Mike: This is Mike Clark with ShowBizRadio and I am talking with Peggy Jones who is the Executive Director of Tapestry Theatre in Alexandria, Virginia. Thanks for talking with me today, Peggy.

Peggy: You’re welcome. It’s my pleasure.

Mike: You are about to open Richard III which is actually Tapestry’s last show ever.

Peggy: Yes it is.

Mike: Let’s talk a little about Richard III and then we can talk about the last show ever problem.

Peggy: Ok.

Mike: So tell me about Richard III.

Peggy: Richard III was of course written by William Shakespeare. It is a tragedy. We have a very talented cast and a very talented director, Susan Schulman. Andy Greenleaf is playing the title role of Richard III. Since this is Tapestry’s last performance we have tried to bring in a lot of people who have worked with Tapestry before. Lee McKenna and Carolyn Piccotti who are on our Board of Directors are in the show. I’m in the show as well. There is lots of sword fighting and death and destruction as well. We’re having a great time with it.

Mike: So who do you play in the show?

Peggy: In the show I play Queen Elizabeth who is Richard’s niece in law. Make that Aunt-in-law. I’m married to Richard’s brother. I play her and try to keep control of the throne because my husband is in ill health. Richard and I DO NOT get along at all. We yell a lot.

Mike: Are people going to understand this show? Or do they need to study Shakespeare?

Peggy: No, they do not need to study it at all. Once they see it, even if they do not understand everything they are hearing, they will definitely get the story. It’s a power struggle and Richard wants to be king so he fights with anybody who is in his way. He either fights with them or kills them so that he can eventually take over the throne. There is a line in this show that everybody knows. That is ‘a horse, a horse. My kingdom for a horse.’ It is at the end of the show. Everyone has heard that line before. The actors do such a great job that nobody should have any trouble understanding what is going on.

Mike: We saw part of a rehearsal last night and there were several times when I said, “Oh, I’ve heard that line before.” We really do not like Richard.

Peggy: There’s a lot of sayings today that people say that were written by William Shakespeare and I think a lot of people don’t know that these are Shakespearean quotes that are being said.

Mike: So how did Tapestry choose this for their final show?

Peggy: When Tapestry began our original mission was to perform the classics. The first couple of years all we did was Shakespeare. We later expanded that to do some contemporary stuff as well as some American literature. We always wanted to be a family type theater. so we decided we would go back to the beginnings and do another Shakespeare to close out.

Mike: Were you involved with Tapestry from the beginning?

Peggy: Yes, I’m one of the founding members. From the very beginning doing the 501c3 and all the non profit paperwork, I have been there.

Mike: So how has theater changed over the last twelve or thirteen years?

Peggy: The past twelve years. It has gotten more competitive in the community theaters. I would say fifteen or twenty years ago I don’t think as many people were interested in theater or acting. People see that normal people can do acting and they can run lights and do that sort of thing. It is an activity that people have discovered and found out that they really enjoy. Being in a theater is almost like being in sports. You have to have that camaraderie and you have to work together. All for the same ends on a good production. Or to win the game.

Mike: Has there been a lot of competition like in sports, or has it been very much that you can work with other groups?

Peggy: Other groups do work together. We lend costume and sets to each other. There have been more theater companies that have been formed over the years. Especially in our area of Alexandria, there has always been the Little Theatre of Alexandria. Port City Playhouse has always been there. So really Tapestry was the new kid on the block as far as that goes. Even in the outlying areas, in Arlington and Fairfax county, theater companies have sprung up. Some have come and gone, but there is really a lot of theater in this area. So the competition I think is for audiences more than anything. And for space to perform. That has always been a big problem as well.

Mike: Has Tapestry always been at the Lee Center or have you had to bounce around?

Peggy: Our very first show we did in an amphitheater in a Fairfax County park. We only did one show there. From there we moved to Grace Episcopal Church in Alexandria. We performed there for a couple of years. We’ve had some performances at the Lyceum in Alexandria, until we moved to the Lee Center about seven or eight years ago. We have performed there consistently since then.

Mike: So it sounds like everything has been going along pretty smoothly. Have there been any rough times with finances or other problems that have been frustrating?

Peggy: We have been fortunate that we have lots of patrons and lots of good friends who support us. We get grants from the city of Alexandria. So we have learned to live within our budget. Our first show we had $400 to work with. Now our productions run about $8,000. With ticket sales money has not been a problem. Although if we had more we would buy better costumes and props and things. That is not the problem.

Our problem has been with getting technical help. We have a lot of people who like to act, but we need people to do the background stuff. The acting is really the tip of the iceberg. When you go to the theater a lot more people have to do other jobs. Design the set, get the set, build the set, do the publicity which is a massive job. Do the printing, put programs together. Book the space, which is my job.

A lot of the stuff has to be done as much as a year in advance. You have to have people to plan what shows you’re going to do. It takes a lot of people just to get a show going. The majority of the people would like to just go in and be an actor and act in a show. Our problem has been that we have not found enough people to work the background. That is why we are closing. This will be our last show.

The background is probably harder and more important than putting the actors up on stage. For at least five six seven years, there have only been a handful of us doing all of those jobs. Now we are really burned out. We have been actively been trying to find people, but there are so many theater companies in the area that everyone is busy. When we do find someone, life seems to take over. Either their parent gets sick. We’ve had a lot of that. Or they get sick or their kids get sick or there is job that takes them out of town. We have not be successful in finding consistent help over the years. We kind of saw the writing on the wall after trying for so long and we said, “this just isn’t going to work.” Everyone who works in the theater is volunteer. No one gets paid for anything they do.

