Theatre Calendar - Sept 30 - Oct. 7, 2007

Posted by Bruce Miller

Here are the highlights of what’s happening at Theatre IV and Barksdale Theatre this week.

Sunday, Sept 30:
in performance -
Barksdale's The Member of the Wedding (Willow Lawn - 2 pm)
Barksdale's Deathtrap (Hanover Tavern - 2 pm)

Monday, Oct 1:
in performance -
Hugs and Kisses (Richmond schools)
Tales as Tall as the Sky (Waynesboro schools)
The True Story of Pocahontas (Hanover schools)
in rehearsal -
Jack and the Beanstalk (tour)
The Legend of Sleepy Hollow (tour)
The Song of Mulan (tour)
Stuart Little (Empire – Family Playhouse)
class -
St. Andrew’s School

Tuesday, Oct 2:
in performance -
Hugs and Kisses (Richmond schools)
Tales as Tall as the Sky (Halifax schools)
The True Story of Pocahontas (Prince William schools)
in rehearsal -
Jack and the Beanstalk (tour)
The Legend of Sleepy Hollow (tour)
The Song of Mulan (tour)
Stuart Little (Empire – Family Playhouse)

Wednesday, Oct 3:
in performance -
Barksdale's The Member of the Wedding (Willow Lawn - 2 pm and 8 pm)
Barksdale's Deathtrap (Hanover Tavern - 8 pm)
Hugs and Kisses (Bon Air Presbyterian - 7 pm)
Hugs and Kisses (New Kent schools)
Tales as Tall as the Sky (Patrick schools)
The True Story of Pocahontas (Bridgewater College)
in rehearsal -
Jack and the Beanstalk (tour)
The Legend of Sleepy Hollow (tour)
The Song of Mulan (tour)
Stuart Little (Empire – Family Playhouse)
meeting -
Bright Lights High School Internship Program
Oliver Hill Project

Thursday, Oct 4:
in performance -
Barksdale's The Member of the Wedding (Willow Lawn - 8 pm)
Barksdale's Deathtrap (Hanover Tavern - 8 pm)
Hugs and Kisses (St Catherine's and Richmond school)
The Legend of Sleepy Hollow (Rockbridge schools)
The True Story of Pocahontas (Danville schools)
in rehearsal -
Jack and the Beanstalk (tour)
The Song of Mulan (tour)
Stuart Little (Empire - Family Playhouse)

Friday, Oct 5:
in performance -
Barksdale's The Member of the Wedding (Willow Lawn - 8 pm)
Barksdale's Deathtrap (Hanover Tavern - 8 pm)
Stuart Little (Empire Theatre - 10:30 am)
Hugs and Kisses (Hanover schools)
Jack and the Beanstalk (St Michael's and Chesterfield school)
The Legend of Sleepy Hollow (Campbell schools)
Tales as Tall as the Sky (Campbell schools)
The True Story of Pocahontas (Willett Hall - Portsmouth)
in rehearsal -
The Song of Mulan (tour)
event -
First Friday - (Empire - all evening)

Saturday, Oct 6:
in performance -
Barksdale's The Member of the Wedding (Willow Lawn - 8 pm)
Barksdale's Deathtrap (Hanover Tavern - 8 pm)
Stuart Little (Empire Theatre - 3 pm and 7 pm)

Sunday, Oct 7:
in performance -
Barksdale's The Member of the Wedding (Willow Lawn - 2 pm)
Barksdale's Deathtrap (Hanover Tavern - 2 pm)
Stuart Little (Empire Theatre - 2 pm)

See you at the theatre!

--Bruce Miller

Meet Our Touring Actors - Part II

Posted by Bruce Miller

Theatre IV is the Children's Theatre of Virginia. Since our founding in 1975, we have toured national caliber educational programs to Virginia's public and private schools. It's a major part of our mission as a nonprofit organization.

It's also a major component of our business model. The total of the combined annual budgets of Barksdale Theatre and Theatre IV is approximately $5 million. Of that amount, approximately $1.4 million is generated by touring operations.

The same performances that we tour to Virginia schools for a significantly discounted fee (averaging about $1.40 per student) sell in the national market for approximately $3,000 per day. We regularly tour throughout Virginia, 32 other states on the eastern half of the U. S., and the District of Columbia.

Yesterday and today I'm introducing you to the talented professional actors who work full time for our touring company and make all of this possible. I've tried to subdivide a picture that was taken at our annual Tourmite Party; I apologize for the photos looking a bit like puzzle pieces pulled from a larger image. That's exactly what they are.

