For fifteen years, audiences in Central Virginia have waited. This year, the wait is over. Barksdale Theatre, Central Virginia’s leading professional theater, reopens in its lovingly restored original home.
Founded in 1953 by transplanted New Yorkers, the Barksdale began its life as the region’s first dinner theater in the historic ruin of Hanover Tavern, just north of Richmond. For the next 40 years, founders Pete and Nancy Kilgore and Muriel McAuley pushed the theatrical envelope in Richmond while working on the endless task of restoring Hanover Tavern.
In 1990, the building was sold to the Hanover Tavern Foundation, and the Barksdale Theatre moved to the Shops at Willow Lawn in Henrico County. A complete renovation began on the Tavern in 1996. With much anticipation, the Hanover Tavern location of the Barksdale Theatre reopened this year with classic programming. In addition to the beautifully restored theater
space, an outstanding new restaurant, Michelle’s, has opened in the gracious dining room next door.
In addition to the renovated space at Hanover Tavern, the company maintains its signature season at The Shops at Willow Lawn in Henrico County. Under the leadership of Artistic Director Bruce Miller and Managing Director Phil Whiteway, subscriptions have increased 700%, and the range of offerings has never been more varied. From classic drama to British farce, Broadway musicals to contemporary plays from around the world, the Barksdale season offers Central Virginians the best in professional regional theater.
This year’s season at Willow Lawn offered multiple laughs and incisive looks into family, race, and our shared humanity. From the award-winning one-woman show The Syringa Tree to Broadway’s take on the hit film The Full Monty, audiences were challenged and thrilled. The season at the Hanover Tavern location was a joy for those who remember the laughter that reverberated through the country playhouse. From the madcap laughter of No Sex Please, We’re British, to the classic Neil Simon play Barefoot in the Park, the season gave audiences all the warmth and excitement that live theater has to offer.