Mike: For any one production is the staffing, like the crew for example, is that always the same size no matter how big the cast is?

Peggy: No. For example, for Richard III we have about 25 actors in the production, all in Elizabethan costume. Costuming this production has taken about five people. Our director, Susan Schulman, has been the main costumer. She has done a really good job. As opposed to the last show we did which was Having Our Say: The Story of the Delaney Sisters. There were two actresses in there. There were no costume changes. Susan was our costumer for that show as well. She is one of the people who does everything as well. She is one of the people who does everything. All she had to do was find them a dress to wear in the show.

You see the certain difference there just in that one job. Of course with a bigger cast, they will have more people coming to see the show. You have friends and relatives of 25 people as opposed to two. This means that the program is bigger. We have to order more programs which is a big cost and things like that. The lighting in comparing the two shows. The lighting in The Delany Sisters show was lights on lights off. For Richard III we have all kinds of good lighting and light changes when the scene changes depending on the scene. This one has been a very very big one. Fortunately since it’s our last show we have commitments from a lot of people to give us a hand with it.

Mike: So when do the tech people start working on a show?

Peggy: I booked the space in the beginning of January 2007 I had to fill out all of the paperwork. That was after having various board meetings and deciding which piece we were going to do. Then we held production meetings about this probably starting in November of ’07. We had auditions for the principal role in the beginning of January ’08. Auditions for the rest of the people in February ’08. We have been rehearsing since the end of February, last day of February, first day of March. We rehearse four days a week.

Mike: Where do rehearsals take place?

Peggy: Either at the Lee Center. And that’s another thing I had to do way back in January of ’07. I had to try to figure out which nights would be best for rehearsals during the week. We had to book the space then. There was work involved in getting that rehearsal space. Then the Packer Center in Fairfax County will let us use one of their rooms on the weekend. The Lee Center does not charge us for the weekdays, but they charge us for the weekend. So it is usually either all day Saturdays or all day Sundays at the Packer Center in Annandale. That kind of makes more work for people too, when you have to move the rehearsal space around.

Mike: So what can be done to get more techies involved? I assumed at auditions you had tons of people coming out?

Peggy: Yes, we did. To get more techies it is really word of mouth. You do advertise. There is a Northern Virginia Theater Alliance (NVTA) newsletter. We send out notices that we need people well in advance, up to a year in advance. When we announce our season, we say we need someone to design the lights, or do this. And you know, generally you will get one or two calls. If you get two generally only one will pan out. That’s because people are so committed that far in advance.

I’ve had people come to see a show and try to steal our techies for a future show. We can’t get people to commit to Tapestry, which is really what we’ve been trying to do from the beginning. Trying to make it our theater company trying to find people who will just work for us. But it does not appear to be working that way. A good techie will be in high demand and everyone will be calling them so that they can pick and choose the show that they want to do. For example, they may not have been too interested in running lights for Having Our Say, but for Richard III, which is a show that they personally enjoy, that’s the one they are going to choose.

Mike: Is there any kind of program in the area for training techies to get more people able to do it?

Peggy: Not really. In the high schools they do train them. At one point we had a campaign to go and get those kids from the high schools because they learn the latest and greatest stuff as far as equipment and everything goes. We found out that we either had to chauffeur them because they did not have a driver’s license and they were constantly busy after school. We did try that and that did not work.

The Northern Virginia Theater Alliance offers scholarships for graduating seniors who wish to pursue a technical theater degree. We are part of NVTA and we support that. Otherwise if kids go to college to major in technical theater they are going to get a job. On the community theater level we get people who used to do who may not have been in theater for years or want to do it as hobby. You know if you are a good theater tech person you are going to get a job. Community theater is last on the list.

Mike: Has the age of your audience been going up over the past few years? People on the web are saying that kids are not coming to shows anymore. Is that true?

Peggy: In our particular case where our target audience is families, that’s who comes really, families. When we do our Black History month presentation we have a lot of churches that come. And, of course, there are a lot of seniors in that type of audience. We have never done the contemporary show that possibly the younger people would be interested in seeing. We don’t do shows where there is nudity or cussing or anything like that. So I would say our audience is generally not middle age, but maybe in their 30’s to 60’s, but not the teenagers. Sometimes we get school groups coming to see a Shakespeare production. I’m not sure if the kids come because it’s Shakespeare or because their teacher makes them come. Generally I would say 30’s is the type of audience we get to come.

Mike: Do you think a viable solution to the tech staff issue would be for the venue to provide the actual operators?

Peggy: That would be great. I know the city of Alexandria has been looking for someone for years to run the lights and the sound in their booth. I’ve even tried to help them find some people, but they have not been successful in that either. It would end up costing the theater that is renting the space more money. I know when they opened up the Schlesenger Center at NoVa, I looked into renting their theater and the cost associated with the techies they provided. They would not let anyone else use their equipment. We had to hire their people to run it. That cost just about exceeded the cost of the theatre itself. It averages about $4,00 a show.

We have three shows a year. To rent the Lee Center, you can imagine going up to $8,000 for a space that is not really a professional theater space. We have a lot of limitations in that space as far as lights and sounds go. Of course it is a community theater so you also have to deal with other groups using the building and being noisy. So yes, it would be nice if the theater could provide a technical person plus keep the cost down. I think the cost in the City of Alexandria is very inflated. In Arlington, they have an arts center that an Arlington group can use for free. There is a stark contrast there.

