to be “friends” with someone three and a half decades older than I. Hmmm.

My grandmother was born in 1886 in Charleston, South Carolina, only twenty-one years after the end of the Civil War. Al Jolson and Ma Rainey were born that year, as well as Ty Cobb, Ed Wynn and David Ben-Gurion. Grover Cleveland, the second and last man to be elected President while still a bachelor, was married that year in the White House.

Today would be Gagy’s 123rd birthday. The photo to the left is one I took of her in the spring following her 82nd birthday in 1968, a few weeks before she died and I graduated from high school.

I lived in the same house with my grandmother for the first 18 years of my life and the last 18 years of hers. Having a grandparent live with you was not as unusual back then as it may be now. Not to diminish the wonderful parenting I received from my mom and dad (especially my dad), I can honestly say that I was more or less raised by my Gagy.

We weren’t a family of means, by any means, and didn’t fit the Leave It to Beaver model of the 1950s, with a mom who stayed home and tended the house. My dad was a feed salesman for most of his career, selling Larro products to farms throughout Virginia. My mom worked at least half-a-day everyday for most of my life, first as a church secretary at Bethany Place Baptist and later as a secretary for New York Life.

My mother was a native New Yorker and Broadway lover. My dad had been president of the drama club (with six members, two of whom were his siblings) at tiny Bunker Hill High in Inwood, WV. But it was Gagy who had earned her living in the arts.

My grandfather, Gagy’s husband, had been an executive at Standard Oil, but he lost most of his money in the crash of ’29. A year later, while still young, my grandfather became ill and died unexpectedly while the family was vacationing in Canada. He fell victim to the same Group A strep infection that would kill Jim Henson decades later.

While struggling as a single mom in Staten Island, my grandmother had to make ends meet. So she fell back on the skill she had learned growing up as a proper young lady of the south. Playing piano. Apparently she was pretty good. She worked her way up to being the piano teacher on Staten Island, and eventually increased her earnings by becoming the principle piano practice teacher at Carnegie Hall. Three days a week, she’d take the ferry to Manhattan and supervise the piano practice of the wealthiest young women of New York. One of her star pupils was Katherine Hepburn, who had moved to NYC in 1928 at the age of 21 to appear in the Broadway production of Night Hostess (see photo above and to the left).

Just like the shoemaker’s children who ran around barefoot, my mother never studied piano. And so when my parents married shortly after WWII (they had met at a church social in NYC when my dad’s ship came to port), my dad, his bride and her mother all moved together to Richmond so that he could manage the General Mills Feed Store in what is now Shockoe Bottom.

Their house was a tiny cottage backing up to the railroad tracks on Dorchester Road in Westover Hills. We had chickens in a coop in the back. Because of lack of space, my parents didn’t bring my grandmother’s piano to Richmond.

After moving to Richmond, to the best of my knowledge, Gagy never played again. She always blamed it on arthritis. I was never sure. What I do know is that Gagy was fiercely supportive of my high school interest in theatre.

Fate blessed me with:
· a seventh grade teacher, Bernard Schutte, who had actually lived as well as acted at Barksdale Theatre at Hanover Tavern, who introduced me to theatre,
· the world’s best, strictest and most fun high school drama teacher, Marian Waymack,
· a grandmother who encouraged me every step of the way, inspiring me with stories of Carnegie Hall and the world’s great performing artists,
· a mom who was completely in love with Broadway and took me “back home” to New York nearly every year,
· a dad who would do anything for me and his family, and wanted only for me to be who I needed to be, and
· a University of Richmond theatre professor, Jack Welsh, who was a drill sergeant for the arts and demanded an intellectual pursuit of this art form as well as an artistic one.

The year of my high school graduation, Gagy died. Just a year after college graduation, Phil and I co-founded Theatre IV. Shortly thereafter, we met a young kid, crazy for theatre, named Chase Kniffen.

Celebrating birthdays reminds us to celebrate lives. I’m happy and privileged to join in celebration of two individuals who influenced me positively in the beginning and middle of my years.

--Bruce Miller

Wear Black for Broadway??

Posted by Bruce Miller
On Facebook—yes, as many of you know, I’ve ventured recklessly into that brave new world—a “global rally” is being promoted. On Jan 4, it is suggested, any and everyone who loves theatre should show their support by wearing “Black for Broadway.” A black show tee shirt is recommended, but any black garment will do.

My friend Lizzie Holland—no one loves Broadway more than my friend Lizzie—has signed up for the event. Facebook being the fervent social secretary that it is, I was informed immediately. That's Lizzie below and to the left with Raúl Esparza.

The well intentioned ideas behind this pro-Broadway, pro-theatre demonstration are these:

Sunday, Jan 4 will mark the closing of four Broadway musicals and one comedy: 13, Boeing Boeing, Grease, Hairspray and Young Frankenstein. Closing notices have also been posted later in January for Gypsy, Spamalot, Spring Awakening, Forbidden Broadway (Off Broadway), and “many others.”

The creator of the event, which was originally listed on Facebook as a “protest” and later changed to a “rally,” believes that the closings are premature and the result of our troubled economy. I doubt that this is actually the case, nonetheless ... “This event,” he or she writes, “is just a bunch of theatre fans showing our love and showing our support for something we care about during these difficult times. It’s a day of honor.”

I'm certainly in agreement with that sentiment, and so I'm getting my black Peter Pan tee washed and ready.

As of this writing, 7,548 theatre lovers on Facebook have signed up for the event, a figure that will no doubt increase exponentially over the next few days.

