In cooperation with Virginia Stage Company, “Every Brilliant Thing” comes to the Suffolk Center for Cultural Arts stage Wednesday, May 31 for two free performances. The first is a school matinee at 10 a.m., with an evening performance at 6 p.m. “Every Brilliant Thing” is presented for free during May Mental Health Awareness Month…
By Page Laws
Virginian-Pilot Correspondent
May 11, 2023 at 7:44 am
An angel, as active in death as she was in life, is here in town and ready to fuss about justice:
Don’t tell me
I’ll tell you
Me and my people just about due.
Yolanda Rabun as Nina Simone. (Ken A. Huth)
The title of the song from which that lyric comes, “Mississippi Goddam,” also provides a less-than-subtle clue:
Nina Simone was a troubled (probably bipolar), often angry, artist, hounded out of a classical music career because of her race. But she was and is (especially as reincarnated through Sunday at the Wells Theatre by supercharged actor/singer/lawyer Yolanda Rabun) quite ready to sing her soul out in an effort to save ours, both as individuals and a nation.
The one-woman show is called “No Fear and Blues Long Gone: Nina Simone,” by playwright Howard L. Craft, and that title, too, is telling. The scared little girl who became the international singing legend was born Eunice Kathleen Waymon, in 1933, the sixth of eight preacher’s kids, about 400 miles from the Wells, down in Tryon, North Carolina. More about the Tar Heel connection later. She mostly got over being scared; she likewise dismissed the blues as “her” genre. She sang all genres, and fiercely.
Eunice was allowed to study piano and proved so talented she was also permitted to study at Juilliard. But the world wasn’t ready for, in her own words, “Black fingers” on a classical keyboard. A young Simone (she rechristened herself after tough, beautiful French acting sensation Simone Signoret) had no choice but to sing for her subsistence and later write and sing all manner of her own and others’ popular and political songs.
In her remarkable career, Simone befriended a bevy of other major Black artists and leaders, including Martin Luther King Jr. and Malcolm X. Following the lead of Josephine Baker, Richard Wright and many others, including her friend and fellow artist James Baldwin, she eventually chose exile in Africa and Europe. As with Baldwin, Simone’s politically charged life ended in France, in 2003.
But it’s the North Carolina connection that runs particularly deep in the Wells production. Every principal involved — playwright Craft, actor Rabun and director Kathryn Hunter-Williams — sports a dab of tar on his or her feet for some reason, with this particular version of the show also having been developed at PlayMakers Repertory, Chapel Hill.
The show, as seen in dress rehearsal, was still understandably rough with delayed lighting cues, one case of forgotten lyrics (deftly handled and soon recalled). Rabun, as full of vim and vigor as Simone must have been, powers through all discrepancies to seize the stage and audience by the scruff of our necks. There are only 10 songs, with at least one other, Simone’s version of “I Put a Spell on You” (by Screamin’ Jay Hawkins, 1959) noticeably absent and missed.
Yolanda Rabun as Nina Simone. (Ken A. Huth)
There’s also a good bit of actor/audience banter and a somewhat methodical account of biographical highlights. Rabun switches costumes onstage, going from one gown to another, from a tank suit with cowboy boots (quite the look!) to a lovely dashiki. She occasionally rests on a divan or chair center stage, her three-piece band sitting always stage right. The gentlemen acquit themselves well, but sometimes their limited number seems a false economy. A trio can create only so big and varied a sound.
Simone shares anecdotes about her two husbands and countless affairs, one with an unidentified “prime minister.” She says of one husband: “He never lied to me … (perfect beat) … until he did.” Husband Andy physically abused her and tried without success to rein in her political activities. There were sometimes violent altercations with record executives, who, she felt, cheated her all her life. When (self-)accused of shooting a record executive, she clarifies for the audience, “I shot at a record executive.” We sense her deep anguish at the deaths of King and Medgar Evers, but especially at the killing of the four little girls in Birmingham (Sept. 15, 1963). She has the audience repeat each child victim’s name out loud.
The premise of Simone’s visiting us from the afterlife allows for witty commentary on developments since her death. She’s proud of the protest tactics of Colin Kaepernick, but she’s equally eager to return to heaven to party with folks like Langston Hughes and Tupac (who strikes her as fine-looking).
She touches briefly on the time, when she was still on Earth, that she swallowed 35 pills … and lived. Her two psychiatrists never helped but so much.
Since she’s now appearing from the afterlife, she’s quite comfortable with computers and takes some (fictitious) questions from the online public. She grapples briefly with her invisible-to-us, long-disapproving mother and her own, much-loved daughter Lisa Simone, herself a singer and a documentarian of her mother’s life. The film her daughter worked on, “What Happened, Miss Simone?” (2015), is part of a still-breaking wave of plays (including last year’s “Bessie, Billie and Nina: Pioneering Women in Jazz” at the Attucks), films, books, song remixes, etc., that keep the Simone legacy alive.
Most recently and of possible interest to those in Hampton Roads is the restoration of Simone’s home in Tryon, thanks to the support of the African American Cultural Heritage Action Fund, part of the National Trust for Historic Preservation. In fact, on May 20, there will be a gala at New York’s Pace Gallery and, into May 22, an online auction by Sotheby’s devoted to raising additional restoration funds. (See pacegallery.com/nina-simone or savingplaces.org/supportnina.)
Were Simone actually still among us, she would doubtless have supported Black Lives Matter and all other efforts to fight racial injustice and, the bane of her life, racial hypocrisy. In the Wells offering — rough as it was when I saw it — Simone quotes an odd but telling observation she attributes to Malcolm X: “You can put kittens in the oven, but that doesn’t make them biscuits.” You can deny the validity of Black history, but that doesn’t mean it didn’t happen.