Mike: I look at places like the Gaithersburg Arts Barn where they have got a multipurpose arts space. They have got a theater and classrooms, a store and teachers all in one place. So even though it is shared you are able to split the cost up amongst the groups using it.

Peggy: A place like that will give you a place to rehearse. A place to build your sets, which we’re doing here out in my driveway half the time building the sets. In the winter that’s not good, but we do it. We have to rent a storage unit, Self Storage Plus, to keep our supplies in. So really, if we had a space like that where we could rehearse, where we could build our sets, where we could store our costumes and our set pieces, plus perform, it would cut down our background work by more than half and Tapestry would not be closing. It could be run by several people. But we don’t have that.

Mike: How much space would be needed for something like that? How much space do you have to rent each month to store your materials?

Peggy: We rent a 17 by 20 ft. storage unit and it is piled to the ceiling and it has got a very high ceiling with flats and furniture. I have a little building in my yard that is about 15 by 20 ft. and we keep all of the costumes in there. That is packed to the hilt as well. We actually have to pull stuff out of the building to get in and find what we need. So we need that space. Then having a consistent rehearsal space would just be wonderful because right now at the Lee Center we do not get to rehearse in the auditorium because other groups are using it.

We do not get to go into the auditorium until a week before we open. Up until that point we are rehearsing in whatever room the Lee Center has available to give us. Sometimes it’s not big enough. Sometimes it’s a room that has been divided by one of those dividers and you are in competition with sound as far as the group running their meeting in the next room while we are sword fighting. Lots of problems there. So as you can see there really is a lot of work going on behind the scenes. You can understand why we are a little burned out.

Mike: Absolutely.

Peggy: Yeah.

Mike: Something that Laura and I have thought about for over a year was when one of those big box stores closed down in Woodbridge. That place is empty still. I think it used to be a KMart or something and I said, “This would be a great warehouse for a theatre.” You could subdivide it down and you’ve got bright lights. You get six or seven theaters together to share the rent of whatever this giant empty room would cost.

Peggy: That was actually something I had looked into before. But in the City of Alexandria I knew someone who owned a building. He said the rent on that space, which was really just a big empty room. We would have had to build the theater inside of it. The rent for the space was $20,000 a month. I talked to him bout donating it, saying that we’re a non profit corporation. He said he could not afford it with the taxes and the utilities that he would have to pay. I asked what if we paid $1,000 month. He responded that that would still not cover it. I’ve even called if I’ve gone by a strip mall and seen a space that had been empty for awhile I’d call the realty company and they would chuckle at me. So it has to be either a billionaire contributor who is willing to write all this off or it has to be a government supported building. I’ve tried that avenue, too. I’ll bet anything you can think of I’ve tried over the past 13 years.

Mike: One of the other podcasts that we listen to is called Your Neighborhood Stage and they had discussion a couple weeks ago which is where some of these thoughts cam from. If a theater has it’s own place, they should separate out the running of the theater production end of the theater.

Peggy: Oh, yeah.

Mike: But then my gut said, “Well, no, because then it will be too expensive for them to afford their own space.”

Peggy: My sister lives in the country. She live in a town called Matthews, Virginia. It’s a small community and she said that if you came down here you could not sell enough tickets. The church would let you use it for free. The whole community would be involved and everyone would come. It’s really just this area where everything is so congested and expensive and everyone is running all the time. I think that is part of it as well.

Mike: Do you think the number of theaters is dropping or will be dropping?

Peggy: I think it has. I have not talked to anyone who has worked in a community theater who said, “Oh, why are you doing this?” Every single one of them without exception has said that they know exactly where you’re coming from. There are theaters merging now and trying to keep their heads above water. I think the biggest complaint with all of the community theaters now is place to perform that they can afford. Unless you’re in Arlington and everyone is jealous of Arlington.

Mike: Arlington made a push about 10 years ago to subsidize that and get it all set up.

Peggy: Yes, and it has been wonderful. I had even checked into becoming an Arlington group around nine, ten years ago and the space had already been booked for the next two years. We would have had to have been either our membership or our organization itself had to have a certain percentage of Arlington residents. We made an attempt to get some members from Arlington, but those theatres that had already booked the space for the next two years and had been involved in the planning of the whole arts center to begin with. They were first in line. They were saying that Tapestry could have it for one weekend out of the whole year. I did try that avenue as well.

Mike: I’m sorry about Tapestry having to make that decision, but it does make perfect sense.

Peggy: Yes, it does. And who knows, maybe everyone will take a break for five years or so and try it again. You know times change, things change, people change. The few of us who have been continuously involved and who have done a majority of the work and have a passion for theater which is why we stuck it out for so long. But the time came when we had to yell ‘Uncle.’

Mike: So what’s next for you after Richard III? Does Tapestry have to do anything to shut down?

Peggy: Yes. We have to get rid of everything in our storage units. We have amassed some good theater equipment over the years and will be having a garage sale. The benefits from that will be given to the NVTA Scholarship fund. So maybe we can get some techie trained for other theaters. We will keep the actual corporation for about two years, just in case someone says they will take over the original mission so they don’t have to file all the paperwork. Or in case we decide we get bored or something.

