In the Press
‘WitchDuck’ Vs. the 18th-Century Manosphere
With its satirical look at an overlooked piece of Virginia history, Eva DeVirgilis’s new play is for the women who’ve spoken up against patriarchy for centuries.
What the Duck
People have an instinctive aversion to hard truths, particularly if they’re hit over the head with them.
The ferociously comic and persistently wacky “WitchDuck” manages to circumvent that aversion. Like a skilled magician, the world premiere play serves up so many antic hijinks as a diversion that the hard truths sneak in past any normal defenses.
Casting a New Spell: Playwright Eva DeVirgilis conjures the bold magic of WitchDuck
Eva DeVirgilis has driven by Witchduck Road in Virginia Beach dozens of times. But, she had never questioned the origin until she participated in the Pipeline New Works Program through Cadence Theatre.
Founded in 2019 by Tony- and Pulitzer Prize-winning playwright and screenwriter David Lindsay-Abaire and Chris Lindsay-Abaire, the program helps creatives like DeVirgilis develop new works.
Cadence and Firehouse Theatre Will Co-Produce New Play WITCHDUCK
Cadence and Firehouse Theatre will present the world premiere of WitchDuck, a dark comedic and subversive new play based on the true story of Grace Sherwood, Virginia's last convicted witch. This new work, written by Eva DeVirgilis, reexamines this dreadful history with a smart feminist perspective.
‘Love & Vinyl’ Is a Rom-Com Set and Staged Inside Plan 9
Record stores have always been more than retail. People go in saying they’re just browsing, but that’s rarely the whole story. It’s a treasure hunt. They’re chasing a feeling. They’re hoping to recognize themselves in someone else’s taste.
That’s why Plan 9 Music makes sense as the setting for Love & Vinyl, a site-specific romantic comedy by playwright Bob Bartlett, produced by Cadence Theatre Company. The play doesn’t simulate a record store onstage. It takes place inside one.
‘Love & Vinyl,’ a play about a record store, is performed at real-life Plan 9
There’s a special kind of performance happening at Plan 9 Music this month.
Cadence Theatre Company will transform the longtime Richmond record store into an immersive stage with Bob Bartlett’s “Love & Vinyl”: a play about a record store, set inside of a record store.
Bartlett is no stranger to unconventional theater spaces. “Love & Vinyl” grew out of an earlier site-specific experiment that began not in a theater at all, but in a laundromat.
Record Store Drama
Art imitates life in a Cadence theater production at Plan 9 Music
What better setting for a play about record collectors than an actual record store? And few record stores could be more fitting than Plan 9, the venerable Richmond music hub located in Carytown. It’s where Cadence theater company will stage its production of “Love & Vinyl” Feb. 6-22.
Records and Romance
Art imitates life in a Cadence theater production at Plan 9 Music
What better setting for a play about record collectors than an actual record store? And few record stores could be more fitting than Plan 9, the venerable Richmond music hub located in Carytown. It’s where Cadence theater company will stage its production of “Love & Vinyl” Feb. 6-22.
“Your Door is Ajar”
The many voices of actor, playwright, and author Irene Ziegler.
Whether using her home’s tiny coat closet as a recording studio, penning plays with her neighbor, or hanging out with zombies, it’s just another day at the office for the multitalented Irene Ziegler. A creative to her core, Ziegler—who has called Virginia home since 1987—divides her talents between voiceovers, writing, and acting. She proudly calls herself “a messy artistic hybrid” with a mind that never rests. “I have a few irons in the fire most of the time,” she tells me. “When one of them heats up, that’s how I identify. Right now, I’m a playwright and am rolling that boulder up a hill. Next week, I’m in a staged reading of a new play, so I’ll don the actor hat. I do several voiceovers a week, so they are my sustenance—more bread and butter than steak and potatoes—but hey ... I’m still at the table.”
Hard Knock Life
The sun comes out tomorrow in Cadence and ATLAS Partnership’s “Annie.”
The first time Mary Page Nance lit up Broadway in a principal role she nearly took the theater with her.
“It was terrifying and exhilarating and I almost burned the theater down,” says Nance of playing Marcia Murphey two years ago in “A Beautiful Noise: The Neil Diamond Musical.”
Two Annies Equal Two Times the Talent and Two Times the Fun
Audrey Esplin and Mallory Stark didn’t realize the friendship they would form by sharing the role of little orphan Annie.
“I have really loved sharing this experience with Audrey,” says Stark, a 7th grader at St. Catherine’s School. “She is so sweet and kind. It’s neat that we’ve been able to be there for each other and cheer each other on through this.”
A Productive Pipeline
Anna Senechal Johnson was a fan of David Lindsay-Abaire before his plays were produced on Broadway, before he won a Pulitzer Prize, before she had even met him.
“He was in an acting class I was in,” remembers Johnson, the artistic director of Cadence, a Richmond theater, film and arts education organization.
Long Day’s Journey Into Night
Eugene O’Neill’s Long Day’s Journey into Night stands out as a hauntingly authentic exploration of family bonds, dysfunction, addiction, and shadows from the past. From the very first moments, the play immerses the audience in a poignant portrayal of the Tyrone family, using the power of simplicity.
Life In Four Acts
Eugene O’Neill’s magnum opus “Long Day’s Journey Into Night” storms the stage in Cadence’s new production.
For actor Matthew Radford Davies, the title of the play he’s currently starring in, “Long Day’s Journey Into Night,” has special resonance.