In the first photo (seen above and to the left), we have Faith Boles at the top, with her chin half obscured by the curly head of Mike Bash. Mike's left arm is around the shoulder of Michael Ruff (wearing the baseball cap), and just below Mike Bash's curly head is Garrett Weeda, with his right arm raised in, I think, some sort of hip hop gesture. The two smiling faces below Garrett and Michael are Jennifer Zubernick and Jonathan Niotis. Stephanie Hill is the lovely face at the bottom of the puzzle piece.

Faith Boles, Michael Ruff and Garrett Weeda are all in the cast of The True Story of Pocahontas. Mike Bash and Stephanie Hill are in The Legend of Sleepy Hollow. Jonathan Niotis and Jennifer Zubernick will be touring with Jack and the Beanstalk. Garrett, Jennifer and Stephanie are returning to Theatre IV for a second year; Faith, Jonathan, Michael and Mike are joining us for their first season.

Faith Boles was hired in our Memphis auditions. She graduated from Shenandoah Conservatory in Winchester, VA, and came to us after acting gigs with the Lake Dillon Theatre in Colorado. We cast Mike Bash out of our Boston auditions. Mike hails from Red Bank, NJ, and graduated from Emerson College in Boston. His previous acting work was with Zeropoint Productions and the Longwood Players, both of Boston.

Michael Ruff is another one of our Memphis hires. He is a native of Oklahoma, and graduated from Southeastern Oklahoma State. His last acting contract before moving to Richmond was with the Off Square Theatre in Jackson Hole, Wyoming (pictured to the left). Nice work if you can get it. Garrett Weeda is a Madison grad, and spent the summer with the Park Playhouse in Albany, NY.

Jennifer Zubernick graduated from Wilkes University in PA, and lists the Shea Theatre in New York among her previous credits. Jonathan Niotis was cast out of our Atlanta auditions. He graduated from the University of Miami and recently performed with the Jerry Herman Ring Theatre in that same city. Stephanie Hill spent the summer in between her two Theatre IV tours working for The Lost Colony. She is a VCU grad, and appeared on Theatre IV's mainstage in Disney's Beauty and the Beast.

Our next group of actors, pictured to the right, includes (left to right) Renee Monico, Liz Ballard and Jon Perez. Now before you think that any of our actors are truly bizarre (they may be; I don't know them that well yet), I remind you that this group photo was taken at a party with a Western / Hawaiian / pirate theme (it's a bit of an inside joke), and our intrepid trespians outfitted themselves in their best Yee-haw, Ahoy and/or Aloha-inducing garb. Renee and Liz are new to us this year, and they both will be appearing in The Legend of Sleepy Hollow. Jon is returning for his second touring season, and he's in the cast of Jack and the Beanstalk.

We cast Renee out of our Boston auditions. She graduated from The Hartt School at the University of Hartford, and came to Richmond after a contract with New England's prestigious (and beautiful) Goodspeed Opera House, pictured to the left. Liz was cast in Atlanta, and graduated from Catawba College. She's a native of Culpepper, VA. Jon was cast in our Charlotte auditions. He graduated from Southern Illinois University, and previously toured with the California Theatre Company.

Our final group of touring actors includes (left to right) Ronnie Brown, Meghan Kelleher, Brian Tarter, Nicole Wakefield and Darrick Penny. Ronnie and Meghan are in the cast of Jack and the Beanstalk; Brian and Nicole perform in The True Story of Pocahontas. Derrick is in The Song of Mulan. Nicole is returning for her second touring season with Theatre IV; the other four are new to our company this year.

Ronnie Brown graduated from Penn State, and recently worked on the HBO Miniseries, John Adams (pictured to the left with biographer David McCullough). Last spring and this summer, he was employed on the running crews of Theatre IV's The Wizard of Oz and Barksdale's Into the Woods. Meghan Kelleher was hired in Atlanta. She graduated from Emory and Henry, and performed previously in the company at Mill Mountain Theatre. Brian Tarter (our tallest actor at 6' 4" or more), graduated from Ashland University in Ohio, and performed previously at the Huron Playhouse.

Nicole Wakefield (partially obscured in the photo) was cast out of Memphis, but appeared as a child in Theatre IV's productions of Babes in Toyland and The Music Man. Other local theatre credits include roles at Swift Creek Mill Theatre and the West End Assembly of God. Last but not least, Darrick Penny was cast out of our Atlanta auditions. He graduated from Elon with a BFA in Musical Theatre and a minor in Spanish.