One cogent commenter, Chris Leavy of Orlando FL, added, “I'm actually going to a show on the 4th. Not on Broadway, but still—the best thing we can do to rally support is to keep seeing shows—any shows we can, as often as we can. Broadway is killing itself with $120 ticket prices. Hopefully some good will come of this recession and soon many more people will be able to afford to see live theatre.”

Apparently Phil and I are on the same wavelength with Chris. Hefty ticket prices are a problem not only in NYC, but also right here in River City. When the economy tightens, people look for bargains. At Barksdale and Theatre IV we’re trying to address these current realities by launching our Entertainment Stimulus Package, announced in a news story last week on Channel 12. Click here for more information and to view the YouTube coverage of the news broadcast: http://www.barksdalerichmond.org/stimulus.html#12

So what are we up to? The truth is this—thus far, ticket sales are doing really well. We’ve exceeded budgeted goals for Driving Miss Daisy and Sanders Family Christmas at Hanover Tavern, This Wonderful Life at Willow Lawn, and The Best Christmas Pageant Ever at the Empire.

But as we look to the future, we’ve come to believe that additional stimulus will be needed if we’re to match projections for Children of a Lesser God and Well at Willow Lawn, the World Premiere of Mona’s Arrangements and I Ought to Be in Pictures at the Tavern, and Sideways Stories from Wayside School and Annie at the Empire. With the exception of Annie, these shows have less name recognition that our recent hits. And if any of you are wondering if name recognition is a factor in ticket sales, I assure you in all caps, IT IS.

So we are continuing to sell our best seats at normal ticket prices (appromimately $38), reducing our second best seats to a very affordable $20 (you must purchase by Jan 31), continuing our $15 rush tickets for any and all theatre lovers who don’t mind waiting until 3-hours before curtain to purchase their seats, and providing Hanover County Students with $9 (same as a movie) tickets to all shows at Hanover Tavern.

And if these prices aren’t low enough, we welcome folks to write to me, tell me how much you can afford (on the honor system), and we’ll find a way to make tickets available to you for the price you name. This has always been our policy. We’ve never turned anyone away because of inability to pay.

It goes without saying that we need to continue to sell tickets at all price ranges in order to stay afloat. And we WILL stay afloat. I say this emphatically because literally every time we announce a new fundraising campaign or ticket sale initiative, friends and supporters suspect that we’re going under. Such is the legacy of the surprise closings of TheatreVirginia in 2001 and Broadway Under the Stars in 2006.

Friends. I promise. We are in no danger of closing. We’re merely trying to address strategically the economic challenges that ever business is facing.

So, you can wear your black show tee shirt on Jan 4, or you can pull out a $20 (or two tens and a five if you want to wait for Rush) and show your support by buying a ticket. This is a time for all of us who love theatre to stand shoulder to shoulder and rally behind the art form and the several nonprofit theatres that make our lives so much more fulfilling.

All of Richmond's nonprofit theatres need your support. I hope to see you soon at one of them!

--Bruce Miller

Losing 31 lbs and Living to Write About It

Posted by Bruce Miller
This morning I weigh 216 lbs. That’s my after breakfast weight, recorded while wearing slippers and pajamas on a 1950s bathroom scale that I suspect is only relatively accurate.

I mention my portliness because I’ve decided yet again to attempt to lose weight and become more productive by adopting a healthier lifestyle. I’m 58 years old. It’s now or never.

The other reason I’m confessing to this embarrassing heftiness is because I’m thinking that the best way to stick with my new, longed-for lifestyle may be to I write about it. I know that keeping a journal is supposed to help weak-willed weight-losers stick to their goals. Experience tells me I’m more likely to subscribe to a new regimen if I do so with friends. When I put these two nuggets of knowledge together I discover a compelling reason to blog.

There are other reasons, of course:

1 People turn out in droves to read about how to lose weight. Maybe this new, sporadic series will attract more readers to the Barksdale Buzz, which would be a good thing.

2 I like to write. Others will decide if I’m any good at it. I find it impossible to sit down and write for myself. I only write when I think it’s at least possible that someone will read what I’ve written. My main attraction to the blog is that it gets me writing. My secret hope is that one day I’ll put together some combination of these jottings into a book. Books are hard to write—impossible for me. I’d never have the willpower to sit down and write a book. But apparently I have whatever it takes to write a blog, one post at a time. And if I do enough of that, I may one day discover that I’ve written a book by accident.

3 Adopting a new lifestyle requires discipline and research. Which changes should I make and why? Writing a blog requires similar efforts. Interspersed with all my investigations into plays and playmakers, maybe I can reconnoiter the latest exercise data, learn the perfect method for brewing green tea, or crack the code for making tasty whole wheat waffles. I have lots of intellectual curiosity, but I tend to direct it only towards work-related topics. If I blog about my desired change toward a healthier lifestyle, it becomes work-related.

4 In my first baby steps into the “healthy lifestyle blogosphere,” I’ve been told repeatedly that participants in this brave new world are among the most supportive, friendly and well informed people online. Based on the many times I’ve tried and failed, I suspect that this new attempt to embrace a healthier lifestyle will “take a village,” as they say. I hope to benefit from friends who are there to offer occasional support and information. When you learn of a better way to do sit-ups after hernia surgery, I want to hear about it. And when you’re standing next to me at a cast party and Gordon Bass enters with a plate of his sausage cheese balls, you can warmly advise, “Two, you’re only allowed two.”

5 As I embark on this journey, it occurs to me that I may actually help someone—a fellow sausage ball junkie who, like me, may benefit from some encouragement and step-by-baby-step advice. I like being a helper; I really do. Knowing that the information I uncover may be of use to someone who is committed to a similar quest, and living in the sure knowledge that many of you “someones” will be seeing me at the next opening and assessing my progress (or lack thereof)—it all makes me feel accountable. I’m much better being accountable to others than I am being accountable to myself.

