Virginia Stage Company
Virginia Stage Company is the premier professional theatre in southeastern Virginia, presenting performances at the Wells Theatre in downtown Norfolk. The theatre was fully restored in 1986 and is now a National Historic Landmark. Virginia Stage Company was founded in 1978 by members of the Hampton Roads community who had a deep desire to make “live” theatre a part of the area’s cultural life. Virginia Stage Company serves an audience of over sixty thousand patrons annually, both at the Wells Theatre and throughout the community.
Interior of the Wells Theatre in downtown Norfolk, fully restored in 1986, a National Historic Landmark, home of Virginia State Company
The Wells Theatre, built in 1912, was designed by the New York firm of E. C. Horn and Sons is significant example of Beaux Arts neoclassicism theater architecture in Virginia, and a representative of early 20th-century popular culture. The Wells served as the opulent flagship for Wells Amusement Enterprises, a string of forty vaudeville theaters owned by Jake and Otto Wells throughout the South.
Part of the line of 1,600 “kiddies” who attended the performance at the Wells Theatre to benefit the starving children of Europe, Otto Wells gave the use of the theatre without charge.
Virginia Stage Company has presented twenty-eight world premieres at the Wells Theatre in its’ over forty year history, enriching, educating, and entertaining the region, producing theatrical art of the highest quality, while forging meaningful partnerships with many of the extraordinary arts, educational and social service institutions in Hampton Roads.
As a highly respected regional theatre company, Virginia Stage Company has attracted artists from Broadway, Off-Broadway, and other leading theaters across the country, and from the world of film and television.
Highlights of Virginia Stage Company include a groundbreaking production of “A Midsummer Night’s Dream” with Virginia Symphony, the world premiere of the Tony Award-winning musical, “The Secret Garden,” Steven Schwartz’s “Snapshots” and Lanie Robertson’s “Nobody Lonesome for Me.”
Mia Ellis, Ashton Heyl, and Rachel Moulton in “The Book Club Play” by Karen Zacarías at Virginia Stage Company, 2014. (Photo: Samuel W. Flint)
Virginia Stage Company produces a main stage subscription series of six productions (with special matinee performances for students), and the annual holiday classics, “A Christmas Carol” and “The Santaland Diaries.” Virginia Stage productions are created on site and from the ground up – costumes to choreography, sound to lighting — working with a mix of local artists and artisans as well as some of the leading actors, directors, and designers from around the country.
“A Christmas Carol” at Virginia Stage Company
Steven Minow and Bretteney Beverly in “A Christmas Carol”
at Virginia Stage Company, 2019 (photo: Samuel W. Flint)
Their 42nd season included: “Guys and Dolls,” “Detroit ’67,” “A Christmas Carol,” “The Santaland Dairies,” “Sense & Sensibility,” “The Legend of Georgia McBride,” which was their final show of 2020.
Their upcoming 2020-2021 season which had been scheduled included “Into the Breeches” by George Brant, followed by “Joseph and the Amazing Technicolor Dreamcoat” with lyrics by Tim Rice and music by Andrew Lloyd Webber, “A Christmas Carol,” “Holmes and Watson” by Jeffrey Hatcher, “Angry, Raucous and Shamelessly Gorgeous,” and “Ain’t Misbehavin” with book by Murray Horwitz and Richard Maltby Jr.
Max Falls in “The Legend of Georgia McBride” at Virginia Stage Company, (photo: Samuel W. Flint)
Virginia Stage Company’s education and community engagement programming reflects the needs of the community, providing for students’ productions that coordinate with school curriculum. Students are provided discounted tickets to attend matinees in the historic Wells Theatre. The theatre’s directors, designers, and actors participate in a talk-back session with the students directly following each performance.
Virginia Stage Company also offers touring designed to stir the heart, stretch the mind and promote education. In addition, they offer in-school workshops and residencies, providing students, teachers and administrators with first-hand opportunities to work with professional performers, encouraging future artists and arts audiences.
Using the theatre as a catalyst to foster public discourse, Virginia Stage Company wants to expand the audiences’ thinking and to offer fresh perspectives and believes learning, critical thinking, and self-confidence all grow as ‘sitting together in one space to experience and contemplate our shared world.’
“Our Town” at Virginia Stage Company
Public Works Virginia is a major initiative of Virginia Stage Company that seeks to engage the people of Hampton Roads by making them creators of theatre rather than spectators. Public Works was founded by the Public Theater in New York, and Public Works Virginia joins its affiliate network, which now spans theaters across the United States as well as the National Theatre in London.
“The Wiz” at Virginia Stage Company
Working with community partner organizations across Virginia, Virginia State Company invites community members to attend in-person and virtual classes, attend productions, and join in the creation of ambitious works of participatory theatre. For info: Virginia Stage Company 108 East Tazewell St. Norfolk, Virginia 23510, (757) 627-1234, www.vastage.org
“The Wiz” at Virginia Stage Company