To chase the kittens/biscuits image from your mind, here’s another line from the show’s “Mississippi Goddam,” perhaps just as telling and rightfully disturbing:
Lord have mercy on this land of mine
We all gonna get it in due time.
Tell it, Nina, from wherever you are.
Page Laws is dean emerita of the Nusbaum Honors College at Norfolk State University. prlaws@aya.yale.edu
Original Story Linked Here at The Virginian-Pilot
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When: 7:30 p.m. Thursday; 7:30 p.m. Friday; 3 and 7:30 p.m. Saturday; and 2 p.m. Sunday
Where: The Wells Theatre, 108 E. Tazewell St., Norfolk
Tickets: Start at $35
Details: 757-627-1234, vastage.org
HAMPTON ROADS, VA. — Actress Yolanda Rabun joins Coast Live to discuss her upcoming role in the Virginia Stage Company's "No Fear and Blues Long Gone: Nina Simone," and shares a look at her unique take on the legendary singer.
No Fear and Blues Long Gone: Nina Simone
by Howard L. Craft
Directed by Kathryn Hunter-Williams
May 10 -14
Wells Theatre, Norfolk
This 90-minute, one-woman show features the Jazz legend and Civil Rights activist when she returns to present times to address certain events in her life, answer questions and leave her audience with a unique perspective on dealing with fear and current events in our world today. Featuring some of Ms. Simone’s greatest hits including “Don’t Let Me Be Misunderstood”, “I Wish I Knew How it Would Feel to Be Free”, “Feeling Good” and “Young, Gifted and Black”.
Paid for by Virginia Stage Company
vastage.org
Box Office: 757-627-1234
Original Story Linked at CoastLive.com
NORFOLK — “O for a muse of fire” to properly praise this ambitious, wise, contemporary-in-spirit, production of Shakespeare’s best-loved history play by Virginia Stage Company and Norfolk State University.
It stars invincible NSU and Brown University acting alum Christopher Marquis Lindsay at the perfect age, physique and point in his burgeoning career to embody England’s warrior king in the last (1599) of what’s known as the bard’s second tetralogy. This quartet of plays includes “Richard II” (about Harry’s father Bolingbroke’s usurpation of the throne to become Henry IV); “Henry IV, Part One” (about Harry’s, a.k.a. Hal’s, misspent youth hanging out with Falstaff); “Henry IV, Part Two”(more Hal and Falstaff); and our play “Henry V,” about Hal/Harry’s own kingship and conquest of France).
Derrick Moore, left, as the Duke of Exeter and Christopher Marquis Lindsay as Henry in "Henry V" at the Wells Theatre through April 30. (Samuel Flint)
Shakespeare buffs will recognize “O for a muse of fire,” as the prologue/chorus’ opening line which is replete with similar “greatest hit” speeches (e.g., “Once more unto the breach, dear friends, once more” in Act 3; “We few, we happy few, we band of brothers…” in Act 4 and “A little touch of Harry in the night,” also Act 4. The great speeches have thankfully been preserved in this judiciously cut version.
Though “O for a muse of fire” was nicely performed on April 13 by NSU alum Terrance Livingston, Jr., Livingston will cede that part to the play’s director Tom Quaintance at selected performances (check with the box office). Other illustrious former Spartans in the show include Derrick Moore as the Duke of Exeter; Corey Edward as Earl of Cambridge/Michael Williams; and KeeAjah Baldwin as Duke of York/Sir Thomas Grey. The older pros are joined by eight current students, some playing major roles such as Princess Katharine (Vania Aursby, who’s already made her mark locally at the Generic and Old Dominion University Rep.)
Add in a good handful of local and imported VSC regulars — e.g., Ron Newman as King of France/Sir Thomas Erpingham; Jeffrey Haddock as the insufferable Dauphin (who first appears, hilariously, with the other French nobles in the tony Wells’ box seats); and Julian Stetkevych as Canterbury/Fluellen/Orleans)—and you have two armies’ worth of actors on a mostly bare, intentionally rough-hewn looking thrust stage, created by designer Dahlia Al-Habieli. The open-to-view under-thrust doubles nicely as siege trenches or “mines.”
Costumes by resident designer Jeni Schaefer are well-worn contemporary outdoor garb, occasionally embellished with low-tech coats-of-arms ribbons or torn, dirty armbands to help keep double-and triple-cast actors identifiably English or French. Women actors Sarah Manton (Montjoy/Hostess), Meg Rodgers and Anna Sosa play both genders, Rodgers stepping up as the feckless corpse-robbing Pistol and Sosa as the acne-challenged Bardolph.
The latter two n’er-do-wells, plus Nym (Miguel Girona), are part of what one might dub “Team Falstaff,” the group of lowlifes with whom then-Prince Harry hung out in his youth. When “Henry V” begins, Falstaff is a bed-ridden offstage character suffering from his life of drinking, whoring and Prince Harry’s stunning rejection of his company in “Henry IV, Part 2.”
Falstaff expires, still unseen, in Act 2, with only the Hostess (Manton) to witness and skillfully convey the manner of his going: “For his nose was as sharp as a pen,” [odd for a notoriously fat man] and he “babbled of green fields.” Perhaps his last moments were, after all, some bucolic dream. With Falstaff gone, the audience watches to see how King Harry will treat his former buddies from Team Falstaff (Pistol, Bardolph, Nym, etc.). He consistently shuns them, in some of the play’s coldest, but, as we’re made to think, necessary moments.
The play — in fact, the whole tetralogy — invariably comes down to how audiences judge this Henry’s all-important character. Henry at any age can be cruel — indeed the historical Henry V, according to most historians and critics such as Herschel Baker, was by no means a charmer. But Shakespeare’s Henry V is, and, perforce, must be one, since the whole second tetralogy leads up to his miraculous victories at Harfleur and, especially, Agincourt.