So it will really be minor paperwork for the next few years. The big thing will be getting rid of all our costumes. I don’t want to continue paying rent on the storage units. Then I will probably get my life back. I have a full time day job, which I spend as much time on the Tapestry Theater as I do on my day job. If that kind of gives you any indication of how much work it is. My children will hopefully start having children. I hope to be a grandmother one of these days. That will definitely keep me busy. And also if I decide that I want to act or direct something, there are a ton of theaters I can go to and work with. That’s kind of how everyone else feels, too. If they get a bug, they’ll go audition at another local theater. We know everyone in the community. In the theater community anyway.

Mike: Is there anything else we need to chat about?

Peggy: Well, I guess I’d like to say Tapestry from the beginning thought that our niche would be family theater. I believe that we have had success with that. Not many community theaters do Shakespeare. We do American literature. We’ve had great success with To Kill A Mockingbird, Little Women. Plays that have been adapted from books. The classics. I don’t think that there is another community theater in the area that really tries to focus on that. And so it’s really sad that Tapestry is leaving.

I have noticed that other theater companies have picked up on ideas that we’ve done in the past. It was four years ago that we decided we would do something for Black History month with Black historical plays. So for four years we have done that. I have noticed that other theater companies have picked up on that. I see a lot more of those plays than I ever have in the past. Still no one is picking up on the Shakespeare, but I think we had a lot of good ideas as far as being different from other community theaters. I feel that the community might miss that. But at this point it is just too much and life is just too busy for everyone.

Mike: Well, I thank you very much for talking with me today. I do appreciate it.

Peggy: Thank you for the interview.

Listen to our review of Tapestry Theatre Company’s production of Richard III [MP3 3:09 1.4MB].

Laura: This is the ShowBizRadio review of Richard III performed by Tapestry Theatre Company in Alexandria, Virginia. We saw the performance on opening night Friday, May 9, 2008.

Mike: Richard III is William Shakespeare’s unflattering depiction of the short reign of Richard III of England.

Laura: This was a very well acted show. The battle scenes were very well done and very well choreographed. On the Friday night performance there were some major video problems that were distracting.

Mike: This was a well performed show. A lot of the problems I had with the show were related to the writing. I did not understand enough of Shakespearean times and the British system of government. So I did not understand everything that was going on. The show itself was well acted. I think the video that they used for a few scenes was was not distracting, but it was disruptive.

Laura: Richard, Duke of Gloucester was played by Andrew Greenleaf. He was very intense. Even though I did not understand all of the language that was occurring, I could tell by his presence on stage and the look in his eyes that he was a slimy character.

Mike: This was a huge cast. There were 21 different performers playing almost 40 different parts. Sometimes that was a little confusing. An actor would enter and their costume was almost the same as earlier. When they started talking differently and referring to other people including who they may have already portrayed, it threw me a little. I think that is just a limitation of the theater of a smaller cast having to double up on roles.

Laura: I thought the fight scenes were well done and pretty believable. The fight directors were Karen Schlumpf, Brian Farrell, and Al Myska.

Mike: The costumes had a lot of detail in them. The costume designers were Elizabeth Vernaci and Susan Schulman. The materials used in the dresses were not all alike. Each dress was its very own unique design. The men’s costumes were different enough that you could see it was not one size fits all. I liked the different variations in the costumes.

Laura: This is Tapestry’s final show. They will be closing down after their final show at the end of this month. Mike did an interview with the show’s director, Susan Schulman. Mike also did an interview with the President of Tapestry Theatre Company, Peggy Jones which will be available later this week.

Mike: Richard III runs nearly three hours with one intermission. It is playing through Saturday, May 24 at the Lee Center for the performing Arts in Alexandria, Virginia. Friday and Saturday nights at 7:30 and Sunday the 18th at 2 PM.

Laura: We’d like to invite you to join our free mailing list. Stay informed with community theater events in the DC metro region.

Mike: And now, on with the show.

Cast

Crew

• Director: Susan Schulman
• Assistant Director: Kathryn Wanschura
• Stage Manager: Robert Pierce
• Production Manager: Robert Pierce
• Fight Direction: Karen Schlumpf, Brian Farrell, and Al Myska
• Costume Design: Elizabeth Vernaci, Susan Schulman
• Lighting Design: James Robertson
• Light Board Operator: Morgan Sexton
• Set Design: Gary Augustine
• Video Directors: Bob Morrison, Susan Schulman
• Video Editor: Susan Schulman
• Video Consultant: Benjamin Freedman
• Sound Engineers: Duane Lomis, Chip Healey
• Video Engineer: Duane Lomis
• Sound Editor: Susan Schulman, Morgan Sexton
• Audio Visual Set Up & Rental: AVX, Inc.
• Lee Center Liaison: Peggy Jones
• Program: Kay Sullivan
• Costume Construction: Amy Carr, Melba Carr, Jeanette Hankins, Melissa Jo York-Tilley, Susan Schulman,, Elizabeth Vernaci
• Costume Loan: The Clarice Center for the Performing Arrts, Greenbelt Arrts Center, Folger Shakespeare Theatre, Robert Perkins, Lee McKenna, The Rude Mechanicals
• Light Crew: Morgan Sexton, Jim Vincent
• Set Crew: Gary Augustine, Jes Decker, Christine Lange, Robert Colby Perkins, Jr., Jim Vincent

Mike: This is Mike Clark with ShowBizRadio. Today I am talking with Susan Schulman, the director of Tapestry Theatre Company‘s Richard III. Thank you for talking with me today, Susan.

Susan: Thank you for calling.

Mike: What is Richard III about?

