SEASON 42 | 2020/2021 1 Florence’S Legacy Is 750 Doctors & Growing
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SEASON 42 | 2020/2021 1 Florence’s Legacy Is 750 Doctors & Growing Florence Smith, a Norfolk physician’s daughter, passed away in 1952. Her bequest to her community foundation created the permanent Florence L. Smith Fund. Since then Smith Scholarships have helped 750 medical students become doctors. Today, 15 Virginia medical students are on scholarship because of Florence’s generosity nearly 70 years ago. Give the lasting gift of education with a charitable bequest to the Hampton Roads Community Foundation. Get in touch with us and we’ll show you how easy it is. www.leaveabequest.org (757) 622-7951 2 A CHRISTMAS CAROL A CHRISTMAS CAROL TABLE OF CONTENTS 4 Virginia Stage Associates 5 About Virginia Stage 7 A Note From Tom & David 9 A Christmas Carol 10 Accessibility at the Wells 11 Today’s Show 11 Show Sponsors 13 Cast & Creatives 18 Dramaturgy 21 Cast & Creative Team Bios 35 About the Wells Theatre 37 VSC Education and Community Engagement Programs 39 Virginia Stage Company Staff 41 Board of Trustees 43 Corporate & Foundation Support 44 Contributors SEASON 42 | 2020/2021 3 VIRGINIA STAGE ASSOCIATES Become a Volunteer! VIRGINIA STAGE ASSOCIATES provides volunteer support to Virginia Stage in many ways, including: USHERING Host public performances and student matinees, assist patrons with seating HOSPITALITY Prepare potluck meals for cast and crew 2019/2020 SPECIAL EVENTS EXECUTIVE BOARD Assist with a variety of projects designed to raise funds for President Virginia Stage Company Robin Thomas COMMUNITY EVENTS Vice President Raise public awareness of Virginia Stage Company at festivals Lar Stampe and other community events. Treasurer Chris Abbate Visit vastage.org/vsa for more information. Secretary ANNUAL MEMBERSHIP Joan Rhodes-Copeland (Contribution covers FY July 1-June 30) Member at Large Individual Membership $25 Lorenz Connelly, Jr. Family Membership (two or more in the same household) $40 Newsletter Student Membership (high school or college) $15 Carole Aitken Thanks to our Virginia Stage Associates Chris Abbate Judi Goodman Sue Leta John Stansell Sue Addair Deborah Gray Judy Lewis Marie Strang Carole Aitken Miriam L Hartman Sue Lonigan Mary Ann Thomas Jim Benson Lucia Herndon Jusy Luedtke Pat Thomas Deborah Breen Barbara Higgins Kim Maguire Robin Thomas Joseph Brunson Martha Holmes Dee Mills Emma V Truitt Jeanne Burger Mary Hormell Amelia Moore Kittie Whitaker Cydney Cavender Sara Hunter Beverly Ohagan Barbara Wiegand Susan Cebollero Azeb Jackson Dean Perry Frank Wiegand Rebecca Cederholm Tracey Johnson Sue Pigg Denise Willey Cora Collins Diane Kaidel Linda Richmond Chester Williams Leroy Collins Dwight Kane Joan Rhodes-Copeland Martha Williams Lorenz Connelly, Jr Janet Kane Nina Rountree Mary Williams Del Crawford Norma Keeping Joe Saveika Karen Wilson Jim Crawford Lisa Kendrick Joyce Savieka Catherine Witt Traci-Dale H. Crawford George Kenny Hannah Seay Robert Cummings Carol King Karen Shaffer Barbara Desler John Kingry Anne Shoaf Vicky Ferrell Andrea Lawson Helen Small Byron Fordham Ilene Leiss Lar Stampe Les Friedman Ron Leta Madge Stampe 4 A CHRISTMAS CAROL ABOUT VIRGINIA STAGE COMPANY Virginia Stage Company is Southeastern Virginia’s leading non-profit theatre, serving an audience of over 58,000 patrons annually, both at the Wells Theatre and throughout the community. Our mission is to enrich, educate, and entertain the region by creating and producing theatrical art of the highest quality. Virginia Stage Company is one of the country’s foremost regional theaters. We are proud of our history of developing new plays and musicals. There have been 28 world premieres at the Wells in our 40 year history. We value collaboration, and have forged meaningful partnerships with many of the extraordinary arts, educational, and social service institutions in Hampton Roads. Virginia Stage productions are created on site and from the ground up – costumes to choreography, sound to lighting – working with a mix of local artists and artisans as well as some of the leading actors, directors, and designers from around the country to produce world class theatre for our Hampton Roads audience. Virginia Stage Company connects the Hampton Roads community through initiatives that enrich lives and encourage artists and audiences for the future. Our education and community engagement programming strives to reflect the needs of the communities we serve and to advocate for arts integration and experiences that promote literacy, character development, and critical thinking in the next generation. Virginia Stage Company uses theatre as a catalyst to foster public discourse. We believe that theatre is more than a play, place, or product - it is a living process that can expand thinking and offer fresh perspectives. Learning, critical thinking, and self-confidence all grow as we sit together in one space to experience and contemplate our shared world. Acknowledging and embracing differences in identity is essential to a dynamic cultural conversation - and theatre has just the tools to do that. Virginia Stage Company is owned by our community and relies heavily on the generosity of individuals, corporations, municipalities and charitable foundations in reaching its mission. For their support and for the invested enthusiasm of our community, we are deeply grateful. To find more information on becoming involved and supporting professional theatre in our region, please visit us at vastage.org. SEASON 42 | 2020/2021 5 awaken your wild become a member today! 