An Actor...

Posted by Billy Christopher Maupin

I don't even know what to call this post. There are many titles it could hold, but none of them quite seem to do it justice. The show closes today with the two o'clock performance. I used to think that closings would someday get easier. And maybe someday they will. But, every one remains to be different.

This experience...I don't even know. I have so enjoyed every single person that has been involved with this show. It seems to have become such an embedded part of life that it now seems so strange that it's going to end. It seems so rare that a whole cast seems to really click together with no exceptions, especially a whole team.

I felt like with Smoke on the Mountain that the whole "family" just seemed to mesh so beautifully, but with that there was the hope of perhaps performing one of the sequels in a not-so-distant season (and we are now, in fact, all going to be back together it seems to perform Sander's Family Christmas at Barksdale Theatre at Hanover Tavern starting in November). But with Rumpelstiltskin's Daughter, it's one of those that you know for certain that you will never have these same people in a cast together again. It's like moving away from home.

There are so many wonderful memories. We have such an incredible time. So much fun amidst so much hard work. But everything must have a balance it seems. And having the best job in the world must have it's downfalls. Closings, for me, are the biggest of these.

With these people, I even seem to be able to take joy in the dance numbers (which frighten me on a regular basis).

I don't know that I can continue to be anywhere close to articulate about how I feel about the cast and crew and creative team, so I should wrap it up.

It's been such a beautiful story to be able to tell, with such beautiful people. I feel so fortunate to have been able to be a part of this project and I know it's one that I will forever carry fond memories of.

I really love this cast. The ones that I've been hoping to work with for quite a while, the ones that I've worked with before, and the ones I didn't know before.

This is going to sound really cheesy, but theatre seems to me to really be magical. (Cheesy continues:) One of the lyrics in the show is "Magic changes all of your faces. Open your heart and you'll find, that magic lives in all kinds of places, like deep in your heart and in mine." I have learned so much from this cast, all of them (Cathy, Corey, David, Gigi, Jackie, Jacquie, Maggie, Matt, Richard, Thomas), from Dawn, from the crew, from the playwright, from the play....I should really pull it together and stop crying. hahaha. But this has truly been one of my favorite and most magical experiences. I hope that I'm able to take that and carry it on. I hope we all are.

No Clever Title Tonight- RD

Posted by Billy Christopher Maupin

Dawn holds to the philosophy that the more times you get to run the show the better. Which can be very frustrating early on, when the whole piece is a mess, as opposed to having one thing down really well, but at this point, it's really rather fantastic to have the whole show getting settled into our bodies, minds, voices, etc. Especially with the many, many, many costume changes (and some of them incredibly fast!). So glad to have Renee (our dresser) backstage along with a really terrific backstage team: Jason, Robert, Eddie, and another whose name I'm forgetting....arrrgh...I'll post it when I learn it! Shame on me!

Tonight after the very stop-and-start run (which included several new props, new blocking, choreography, vocal tracks, costume pieces and more) I believe Dawn referred to the "theatre goblins" attacking the show because so many things went awry in tonight's run. But the really cool thing is that IT'S ONLY TUESDAY!!! We have until Friday!

The show is in such great shape that it was probably incredibly helpful to have a really rough run to keep us on our toes. It's definitely coming to the time when everyone (or most) is getting nervous as the opening gets closer and closer with each passing moment (cue eerie music), but still for the most part, all of that is being navigated very gracefully. It's so fun to work with a group of such talented and kind people (and FUN!).

Oh, oh, oh. I would be totally amiss if I didn't mention that the costumes look FABULOUS! The sets are HUGE and FABULOUS! The lights are FABULOUS! The special effects are TRES FABULOUS!

Derek Dumais (sound engineer) helped us lay down some backup vocal tracks today, as we have a much more intimate-sized cast compared the the production in the Edinburgh Festival and also in the workshop (one of which, I believe had 26 people). So several of the cast members (David, Cathy, Gigi, Corey, and I) just recorded a couple of the numbers to boost the sound a bit. The tracks that Julie Fulcher (recently seen in A Christmas Story at Theatre IV and Smoke on the Mountain at Barksdale Theatre at Hanover Tavern) are FABULOUS! Oh, so beautiful!

Everyone involved has really poured themselves into this. Wendy Vandergrift and Bruce Rennie have been doing some awesome tech support. Ginnie Willard, pinch hitting as properties mistress, is doing some incredibly fast and FABULOUS work. All the carpenters and painters have built this HUGE (oh...already said that) set.