In this play, Shakespeare reaches the heights of his patriotic theme: England now and forever. And Henry V, warts and all, IS England, sometimes mistaken (the scenes in which corrupt bishops support Henry’s genealogical claim to the French throne via Edward the Black Prince and Salic law are comically obtuse), but always, somehow, winsome. That’s because Henry V, even when he’s hard (ordering French prisoners to be killed or allowing a miscreant such as Bardolph to be hanged) is consistently self-questioning, self-effacing (especially with his betrothed, Kate) and patriotic.
Julian Stetkevych, right, and the cast of "Henry V" playing at the Wells Theatre through April 30. (Samuel Flint)
That’s why the play was so popular during World War II. Laurence Olivier’s 1944 film adaptation fit its times; Kenneth Branagh’s heroic 1989 film aspirationally still fits ours.
The play is always being done somewhere where English (and a bit of mangled French) is spoken or translated. And speaking of the brief French scenes, NSU theatre’s producing artistic director Anthony Mark Stockard served as voice and speech coach with no other dialect or French coach listed.
The actors’ French was somewhat rough (sometimes part of the plot), but it always flowed — the theatrical illusion of fluency (e.g., for the French Princess Katherine) being far more important than linguistic accuracy. Perhaps more could have been done to suggest Fluellen’s Welsh accent (Irishman MacMorris and Scotsman Jamy having been cut from the play). One loses thereby Shakespeare’s comic interplay of U.K. subcultures.
But never elided is the other glorious theme of this play: theatricality itself – both its limitations and infinite possibilities. “Can this cockpit hold/ The vasty fields of France? Or may we cram/ Within this wooden O the very casques that did affright the air at Agincourt?” The answer is no; of course, you can’t fit thousands of soldiers on a stage. But the answer is also a triumphant yes; you can conjure up such an image in your audience’s imagination, even as you deny it.
In the play’s first moments, Livingston stepped forward to deliver the familiar pre-curtain speech: “We wish to thank our sponsors … ;” “Please turn off your cellphones,” but then … theater happened!
Livingston unexpectedly lifted his voice to speak the famous first words of the show, leaped onstage and took us to where only art can go. As important as historical accuracy may be (the real Henry V probably was a jerk), we got the patriotic, still revelatory “Henry V” we need for today: Shakespeare’s own words, skillfully rendered and triumphantly true. Theatricality conquers all.
Page Laws is dean emerita of the Nusbaum Honors College at Norfolk State University. prlaws@aya.yale.edu
(Katherine/Bates) is excited to appear in her first Virginia Stage Company production Henry V. Alonnie is a Drama/Theatre Major at NSU and her previous credits include School Girls (Generic Theater); and Macbeth (ODU Rep Theatre). She would like to thank herself, her family, MadeInNorfolk, Rayna Johnson, Chelsea Mock and the NSU Theatre faculty for their part in making this all possible.As a message to other young Black girls in the crowd she leaves this message "When you do the work it’s undeniable, no one can impede on what God has instore for you except you”
(Grey/York) is a graduate of Norfolk State University with a B.A in Theatre and English. She’s ecstatic to be working on her second Virginia Stage Company’s production with Henry V. Previous credits include A Soldier's Play (Virginia Arts Festival); The Wiz (Virginia Stage Company); Black Nativity, Eclipsed, Ruined (Norfolk State University), and The Mountain King (Zeiders American Dream Theatre). She would like to thank her family, friends, and God for their everyday love and support. Special thanks to Aiden R. Baldwin, and an honorary thank you to her guardians above.
(Cambridge/Michael Williams) is ecstatic to be working with the Virginia Stage company again, in his 3rd production with them in Shakespeare's Henry V. Previous credits include The Wiz (Virginia Stage Company/Norfolk State University Theatre Co.); Our Town (Virginia Stage Company); Thoughts of a Colored Man, Top Dog/Underdog, Fences, Soldiers Play (Norfolk State University Theatre Company); Sweat (Generic Theatre). He would like to give an honor to God for blessing him with his gifts and talents, and give thanks to his family and friends for all their support as he continues to utilizes his passion to fulfill all his dreams.
(Nym/Constable) is honored to return to the boards of the Wells. Some other notable stage appearances include Solario/Solarino in The Merchant Of Venice, Sir Eglamour in Two Gentlemen of Verona and Messalla in Julius Caesar at the Virginia Shakespeare Festival, Landscaper in Native Gardens and Antipholus of Syracuse in Comedy Of Errors (School Tour) at the Virginia Stage Company, Banquo in Voodoo Macbeth, and Polonius in Ophelia Chooses at Zeider’s, as well as Morrocco/Solario/Duke/Tubal in The Merchant of Venice at Quill Theater.
(Dauphin/Salisbury) is a local actor and educator, currently working as a Teaching Artist with Virginia Stage Company on their touring production of GreenBeats, Live! Jeffrey holds a BA in Theatre Performance from Old Dominion University, and some of his favorite performance credits include: Algernon in The Importance of Being Earnest, Malvolio in Twelfth Night, and Claude Bukowski in Hair (ODURep); and most recently Bilbo Baggins in The Hobbit (Virginia Stage Company). Jeffrey would like to thank his lovely partner Krystal, his ever supportive family, his wonderful coworkers, and his friends who all inspire him daily.
(Scroop/Gower) is a Senior Drama and Theater Major from Harlem, New York and is excited to be a part of VSC's production of Henry V. He has previously performed as Peter Parker in Disney's, Spider Man and the Kid who Flew, Anger in Thoughts of a Colored Man, Smalls in A Soldiers Play, and an Off-Broadway production of Prospect High Brooklyn.
