Otto & Chet on Love & Vinyl
By Liv Wilson
Local actor and lawyer Otto Konrad has found himself in a full-circle moment starring in the play Love & Vinyl at Plan 9 Music, where he used to work as an employee of the record store. Otto had been collecting records since he was twelve years old and frequented Plan 9 to add to his growing collection. His evenings spent at the record store turned into a part-time job working the information desk.
There were many wonderful things about this job. The nostalgia. Being surrounded by the greatest music of our time. First peek at the new stock that came out on Saturday mornings. Perhaps the greatest part was the people. Otto believes that people who work at record stores are fundamentally creative with a huge love for the arts. Record stores attract those who want to experience the purchasing of a record. From looking at the artwork to examining the history of someone’s prior ownership of the record, it is a multi-level tactile experience, in a way that digital music and even CDs could never provide.
For Otto, collecting records is an artistic experience. It fills a creative need and has set in motion an emotion that hasn’t stopped. The joy of finding something by surprise. Walking into the shop, not knowing what you might find. Discovering a shared love when someone you love and respect likes something you like. Watching musicians pick out music.
Twenty years later, Otto has a good sense of reality about what it’s like to work at a record store. When the cast of Love & Vinyl first began rehearsing, they used Otto’s studio space, which contains his collection of over twelve hundred records. Rehearsing there informed some scenes of the play before moving into the record store at Plan 9. Each member of the cast and creative team had a different response to being in the space.
Juliana, who plays the role of Sage, was like ‘a kid in a candy store.’ Otto says she knew every song on the most obscure records from decades ago. Andy, who plays the role of Zane, is also a music lover. Doing this play inspired him to fix up his stereo system to get it going again. Rusty, the director of the piece, got a new turntable and pulled all his records out of storage, meeting them as they are now and as he is now. The stage manager, Anjali, is totally new to analog music mediums. Part of the preset for the show is to play a specific song from Fleetwood Mac’s Rumors. Anjali had to learn how to operate the turntable and where to drop the needle, a practice that quickly became joyful.
When rehearsals moved into the record store space at Plan 9, there was even more to work with, and the folks at Plan 9 were more than willing to help. They reorganized racks of records to ensure actors could play off the space with the given dialogue. The manager, Chet, even offered to do some live sound effects.
Chet’s earliest memories start with going to see shows on the “big stage” at the shop. Being Jim’s son, the owner of Plan 9 Music, Chet spent a lot of time in the record store growing up, bothering musicians and watching sets from the stairs. His childhood was spent amongst the vibrant colors of concert posters and the stimulating sounds of hippy, alternative, and rock music.
Over 90% of the Plan 9 employees were musicians (which is still true of the shop). Many of them were in their own bands as a part of the RVA music scene. Chet remembers how cool they all were. Buzzy, one of Plan 9’s buyers, would let Chet come into the cubicle and play his guitar and pretend to be Elvis. Another had a bunch of Star Wars figurines at his desk and an Indiana Jones whip on the wall that he let Chet play with. Looking back, Chet remembers that not only was everyone so cool, but they all loved having a super cool job.
About six years ago, Chet started working at Plan 9’s front counter and slowly learned all the different facets of running the record shop. I asked him how new artists releasing music on vinyl has affected business. Chet shared that it’s played a huge role in bringing new folks into the store, whether they are purchasing to hear the record or merely use it as decor. Regardless, the aesthetic of a record store still hits young people the same it did 45 years ago, even though the landscape outside has drastically changed. In an age where you can pull up anything you want to listen to, some kids still choose records, as collecting music itself has become its own hobby.
Love & Vinyl opened two weekends ago in the Plan 9 Music shop with the tireless effort of the Cadence team and Plan 9 staff. Chet says it’s been magical to have the show in their space, including having local artists play as a kind of opener, connecting the worlds of Richmond’s music scene and theatregoers. Chet notes, “All live in-person music, arts, and performance are all part of the same hand. They are an important part of what we all love about Richmond and want to see continue and grow.”
Love & Vinyl by Bob Bartlett runs until February 22, 2026, at Plan 9 Music.
BONUS MATERIAL!
Catch this great conversation on the The Jeff Katz Show podcast from WRVA Radio, featuring playwright Bob Bartlett discussing Love & Vinyl, the site-specific production staged inside Richmond’s own Plan 9 Music.
Hear how the show came to life in a real record store, the inspiration behind the story, and why this uniquely local production is resonating with audiences. Listen now and get the inside scoop on one of Richmond’s most distinctive theatrical events.