We wish all of our fine actors a most successful first semester, and thank them for their talent and hard work.

--Bruce Miller

Theatre IV on Tour - Meet the Company, Part I

Posted by Bruce Miller

The first Theatre IV show to hit the touring circuit this season is The True Story of Pocahontas, and it opened today in Chesterfield County Public Schools. Tomorrow, Tales as Tall as the Sky will meet its first student audiences in Henrico, followed by Hugs and Kisses, Jack and the Beanstalk, The Legend of Sleepy Hollow, and The Song of Mulan, all of which will open in Virginia schools sometime in the next week and a half, before spreading out on their national tours across 32 states and the District of Columbia.

Now would be a good time to introduce 13 of the 28 talented touring actors who are working with us fulltime this fall in our six touring companies. Many of them are new to Richmond, but if tradition holds, several of these newcomers will stay in town for years to come.

Our first actor is T. J. Ellis. T. J. gets to be first because he had to leave last week's Tourmite Party early, and in so doing missed the group photo. Here he is, flying solo.

T. J. played the voice of Audrey II in Little Shop of Horrors with SPARC last summer. We thank Jamie and Rick Brindle for connecting us with T. J.

Jamie Brindle was a Theatre IV All-Star as a child (playing Alexander in Alexander and the Terrible Horrible No Good Really Bad Day, Christopher Robin in The House at Pooh Corner, etc.). He and T. J. were great pals in high school, and Jamie’s dad (TIV Board member Rick Brindle), gave us a heads up that T. J. was a young talent to keep our eye on.

T. J. is doing a terrific job as legendary folk hero John Henry in Tales as Tall as the Sky. As fate would have it, we have two characters named John Henry on stage right now. T J plays the "steel-drivin' man" of tall tale fame, and Eric Evans plays a more diminutive, ironically named John Henry in Carson McCullers' The Member of the Wedding at Barksdale Willow Lawn.

The quartet of talented young women in the photo to the left includes (left to right) Alia Bisharat, Winter Bailey, Ellie Atwood, and Jamie Sprovach. Alia, Winter and Ellie are in the 25th Anniversary Tour of Hugs and Kisses, Theatre IV’s internationally acclaimed child sexual abuse prevention program, co-produced with Prevent Child Abuse Virginia and the Virginia Department of Social Services. Jamie is in The Song of Mulan.

Alia returns to our employ after starring as Dorothy in last spring’s mainstage production of The Wizard of Oz. Winter (who has been Alia’s best friend since they both appeared in Disney's Beauty and the Beast at Theatre IV in the spring of 06) is a "military brat" who's lived all over the U. S., most recently in Petersburg. This is Winter's second year touring with Theatre IV.

Ellie was hired in our Memphis auditions. She graduated from Southern Illinois University and toured nationally with the California Theatre Center before joining us at Theatre IV. Jamie was hired in our St. Louis auditions. She graduated from Western Illinois University and performed with Bard in the Barn and the Western Illinois Summer Music Theatre before moving to Richmond to join Theatre IV.

The two men in Hugs and Kisses are Jonah Bowles and Christopher Schoen, pictured left to right in the cell phone photo to the right. Jonah was cast out of our Atlanta auditions. He graduated from Coastal Carolina University, and appeared in The Lost Colony before returning to Richmond, his home town. Chris is also a native son of our fair city, and the son of the chair of U of R's Theatre Dept., Walter Schoen. Chris is returning for his second year of touring with Theatre IV. At Barksdale, Chris has served as an assistant stage manager and appeared as the bear who chased a character across the stage in Melissa Arctic.

Another man who was unable to make it to the Tourmite Party and therefore missed the group photos is Beau Forbes, pictured in another cell phone pic to the left. Beau will be touring with The Legend of Sleepy Hollow, and will be in his second year with our company. He graduated from Southern Illinois University, and is an alum of The Johnny Appleseed Outdoor Drama in Ashland, Ohio.

There is one final group of five actors featured in this Part I post. Remember, I can’t include more than 20 names in the labels for any given post, so I frequently have to subdivide larger groups so as to be able to index everyone.

In the photo to the right, you will find (left to right) Amy Wolf, Nicholas Jimenez, Jeremy Howard, Jordan Barwick and Jermise Bailey, all of whom are working with Theatre IV and Barksdale for the first time. Amy and Nicholas are both appearing in Tales as Tall as the Sky. Amy graduated from the University of Richmond, and has performance experience at Sycamore Rouge in Petersburg and with the Fredericksburg Theatre Company and Riverside Theatre, both in Fredericksburg. Nicholas graduated from Appalachian State University, and was referred to us by his college professor (and former Theatre IV touring actor) Gordon Hensley. Nicholas's previous credits include the prestigious Utah Shakespeare Festival.