35OO GRANBY ST • NORFOLK, VA • 757.441.2374 x220 • VIRGINIAZOO.ORG Virginia Stage Company gratefully acknowledges the leadership and support of the following area municipalities, state, and national arts agencies: 6 A CHRISTMAS CAROL A NOTE FROM TOM & DAVID We cannot tell you how meaningful and moving it is to be working with this group of artists and artisans to bring a holiday tradition back to Hampton Roads, here at the end of the most challenging year in our memory. The entire crew is masked and distanced, the cast is always ten feet away from each other, and the work is stunning. We hope you enjoy this year’s production, reimagined by the incomparable Patrick Mullins, who after years of directing and adapting Dickens’ classic, is finally taking a turn as Scrooge. A Christmas Carol is made possible by the generous support of PNC Bank, who got behind the idea that we should make this available for the entire community. If you are here in person, where we are seating at 18% capacity, with rigorous cleaning protocols in place, welcome! If you are joining us virtually, I suggest you dim the lights get ready for a great ghost story. Either way, A Christmas Carol is a great way to ring out 2020, a year we are all looking forward to showing the door. In a year like no other, we bring you A Christmas Carol like no other. Enjoy! Tom Quaintance Producing Artistic Director [email protected] Photo credit: Samuel W. Flint Samuel W. credit: Photo David B. Byrd Managing Director [email protected] SEASON 42 | 2020/2021 7 Today is the day the arts take center stage. The arts make us think, make us feel, and make us wonder. And being able to support The Virginia Stage Company today makes us proud. pnc.com ©2020 The PNC Financial Services Group, Inc. All rights reserved. PNC Bank, National Association. Member FDIC CON PDF 0618-0106 8 A CHRISTMAS CAROL PRODUCING ARTISTIC DIRECTOR MANAGING DIRECTOR Tom Quaintance David B. Byrd PRODUCING ARTISTIC DIRECTOR Anthony Stockard AND PNC BANK PRESENT SCENIC DESIGN CONSULTANT COSTUME DESIGNER LIGHTING DESIGNER DAVID SHUHY JENI SCHAEFER AKIN RITCHIE SOUND DESIGNER MUSIC DIRECTOR CHOREOGEAPHER J.C. NIGH JO’SIAH SHAN TREZURE COLES ASSOCIATE DIRECTOR PRODUCTION STAGE MANAGER TREY CLARKSON BRITTANY SANDFORD DIRECTED BY PATRICK MULLINS Virginia Stage Company is funded in part by grants from The Business Consortium for Arts Support, Virginia Commission for the Arts, the City of Norfolk and the National Endowment for the Arts. VIRGINIA STAGE COMPANY The Wells Theatre | Norfolk, Virginia December 2020 SEASON 42 | 2020/2021 9 ACCESSIBILITY Virginia Stage is dedicated to serving all of our patrons with all accessibility needs. Below are a few of the accessibility programs we offer to make the Wells Theatre a welcoming and comfortable place for the citizens of Eastern Virginia and North Carolina. Our new state-of-the-art Loop Listening System provides top of the line listening assistance either through headsets available at the box office or directly into personal hearing aids equipped with a t-coil. The loop listening system does not require you to remove your hearing aids, but if you do please take out the batteries due to potential feedback. ADA Accessible Seating is available for all of our productions located at the rear of the orchestra with easy access for patrons with wheelchairs and walkers. Row M, the rear row of the orchestra, has been fully renovated with larger seats for patrons who may find this amenity more comfortable or suitable for their needs. The Tazewell Lounge features a brand new Wheelchair Lift that can take patrons into the newly renovated education classrooms on the second floor. This allows us to hold classes, workshops, and performances for all members of our community. The second Saturday evening performance of every production features a minimum of two ASL Interpreters who translate the entire show in American Sign Language. Made possible by The Language Group. Open Captioning and Audio Description services are available at the second Saturday matinee of every production. Open Captioning features the dialogue of the play on a screen placed on the front of the stage and Audio Description is where a trained interpreter describes what is seen on stage through a headset for patrons with visual impairment. Photos by Jeffrey Hewitt A Christmas Carol is made possible, in part, by: 10 A CHRISTMAS CAROL TODAY’S SHOW There WILL NOT be an intermission during today’s show.