(King Henry) is delighted to be back at the Virginia Stage Company. Previous credits include Off-Broadway: A Raisin in the Sun (The Public Theater). Regional: Gem of the Ocean (Trinity Rep), The Tempest, The Parchman Hour, A Christmas Carol, (Virginia Stage Company). TV: Blue Bloods. He holds an MFA from Brown/Trinity Rep and a BA from Norfolk State University in English/Theater where he is also a charter member of the Alpha Theta Kappa Chapter of Alpha Psi Omega National Theatre Honor Society.
(Chorus/Governor) is excited to work in another production with the Virginia Stage Company and Norfolk State University in Henry V. Previous credits include A Soldier’s Play (Virginia Arts Festival), The Wiz (Virginia Stage/NSU), and A Christmas Carol (Virginia Stage). Film credits include Mother’s Deadly Son (Lifetime), The Shark side of the Moon (Tubi), and Eric Coker’s Good Poison.
(Montjoy/Hostess) One Man, Two Guvnors (Broadway), The Coast of Utopia, South Pacific (National Theatre, London), Baby in Dirty Dancing (West End), Villette (Frantic Assembly /Stephen Hoggett), Juliet in Romeo and Juliet (UK tour), The Mikado, Major Barbara, The Madras House, Village Wooing, (Orange Tree, London) Time and the Conways (Old Globe, San Diego), What the Butler Saw (Mark Taper Forum, LA), Owners (Yale Rep), Pains of Youth (BAC, London), When We Are Married (Denver Center), Time of my Life (Pittsburgh Public), Things We Do For Love, Bedroom Farce, What the Butler Saw and Lettice and Lovage (Westport Country Playhouse), The Champion of Paribanou, (dir. Alan Ayckbourn, Scarborough), House and Garden (PICT), The Rivals (UK tour), Pains of Youth (BAC, London), Peter Pan (De la Warr Pavillion, UK) TV/Film: New Amsterdam (NBC), Doctors (BBC), Casualty (BBC), Seriously Dirty Dancing (Channel 5, UK) Radio plays: Whenever (BBC Radio 4), Christmas Carol (Westport), Sound of Siren (The Artist Experiment) Training: Guildford School of Acting, London. Member of The Actors Center NYC.
(Westmoreland) is a sophomore Norfolk State University Drama & Theatre major from Hyattsville, Maryland. He has previously appeared in the Virginia Stage Company and NSU Theatre Company co-production of Dreamgirls performing the role of C.C. White. Other credits include Shakespeare’s The Tempest (Shakespeare in the Grove); A Soldiers Play (Virginia Arts Festival and NSU Theatre Company); Skeleton Crew and Thoughts of a Colored Man (NSU Theatre Company). After graduation Adam plans on attending graduate school to receive his MFA in Acting. He thanks his mother, family and friends for their love and support.
(Exeter) is excited to come back for his fourth production at The Virginia Stage Company. Moore's previous productions were The Brother’s Size and A Raisin In The Sun at The American Players Theater. Before American Players Theater, Derrick completed his first feature film IN CONTRAST. He also performed Choir Boy at the National Black Theatre Festival. Before making his debut at the Virginia Stage Company for the Christmas Carol and The Tempest, Moore presented the Atlanta Premiere of The Brother Size. Moore’s other credits include Comedy of Errors and Hamlet at the Houston Shakespeare Festival. You can follow Derrick @derrickd.moore on Instagram and Derrick Moore Facebook.
(King of France/Erpingham) is excited to return to Virginia Stage! Previous VSC productions: Guys and Dolls (Arvid Abernathy) , Pride and Prejudice (Sir Lucas/Mr. Gardner) , The Tempest (Francisco), The Diary of Anne Frank (Mr. Kraler); East Coast Tour in Marlo Thomas' Free To Be You and Me; Additional Regional: Sister Act-the Musical (Monsignor O'Hara) Jekyll and Hyde -the Musical (Sir Danvers), Freaky Friday (Grandpa Gordon) , Beauty and the Beast (Maurice) , Show Boat (Frank Shultz), The Music Man (Marcellus), The Sound of Music (Uncle Max) at Virginia Musical Theatre; The Importance of Being Earnest (Algernon) at Appalachian Theatre; Oliver! (Fagin), Dames at Sea (Dick), You Can't Take it With You (Tony) at Milburn Stone Theatre; Television: Doctor Madblood (various characters) with Harrell Productions; The History of Tennessee (Tennessee PBS, Johnson City). Ron is a retired theatre and film instructor/director of 40 + years with Norfolk Academy, Cecil College,The Governor's School for the Arts, Virginia Stage, and Imagination Station in D.C. He is graduate of Tusculum University (BA), American University ,and Old Dominion University (MA). Many thanks to everyone here at VSC. It's so good to be back! A special shout-out to my husband for all his support.