Succeed or fail, I figure it’s worth a shot. I’m more than a little humiliated to be sharing turf with Kirstie Alley (not that there’s anything wrong with her), but I need to try something that may make this time different.

What does any of this have to do with theatre? Everything. Ask anyone who's ever been rejected for a role (or a grant) because some director (or contributor) chose to support someone else who was more physically fit.

Stay tuned for the results of my research and the occasional progress report. My goal is to reach 185, pretty close to my ideal weight and a number I haven’t seen on a scale in about a quarter century. Anyone who wants to toss in their two cents worth along the way is much more than welcome.

--Bruce Miller

"Hip" No More

Posted by Bruce Miller
I’ve taken down the meanderings I posted on Dec 19 called Addressing My Dislocated “Hip.” My intentions when I wrote that misguided effort were:
• to publicize and congratulate Bianca Bryan, the wonderful actress who played Mathilde in The Clean House and recently snagged a performing gig on Letterman, and
• to poke fun at my innate lack of “hip-ness” (David Letterman being a hipster extraordinaire).

I should have stopped there. Instead, I went on to mention how some folks never come to Barksdale because they perceive we’re not as “hip” as they want us to be. I listed Barksdale shows that I thought were “hip.” I used Bianca’s uber-hip gig on Letterman to prompt this exclamation: “So take that, you hipsters!”

I should have kept my mouth shut. I intended it all to be in good clean fun. I’ve since learned that quite a few of you thought I was being serious, mean-spirited and/or critical of other theatres in Greater Richmond.

In the comments to the post—it brought in more comments than any article in months, over 20 all told—my good friends Frank Creasy and Grant Mudge advised me that a director from Richmond Shakespeare, James Bond, also had recently been on Letterman. I thought this was great to hear—a fun news item of which I had not been previously aware. I clicked Grant’s link to Mr. Bond’s appearance and had a grand old time watching James read the Top Ten.

However, in the comment I left in response to the Creasy and Mudge comments, I replied not by saying I enjoyed the James Bond video, but by saying: “Curse you Creasy and Mudge!! Out-hipped again!!!”

I’m 100% sure without even talking with them that Frank and Grant took no offense. We’re friends; they knew, I’m sure, that I was joking around. But I know now that some of you thought I was intending to disrespect them. I wasn't.

Then Angie Shipley and I exchanged a few blog comments (good-naturedly, I thought) about what is “hip” and what isn’t. I like Angie. I never thought she was “attacking” me, and I hope she didn’t think I was “attacking” her—but some of you thought both of us were going for each others' jugulars.

I should know by now—emails and blog posts scream sarcasm and evil intent to some people, even when none of that is what the authors had in mind.

To do my little bit for peace on earth (and dispel rumors of unrest), I simply took the whole thing down. I know no one intended to offend anyone. It seems odd to me that it came off that way. But if it did, it did.

Thank you, Michael Vandergrift, for your nice comment that wisely said "Forget about it," and offered a good deal more supportive and useful advice.

To those who had fun with the post, I'm glad. To those who didn't, I'm sorry. I wish each of you, gentle readers, the Happy Holidays of your choice.

And again, congrats to Bianca for landing the gig on Letterman.

--Bruce Miller

Chase, Steve, Catherine, Adam and Bob

Posted by Bruce Miller

As many of you know, last spring Phil and I determined that Barksdale and Theatre IV needed to eliminate five staff positions over the next year in order to responsibly face the declining economy. Assessing financial realities and accepting that we need to lose five valued staff members was the easy part. Deciding which positions to eliminate was tough.

We looked first at attrition. Who on staff had expressed an interest in leaving in the near to not too distant future. It’s much more supportive of staff morale to eliminate a position that has been voluntarily vacated than to yank a job away from someone who truly wants and needs it.

Chase Kniffen had already decided to leave Barksdale and Theatre IV to start his own company, Stage 1. The wisdom of that decision is now easily discernible to all. So we chose not to fill his position of Special Projects Manager. Among other responsibilities, Chase had managed Barksdale’s Bifocals Theatre Project and our SOAR high school externships. It was an easy decision to put Bifocals touring and the externship program on hold, at least during the first half of 08-09. His other responsibilities were divided among remaining staff members, adding to their already full plates.

Steve Perigard had been talking about moving on to other opportunities for at least three years. In the spring of 08, Steve told me that he thought that the time may have come. Who can blame him? Someone with Steve Perigard’s intelligence, initiative, job experience, talent and skill set can do much better than serve as an Associate Artistic Director year after year. Steve asked if he could contemplate the move during the summer. I said he could take all the time he needed. In the early fall, he made it official—he wanted to move on.

I’m told that the rumor mill is now putting forth the notion that Steve was “let go” or “fired.” That rumor is in no way true. Everyone should know of the friendship, respect and admiration I have for Steve. There’s no way in this world that I would have let him go or fired him. Steve made the difficult decision to move on from Barksdale and Theatre IV because he feels like it’s in his best interests to explore other opportunities. I wholehearted support him in that decision. Being an Associate Artistic Director is in many ways a thankless job. He deserves more, and I’m confident he’ll quickly find several wonderful, fulfilling and lucrative opportunities.

It is Steve’s stated hope, and mine, that he will continue to work with our two companies as a freelance director and actor. More about that in the coming weeks and months.

We did not decide to eliminate Steve’s position because we can afford to be without an Associate Artistic Director. We can’t. But his position can now be one of the five we need to eliminate, or at least put on hold. Not filling the position of Associate Artistic Director is a better option than firing someone else.

