It’s no secret that Richmond Community Theatre sometimes struggles to find its consistent place in this region’s theatrical landscape. It’s difficult to watch the Ansonia Theatre thrive in Wadesboro, to see that the Sunrise Theater (the creation of which RCT inspired) in Southern Pines is never bereft of talent to appear in its shows and to witness the stellar production quality of The Encore Center (also in Southern Pines).
Then there’s RCT — in transition, directorless, with minimal folk able to operate lighting and sound and to build sets. The small director salary is one for a part-timer at best. Some hoped for a retired theater professor or someone similar. However, with this budget, no director could afford to make the theater their full-time priority.
It’s not like this does not happen to other theaters: Sunrise has been without an executive director since June. This month, Sunrise found a director, but then the founding theater director of Encore stepped down.
It happens. What is the difference between those situations and RCT? Resources, mostly. Since it could only manufacture so many resources, the RCT board of directors had to maximize them. And that is why it no longer follows a one-director model.
I called every director I knew to get an idea of what a guest director fee looked like, and hiring three guest directors was infinitely more reasonable than handing one person the entire RCT budget and being beholden to that individual’s vision for the foreseeable future. The board agreed.
So, change has ensued. Change means the RCT season operates around the availability of guest directors. “The Homecoming” opens on Dec. 6. The satire “Clybourne Park” hits the stage in the late spring, and in early summer, RCT debuts the dark comedy “Dearly Departed.”
Guest director and New York transplant Stuart Metcalf helms “Clybourne Park.” The theater has been Metcalf’s profession since 1992. He has worked as an actor, stagehand, production manager and director on shows from local community theater to Broadway.
Juliet Blanks just finished back-to-back shows with the Encore Center. Her theatrical credits are too numerous to relate, but she has studied under Peggy Taphorn at The Temple Theater and was part of The Lost Colony Performing Arts Theater for years. She is also a trained dancer.
Blanks will handle “Dearly Departed,” where a dysfunctional southern family plans their father’s funeral while contending with long-standing squabbles and resentments. If her last name sounds familiar, it is because Juliet is the daughter of Ramsey Blanks, who taught at Richmond Senior High School for decades.
For “The Homecoming,” RCT uses a combination of local and imported talent. The significant part of finding new directors is they attract individuals with whom they have worked to help with new projects. Though most of this cast is Richmond County individuals, “The Homecoming” has 20 roles. Director Tyler Baucom, a Lilesville native with a theater degree from Appalachian State, has called upon peers from the Ansonia and the Uwharrie Players.
“We’ve made a lot of friends over the years, ” says Baucom, a first-grade teacher at Wadesboro Primary School. “Ruth Anne (Ruth Anne Harris, who plays Miss Etta) pulled all the Rockingham people together. We have seven children and two teenagers from Rockingham in the cast.”
And, as it turns out, dealing with a cast of primarily children after working all day at a grade school was less taxing than one might think.
“We have great help from our adult cast members, crew, and stage manager Isaac Clarke,” says Baucom. Clarke is a draftee from The Ansonia.
Baucom has attracted RCT staples, such as Doug Smith and Cleve Baxley, back to the local stage. Smith was also instrumental in constructing the set.
“The Homecoming” occurs in depression-era Virginia on Christmas. The Spencer family awaits the return of the family patriarch from work, but he still needs to be found late into Christmas Eve. The eldest son, Clay-Boy, is tasked with looking after his multiple siblings and maintaining the hope and mood of a household struggling to survive.
The play’s inspiration comes from Earl Hamner Jr.’s work, “The Homecoming: A Novel About Spencer’s Mountain.” This book also inspired the 1970s television show “The Waltons.” And right now, the atmosphere of RCT harkens back to the 1970s when it began: No professionals, a teacher at the helm, a genuine community theater experience.
Cast:
Ford Applewhite (Matt Spencer)
Ruth Ann Harris (Miss Etta)
Kimberson Rabon (Becky)
Gavin Applewhite (Sheriff)
Sharyl Wheeler Gross (Grandma Ida)
Matthew Thompson (Clay Spencer)
Rebecca Dodd Parker (Miss Emma)
Willow Chandler (Jane Spencer)
Christian Bennett (Mark Spencer)
Nolan Chavis (Luke Spencer)
Jessica White (Godsey)
Brittany Price (Olivia Spencer)
Elena Hair (Shirley Spencer)
Cleve Baxley (Charlie)
Doug Smith (Grandpa Homer)
Glenn Caulder (Reverend Dooly)
Greyson Helms (Clay-Boy Spencer)
Gracie English (Pattie Cake Spencer)
Noah Smith (Birdshot)
Sean Patrick Smith is a freelance columnist and author of “Three Miles of Eden,” a murder mystery set in Seven Lakes, in which Richmond County makes multiple appearances.