(English Soldier/Deck Crew) is a Junior at Norfolk State University. She is an active member in the NSU Theatre Company where she recently played Geneva Lee Browne in 1940’s Radio Hour, the understudy for the role Faye in Skeleton Crew, and was a Production Assistant for Virginia Stage Company and NSU Theatre Company collaboration of Dreamgirls, Virginia Stage Company’s A Merry Little Christmas Carol (Spot Operator), and Angry Raucous and Shamelessly Gorgeous (Wardrobe Dresser/ Run Crew) She attended and worked at Wingspan Arts Summer Conservatory in New York City, she played the role of Trix in The Drowsy Chaperone, and Gynecia in Head over Heels, and worked as Stage Manager for the play Metamorphoses. She is the founder, creative director, and producer of Cam Filmwork Productions where she wrote, directed, and produced her debut film World We Created. She wants to thank her family for their support and dedicate this performance to her father. Philippians 4:13
(Chorus/Governor) is in his seventh season with Virginia Stage Company. At the Wells, Tom has directed Every Brilliant Thing, A Merry Little Christmas Carol, Pride and Prejudice, The Santaland Diaries, and Matilda The Musical. Regionally Tom directed Twelfth Night at the Guthrie Theater, and as an Associate Artist at PlayMakers Repertory Company he directed An Enemy of the People, Shipwrecked! An Entertainment, The Life and Adventures of Nicholas Nickleby, and The Little Prince. As Artistic Director of Cape Fear Regional Theatre (CFRT), Tom produced over 35 plays and directed many others, including the World Premiere of Downrange: Voices from the Homefront, a play based on interviews with military spouses from Fort Bragg. As the founder of FreightTrain Shakespeare in Los Angeles, he earned a Drama-Logue Award for his direction of Pericles. Other Los Angeles credits range from King Lear to The Devil With Boobs. A member of the Stage Directors and Choreographers Society, Tom is a graduate of Wesleyan University (Middletown, CT) with a B.A. in Theatre and Economics, and the University of California, San Diego MFA directing program, where he was the assistant director on the original production of The Who’s Tommy. Tom and his wife Wallis are the proud parents of Mireille Julia and Annika Christine.
(Pistol/Alice) is thrilled to be joining Virginia Stage Company for her first season with Henry V. Previous Credits include Romeo and Juliet, Twelfth Night, Comedy of Errors, Pericles, Une Tempete, The Tempest, Thrive, All’s Well That Ends Well, Macbeth, Henry IV Part 1, Henry IV Part 2, Henry V, Much Ado About Nothing, King and No King, Merry Wives of Windsor, Anne Page Hates Fun, Arden of Faversham, As You Like It, Emma, Richard III, Man of Mode (American Shakespeare Center); Shakespeare in Love, West Side Story, The Old Man and The Old Moon (Hope Repertory Theatre); Macbeth, Twelfth Night, Richard III, Much Ado About Nothing (Houston Shakespeare Festival); Enemies (Main Street Theatre); A Midsummer Night’s Dream (Rec Room). She holds an MFA from the University of Houston and would like to thank her family, teachers, friends, and Milo for their love and snacks. Actors’ Equity Association. @meggrodgers
(Boy) is a newcomer to Virginia Stage Company’s production with Shakespeare’s Henry V, but not new to performing. Her stage credits include two student- directed plays, Call Her Simon and Turn This Mother Out-With Prayer, at Norfolk State University (NSU). In addition, she served as Head Prop Master in the production of Skeleton Crew (NSU). She would like to thank her family for supporting her acting journey thus far, and her friends for realizing her potential and always encouraging her.
(Bardolph/French Soldier) is a proud Filipina American born and raised here in Norfolk,VA. She has worked locally and internationally across theater, film, improv comedy and voiceover. You may recognize her from VSC's production of The Hobbit, where she played Kili and Gollum, and most recently played the title role of Deborah Wallace's newest work Artemis, I. She thanks CORE Theater Ensemble, Push Comedy Theater, TCC's Shakespeare in the Grove, the growing Viewpoints community, and the wonderful theater makers of NSU for empowering underrepresented artists. She earned her BFA in Theater Performance from Virginia Commonwealth University.
(Canterbury/Fluellen/Orleans) is excited to be back performing for the VSC audiences. At VSC he has appeared in The Thanksgiving Play, Sense & Sensibility, Pride & Prejudice, and the virtual production Something Delightful. Off-off Broadway includes Richard III and The Two Gentlemen of Verona with Oxford Shakespeare Co., Dog Act with Flux Theatre Ensemble, The Silent Concerto at NY Fringe Festival, and staged workshops and readings at Playwright’s Horizons, Classic Stage Company, and Ensemble Studio Theatre. Regional includes A Christmas Carol at American Conservatory Theater, The Berlin Circle at Steppenwolf Theater, and Taking Measure at Zeiders American Dream Theater. He holds MFAs from the American Conservatory Theater and the University of Pittsburgh. He is a member of Actors’ Equity Association and an Assistant Professor of Acting at Christopher Newport University.
(Ely/Bourbon/French Queen) is beyond thrilled to be a part of her first production at Virginia Stage Company as an actor. She previously worked in costumes for Dreamgirls (Virginia Stage Company). She is overwhelmed with gratitude for this opportunity with only her family and friends to thank for constantly supporting and uplifting her dreams.
(Gloucester) is honored to be making his Virginia Stage Company debut alongside such a beautiful cast. He has been acting since he was a child, and most recently played Happiness (u.s.) in the American Collegiate Premiere of Thoughts of A Colored Man (NSU Theatre Company). He recently played a supporting role in the pilot episode of Jewel Hamrick IV’s upcoming show EXPOSED: THE SERIES, which will soon be picked up for production. Tyler is also a writer, and has had the esteemed honor of performing his original choreo-poem American Tableus for the Black Orpheus event at the Chrysler Museum. He would like to thank his family for always supporting his dreams of being a storyteller, and would like to dedicate his performance to his father, who recently joined the ancestors. Asé. Let’s stay connected…IG: iamaarontyler
(Director) See bio above.