Simply writing down the many jobs that Steve has masterfully performed here is filling up a book. During January, we will finalize the determination of who will assume each of his responsibilities. It will not be easy to make these decisions. Frankly, I’m scared to death. I know that it will be rough going without him. However, I also know that we will make it work. We are blessed with many capable staff leaders who can effectively perform any task that is put before them. Institutionally, dealing with transition can ultimately strengthen a company. In our case, it can help prepare the company for Phil’s and my retirement in 7 ½ years.

The third position to be eliminated was Catherine Dudley’s position as Marketing Associate. Catherine had just completed her course work to be an ASL interpreter. She’d been talking for well over a year about leaving Barksdale to pursue her “dream job” working as an interpreter with deaf students. In June, I asked Catherine to consider making this transition earlier rather than later. I was confident that she would find immediate work in her chosen career. Because she loved working with us, and vice versa, it was a tearful conversation. But she understood and accepted my request. Sure enough, in September she began working as an interpreter for Chesterfield County Public Schools, and from day one she’s been thrilled by her new job—and enjoying a significant pay increase.

Best of all, Catherine has continued to work for us as translator and sign instructor for Sanders Family Christmas and Children of a Lesser God. It’s been a perfect transition. Catherine’s many responsibilities have now been added to the overflowing plates of Sara Marsden, our Marketing Director, and Billy Christopher Maupin, our Marketing Associate and Publications Manager.

The fourth and fifth positions to be eliminated were Adam Tiller’s job as Office Manager and Bob Albertia’s job as Group Sales Manager. Adam has been a favorite son and valued employee at Barksdale and Theatre IV for years, in many capacities. But his ultimate goal was to return to grad school. He’s a brilliant young man, and frankly, his many talents were somewhat wasted in his part-time job as Office Manager. His major responsibilities included manning the front desk as a receptionist, and accepting, recording and depositing all incoming revenue. At the top of the new year, we hope to be recruiting volunteers to fill the first of those two tasks. The financial responsibilities have now been shifted over to other employees.

Bob Albertia is one of Richmond’s theatrical cornerstones. He is and always will be irreplaceable. Bob has now retired, a privilege and opportunity that he well deserves. His group sales responsibilities have been split in half. Tony Foley is handling the aggressive sales work. AnnaMarie Epps in our box office is handling the more passive job of taking and servicing orders. No one can possibly assume Bob’s particular panache in dealing with enthusiastic group leaders. But we’ll all do the best we can, and we'll make it through.

Our hope and expectation is that we will continue to work with Bob as a volunteer providing team leadership to our Bifocals Theatre Project and working with us on a variety of other artistic projects.

The big question in everyone’s mind is, “Do the cuts stop here?” In all honestly, I don’t know. We believe we made responsible and effective decisions in a timely manner, and it is our fervent hope that no additional layoffs will be forthcoming.

But that is not a promise. The economy will do what it will do. And we will respond responsbilty. The Boards, Phil and I are addressing proactively the various financial challenges in every way we can. We will ride out this storm. And we will honor our commitment to our incredible staff to the very best of our abilities.

--Bruce Miller

Thank You Governor Tim Kaine!

Posted by Bruce Miller on Behalf of Alan Albert, Virginians for the Arts
This just in:

"ARTS FUNDING SPARED FURTHER CUTS IN GOVERNOR'S BUDGET PROPOSAL

We are relieved -- relieved and grateful -- to announce that Governor Kaine's proposed 2009 Budget Bill makes no further cuts in arts funding in the Commonwealth. The 15% cut applied to the present state fiscal year (FY 2009) is carried forward into FY 2010 in the Governor's proposal. This means that the total general fund appropriation for the arts will be reduced by slightly more than $930,000 over its original budgeted level for 2010 -- virtually the same reduction already put into place for the current fiscal year.

In a budget-writing season fraught with painful decisions, the arts community is enormously grateful to Governor Kaine and Secretary of Education Tom Morris for recognizing the vitally important role that state funding plays in keeping our cultural infrastructure intact during this very difficult time for nonprofit arts and cultural groups.

But our work has just begun. The Governor's proposal is just that -- a proposal -- and the General Assembly will place its own stamp on the spending plan over the next two months. It is more important now than ever that arts supporters meet with or at least write to their legislators and stress the importance of not making further cuts to arts funding. The very survival of many arts groups, already buffeted by the economic downturn, literally rests in the balance, and the outcome is far from assured.

If you have not contacted your legislators yet, please do so today. Tell them that the arts community is doing its part -- taking cuts every bit as deep as, for instance, higher education and the worst-hit of state agencies -- but cannot take further cuts without losing key components of our cultural infrastructure.

And while you are at it, please take a moment to thank the Governor and the Secretary of Education for what they have done. In the current climate, their actions are the most positive outcome for which we realistically could have hoped. Those actions are courageous and deserve our praise.

Alan Albert
Legislative Counsel
Virginians for the Arts"

Write Governor Timothy Kaine:
The Honorable Timothy M. Kaine
Office of the Governor
Commonwealth of Virginia
Post Office Box 1475
Richmond, Virginia 23218

Write Secretary of Education Thomas Morris:
The Honorable Thomas R. Morris
Secretary of Education
Commonwealth of Virginia
Post Office Box 1475
Richmond, Virginia 23218

--This message was written by Alan Albert, Virginians for the Arts

Final note from Bruce - This is really a wonderful sign of support from Governor Kaine. Please write to thank him, and Secretary Morris. Let's bury their desks in thank you notes. Remember, when Governor Wilder was faced with a less troubling recession in the early 80s, he cut the Virginia Commission for the Arts disproportionately from every other agency, costing individual nonprofit arts groups devastating cuts of approximately 65%. Governor Kaine has held fast at 15%. He gets it!!! Let's please all thank him.