OK...I should stop. I'm really excited about the show. It's really gonna be a ton of fun for us once we're able to navigate all of our costumes, props, etc. And I'm really excited to see how it plays with an audience (ON FRIDAY!!!). I really think it's gonna be a FABULOUS show!

Lady Camilla Bats Her Lashes

Posted by Billy Christopher Maupin

Corey Davis (most recently seen in Theatre IV's Stuart Little as well as Home for the Holidays at Barksdale Theatre and the fabulous cabarets at the Empire Theatre...and as Lauren in the world premiere of Bill C. Davis' Austin's Bridge at the Firehouse Theatre Project) portrays (among others) Lady Camilla, one of the Ladies in Waiting that flirt with the Duke in Rumpelstiltskin's Daughter.

Hometown: Richmond, VA baby!

Audition song: open to suggestions

Special skills: backwards alphabet the say can I

Favorite word: facetious (the only word in the English language with all 5 vowels in their correct order)

First show ever saw: ever, Secret Garden - in NY, Footloose

If you could go back in time and catch one show (Broadway or otherwise) what would it be?: As a child, my family had Peter Pan on tape, starring Mary Martin. I would love to go back to my childhood and get to see that in real life

Favorite show tune: "Could I Leave You?" from Follies or "When I Look at You" from Scarlet Pimpernel

Least favorite word: moist....eww

Favorite play: Curious Savage

Favorite musical: RENT, I know that's stereotypical, but it's amazing

Most played song on your iPod (or CD player): at the moment, anything from Alison Krauss or Antigone Rising

Last book you read: Confessions of an Ugly Stepsister [BC NOTE: by Gregory Maguire, who also wrote Wicked]

Sound or noise you love: my husbands voice....hehe

Must-see TV show: Lost and Project Runway, though my favorite of all time is Dr. Quinn Medicine Woman! (I know, I know)

Sound or noise you hate: pink pencil erasers...it makes my teeth hurt

Worst job you ever had: Selling cookies at the mall

First stage kiss: Senior year of high school as Rosemary in How to Succeed in Business Without Really Trying

Worst costume ever: In my eighth grade chorus, we had these hideous outfits - big glittery gold tops with sequins and poofy sleeves with pants straight from an M.C. Hammer video

What turns you on (creatively, spiritually, emotionally)?: kindness

An Actor is...Tired

Posted by Billy Christopher Maupin

Just a quick update on rehearsals for Rumpelstiltskin's Daughter.

Wow! I'm exhausted!

We've gotten through the bulk of the script (I think). My brain is not firing on all cylinders. Last night at rehearsal...or was it the night before...I said something and had completely inverted two of the words in my sentence. Not as in the style of that controversial Star Wars character (i.e. "Do it again we should."), but more like "I'm really up picking not on that dance step." Or something of the likes.

Intense this is! We're doing a stumble-through tomorrow night of what we have so far. That means starting at the top and trying to make our way through until it falls apart, fix it, and keep going as far as we can.

I've somehow mananged to end up with script and music mixed together in two different binders in an attempt to be organized and now find myself completely lost. Frightening.

Oh! Speaking of frightening. The "passarelle" is this thing that extends out from the stage and circles around the pit (the lowered pit in front of the stage where an orchestra would be for a big musical). It's about four feet wide across the front and we're dancing(!) on these large "gold coins" ON THE "PASSARELLE!" (This term, I think, originated from some story as a joke and the spelling is rather nonexistent, but it sounds like it might be spelled like that.) It's really plenty of room and safe, but when you're dancing across it, it sometimes a bit daunting.

Ensemble work is incredibly difficult. I've acknowledged this for several years now and I'll say it here: There is a very different skill set required for ensemble work as opposed to principle work. It seemed that in college and even now that there exists this mentality that being in the ensemble means that you're "just in the chorus." So far from the truth. It is so much intense work and in such a teamwork kind of way, even more so than principle roles, I think. I'll try to come up with a better way to describe the difference between the two. All the cast is in the same boat (along with the director/choreographer, stage manager, designers, production team, etc.), but in the ensemble it's...I have no coherent way to describe it right now. I'll give it more thought and see what I come up with.

And there's so much more singing and dancing! So much to learn!

So here's my hat off to all the gypsies out there! You guys rock! I think after this show, I think I'm going to leave my hat off to the gypsies instead of trying to put their hat on. Whew!

OK...I'm going to try to get my binders meshed into one and figure out where I move when!