(Scenic Designer) Recent and upcoming credits include designs for the Dallas Theatre Center, Trinity Rep, The Rep of St Louis, and Harvard College. She currently serves as Special Visiting Faculty in Scenic Design at Carnegie Mellon University, and has held faculty appointments at Wake Forest University and Albright College. While at Albright, Dahlia won the KCACTF Region II Award for Distinguished Scenic Design in 2020 for The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Nighttime; she also directed an all-remote, communally-created adaptation of Romeo & Juliet, pairing a company of student actors with 50 artists of all ages from around the world. www.eloquentaction.com
(Costume Designer) is the Director of Design and Resident Costume Designer at the Virginia Stage Company in her 21st season. Regional credits include: A Christmas Story at Arkansas Repertory Theatre, Hound of the Baskervilles at The Hangar and White Heron Theatre, Always...Patsy Cline PCPA Theatrefest, World premiere of Tom Jones for Florida Studio Theatre, Wit for Playmakers Repertory Theatre. VSC productions including; 39 Steps, The Hobbit, Every Brilliant Thing, Dreamgirls, Merry Little Christmas Carol, Dear Jack Dear Louise, Hold These Truths, Sense and Sensibility, Guys and Dolls, Matilda, Secret Garden, Fun Home, Always Patsy Cline, Crowns,The Hound of the Baskervilles, Pride and Prejudice, The Wiz, A Streetcar named Desire, Oliver, Peter and the Starcatcher, All my Sons,The Great Gatsby,The Fantasticks, Death of a Salesman, Red, Around the World in 80 days, Crowns, Billy Bishop Goes to War, Hank Williams Lost Highway and A Christmas Carol. Jeni Schaefer holds a MAC in Theatre/Costume Design from Wichita State University. Thank you to my family Tony, Sara and Ethan for being my inspiration and for always believing in me.
(Lighting Designer) is an award-winning designer and educator for theatre, dance, music, and events. At VSC: Guys and Dolls, Every Brilliant Thing, The Hobbit. Recent: Clue (Dallas Theatre Center), Gypsy, Jersey Boys (Theatre Aspen), Sueño (Trinity Rep), The 39 Steps (Rep St. Louis), Elf (Pioneer Theatre Company), This Bitter Earth (Theatreworks Hartford), Carla’s Quince (virtual, Drama League nomination), Where We Stand (WP Theatre), As You Like It (Oregon Shakespeare Festival), The Wild Party (Post Theatre Company), Peer Gynt (Barnard), Heartbreak House (Gingold Theatrical Group), A Christmas Carol (Florida Rep), Into the Woods (Charlottesville Opera), Peter and the Starcatcher (White Heron Theatre Company), Scissoring (INTAR), Dido of Idaho (Ensemble Studio Theatre), Small World: a fantasia (59E59), Neighbors: A Fair Trade Agreement (INTAR), Daniel’s Husband (Primary Stages/Cherry Lane), I Will Look Forward To This Later (New Ohio). TV: Colin Quinn: Red State Blue State (co-design, CNN). Lincoln Center Festival (2013, 2015-2017). USITT Gateway Mentor. Knights of Illumination winner. Faculty: Sargent Conservatory at Webster University. MFA: NYU. Member USA 829. www.StarryEyedLighting.com.
(Sound Design) Steven Allegretto is an accomplished sound designer with a passion for creating immersive experiences for live theatre. A graduate of Full Sail University’s prestigious Recording Arts program, Steven has honed his skills through years of hard work and dedication to his craft. In addition to his work as a sound designer, Steven is also a committed educator. He has served as an Adjunct Professor of Theatre Sound Design at the College of William & Mary, as well as a part-time instructor for the Governor’s School for the Arts. He also teaches privately, helping aspiring sound designers develop their skills and reach their full potential. Steven has had the honor of designing past VSC shows including Every Brilliant Thing, Dreamgirls, Cat on a Hot Tin Roof, The Hobbit, A Merry Little Christmas Carol, and more. His ability to create complex sonic landscapes that transport audiences to other worlds has made him a sought-after collaborator in the Hampton Roads theatre community. Steven is thrilled to be back at the Virginia Stage Company, where he looks forward to sharing his vision for Henry V with audiences. With his expert ear and tireless dedication to his craft, Steven is sure to deliver a truly unforgettable sonic experience.
(Casting Director) officially joined the Virginia Stage Company team in 2017 but worked on various projects with the company well before. Her first casting adventure was the beautiful production Pride and Prejudice for Season 39. Since then it has been a goal to strengthen and cultivate VSC's relationship with professional local and out of town artists. Each season has provided new challenges and each production a new opportunity to find the perfect showcase of talent. Emel has most recently been seen performing in The Twelve Dates of Christmas on the Wells Stage and currently serves as the Operations Manager for VSC and the Producing Artistic Director for Core Theatre Ensemble.
(Production Stage Manager) has previously worked at Cleveland Play House on The Great Leap, Antigone, Where Did We Sit On The Bus?, Tiny Houses, Into The Breeches, and Pipeline, to name a few. Her previous credits also include ABCD (Barrington Stage Company), Dreamgirls (Virginia Stage Company), Hurricane Diane (Dobama Theatre), Baby Camp (Leviathan Labs), Resistance (Semicolon Theatre), The Heart’s Impatience (Shufflefoot Theatre Company), A Streetcar Named Desire (St. Ann’s Warehouse), Medea and Dreamgirls (Red House Arts Center), This Day Forward (The Vineyard Theatre), and The Intergenerational Project (Rose Bruford, London). Kyra is proud to hold a BFA in Stage Management from Syracuse University’s Department of Drama and would like to thank her family, particularly her husband, for their unflagging support.
(Assistant Stage Manager) is elated to be spending her first season with Virginia Stage Company. Her recent credits here include Angry, Raucous, and Shamelessly Gorgeous, The 39 Steps, A Merry Little Christmas Carol and The Hobbit. Prior to coming to Virginia Stage Company Emma spent the summer in Ithaca, NY as the Assistant Production Manager at Hangar Theatre Company. As a recent graduate from the University of Nebraska at Kearney, her favorite collegiate stage management credits include Nightfall with Edgar Allan Poe, She Kills Monsters, and The Old Maid and the Thief. Following the close of the season, she will be heading to the Pennsylvania Shakespeare Festival. Emma is a proud member of the Alpha Psi Omega National Theatre Honors Society and National Honors Society for Dance Association.
