Tempest(s)

In case you haven’t picked it up yet, this week’s Style is chock-full of theater-related stories. Most prominent is the news story talking about Richmond Shakespeare’s change of direction, switching the staging of their non-summer productions from CenterStage to St. Catherine’s. This is concurrent with the RichShakes announcement of their new partnership with St. Catherine’s but is also a reaction to ongoing issues with getting locally-produced shows up-and-running at CenterStage. I have been blissfully unaware of the specifics of these issues but I know there are folks who have grumbled about CenterStage since the beginning. I’ve never been able to tell how much of the grumbling was because of political issues and how much was actual functional issues. This article – and the clearly illustrated impact working with CenterStage seems to have on a company’s finances – makes me think there are more functional aspects to the problem than I thought.

Speaking of finances, there is also a story about Sycamore Rouge in Style as time starts to run short on their deadline to raise the needed funds to keep the company afloat. There are only so many big money patrons out there that can write the big checks so keeping the company alive seems like it is going to take dozens of us writing the small checks. Think about it.

There is a review of “Cymbeline” in Style and Richmond.com delivers the second review I’ve seen of “Spring Awakening.” I’m anxious for mine to come out next week so I can talk about the show more. In the meantime, I strongly recommend you go out and see it yourself. This is a show you’ll want to see and talk about, whether you fall into the “roll your eyes” category Ms. Jewett describes, or if you think it’s the best show ever.