(Photos: 1. Matt James (Duke of Bonfire) in foreground, Dawn Westbrook (Director/ Choreographer) seated at table, David Janeski (Rumpelstiltskin) in the background; 2. Jar Jar Binks; 3. Maggie Roop (Lady Vennesse/Granny/Ensemble), Corey Davis (Lady Camilla/Ensemble) 4. Devin Richards from the recent Broadway revival of 110 in the Shade (and the Gypsy Robe winner from that production)

An Actor Is Still Preparing...

Posted by Billy Christopher Maupin

Rehearsals are now well underway for Rumpelstiltskin's Daughter with an absolutely hysterical cast. These people are so much fun and delicious to work with! Maggie Roop, Thomas E. Nowlin, and Corey Davis round out the ensemble as Granny, Lady Camilla, and the Blacksmith respectively, with my stunning (hahaha) turn as the King's Father at the end of the show.

We started learning the choreography for our big "tap number" last night. I have never in my life tapped. Well, maybe my fingers on my desk during chemistry class, but ya know! So some minor adjustments were made...and I was cut from the number. Just kidding! Dawn was amazingly kind and simplified a few steps and it's going to look fabulous! Cathy Motley-Fitch, our dance captain, gave me quite a bit of help during our break as well. A "time step"? Huh?! A welcome challenge!

I was talking to Jackie Jones (who plays the Queen Mother with this riotous Rosanne Barr-esque take on the role) who is quite quick to pick up these dance steps which until last night were completely foreign to me and she was very reassuring. This morning before I head off to work, I found this video in my email sent from my darling Jackie:


How cool is that! I love YouTube! It's such an invaluable source of research now! (You can also find the Theatre IV commercial on there. And the Barksdale Theatre commercial, where you can catch a glimpse of me having a blast laughing on the couch with Joe Pabst, seen as Lumiere in Theatre IV's production of Disney's Beauty and the Beast:)

So...back to work. More lines and songs to learn! And that shuffle and time step!

Shuffles and time steps! Oh my!

An Actor Prepares

Posted by Billy Christopher Maupin

And so begins the "behind the scenes" look at the rehearsal process...from an actor's point of view.

I've been cast in my first mainstage Theatre IV production! In Rumpelstiltskin's Daughter that runs January 25 - February 10. I'm thrilled. So I had this nifty idea.

Theatre IV's touring productions include a post-show Q&A. A lot of the questions that come from the students (and sometimes the parent and teachers as well) are about being an actor. One of my favorite questions...well...it was really a favorite answer...was on my very first tour with Theatre IV. This was when Theatre IV still had an arm (or a branch, if you must) in Cincinnati and I was touring in Paul Deiss' beautiful musical, The Song of Mulan. All five of us were brand new to touring and we were seeming to find our way quite nicely with some of the strange questions that would pop up from time to time. In one of the aforementioned question and answer sessions, a child asked, "How much do you get paid?" After what was probably a very brief pause that seemed much longer, I said "Qurell?" Our cast had no formal way of distributing the questions, but if one came up that was something that one actor generally answered or that one of us thought that individual would be particularly adept at answering, then we would "pass the ball" to them. I got a quick and outwardly congenial sideways glare from Qurell who prompty replied, "We do receive monetary compensation for our work. You there in the blue shirt." She moved so smoothly and swiftly on to the next child. In its telling, the story seems to be somewhat similar to a story that Jackie Jones (nee Goldberg) had told in her questionnaire blog. I'll have to revisit that.

But now I have ventured far from the path! It's so easy to do that when talking about experiences in the theatre!

My point (and I do have one. Ellen. Anybody?) is that this series of entries might be a bit of insight into an actor's process. A single actor- I should emphasize- as each has his or her own method or technique. I should also point out that, contrary to my "clever" title you will find no (at least concious) Stanislavski here. Perhaps very close to The Practical Handbook for the Actor, which is a fantastic (and on the top of my list) book about the craft of acting.

We had a readthrough with the cast, director, and designers earlier this month. The ideas that they are bringing to the table (literally) are awesome! My jaw was dropped more than once by these incredibly vivid and brilliant ideas!

For now, I sign off. Back to reading my script and working on my music. We have our first rehearsal the evening of January 2. Look for more to come!

Another Fantastic Cabaret at the Empire Theatre

Posted by Billy Christopher Maupin

I am often accused of not sharing information early enough, so even though there are a lot of exciting things going on next Friday for First Friday at the Empire, I wanted to start getting the word out about the cabaret that will be playing in the lobby FOR FREE (which seemed to be the big question last time: "How much is the cover?"). FREE ENTERTAINMENT; How cool is that?

We featured an incredibly well-received cabaret for First Friday in September; so well-received, in fact, that we are featuring another next week, with several returning faces/voices and several new ones as well.

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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