(Music Director) returns to VSC after working on A Merry Little Christmas Carol in 2021 and 2022. Refiye is currently based in Virginia Beach and works in the Hampton Roads and D.C. areas. She is a collaborative pianist at The Governor’s School of the Arts in the Vocal and Music Theatre Departments, and with Norfolk Public Schools. Credits: D.C. Area: Constellation Theatre Company: Once On This Island (Music Director/Keys 1/Conductor. Helen Hayes 2023 nomination - Outstanding Music Direction). Mosaic Theater Company: Max & Willy’s Last Laugh (Associate MD). Creative Cauldron - On Air (MD. Helen Hayes 2020 nomination- Outstanding Music Direction); Always...Patsy Cline 2021 and 2022 Remount (MD); Audrey - A New Musical (MD); and multiple cabarets as MD and arranger. Synetic Theater: Gala 2020. Regional: Virginia Musical Theatre: Mamma Mia. Virginia Opera-VA Arts Fest: The Sound of Music. Virginia Stage Company: Under the Big Top Gala (MD/arranger); Zeider’s Theater: Fountain of You (Associate MD). Education: Royal Birmingham Conservatoire, UK; University of Reading, UK. Refiye would like to thank TQ and all at VSC for their wonderful collaboration, and husband Philip for supporting her creative endeavours. refiyemusic.com
(Fight Choreographer) Is an award-winning Director, Fight Director, and Actor specializing in Stage Combat, Acting, and Musical Theater, Gregg has an MFA in Acting (WIU), a BA in Theater (North Central College), and is a Certified Teacher of Stage Combat (Society of American Fight Directors) with black belts in Hapkido and TangSooDo. Currently, Gregg serves as Head of Performance at CNU where he received the KC-ACTF’s Excellence in Directing Award for Brighton Beach Memoirs and When You Comin’ Back, Red Ryder. Fight Direction credits include: The Hobbit, The Valkyrie, Pagliacci, The Great Gatsby, Romeo and Juliet, Fences, I Hate Hamlet, Il Trovatore, and Don Giovani. Acting credits include: King Arthur (Spamalot), Mark Rothko (Red), McKean (1776), Mushnik (Little Shop of Horrors), the Governor (Man of La Mancha), and Capulet in Romeo and Juliet. For TheaterCNU, Gregg has directed Pippin, Spitfire Grill, Noises Off, Once Upon a Mattress, I Hate Hamlet, HMS Pinafore, and The Adding Machine.
(Managing Director) has been Managing Director of Virginia Stage Company since March 2022. Prior to coming to VSC, Jeff served in several roles at Cleveland Play House from 2013 to 2022. Jeff holds a Master of Public Administration Degree from the Levin College at Cleveland State University and a Bachelor’s Degree from Tufts University. At Levin, Jeff was inducted into Nu Lambda Mu, the international honor society for the study of nonprofit management and philanthropy. Jeff also holds a certificate in Diversity and Inclusion for HR Professionals from Cornell University. He has served on the boards of the Cleveland Kids’ Book Bank, Theatre Forward, the Young Nonprofit Professionals Network of Cleveland, and the Cleveland Professional 20/30 Club. In Cleveland, Jeff was honored to be a part of the Cleveland Leadership Center’s Advanced Leadership Institute and the Cleveland Foundation’s Foundations for Philanthropy Program. Jeff has also been a stage manager at several theatres including Talespinner Children’s Theatre, Cincinnati Playhouse in the Park, and Berkshire Theatre Festival.
* Member of Actors’ Equity Association, the Union of Professional Actors and Stage Managers in the United States
† Member of the Society of Stage Directors and Choreographers, Inc., an independent labor union
§ Member of United Scenic Artists, local USA-829 of the IATSE
The role of Governor/Chorus is played in rotation by Tom Quaintance and Terrance Livingston, Jr.
Left to right: Teri Brown, Patricia Alli, Mikayla Lashae Bartholomew and Bethany Mayo in Virginia Stage Company's production of "Angry, Raucous, and Shamelessly Gorgeous." (Samuel Flint)
NORFOLK — Blow, Gabriel, blow! We now have the first anti-August Wilson problem play, though it ends up being more a tribute to him than a bashing.
Audiences are again convulsing at the Wells, this time at a comic tradition — Black women fussing and cracking each other up — even more venerable than the British music hall tradition of Virginia Stage Company’s last comic gem “The 39 Steps.”
The current offering with the tough-to-remember title was written by Pearl Cleage, a Black playwright with an outsized rep (though not so large as that of Wilson — the late author of the “Century Cycle” of 10 plays, one depicting each decade of the 20th century, the most famous being “Fences”).
Cleage’s play, expertly directed by Virginia Commonwealth University theater scholar Tawnya Pettiford-Wates, concerns four Black women united by their profession — theater — though one of them, former diva actor Anna Campbell (Patricia Alli), hasn’t had a role in two years. (She has, notably, been living for decades in Amsterdam trying, until recently, to drink up everything but the canals.)
The other three women are her best friend and manager Betty Samson (Teri Brown), her producer Katie Hughes (Bethany Mayo, also VSC’s director of education) and Precious “Pete” Watson (Mikayla Lashae Bartholomew). The last one is Anna’s replacement in her best-known role, but, at the evening’s start, Anna doesn’t know this. (She thinks she herself is reprising it.) Did I mention “Pete’s” theatrical connection involves dancing and poles?
