Back to School = Back to FUN!

If your kids are singing the Back-t0-School Blues, let them know there are plenty of things to look forward to between now and next spring, like field trips to Theatre IV's Broadway for Families shows at the Empire Theatre and Willow Lawn and in-school performances from Theatre IV On Tour!

Our Broadway for Families season at the Empire Theatre and Willow Lawn kicks off October 1st with the familiar favorite, Ferdinand the Bull, based on the book by Munro Leaf and Robert Lawson. This bilingual family musical is part of our Hispanic Theatre Project and runs through October 17th. (Illustration by Theodore Taylor)

Other productions in our Broadway for Families season include The Velveteen Rabbit (at Willow Lawn), The B.F.G. (at the Empire) and HONK! (at the Empire). Theatre IV is also offering a special holiday option, Irving Berlin's White Christmas (at the Empire). Tickets can be purchased by calling one of our friendly box office staff at (804) 282-2620 or online at www.theatreivrichmond.org.

Odds are good that Theatre IV On Tour is coming to your child's school! Titles on the road Fall semester include Lyle, Lyle Crocodile, Home Sweet Homer, The Little Red Hen: A Country Musical, Patchwork: The Little House Life of Laura Ingalls Wilder, The Legend of Sleepy Hollow, and Hugs and Kisses.

All our Theatre IV On Tour productions correlate to Virginia Standards of Learning, providing educators with an alternative teaching method to reinforce classroom lessons in English, Science, History and Family Life. And best of all, the kids (and teachers) have a great time!

We encourage parents to attend in-school performances (subject to school approval). If you would like to know if Theatre IV is coming to your child's school, contact our Tour Department at (804) 783-1688 and ask for Jeanie Rule.


Who knew going back to school could be so FUN? (We did!)

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On the Road Again: Theatre IV

In case you haven't yet seen it, Theatre IV is featured in the February issue of Virginia Living! The article describes Theatre IV's touring operation in detail. Check it out! http://www.virginialiving.com/articles/on-the-road-again












Gena Hart helping Matt Doss transform into Ben Franklin for the Theatre IV tour production of Ben Franklin and his Kite.

With Nothing But a Slim Jim and a Chocolate Bar...

Posted by Billy Christopher Maupin

A great tour story from a Theatre IV veteran, currently appearing in Rumpelstiltskin's Daughter- Jacqueline O'Connor.

My second tour was 'Twas the Night Before Christmas - Fall/Winter 1988. A very talented cast and it was one of the first (if not the first) tour to go to Chicago. Each tour had a manager and ours was this woman named Eloise. She was a Theatre IV tour veteran and the natural choice to manage the rest of us newbies. One of our first stops was the wonderful city of Chicago. Eloise decided that we would take two days to get there. Stopping in the Ohio area first and then starting out in the AM for the last leg of our journey.

We woke up on the second day to discover that a HUGE snow storm had dropped several feet on us while we slept. Many of us thought it was not a good idea to get back on the Ohio Turnpike. We thought we should wait until they had a chance to clear the roads. But Eloise decided that we should risk it. So we got on the road (I should mention at this point that none of us had eaten breakfast). We drove about 10 mins and then came to a dead stop.

After about 20 minutess of no movement we finally turned on the radio only to hear that a tractor trailer had overturned on the highway and was blocking all 4 lanes of the turnpike. So there we sat...for over 5 hours! There was no way to back up. We had to turn off the engine and the van became instantly cold. We covered ourselves with the show costumes.

We had a Slim Jim and one chocolate bar and we split it with everyone. Of course, being the dramatic actors that we were, we decided to write a goodbye note to our director, John Glenn, telling him of our plight and assuring him that we tried hard to survive and do the show...and to please tell people this when they found our frozen bodies.

We did end up getting there and somehow the school knew we were stuck and rearranged their schedule so we could still do the show. So it all worked out. But I still get a chill when I think about Chicago!

-Jacquie O'Connor

The Show Must Go On

Posted by Billy Christopher Maupin

I have solicited fun tour stories from the actors currently on tour with Theatre IV. This evening I received a message from Jennifer Zubernick. That message follows:

Hey Billy-Christopher,

I'm not sure if you're still in need of tour stories, but have I got one for you.

As you know, I'm in Harriet Tubman and the Underground Railroad. On Friday, we were scheduled for two performances Connecticut. The weather was very cold, rainy, and icy but we got there safely. The first show went wonderfully, and we went back to our dressing room to relax and have some lunch before our next show. Steve (Freitas) went onstage to fix something and when he came back, announced, "Hey guys, we have a really big problem." Concerned, we all asked, "What?" His response was somewhat surreal, "Umm, it's raining... on the stage." We all went out to the stage to see for ourselves and sure enough, it was literally raining on the stage. Somehow rain had penetrated vents in the ceiling and was coming down somewhat steadily in two big puddles near stage left. Not only was the stage quickly becoming slick where a lot of running action takes place, but one of the stage lights flickered as it was getting hit with the rain and our all-wood set was slowly getting wet and ruined. Stephanie (Hill), our road manager, alerted the theatre staff about the dangerous stage conditions. However, they had tons of kids already booked for the performance, so we got on the phone with Gordon Bass (TIV tour manager) to hear his advice. Not surprisingly, he also wanted the show to continue.

So what was a cast to do? The theatre was already filling with kids who had been bussed in from all over CT, and the theatre staff as well as our people back in Richmond wanted a show. So, we gave them a show. After some quick onstage thinking, creative blocking and differing set change placement, we gave just as good a show as any other, and soon enough no one in the audience was even paying attention to the unwanted rain special effects.

And that was within a week and a half of tour. We're performing until mid-April. If we can pull off a show in the rain, there's little we won't be able to handle if it comes our way.

-Jennifer Zubernick

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