Susan: If you ask the Richard the III Society which is a wonderful bunch of historians who say it is Tudor propaganda. They are trying to say that Richard III is a lying, scheming, murderous psychotic who was finally deposed by a noble upstanding lord who became King Henry VII. Because what it is is not the true story of Richard III, but rather a brilliant reworking of events of his time as the nest of a predator, of someone who rose up as a tyrant and took control and then had to be defeated to restore peace. It has seduction, stabbing, sword fighting. It has power struggles. It’s a lot of fun.

Mike: Is Richard III a good guy or a bad guy?

Susan: He is a bad guy from our point of view. You actually have to find the good in him to play him.

Mike: We saw part of a rehearsal last night and we both decided that he was a slime ball. We saw the first part of the show and we were like, “Oh, my gosh.”

Susan: He gets a little more sympathetic as the show goes on. I think he begins to see that it’s lonely at the top. Plus he actually achieves his ambition of being on the throne and things start to unravel for him. He starts to make misjudgments and people start to desert him. He is a lonely guy. I think by close to the end of the play he gets a little sympathy from the audience.

Mike: Is it a large cast?

Susan: It is a large cast, twenty actors on stage plus two actors who only appear in our videos which we will talk about in a minute. In the play as it is written there are over 40 named characters with lines and then another fifteen or twenty that do things silently. So what we have is twenty actors covering all that. What have have is fifteen actors covering all that because five actors never double into any other role. We have actors doubling and tripling. We have also cut the original text down and simplified a little bit. Cut out a few characters and cut down the time.

Mike: Do you know about how long the show is? I was reading in the Wikipedia and the show is really long.

Susan: With intermission it runs just under three hours. It’s like two hours and fifty-six minutes. That includes a fifteen minute intermission.

Mike: Have there been any challenges with that long of a show coordinated and set up?

Susan: You need a long rehearsal time. Working with volunteers you are asking them to come in four nights a week and give up their weekends. You are dealing with their day jobs and their kids. It’s a big sacrifice on their part. Maybe you rehearse something way back in March and then don’t touch it again until April. Then it’s like “Did we do this scene yet? I don’t remember.” I have to say that this cast has risen to the challenge completely. I don’t think I have ever worked with a group that was as ready to perform as they are right now at this stage in the production. We just need to get an audience in there to give it life on May 9.

Mike: You mentioned some kind of video that was going to be happening for some of the scenes?

Susan: What we are doing in the production is mostly what you see on stage looks like what is happening in 1483-1495 when Richard reigned, or as close as we can get to it, with costuming and the way people behaved and the swords they were wearing and fighting with and so on. Every now and then we drop in a video that is of another production that is happening somewhere in the 21st century. What would Richard be like today? You look around at governments today around the world perhaps including your own and maybe you will see media manipulation, government propaganda, coups, all of which are in the text of Richard III.

So we have, using Shakespeare’s words, staged some scenes as if it were happening today. What would the equivalent be? Of Richard being interviewed on Dateline. Being asked to please be our king which is in the text. But it is happening on television instead of on the stage. My hope is that it will intrigue the audience. That they will sit back and say, “Well, yeah, maybe this play was written 400 years ago. But it could happen today.” It’s a different work. I think the actors are having fun with it, too.

Mike: Do you think the video might be distracting?

Susan: That is a risk one takes. The video does not happen while anything else is happening on stage. Stage work happens and then the video happens. There is a huge projection screen that looks really good. If I have done my job correctly, the audience will be intrigued and come to an understanding of the approach. If I have not done my job well, it might be hugely distracting. That is the risk you take when you try to do an ambitious aesthetic decision.

Mike: Switching over to talk a little about you, have you directed Shakespeare before?

Susan: I’ve directed a few plays by Shakespeare. The last one I directed was As You Like It, which included sections in Spanish. So making videos was weird as you can imagine. I directed two bilingual productions, that and A Mid Summer’s Night’s Dream. In my last production I was very very pregnant with my last child. On closing night I was having so much false labor that someone in the cast followed me home just in case we had to pull off onto the side of the road and deliver the baby. Now he is almost five years old and it’s time for me to get back to work.

Mike: What is your theater background?

Susan: Well like a lot of people, I’ve done lots of different things. I started on stage as an actress, but since I was quite small, I had an ambition for directing plays and felt most at ease when I was in that role. I am very attracted to big scale productions like Richard III or Much Ado About Nothing or Anthony and Cleopatra. That was a wonderful show and that was where I met Andrew Greenleaf, who plays Richard, who played a number of smaller roles in the ensemble about 11 years ago. I’ve directed small one acts and the occasional modern piece that is really the exception for me.

Mike: So what should actors know about directing since you’ve done both?

Susan: The director’s always right. (laugh) I would say keep in communication with he director at all times. Don’t ever take anything as a personal criticism. It’s all about telling the story. The director’s job is to facilitate the telling of a very complex story that’s been told through the actors, through the word through the sets, through the costumes, through the sound effects, through the lights, through the video. They have a lot of plates spinning. So I would say keep those lines of communication open and keep asking for what you need until you get it.

Mike: Now, flipping that around, what should directors know that actors do? There are a lot of directors have never acted.

Susan: That’s true. I do think there is some advantage of me coming at it from an actor’s perspective. Recently I had the courtesy of having the disadvantage pointed out to me that I was a little too touchy feely that I was was asking them to do things rather than telling them to do things. Some people found that they were on too shaky of a ground, that they needed a more definite approach. It’s what I call the European Director approach.

