Hard Knock Life
Audrey Esplin (Annie), Charley Rawles (Sandy the dog) and Mallory Stark (Annie).
Originally published by Style Weekly
by Rich Griset
December 12, 2025
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.”
Nance had been cast as the role’s understudy, but with this appearance she graduated from the ensemble’s dressing room to the one of the actress she was replacing. Where the light bulbs of the ensemble dressing room were LEDs, the ones in the private dressing room were incandescent. As she prepared to take the stage, Nance’s practice of resting her hat atop a light bulb had consequences: a burned beanie.
Ali Thibodeau (Lily), Anthony Cosby, Jr. (Rooster Hannigan), and Mary Page Nance (Miss Hannigan).
Luckily, the skull cap was removed before a greater conflagration could occur, and the incident became a running joke behind the scenes. The show’s crew framed the beanie to create a shrine with a button that would play a flame-inspired song like Billy Joel’s “We Didn’t Start the Fire.”
“I never lived it down,” says Nance, a Richmond native who grew up in the Fan and now displays the shrine in her living room.
Starting this week, Nance will star as Miss Hannigan in a production of “Annie” at Dominion Energy Center’s Gottwald Playhouse. Staged by Cadence in association with ATLAS Partnership, the show marks Nance’s return to the Richmond stage after more than a decade and a half away.
Mary Page Nance (Miss Hannigan) and Mallory Stark (Annie).
An attendee of Fox Elementary, Richmond Montessori, Orchard House Middle and Appomattox Regional Governor’s School, Nance grew up in the local theater scene. From the ages of 8 to 18 she attended performing arts summer camp at SPARC; she also appeared in professional shows with Swift Creek Mill Theatre, TheatreVirginia and Virginia Rep.
After graduating from SUNY Purchase in 2011, Nance moved to New York City where she’s appeared in the original casts of four Broadway shows: “A Beautiful Noise,” “Finding Neverland,” “Lempicka” and “Natasha, Pierre and The Great Comet of 1812.”
Nance is thrilled to return to Richmond for “Annie.”
“I’m having the time of my life,” she says. “It is so fun.”
Based on the 1924 comic strip “Little Orphan Annie,” “Annie” tells the story of a Depression-era orphan who is invited to spend Christmas with billionaire Oliver Warbucks at his mansion. Though Annie charms Warbucks, she’s still convinced her parents will return for her one day. Warbucks launches a search for Annie’s birth parents, which brings a number of scammers out of the woodwork.
Gordon Bass as Oliver “Daddy” Warbucks and Mallory Stark as Annie.
In this production Nance plays Miss Hannigan, the abusive matron of the orphanage where Annie lives.
“It is a heartbreaking and heartwarming story about a little orphan who just wants to be loved and wants to have a family,” says Nance of the show. “Ultimately it works out — not to spoil the ending — in a way that she could not have predicted. It’s a really beautiful story.”
In tackling her role, Nance says she’s trying to give a more sympathetic portrayal of the abusive, boozing character. She notes that Miss Hannigan says her father was never around and that her mother is probably in hell.
“What kind of upbringing did she have if she thinks the life she’s giving these orphans is a good one?” asks Nance, who recently completed a two-year acting conservatory program at the Terry Knickerbocker Studio. “She must have had it worse off.”
Director Rebecca Wahls says the show’s title character is “pretty devious” in achieving her aims.
“She’s a little scamp,” Wahls says. “She, through a series of lucky events, gets to live the American dream. That is a very interesting story in our current political climate.”
Director Rebecca Wahls and Mallory Stark (Annie)
As much as Wahls lauds Nance and her fellow adult performers, she says the 40 child actors — who play 20 orphans on a alternating basis — are “all stars,” and that the two girls playing Annie “are both comic geniuses. They will grow up to [play] Miss Hannigan in 20 years.”
Anthony Cosby, who portrays Miss Hannigan’s disreputable brother Rooster in the show, says he’s inspired by the polish of his younger counterparts.
“These little girls, they walk into the room and they’re so professional,” Cosby says. “They have their binders and their highlighters and water bottles. Girl, you’re like 7 years old. You have your dancer bag. Am I not taking this serious enough?”
Ali Thibodeau (Lily Hannigan) and Anthony Cosby, Jr. (Rooster Hannigan).
At a time when there’s so much strife in the world, Cosby lauds the easy appeal of “Annie.”
“‘Annie’ is the perfect Christmas story,” he says. “[It’s] about resilience, about pushing through, about truly believing that the sun will shine tomorrow in spite of everything that you’re dealing with and the cards that you’ve been dealt.”
Cadence and ATLAS Partnership’s “Annie” runs Dec. 12-21 at Dominion Energy Center’s Gottwald Playhouse, 600 E. Grace St. For more information visit cadencetheatre.org or call 804-233-4894.
