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.

The Reviews are in for RD

By Billy Christopher Maupin

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

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

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

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

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

"hilariously wicked duo of Jackie Jones and Matt James"

"fell in love with Richard Koch as the King"

"really great theatre"

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

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

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

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

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

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

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)