Virginia Repertory Theatre Announces
2023-2024 Season
Experience the Magic of Live Theatre!
Richmond, VA – Virginia Repertory Theatre announces the musicals, plays and special presentations for its 2023-2024 Signature Season at the November Theatre downtown, the Barksdale Season at Hanover Tavern, the Children’s Season at the Virginia Rep Center for Arts and Education as well as the Theatre Gym studio space. Season Subscriptions are now on sale by calling the Box Office at 804-282-2620 or going online to Virginiarep.org. Single tickets will go on sale this summer.
“Our 2023-2024 season features the regional premiere of an irreverent political comedy, fresh from its acclaimed Broadway run, an intriguing-yet-hilarious mystery, a new American musical, a pair of intimate biographical dramas, Dolly Parton's uproarious nod to gender inequality in the workplace, as well as collaborations with Cadence Theatre Company and the Weinstein Jewish Community Center,” said Artistic Director of Programming Rick Hammerly.
“We’ll have five amazing children’s productions in our new space at the Virginia Rep Center for Arts and Education,” added Todd D. Norris, Artistic Director of Education. ”This season we experienced the happy voices of thousands of children for our shows in the Jessie Bogese Theatre, and it’s been such a wonderful return to children’s programming. Families have definitely found us!”
Desirée Roots, Artistic Director of Community, will lead a variety of programs in the new season centered on community partnerships, including Gospel Nativity at the holidays, Disney Musicals in Schools, TALL (Theatre Arts Learning League), as well as concerts and public appearances.
SIGNATURE SEASON at the November Theatre
POTUS: Or, Behind Every Great Dumbass Are Seven Women Trying to Keep Him Alive
Regional Premiere
Sept 1, 2023 - October 1, 2023
By Selina Fillinger
Directed by Dorothy Holland
Dedication: Carol Piersol
Hot off its Tony Award-nominated Broadway debut — POTUS: Or, Behind Every Great Dumbass are Seven Women Trying to Keep Him Alive is a riotous comedy about the women in charge of the man in charge of the free world, whose use of a four-letter word is about to rock 1600 Pennsylvania Avenue. When the President unwittingly spins a PR nightmare into a global crisis, the seven brilliant and beleaguered women he relies upon most risk life, liberty, and the pursuit of sanity to keep the commander-in-chief out of trouble.
The Silver Belles
November 24, 2023 - December 31, 2023
Book by Allyson Currin
Music by Matt Conner
Lyrics by Stephen Gregory Smith
Based on an idea by Cathy Alter & Sandra Johnson
Directed by Susan Sanford
A heartfelt holiday hoedown with humor and a heaping helping of well-known Christmas songs and clever new country and western ditties. It’s “Designing Women” meets ”Golden Girls” when Oralene, the longtime director of small town Sylva Ridge’s Christmas Pageant, suddenly passes away, and the Silver Belles must come to the rescue! With the spirit of Oralene looking on, the sterling-hued vixens band together, uncover their talents, and pull out all the stops to keep the town's beloved pageant alive.
Featuring Jerold Solomon
Satchmo at the Waldorf
March 1, 2024 - April 7, 2024
By Terry Teachout
Directed by Rick Hammerly
In this one-man, three character play, Richmond favorite, Jerold Solomon, portrays Louis Armstrong, the greatest of all jazz trumpeters; Joe Glaser, his white manager; and Miles Davis, who admired Armstrong's playing, but detested his onstage manner. In 1971, in a dressing room backstage at the Empire Room of New York's Waldorf-Astoria Hotel, four months prior to his death, Armstrong attempts to come to terms with his long-standing relationship with Glaser, whom he once loved like a father but now believes to have betrayed him.
9 to 5, The Musical
June 21, 2024 - August 4, 2024
Music and Lyrics by Dolly Parton
Book by Patricia Resnick
Based on the 20th Century Fox Picture
Originally produced on Broadway by Robert Greenblatt, April 2009
Directed by Debra Clinton
Dolly Parton’s hilarious musical celebrates female friendship, and the ultimate revenge against their male boss. Pushed to the boiling point, three female co-workers take control of their office and learn there’s nothing they can't do, even in a man's world. Violet, Judy and Doralee concoct a plan to get even with their sexist-egotistical-lying-hypocritical-bigot of a boss and live out their wildest fantasy. The women give their workplace a dream makeover, stepping up to run the company that had always kept them down.
BARKSDALE SEASON at Hanover Tavern
Featuring Debra Wagoner and Joe Pabst
Martha Mitchell Calling
September 29, 2023 - October 29, 2023
By Jodi Rothe
Directed by Rick Hammerly
A humorous, yet poignant, exploration of Martha Mitchell (Debra Wagoner), legendary wife of Watergate conspirator and Attorney General John Mitchell (Joe Pabst). Flamboyant, formidable and often misunderstood, Mitchell demanded the truth even when no one believed her. Though ostracized as a traitor and abandoned by her family, she never lost her spirit, even as she called for Nixon's resignation. As Nixon himself told David Frost during their famous 1977 interview, "If it hadn't been for Martha Mitchell, there'd have been no Watergate."
Ken Ludwig's Baskerville: A Sherlock Holmes Mystery
December 15, 2023 - January 21, 2024
By Ken Ludwig
Get your deerstalker cap on — Sherlock Holmes is on the case. The play’s afoot in Ken Ludwig’s murderously funny twist on Arthur Conan Doyle’s The Hound of the Baskervilles. The male Baskerville heirs are being dispatched one by one. To find their ingenious killer, Holmes and Watson must brave the desolate moors before a family curse dooms the next heir. Our intrepid investigators try to escape a dizzying web of clues, silly accents, and disguises, as five actors deftly portray more than forty characters. Can our heroes discover the truth in time? Join the fun and see how far from elementary the truth can be.
On Air
March 15, 2024 - April 14, 2024
Music and Lyrics by Matt Conner
Book and Lyrics by Stephen Gregory Smith
Directed by Todd D. Norris
Amidst the turbulent 1920's, Frank and Flora Conrad were on the edge of discovering mass broadcasting. These two unsung radio pioneers broke through the static and established the first radio station in America within their own unassuming garage in East Pittsburgh. ON AIR follows their untold love story, their professional victories and disappointments, as well as their journey in establishing broadcast radio as a constant companion, messenger, and soundtrack for the life of every American.
