Phil Brown, 2009

May 10 - Have you seen the 'countdown clock?' It faces Broad Street between 6th and 7th, hung on the construction trailers at Richmond CenterStage. All of us at Richmond Shakespeare are enormously excited about our new theatre---opening in very short time! In fact, I have a little miniature version of the clock on my desk and today, both of them read 124 Days.

In two days, on May 12, at 7:30pm we'll hold our last event of the indoor season at 2nd Presbyterian, a staged-reading of Cymbeline, about which you may already have heard. Daryl Clark Phillips (Falstaff '07 and '08) leads a stellar cast including Ray Bullock, Richard Koch, Vicki McCleod, David Janeski, Billy Christopher Maupin, Asher Nicholson, Brad Tuggle, Lucas Hall, Alan Sader (Exeter in Henry V), Ally Wepplo, and James Wingo. Cymbeline is directed by David White and produced by Liz Blake. Catch Liz herself in this summer's reprsise of Hamlet.

This fall (in four months!), Richmond Shakespeare will indeed move our indoor season to the new Gottwald Playhouse inside Richmond CenterStage. Look for an inaugural season announcement (it's also our 25th Year) right at the start of the summer Richmond Shakespeare Festival.

Those performances come first---we'll continue to bring great summer shows to marvelous Agecroft Hall, beginning this 12th annual festival with the performances we've all been waiting for: Phil Brown's Henry V and the return of Jeff Cole's Hamlet. Sandwiched in between, I'm happy to annouce another return--for a limited run--of Andrew Hamm's critically acclaimed production of A Midsummer Night's Dream.

Just prior to the summer festival on Saturday, May 23, I invite you to our first public "Mission Meeting." We'll gather at Agecroft Hall, from 1-4pm, to re-craft, re-dedicate and help to re-write the mission of Richmond Shakespeare. To RSVP and to receive more information, e-mail us at MissionMeeting@RichmondShakespeare.com. Come be a part of charting our next 25 years.

Thank you for joining us on this adventure, and be sure to keep in touch! Call, write, and comment or e-mail me here. Of course, you can always just catch my arm at a performance of Richmond Shakespeare.

Cheers,

Grant Mudge
Artistic Director