--Bruce Miller

Thoughts on the "Richmond Cultural Census"

Posted by Bruce Miller
There’s an interesting discussion occurring on Dave Timberline’s blog, Richmond VA Theater.

Under A Must Read, posted Dec 9, and Some Reactions, posted Dec 10, Dave discusses the survey of Richmond arts patrons that was conducted earlier this year. A summary of the findings of this survey has been published by the independent consulting firm Wolf Brown as the Richmond Cultural Census. These findings are available online. (I stole that link by cutting and pasting from Dave’s blog. He knows how to do it.)

Within the summary, the following statement occurs:

“Attending live stage plays or musical theatre productions was cited as ‘a vital activity’ by less than 10% of all respondents and another 44% said that they ‘enjoy it occasionally’, a significantly lower proportion than expected based on previous cultural census studies in other cities.”

“The real story here, however, is the low percentage of respondents who cite going to stage plays and musicals as vital activities. In other areas, we have seen these figures as high as 20% to 25% 'vital activity.'"

I agree with everyone that this is a cause for concern, sorta. I also agree with those who suggest that the concerns should be leavened with a little perspective.

1. Wolf Brown states forthrightly that the survey is not a scientific instrument. No attempt was made to reach a statistically representative sample. Those who participated in the survey all self-selected. In other words, those who took the survey were either individuals who wanted to take the survey or individuals who were encouraged to take the survey. Please consider this statement which appears in the fine print of the Wolf Brown findings: “The reader is cautioned not to use the survey data to generalize about all residents of Greater Richmond.”

2. I’m aware that colleagues in other disciplines distributed the survey to hundreds of their supporters and urged them to indicate their sincere and vital support for and interest in the discipline they all loved. That was a smart and good thing for my colleagues to do. I failed to do the same. No one at Theatre IV and/or Barksdale emailed the survey to those who are passionate about theatre. To the best of my knowledge, no theatre leader in town blasted the survey off to the theatre community. My bad and our bad. Big time. Because of this failing, I honestly feel that theatre lovers are under-represented.

3. In every arts discipline except theatre, the survey questions defined the discipline in terms of mass media or low to no cost personal involvement. Please consider these examplies. When survey respondents were saying that the literary arts were of vital importance to them, the top category of participation was “read books, newspapers, magazines for fun.” Who among us would not agree with that? When survey respondents expressed vital interest in dance, the four top categories were “watch dance on TV,” “see praise dancing,” “social dancing,” and “make up your own steps.” Those who showed vital interest in music chose as their two top categories “listen to music on local radio” and “buy music for your own collection.” The top draw for the visual arts was “collect art for home.” The main attractions for history and heritage programs (museums etc) was “watch history programs on TV” and “read books or magazines about history.”

Only in the category of theatre was the art form defined more specifically. Respondents were not asked if they liked to “watch theatre on TV" or "see comedies and dramas at the movies.” The two top areas of “vital interest” in theatre were “attend musicals” and “attend stage plays.” In no other arts discipline did “attend a live performance of this discipline” make it to the top of the “vital interest” column.

4. When it comes to making ticket purchases as opposed to voting in a survey, theatre wins hands down. A study was conducted a couple years back to see if it made sense to establish a community-wide box office. Every major organization submitted data regarding the number of tickets sold to the general public through the various box office outlets during the previous year. Ticket sales to Barksdale, Theatre IV, Broadway Under the Stars, and theatre events at the Modlin Center represented nearly 70% of all tickets sold. In other words, theatre outsold all other performing arts disciplines--combined.

5. One can presume that a large percentage of those with a “vital interest” in theatre would subscribe to theatre. In the last six years, the Richmond theatre subscriber base has been kicked in the teeth TWICE. In 2002, subscribers to TheatreVirginia were left holding three tickets for TVA shows that would never take place. No refunds were offered. Three or four years later, subscribers to Broadway Under the Stars were left holding four tickets for BUTS shows that would never take place. Again, no refunds were offered. Had I been one of these subscribers, my “vital interest” in theatre would be considerably dampened.

6. Every study I’ve ever read—and I’ve read a lot of them—indicates that 2 to 3% of the American population cares passionately about the art form of theatre. In a comment posted on Dave’s blog, Rick St. Peter wisely quotes Jon Jory, the legendary artistic director of Actors Theatre of Louisville, saying something like “no theatre that’s ever existed has attracted more than 2% of its potential audience.” The Wolf Brown survey says that 7% of all Richmond respondents say that “attending a musical” is “a vital activity for me,” and 6% say the same about “attending a play.” Truth be told, those figures are pretty impressive.

None of this is to say that theatre movers and shapers like each and every one of us should not take important lessons away from this survey. After a fairly careful study, here's some of what I consider to be the salient facts:

25% of all respondents said that they “haven’t but would like to try” “attending play readings.” Based on this and other observations, Barksdale will be establishing a play reading series next year.

19% of all respondents said that they “haven’t but would like to try” “taking classes.” Based on this and other observations, Barksdale will be attempting to fill this need in the near future.

24% of those people who have a history of buying few tickets to performance events indicate that they “haven’t but would like to try” “attending musicals” and “attending plays.” Through our new Entertainment Stimulus Package, Barksdale and Theatre IV have reduced prices on 10,000 tickets in the remainder of our 2008-09 Seasons to reach out to those who haven’t been attending due to higher ticket prices. We will also continue our existing $15 rush ticket policy.