Mikayla Lashae Bartholomew as Precious “Pete” Watson in Virginia Stage Company's production of "Angry, Raucous, and Shamelessly Gorgeous." (Samuel Flint)
Anna has been invited to current-day Atlanta for a theater festival giving her a lifetime achievement award and presenting a performance of “Naked Wilson” (which, so far as I know, exists only in Cleage’s imagination). Kate reminisces about the day a much younger Anna invented her signature part: “One brave woman doing all those fabulously male monologues, alone on the stage, naked, just to make a point about the silencing of women. It was nothing short of revolutionary.”
Decades later, however, they’re having trouble selling tickets to the reprise of “Naked Wilson,” because “August Wilson is a powerful presence and people are afraid the piece is disrespectful.”
And that was indeed my reaction on first hearing about Cleage’s play “bashing” Wilson for being chauvinistic. “But what about Ma Rainey in ‘Ma Rainey’s Black Bottom’ (1982) and Rose Maxson in ‘Fences’ (1984) and Berniece in ‘The Piano Lesson’ (1986) and Aunt Esther in ‘Gem of the Ocean’ (2003) and (indirectly) in ‘Radio Golf’ (2005)? Aren’t they all great parts for Black women?”
But, as Cleage seems to counter, Wilson did do more for Black men.
Says Anna: “But the story was always and forever about their blues, not ours.”
Betty concurs: “That’s what we were so mad about.”
But since then, Betty and Anna, now both 65, have declared a “truce” with Wilson, chauvinist or not.
This is the first time the VSC has produced a play composed only of Black women actors and directed by a Black woman, Pettiford-Wates, who brought a gifted cast of designers from VCU.
The play is set entirely in a swish Atlanta hotel suite, true in its stage appearance to its supposed $500-a-night price tag. Betty, Anna’s manager and companion, is already there, serving as glue for the evening. Her compulsive solitaire-playing and whispered blessing/prayer “Ashay” (“Amen” in some African and Asian cultures) take us from scene to scene. Brown bears the burden of lots (perhaps a bit too much) “time-is-passing” stage business. But Brown bears up nicely, also bearing, in character, with her friend’s diva-like ways. Anna enters in fabulous African-patterned silk pajamas (courtesy of VCU-trained costume designer Nia Safarr Banks). She is obviously looking forward to what she thinks will be her big comeback. She’s prepared to bare her 65-year-old body; unfortunately, she has misinterpreted the Atlanta festival invitation. As the audience soon learns, festival producer Kate has always intended that a younger actor play the “Naked Wilson” part.
The first hurdle is disabusing Anna of her misconception. The second is getting her to accept her replacement, the untrained “Pete,” a tall, voluptuous woman whose flashy clothing and makeup choices (too much bronzing) along with her body language (a louche slouch, with feet on the furniture), epitomize the generational and educational gulf between her and Anna. The two clash, loudly and repeatedly, with Anna eventually reporting Pete’s impending nude performance to the police.
But then Pete, a performance artist at heart, holds a nighttime solo show atop, of all places, Margaret Mitchell’s House. As the author of “Gone With the Wind,” Mitchell represents the purest remnant of Lost Cause racism. Pete has only seen only the 1939 film version, but she almost instinctively disses Mitchell by performing Rose Maxson’s self-assertion speech from “Fences,” and singing “Oh! Susanna,” in Spanish for extra — if unintentional — alienation effect. Her performance is brilliant, perfectly transgressive, and even honors Anna, whose real full name is Susanna, for the character in a Langston Hughes poem. While atop the roof, Pete is mistaken by a street lady for a Wilsonian angel figure. (Think Gabriel in “Fences.”) A video of the performance goes viral and suddenly things are looking up for “Naked Wilson” — if only the constant rain will stop at the outdoor venue. Will benevolent Wilsonian ghosts prevail?
Toward the end of the play, Anna confesses the motive behind her first miraculous performance of “Naked Wilson”: “I didn’t do it because I was mad at August. I just wanted to feel his words rolling around in my mouth and see if I could feel them coming out through my skin, which is why I had to take my clothes off. I was so in love with the words.” Cleage is none too shabby a wordsmith herself.
Wherever you are, Mr. Wilson, Ashay. Pearl Cleage has your back.
Page Laws is dean emerita of the Nusbaum Honors College at Norfolk State University. prlaws@aya.yale.edu
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When: Through March 19
Where: The Wells Theatre, 108 E. Tazewell St., Norfolk
Tickets: Start at $35
Details: 757-627-1234, vastage.org
See the Original Story Here
NORFOLK, Va. — Actresses Mikayla Lashae Bartholomew and Patricia Alli join Coast Live to share a special look at "Angry, Raucous & Shamelessly Gorgeous," a wild and fun show from Virginia Stage Company that you can catch now through March 19 at the beautiful Wells Theatre in Norfolk!
"Angry, Raucous & Shamelessly Gorgeous"
Written by Pearl Cleage
Directed by Dr. Tawnya Pettiford-Wates
March 1-9, 2023
Tickets available at vastage.org or by calling the box office at (757) 627-1234.
Synopsis of the play from vastage.org:
Tickets Available Here
"When actress Anna Campbell is invited to restage her radical performance piece of re-imagined scenes from August Wilson’s play, she is surprised to learn she will not be taking center stage. A much younger entertainer will be stealing the spotlight at a new women’s theatre festival. Will they be able to build a bridge between their generations, or will the curtain close on Anna’s career? "
Looking for a fun way to celebrate the middle of the work week? Then come on down to the Wells for our 'Wine Down Wednesdays!' Every Wednesday from 5 - 7pm the staff and doors of the Wells Theatre will welcome folks to wine, music, and great company (show or no show!) to enjoy the beautiful Wells Theatre while we celebrate the little victories of making it through the work week.
Doors open to anyone who would like to come, no ticket necessary, and the bar will be open serving wine and any other drinks you'd like to enjoy with your friends.
Step out of your everyday and into Norfolk’s historic gem to relax!
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