‘Love & Vinyl,’ a play about a record store, is performed at real-life Plan 9
Director Rusty Wilson talks about the play Love & Vinyl which will be at Plan 9 records. Watch the video at the article link below.
Originally published by Richmond Times-Dispatch
by Chelsea Jackson
February 6, 2026
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.
Director Rusty Wilson talks to Juliana Caycedo, Otto Konrad and Andrew Firda at rehearsal for the play Love & Vinyl at Plan 9 Records in Richmond, VA., on Wednesday February 4, 2026.
“This play premiered three years ago in a downtown Annapolis record store,” Bartlett said. “I had moved into this apartment without a washer and dryer, so I started going to this really nostalgic laundromat a couple doors down from a record store. While I was doing my laundry, I wrote my first site-specific play. I approached the owner about doing a reading there, and it turned into a five-week sold-out run.”
That success led him next door.
“I wrote a play specifically for this tiny record shop. We’d only see about 15 people a show, but it ran for a month, and it gave me a chance to revisit physical media,” Bartlett said.
“Love & Vinyl” follows two lifelong friends, Bogie, an accountant, and Zane, a teacher, during a late-night visit to their favorite shop. Their evening shifts when they meet Sage, the thoughtful and grounded owner of the store. What unfolds is a funny, reflective conversation about love, loss, friendship, and the quiet beauty of analog life in a digital world.
rehearse for the play Love & Vinyl at at Plan 9 records in Richmond, VA., on Wednesday February 4, 2026.
For Bartlett, the appeal of vinyl is not about sound quality or nostalgia, but the physical process of it all.
“There’s something romantic about physical media,” he said. “Holding a record in our hands, blowing the dust off it, setting it on the turntable, lowering the needle. There’s something really romantic about that. I don’t trust nostalgia in the sense of the good old days, because the good old days weren’t good for everybody. But there is something about slowing down.”
Bartlett says site specific plays can add a layer to the story. Unlike traditional theater, there is no separation between audience and performers.
“The work is immediate and primal,” Bartlett said. “There is no fourth wall. We use the real front door to enter the store. We sit amidst real life, in between rows and rows of records, next to real people here to see a play.”
That approach made Plan 9 Music a perfect fit. The store has been a Richmond institution for decades, known for its deep catalog, live shows, and loyal customer base.
Co-owner Shelby Guest said the idea was exciting but required planning.
Juliana Caycedo rehearses for the play Love & Vinyl at at Plan 9 records in Richmond, VA., on Wednesday February 4, 2026.
“We were really excited when they came to us with the proposal,” she said. “We’ve done shows in the store and we have a stage built in, but this was different. They wanted to be behind the counter and in the middle of the bins. We had to figure out how to pull it off.”
Guest says the play connects directly to a broader cultural shift.
“Younger generations are really getting back into physical media the way older generations have,” Shelby said. “With streaming services removing content and all the issues with platforms like Spotify, people want to own their music. This play is such a fun way to show how record stores have always mattered and how they still exist in the cultural conversation.”
Spotify has received criticism in recent years for low artist royalty payouts and AI-generated music on the platform.
The production is directed by Rusty Wilson, who previously worked with Cadence on a site-specific staging of Annie Baker’s “The Flick” at the Byrd Theatre.
A poster for the play Love & Vinyl at Plan 9 Records in Richmond, VA., on Wednesday February 4, 2026.
“I think it’s a play for right now,” he said. “It focuses on people coming together, finding common ground, letting their guards down, and being respectful of one another. The three people in this play all love vinyl records, but they also bring their histories with them. Ultimately, it’s about community.”
In a world that feels divided and fast-paced, Wilson said the play’s message feels relevant.
“The world is crazy right now,” he said. “I’m really happy to focus on a story about love and people’s passion for something they care greatly about. One of the songs we finish with is Stevie Wonder’s ‘Love’s in Need of Love Today,’ and I can’t think of a better message to send out right now.”
Before each performance, audiences will also be treated to short live sets by local and regional musicians, including Dhemo, Odd Junction, Shera Shi, Erin Lunsford, Deau Eyes, Avery Fogarty, Marquis Hazelwood, Isaac Friend, and Sweet Bahs.
Plan 9 Records will host the play Love & Vinyl in Richmond, VA., on Wednesday February 4, 2026.
For Bartlett, that blend of live music, physical space, and storytelling is exactly the point.
“We still want to hold the magazine,” he said. “We still want to hold the book. We still want something tangible. The digital version doesn’t do the same thing. There’s something about having it right there in your hands.”
The show runs for nine performances inside the store at 3017 W. Cary St., with seating nestled among the records themselves. Tickets are $55.20, and each evening begins with a short live music set at 7:30 p.m., followed by the play at 8 p.m. Seating is limited.