All of us who care about theatre have much to learn. That’s one of the things I love about my job. There’s something new to learn every day.

And to those of you who do love the theatre--and don't worry, we know you're out there--please know that all of Richmond’s theatres wouldn’t be here without you. If you can and feel so inclined, please buy a ticket to a play today! And ask your friends to join you.

--Bruce Miller

Matthew Costello Remembers Hutch

Posted by Matthew Costello (pictured below)
Thanks, Bruce, for inviting me to take part in this tribute to Hutch. You have spoken eloquently about this extraordinary man and he deserves the honor you give him. He was my mentor and a great friend.

Mallory Freeman once told me of his high regard for Hutch and recalled Hutch’s outstanding performance in The Royal Hunt of the Sun at the Virginia Museum Theater in the 1960’s. "He is an Actor’s Actor," he said.

Hutch was an inevitable force in the Richmond theatre community and also in the community-at-large, having served the Boys' Club for so many years and had the vision to spearhead and guide the International Food Festival. There are many other contributions for which he will be remembered. I am truly grateful that his life touched mine with such deep blessing.

I met Hutch shortly before the Experiential was formed. He was directing a production of Does the Tiger Wear a Necktie? at Barksdale at Hanover Tavern, and it included many of the young actors from the Boys' Club with whom he had worked in previous years. He asked me to fill in for the role of Tonto. We rehearsed in that basement at the Boys' Club and for the following years, as the Experiential took off, I felt it was my theatrical home.

It was indeed in 1975 that the Experiential Theater opened its doors. Hutch once shared with me his progression from Stanislavski to Grotowski and then his exposure to the "environmental" theatre ideas of Richard Schechner which led to the inception of the Experiential.

As I recall, its first production was of Of Mice and Men. Hutch’s son Jody (now deceased) played Lenny. I played George. We had the opportunity to reprise the roles a few years later in a second production. To my knowledge this was the first of only two plays that were ever repeated in Experiential’s history.

I was fortunate to appear in many shows there, among them: Hamlet ESP, The Diary of a Madman and the first Experiential production of The Seagull, where I played Treplyov to Jenny Brown’s Nina.

It was twenty years later after Hutch had revitalized the Experiential banner that he produced The Seagull again at the Windy River Winery in Beaverdam. Indeed Erin Thomas was stellar as Nina. I was Trigorin in that production and Justin Dray played Treplyov.

I also remember the early Experiential productions of Alice in Wonderland and Ubu Roi.

It was, I think, 1978 when that first incarnation of the Experiential settled into a pregnant pause. Demands of his family life and the duties with the Boys' Club were in need of his attention.

In 1996 Hutch asked me to "direct" him, that is be his "third eye," in a production of Darrow for the Defense that he performed at Firehouse Theatre under the Experiential banner.

He later produced the earlier mentioned seasons at the Windy River Winery, starting in 1998. I remember The Importance of Being Earnest (Erin was in this as well), Playboy of the Western World with Justin Dray and Tom McGranahan, and Night Must Fall with Justin (again) plus Stephanie Kelley and Sara Heifetz.

I hope I have helped to fill in some of the history here. I know I have failed to mention many of the performers who worked onstage for Hutch. My apologies.

In the late 1990’s I had mounted a website for the Experiential. It’s long been removed and I’m not quite sure where it is in the mountains of archives in my studio. It is my intention to find it and to try to assemble a better history.

--Matthew Costello

Holiday Benefit Cabaret is Postponed

Posted by Bruce Miller

The fates were not with us regarding this year's Home for the Holidays benefit cabaret. All performances have been cancelled. Reservation holders will be called today, full refunds made, and we will begin exploring plans to mount this fundraiser for the Richmond Theatre Artists Fund sometime later in the first half of 2009.

Janine Serresseque, who masterminds and organizes the cabaret, did a wonderful job as always. Nonetheless, ticket sales were sluggish, our emcee Joe Pabst called in at the end of the week with no voice, and then on Saturday, our music director and accompanist, Tony Williams, checked into the hospital with a nasty bug.

Yesterday, Sunday, Tony let us know, with great regret, that he'd be unavailable for this year's run of the cabaret. Tony has been our pianist for the Holiday Cabaret since its inception, and the party just wouldn't be a party without him. Last night, Phil and I decided to pull the plug.

Thanks to all who volunteered to sing, and to all who made reservations. If anyone wants to make a tax deductible contribution to the Richmond Theatre Artists Fund anyway, please feel free to make a check payable to that entity and send it in or drop it off at Barksdale or Theatre IV, attention Phil Whiteway. Phil will deliver all checks to the Community Foundation, which manages the Fund on behalf of the Richmond Alliance of Professional Theatre.

Please keep your eyes and ears open for other upcoming events that benefit the Fund. And thanks for your understanding regarding this cancellation.

--Bruce Miller

"Sanders" Creators Wish Sweethearts Well

Posted by Bruce Miller
It was fun to log on this afternoon and find a comment to my last post about David and Aly's onstage proposal. The comment congratulates the happy couple and wishes them well. It's written and posted by none other than Alan Bailey and Connie Ray, conceiver and writer, respectively, of Smoke on the Mountain and Sanders Family Christmas.

I love it when nationally successful theatre artists, who may well have never even heard of Barksdale Theatre, take the time to establish contact. Douglas Carter Beane and Lewis Flinn, playwright and composer, respectively, of The Little Dog Laughed, made it down to Richmond to see the show. Playwright Israel Horovitz came to Richmond last week to catch performances of his play The Widow's Blind Date at the Firehouse.