If you are a director from Europe you come in and think that American actors are completely self indulgent. They want to know “why” they cross the stage. “I just told you to cross the stage. Why did I have to cross the stage?” American actors are much more used to what’s my motivation? I was asked to be more considered and more concrete in my direction. I appreciate them giving me the favor and telling me that. It has made me a better director.

Mike: What is your next show after this, if anything?

Susan: I actually do not have a show in the pipeline. I am not really well known in Northern Virginia. I am better known in the Maryland suburbs. Now with a child in the house and gas prices really high I said that I would not work in Maryland anymore. I came to work with Tapestry about five years ago acting in a small part. That then led to costumes. Another thing I do is costume design. I did not design this show. I worked at the Folger, Shakespeare Theater as wardrobe crew. That may possibly continue. I hope it will because I enjoy it. I’m hoping some other theaters come to see the show and say that they may consider asking Susan to submit a project. Let me put out my job wanted ad to you. I would like to keep directing and since unfortunately this is Tapestry’s last show I will not have that opportunity at Tapestry.

Mike: Is there a show that you would love to direct?

Susan: The first show that comes to mind is a show that I would not want to direct but that Peggy Jones, who is in our show, would love to direct is Cyrano DeBergerac. I told her I would costume it if she directed it. I would love to direct Anthony and Cleopatra again. I would love to direct Henry V. I would very much like to direct Twelfth Night in terms of Shakespeare. In terms of what else is out there. There are other writers. There are even living writers.

Mike: There are a few.

Susan: I would love to direct a play by Pearl Cleage, who wrote Flying West. I’d love to direct almost anything by August Wilson, especially The Piano Lesson. There is a lot of wonderful vibrant theater out there. There is some wonderful John Patrick Shanley, such as Doubt. David Mamet. There is modern stuff to take a crack at. And Noel Coward. I would really like to direct Noel Coward. I do think my strength is probably the big tragedies. I don’t seem to be much of a comedy director. I think I’m more into people’s suffering and those sorts of thing, you know?

Mike: That might not be a good recommendation….

Susan: Well, maybe I’m compensating for an extremely happy home life.

I would like to say for all those people who have participated in Tapestry productions in the past, this is a wonderful chance to have a reunion because quite a few of the people we’ve worked with are on stage in this show, whereas you may know them better backstage. Mark Edwards who has been the technical director for almost every show for the last several years. He is acting in a major role in this show. Peggy Jones, who has run the theater for many years and has directed and produced in many productions, has a leading role in this show. Lee McKenna is acting. Caroline Piccotti is playing the Dutchess of York. One of our board members is making her debut, Elizabeth Miller, in a non speaking role.

I do want to say one other thing about community theater in general. I’m really proud that sometimes people make their debut in my show and then go on to have a very healthy career in community theater managers and sometime onto professional acting. There are two people making their debuts. On of them was very bitten by the acting bug, and has a lot of talent and will continue to do great things in community theater. I really want to give somebody a good experience and for them to say I want to be doing that.

Mike: So tell us when and where the show is and how people can get tickets?

Susan: You do not need reservations generally for our shows because we have a very large auditorium and there is general seating. If you want to reserve a group of seats you can call 703-960-3398 and make a reservation. Or they can visit our website which is www.tapestrytheatre.com. There you will find all the information and the time and place. It is a 7:30 curtain on Fridays and Saturdays and that may throw a few people who expect a show to start at 8 o’clock. Because it is a long show and the city facility limits our time we have to start a little on the early side. It is a 7:30 curtain. We don’t want people to miss “Now is the winter of our discontent.” Which is the very first thing.

Mike: What time on Sundays?

Susan: On Sundays are at 2 pm. I know Sunday is Mother’s Day, but I mean, why not take your mom to a show about the worst son in history? The greatest disappointment to any mother ever. Then our second Sunday is on the 18th at 2 pm. There are two Sunday matinees if you don’t want to stay out as late. We close on Saturday May 24th and that will be the final curtain for Tapestry.

Mike: And there is a special event, I believe, after the show on that night isn’t there?

Susan: You know, I think you’re talking to the wrong person. Maybe a surprise for me.

Mike: I think they’re having a farewell cake.

Susan: Yes, I think so. There will be a farewell tribute video and lots of songs and weeping and crying. Then we will all go to Peggy’s house and have a great big party. Then on Tuesday we come back and tear the set down and move all our stuff out.

Mike: Well, thank you very much for talking with me today. I do appreciate it.

Susan: I appreciate your interest and getting the word out. It’s a really really good show and we’re hoping to get some people in the seats. Thank you.

Photo credit: Bob Morrison, Bonnie Briar Productions LLC

Their complete statement is available on the Tapestry Theatre Company web site.

Time to thin out 12 years of storage inventory, costumes, props and sets. Great deals on costumes & accessories for Halloween, Elizabethan, Renaissance, fantasy, Restoration, Western, American Civil War, Cavalier, Edwardian, Victorian, antiques & vintage 1900 – 1970’s, military uniforms, police, wigs, props & sewing patterns. Many professionally made costumes. Cash or checks accepted. No credit cards.

100 percent of your purchase cost goes to the work of Tapestry Theater, a non-profit arts organization serving
Northern Virginia and the metropolitan D.C. area.

Directions: Join us at the Mile Long Yard Sale on Taney Avenue, sponsored by the Brookville Seminary Valley Association. There will be lots of families walking around, so please use care in driving on Taney Avenue and close by.