Jeremy, Jordan and Jermise are all touring in The Song of Mulan, and were all cast out of Atlanta. Jeremy graduated from Chattanooga State where he particularly enjoyed performing for young audiences in Cinderella and Once Upon a Mattress. Jordan hails from Kinston, N C. He and his wife Aubrey are the proud parents of twin daughters, Alana and Alexis. Jermise graduated Cum Laude from North Carolina Central University, after attending Henrico High School right here in Metro Richmond.

Tomorrow I'll introduce our remaining 15 actors. We're proud and privileged to be working with each and every one of these talented theatre pros, and looking forward to a terrific year.

--Bruce Miller

On the Road Again - TIV Actors Launch Tour

Posted by Bruce Miller

Barksdale is sister theatres with Theatre IV, the Children’s Theatre of Virginia. Our two independent nonprofit companies share a common staff. (Hence why you will also find this post on The Barksdale Buzz at www.TheBarksdaleBuzz.Blogspot.com)

Theatre IV on Tour is employing 28 fulltime company actors this fall, and 25 of the 28 gathered this evening for our annual Tourmite Party in the Empire Theatre lobby. Next week, the first of September’s six touring troupes will begin performing in schools and other theatrical facilities throughout Virginia and 32 additional states. It’s challenging and exciting work, and our talented and intrepid actors seem more than up to the task.

Between now and Thanksgiving, Theatre IV will be touring Hugs and Kisses by Terry Bliss, Bruce Craig Miller and Richard Giersch, Jack and the Beanstalk by Douglas Jones and Ron Barnett, The Legend of Sleepy Hollow and The Song of Mulan by Paul Deiss, Tales as Tall as the Sky by Cliff Todd, and The True Story of Pocahontas by Peter Howard and Ron Barnett. You can check our weekly calendar to keep up with performance locations.

Ford Flannagan, Company Manager, supervises the professional touring companies and hosted this evening’s festivities. After setting a pirate / Western / Hawaiian theme (don't ask), he distributed his annual door prizes consisting of everything from emergency ponchos to waving mechanical hands to tropical lip balm. In the photo to the right he and his assistant for the evening, Wendy Vandergrift – Assistant Technical Director in charge of our touring production needs, are about to deliver a Vibrating Soap Bar to actress Nicole Wakefield. All I can say is, every September, Spencer’s Gifts is very happy to see Ford Flannagan.

The annual touring actor party (along with our annual Fairy Tale Ball and other events) is planned by Jennings Whiteway, wearing the straw hat in the photo to the left, standing beside our Annual Fund Manager, Emily Cole Bitz. Jennings is Events, Access and Food Services Manager for Barksdale Theatre and Theatre IV. She is a trained events planner and manages Barksdale Events. Whatever your needs are for upcoming meetings, parties, weddings or other activities, Jennings and her Barksdale co-workers would be happy to discuss them with you. Just give our Artistic Director, Bruce Miller, a call at 783-1688 ext 17.

The actors in this year’s professional company come from throughout the United States, and contribute greatly to Central Virginia's arts scene. Immediately after this evening's pizza party, a van full of our touring actors rushed down the street to catch a performance of Mr. Marmalade at the Firehouse. Please join us in welcoming their talents and energies to the Richmond theatre community.

--Bruce Miller

First Fridays at the Empire!

I just wanted to let you guys all know… if you’re not coming downtown on the first Friday of every month- you’re missing out! Every event the streets are swarming with people and the energy is amazing. The restaurants are packed, the art galleries are filled to max capacity, the music is spilling out into the streets from numerous storefronts and we, here at the Empire Theatre, are proud to show off our beautiful and historic building. Some months our lobby presents live music from awesome bands around the Richmond area, and some months we have a video montage of several of our past productions playing on a large screen in the lobby. Every month there is a gallery display of some kind- photography, artwork, sculpture, costume display, etc…, but there is always a ton to be seen. The bar is ready to serve and the theatre space itself is ready to be admired. So come on down and join us every first Friday night and see what you’ve been missing! The theatre beckons…

(This Friday also come check out a cabaret featuring Keydron Dunn, Russell Rowland, Billy Christopher Maupin, Andrea Corbin, Audrey Snyder, Robin Harris-Jones, Janine Sears, Corey Davis, and Chloe Williams.)
-Catherine Dudley