One of my favorite "contact with the big time" stories happened in the early 80s during Theatre IV's run of To Gillian on Her 37th Birthday. Emily Skinner, who is now a Broadway leading lady and Tony nominee herself, was playing the teenage daughter in our production. On opening night a letter arrived at the theatre addressed to Emily. It was a friendly and considerate "break a leg" note, warmly written and sent from NYC by the teenage actress who had originated the role Off Broadway the year before. That actress, who didn't know Emily from Eve, was relatively unknown herself at the time. But she wanted to wish Emily well and tell her how much she had enjoyed playing the same role. Today, that actress is "unknown" no longer. You all know her today as Sarah Jessica Parker.

When you get right down to it, the theatre community is a relatively small and close knit group. It means a lot to artists working in regional theatres to hear from our brethren who have made it to the big show.

Unless my Googling has led me down some wrong paths, it appears that Alan Bailey and Connie Ray (pictured in the two photos) both currently reside in L. A. In addition to their phenominal success with the three Sanders Family musicals, Bailey enjoys an active career as a stage director, and Ray pursues a busy career as an actress on television and film.

All of us at Barksdale wish the two of them well, and thank them for keeping track of our production of their wonderful musical. Alan and Connie, if you ever make it to Richmond VA, we have tickets waiting with your name on 'em. Sanders Family Christmas is going really well. It's a beautiful show, with five rave reviews, sold out houses and standing ovations at every performance. I think you'd be pleased and proud.

Thanks for dropping us a line.

--Bruce Miller

The Best Christmas Curtain Call Ever

Posted by Bruce Miller
Last night, Terrie, Hannah, Phil, Donna and I all drove out to Hanover Tavern to catch the curtain call of Sanders Family Christmas. For the Miller half of the Miller/Whiteway clan, that’s about a half-hour trek. But it was well worth it. It was The Best Christmas Curtain Call Ever.

Spoiler Alert: If you’re planning to see Sanders Family Christmas, and you haven’t seen it yet, you may want to stop reading. I’m about to discuss a significant plot point that occurs near the end of the show. It’s nothing too dramatic. No one bombs Mt. Pleasant Baptist, Denise doesn’t announce she’s pregnant with David O. Selznick’s love child … or anything like that.

But it is a significant plot point, and I don’t want to give anything away to some unsuspecting soul who’s looking forward to experiencing the show without already knowing how it ends.

OK, if you’re still reading, consider yourself warned.

Near the end of Sanders Family Christmas, Rev Oglethorpe (Billy Christopher Maupin) proposes onstage to June Sanders (Aly Wepplo). It’s a really nice, funny, sweet scene, and the audience always gets a little teary and feels warm and fuzzy all over. When June accepts the proposal, the audience always bursts into applause.

WELL … last night David Janeski (the actor who plays Dennis Sanders) topped all that. For those of you who don’t know, David Janeski and Aly Wepplo met in Barksdale’s production of Mame, and began dating during Barksdale’s production of Smoke on the Mountain. In the intervening year and a half, it’s been pretty clear to any and everyone that David and Aly had fallen in love. And why not, they’re a perfect couple.

Yesterday, David graduated from grad school at VCU, and so his parents were in town for the graduation ceremony. Last night, his family also turned out for Sanders Family Christmas. If I’m not mistaken, Aly’s family all came down for the show last night as well.

Following David’s careful planning, our stage manager Christina Billew informed the cast that I had asked if they would all return to the stage following curtain call for an encore. With everyone in the know except Aly, they all followed instructions, danced up the aisle as always, and then came running back onto stage for the “encore” I’d requested.

That’s when David took over. He introduced himself to the audience as David the actor, not Dennis the character who is a brother to Aly’s character June. He invited the audience to sit back down, and asked them for a few minutes of their time. “My family is here tonight,” David said sincerely, “and over the years they’ve given me just about everything I have. But the one thing they couldn’t give me…” (it was at this moment he began choking up and Aly got a strange look on her face) “… is standing right over there.”

When he pointed to Aly, the light went off in her head, and she knew what was coming. David professed his abiding love, invited Aly to center stage, and then he recreated the scene we’d just seen where Rev. Oglethorpe dropped to one knee and presented June Sanders with a ring. Only this time it was real. And when Aly tearfully and enthusiastically nodded yes, the audience once again leapt to their feet applauding, providing the second standing ovation of the evening.

After heartfelt hugs and kisses, David announced, “We’re really going now. Thank you.” And the cast once again danced up the aisle and out into the lobby.

It was the perfect ending of a perfect show, and an ideal beginning for a wonderful couple.

I’m crazy about David and Aly both individually and together. It all began with the Sanders Family. The proposal was the Best Christmas Curtain Call Ever. and along with everyone who knows and loves them, I wish the newly engaged couple a Wonderful Life.

--Bruce Miller

In Memoriam: W. R. Hutch Hutchinson

Posted by Bruce Miller
There were/are a couple handfuls of great men in Richmond theatre. These men will long be remembered for extraordinary talent and for modeling selfless commitments to theatre as an art form. For them, theatre was much more than an avocation or job. It was a calling.

Richmond theatre would be nowhere without them.

These men were committed not only to the art form but also to Greater Richmond. They pursued their callings here by choice. They were leaders and servants, forward thinkers and caretakers of the past.

Among those who have died, Barksdale co-founder Pete Kilgore certainly belongs in this fraternity of honor, as do fellow Barksdale legends Fred Haseltine, Mallory Freeman, Jay Lundy and Kim Strong. (Fred and Mallory also acted extensively and provided leadership at Virginia Museum Theatre; Kim acted at Swift Creek and acted and provided leadership at Theatre IV).