From I-395, take Seminary Road exit east toward Alexandria. Turn right on N. Jordan St. Turn right on Taney Avenue. Go past the 4-way stop after Patrick Henry School. Turn at the 2nd left onto N. Owen St. The sale is at the end of the l-block dead end. Parking may be limited at the site, but adjacent streets will have plenty of spots.

Laura: This weekend we saw Tapestry Theatre and their production of Having our Say: The Delany Sisters’ First One Hundred Years in Alexandria, Virginia.

Mike: Having Our Say is a play written by Emily Mann. It was adapted from the book by Sarah Delany and A. Elizabeth Delany with Amy Hill Hearth. This story deals with the trials and tribulations that the sisters faced during their century of life.

Laura: I thought it was an interesting show. There were just two people, Sadie Delany and Bessie Delany. They talked for two hours or so about their life and upbringing. Their parents and grandparents and the history of America and all that went on with racial segregation and discrimination and that kind of thing. I thought it was an interesting show.

Mike: The show opened with the sisters inviting you into their home so you could sit down at the table and just chat with them. That’s what the whole thing felt like. They moved around the two rooms of the house, the kitchen and the living room area. They talked out to the audience and made eye contact. It felt like a chat one on one. It was a very nice conversation.

Laura: The oldest Delany sister was Sadie Delany played by Lolita-Marie. She was 103 years old, I thought very good for her age. She was the calmer of the two sisters. A little more laid back, not quite as feisty or firey.

Mike: And Dr. Bessie Delany was played by Rhonda Gayle Carney. She was the more outspoken, less reserved sister. The two of them got along really well as if they were sisters. I liked how she got a little feisty when she was telling some of her stories. She seemed to be a little more melancholy about some of the things, tough. Other than when they were talking about their mother’s death, she was a little more in tune with her emotions and how things impacted her. She was easily able to share with what had happened to her.

Laura: The set for Having our Say was a simple set, but very detailed. It was interesting. The sisters did talk about the fact that there was no phone. They did things the old fashioned way by writing letters. The younger sister, Bessie did have tabs on everyone in the building. She knew what was going on. She was kind of her own neighborhood watch program. I liked how the two areas were very detailed and looked like a living room in a 1960’s home.

Mike: At several points in the show the ladies would share photos from their photo albums. The way they did that was on the back wall of the kitchen and the back wall of the living room were two screens that had a scene set such as the window from the kitchen, but then they would change to show the pictures they were talking about. That was actually quite effective. The pictures were of New York City in the 1920’s and 1930’s. They went on up through the 1950’s and 60’s with some photographs. I liked how that was used to share the photographs with the audience.

Laura: The Friday night performance benefitted the Alexandria Black History Museum. Their current exhibition is From Slavery to Freedom, Africans in the Americas. They do have a website if you would like to learn more about it. www.alexblackhistory.org

Mike: One of the awkward things during the second act was the Delany sisters were sharing about their struggles during the Civil Rights movement. They started singing one of the protest songs. People in the audience stood up and started singing along. I didn’t know the song so that was a little awkward. I didn’t want to be rude and stay sitting, but I didn’t want to stand and not know the words. That was a little weird.

I don’t know enough about Black History and about the struggles of the civil rights movement. I know broad pieces of it, but I don’t know everything that went on. That’s one reason shows like this are very important to share. It’s also a reason why we should be talking with our grandparents and our great grandparents if they’re still around. Talk about what happened back then. Our family’s lives, our friend’s family’s lives are very important. We need to not forget the history that has helped shape this country.

Laura: Having Our Say: The Delany Sisters’ First 100 Years is playing February 16th through March 4th. Fridays and Saturdays at 8 and Sundays at 3 at the Lee Center in Alexandria Virginia.

Mike: And now, on with the show.

Laura: We saw the Tapestry Theatre Company‘s production of Little Women in Alexandria, Virginia.

Mike: Little Women was written by Louisa May Alcott and published in 1868. It is semi-autobiographical. Jo March is the character of the author. It tells the story of Meg, Jo, Beth, and Amy, four little women growing up in New England during the Civil War. The main character is Jo. She wants to be a writer so she starts selling her fantastic tales to a local publication as an income. The sisters all have love interests. The parents have some medical issues to deal with.

Laura: I thought it was a good show. It was easy to follow. Not a complex plot. The set was nice and I thought it was well done.

Clockwise from left: Natalie Woods as Beth; Larissa Kruesi as Meg; Rachel Simms as Amy;Sara Drehmer as Jo; and Penny McKee as Marmee.

Mike: This was a good show. There were a few spots in the story line where it felt very contrived. For example, the very end of the show all of a sudden everything is getting wrapped up very quickly. It’s something I usually call a “Star Trek Ending.” The Starship Enterprise is under attack and everything looks bleak. You come back from a commercial and the captain is telling the story into his log about, “Ok, we fixed everything by doing the magic red button.” Everything just kind of fixes itself. That’s kind of what the ending of this show felt like to me. It was a very quick wrap up to the show.

Laura: The second oldest daughter of Mrs. March was Jo. She was played by Sara Drehmer. I liked her performance. She wasn’t as plucky as I was picturing in my mind, but she did a good job. There was one scene that I thought was really good between her and Laurie, her childhood friend. They were discussing their romantic interests. She let him down, but did it as gently as she could. I thought that was a very intense emotional scene.

Mike: There was another good scene with Laurie, played by Cody Crenshaw and Amy, played by Rachel Simms. Amy had been out shopping, and she saw their nanny running down the street looking for the doctor. So she came home and Laurie had to give some bad news to Amy. She did a really good job with how she took that news. It seemed very believable her reaction to the news that Laurie had to share. I liked that scene.