William Robert Hutchinson, whom everyone knew as Hutch, died on Thursday. Attention must be paid. Anyway you look at it, Hutch was one of the few who earned the honor of being among the Great Men of Richmond Theatre.

There’s a nice tribute piece in this morning’s Times-Dispatch. Unfortunately, some of the Richmond theatre history noted in the T-D is incorrect.

Hutch’s greatest contribution to Richmond theatre history, in my opinion, was his founding and artistic direction of the Experiential Theatre, and his creation of The Empty Space theatre facility in the basement of the Boys’ Club facilities located at the intersection of Robinson and Kensington.

The Times-Dispatch says, “In 1995, three years after retiring from the Boys’ Club, he founded the award-winning Experiential Theatre in the club basement. After a short run, the group folded, but Mr. Hutchinson continued to rent the venue, dubbed The Empty Space, to other experimental groups for several years.”

I don’t pretend to have the exact dates in front of me, but I know the T-D dates are about two decades off. Hutch founded the Experiential about the same time Phil and I founded Theatre IV, which was 1975. I hope Matthew Costello will weigh in with a comment—I’ll phone him on Monday—because when Matthew was in his early 20s he was very involved with the Experiential and with Hutch.

The Experiential had a huge impact on theatre in Richmond, and then slowed down in the late 70s or early 80s. By approximately 82-83, Theatre IV was renting The Empty Space for its adult audience season.

It was during our watch, and I report this with a significant feeling of guilt, that The Empty Space was shut down by the Richmond Fire Dept. due to inadequate sprinklers and egress. The facility had stayed “under the radar” during the Experiential days, but the increased scrutiny brought about by Theatre IV’s use of the space brought about its undoing. About six years later, the Fire Dept. also shut down Stanley’s Backstage for the same reasons after Theatre IV assumed residency there.

Hutch was not retired from the Boys' Club when he founded the Experiential and created The Empty Space. He was very much large and in charge. By the time he retired in ’93, and then began new theatre ventures in ’96 (perhaps reviving the name Experiential--I can’t remember), he was producing at the Windy River Winery. I hope Erin Thomas, who was in Hutch’s production of The Seagull at the Winery, will weigh in with some accurate info. Stephanie Kelly, who was a good friend of Hutch's, may also be able to shed some light.

I’ll be writing more about Hutch, the Experiential, and The Empty Space in the next few days. I’ll try to get the facts straight. It’s important to me that Richmond theatre history is honored, or at least accurately recorded. Please feel free to pass on any and all info you may have about Hutch. He's deserves our remembrances.

Hutch was an amazing, hard working and inspiring talent. With affection and respect, we will dedicate our upcoming production of Children of a Lesser God (which Theatre IV originally produced in The Empty Space in the early ‘80s) to Hutch’s memory.

--Bruce Miller

John's Joy - "The Perfect Richmond Holiday Play!"

Posted by Bruce Miller

John Porter's rave review of Sanders Family Christmas was finally aired on WCVE-FM, and it was worth the wait. It seems to be the radio station's policy to air one review a week, so when shows open one on top of another, you have to wait your turn.

Rather than excerpt, I'll quote the entire review, since it is not available elsewhere in print. Many of you may have missed the radio broadcast.

Thanks, John, for your kind words. Here's the review!

. . . . . . . . .

"Sometimes writing these theatre reviews is easy, and sometimes it is much more difficult. This is one of those easy times, because it is my privilege to talk about Sanders Family Christmas, which is now playing at Barksdale Hanover Tavern. It is very close to being the perfect Richmond holiday play.

It’s a musical, with great seasonal tunes. It looks back at an earlier time—the United States entry into WWII—with nostalgia and reverence. The cast and crew are greatly talented and they know how to put on an entertaining show.

If you’re looking for deep truths revealed through a dark, twisted, psychological drama, you’re probably going to be disappointed. But if you’re looking for a fast show featuring good music, a little story telling, and a warm and fuzzy glow afterwards, then by all means, you’ve come to the right place.

The stellar cast includes Drew Perkins, a strong actor and great musician, as Burl Sanders, the leader of the gospel singing family, who has arrived in the snow to sing songs and witness during the holiday season. Julie Fulcher plays Vera, his equally talented wife and partner in the family business.

Eric Williams is Stanley, the brother, who despite his shady past has moved on to enjoy fame singing on the radio and in the movies. The twins, Denise and Dennis, are played with gusto by Emily Cole and David Janeski, and they manage to wring out their own separate identities despite being lumped together all the time. This may be Dennis’s last appearance with the family, as he is shipping off to boot camp right after the holidays.

The oldest child, June, is warmly played by Aly Wepplo, who despite her character’s self-professed inability to play or sing still joins in with great support and occasional sign language, if anyone needs it. Her wide-eyed innocence is heartwarming, and Ms Wepplo shows a great deal of promise in this role.

Lastly, the Rev Oglethorpe, who has arranged this evening, is delightfully played by Billy Christopher Maupin. His portrayal is of an earnest young man who will do anything to keep his church open, and who is very sincere in his affection for one special member of the Sanders Family. Don’t worry; it becomes very obvious very quickly.

Director Bruce Miller has once again made his job easier by putting together a winning cast and a very capable design team. The old country church that has been created by set designer Terrie Powers and David Powers is comfortable, cozy, and gives you the feeling of a landmark held together more by love and prayer than by brick and mortar.

Lights are by Slade Billow, and costumes are by Sue Griffin, who once again does a terrific job with her creation.

Sanders Family Christmas is solid family entertainment from beginning to end, and features some of Richmond’s best talent performing in an intimate space in the country.

For this critic’s money, you just can’t go wrong with that combination.

For WCVE Public Radio, I’m John Porter."

--Bruce Miller