From left: Sara Drehmer as Jo; Penny McKee as Marmee; Michael Fisher as Professor Bhaer; and Dick Costello as Mr. Marsh.

Laura: The costumes were really well done. Being 1865 around the time of the Civil War the hoop skirts were in and all of the women had the big flowing hoop skirts that looked really uncomfortable. The makeup was well done. Beth, played by Natalie Woods, was one of the daughters of Mrs. March who was sickly a lot. Throughout the performance they put makeup on her. The makeup artist was Lolita Marie. She did a really good job of making Beth look paler and sicklier and it was really very convincing.

Mike: The set was very nice as well. It was a living room scene with some stairs and different entrances for the dining area and the library and the main entrance to the home. That was really nicely done. I liked the fire place. Again, just like in last night’s A Doll House, there were no lamps anywhere in the room. It would have been a nice touch to have some kind of lamps on tables along the edges just to imply there are lights in the room.

From left: Larissa Krueis as Meg and Alex Avila as John Brooke.

Laura: Little Women is playing through August 27th. Fridays and Saturdays at 7:30 and Sundays at 3 PM at the Lee Center Kauffman Auditorium in Alexandria, Virginia.

Mike: We would encourage you to support the Tapestry Theatre and see this show. They are one of the very few theater groups doing shows in August.

Laura: And now, on with the show.

Laura: And we saw Ray Bradbury’s Fahrenheit 451 performed by The Tapestry Theatre Company.

Mike: Fahrenheit 451 is the classic science fiction tale by Ray Bradbury. It tells the story of a fireman, Guy Montag, whose job is to burn books because books are dangerous. They make people think and in the world of the future people won’t think. They will have tv sets the size of walls, they will have Bliss pills that will keep them happy so that they will not have to worry about thinking. In this society Guy starts to get discouraged by it and starts to do the ultimate sin: he starts to think. It’s a fascinatingly good story. You need to go see this show. It is very important. Especially for today’s America.

Laura: It was a good show. It was kind of slow paced so it seemed to drag on a little bit. I don’t know if the tempo was off or they were nervous tonight. There was something not quite right about it so made it go on and on and on.

Mike: The show did last forever it felt like. It was about two and a half hours long with the intermission. There were points where it just felt like it was dragging really slowly.

Laura: The main charcter was Guy Montag played by Anthony Van Eyck. He did a pretty good job with it. He showed a lot of emotion. He had a difficult role. He started out as a fireman who burned books because of their evilness. But then later he began to think, “Well maybe books aren’t so bad.” Finally the tables turned on him.

Mike: One of the ways Guy started to transition was through his next door neightbor, Clarisse, played by Jennifer Calhoun. She was the innocent girl, 17 years old who asked him tthe simple question, “Are you happy?” And that really got him to start thinking, which is dangerous. His wife doesn’t think. She just accepts what’s going on. The reality tv shows and the Bliss Pills that keep her happy. Clarisse and Guy’s interactions were well done. They spent a couple scenes together talking and walking, which is another no-no.

Laura: The fire captain, Captain Beatty, was played by Alex Bastani. He had a powerful, but complex role. In the one scene between he and Guy at the captain’s house showed that he actually had books. He had a whole library of books that he had never read.

Mike: Captain Beatty had several long monologues and dialogs with Guy Montag about the value of books and how we got to this point. He was proud of the fact tht he had not read the books so it wasn’t a crime. It’s only a crime to read the books and he made that point. Later they had a scene between Guy Montag, the captain, and Professor Faber played by Michael Fisher. The professor was talking to Guy through a microphone implanted in Guy’s ear. Captain Beatty started to debate with Guy Montag about different literary works and quotes. Professor Faber would feed the line to Guy. Several times all three actors would say the same lines at the same time. They were not in sync so it was really hard to understand the words. It would have been more effective if they could have gotten onto the same cue to start the quote at the same time.

Laura: I thought the audience was a little removed from the action up on stage. It would have ben nice if they could have somehow done it in a theater in the round style. That way everyone was closer together and it would have felt more involved with the action going on.

Mike: This show definitely calls for interaction with the audience to see what the characters are seeing. The fear that Guy felt at some times, the resove of some of the characters including Mis Hudson. It would have been great if the audience could feel that same fear or see the books thrown down on the ground as opposed to simply seeing it up on the stage 20 feet away. Seeing it rigght in front of you. Seeing the books being mistreated was actually quite powerful. On the back wall of the stage they had a video system set up that showed different news clips and tv shows that Mildred would watch during the day while he was at work. That was an interesting concept. She did talk about, “Wouldn’t that be cool if we had three tv walls?” She played her part really well. Mildred was played by Jacqueline Chase. There was a problem with some of the videos. They were a little bit staticy sound wise. Some of the lighting wasn’t too bright, but the point they were getting across was that of a newscast or a special news bulletin. That came across pretty well.

Laura: The scene changes were also awkward and hurt the pace of the show. The use of the set was good. Turning the walls around to show bookshelves was a very creative use of the stage.

Mike: Fahrenheit 451 is playing through May 28 at the Lee Center for the Arts in Alexandria, Virginia. I definitely recommend you go see this show. It will give you a lot to talk about with your family and friends about the value of books and the value of education and learning to think for yourself as opposed to being blindly accepting of what you hear on the news or elsewhere.

Laura: And now, on with the show.

Image copyright Micah Wright, Used by permission (pending)