Originally closed for an infrastructure project, this lane near the YMCA has remained shut due to a trail tied to McIntire Park. Supplied photos.
After being closed for several years, the lane near the Brooks Family YMCA is scheduled to reopen late this fall.
While many Charlottesville residents link the lane closure with the YMCA, the project is actually associated with the Virginia Department of Transportation and the Charlottesville Department of Parks & Recreation, due to its ties to McIntire Park. The construction runs alongside the 250 bypass interchange at the transition of Rugby Avenue and McIntire Park Drive, so the lane closure significantly narrows the road in an area of high traffic.
Originally closed during the construction of a railroad bridge, the lane has remained closed because of construction on the bridge supporting the 250 bypass. While the infrastructure update to the bridge was completed two months ago, the road has remained closed for additional project considerations, according to park planner Chris Gensic.
As a result, the lane continues to be blocked despite a lack of current construction.
During the construction of the railroad bridge in 2017, VDOT granted funds to ensure safe pedestrian and bicycle routes through the interchange area. To accomplish this, the city will build a “shared use paved trail from Westwood Drive to the new railroad bridge,” says Gensic. With the support of city engineering and traffic staff, Gensic is serving as both the grant and project manager for the trail.
“The original project was to just convert the sidewalk to a 10-foot trail into the park from the neighborhood,” says Gensic. “When the lane closure was done for the bridge project, the city was asked to explore an option where all vehicle traffic could remain on the one side and the trail might be widened and include more green space and trees.”
While the city considered closing the lane permanently, the plan to widen the trail using the lane was scrapped due to utility issues and public preference for the original traffic pattern. “The trail project is going to bid for construction next month and should be complete by Thanksgiving,” says Gensic. “Once it’s complete the barriers will be removed and [the] traffic pattern restored.”
However, more construction on the road may come in the future.
“The neighborhood also asked to add some intersection improvements, including a four-way stop to help control traffic speed and the road curves in the interchange area as cars pass,” says Gensic. With no design plan or funding allocated yet, the timeline for this construction is still unknown.
On top of the potential road change, the city hopes “to extend [the] trail over to the YMCA and then west to Meadowbrook Heights to join the 250 bypass trail to Route 29,” according to Gensic.
For now, Gensic says the road will return to its original traffic pattern, with the barriers blocking the lane to be removed this fall or winter.
Author and former NBC29 reporter Nora Neus wanted to give back to the community with her new book about August 11 and 12, 2017, so she compensated contributors and dedicated a portion of profits to survivors. Photo by Francesca Lee Photography.
On July 18, former Charlottesville reporter Nora Neus will release her first solo book, 24 Hours in Charlottesville: An Oral History of the Stand Against White Supremacy. While countless accounts of the Unite the Right rally have been published since 2017, Neus’ book stands out for its assemblage of survivor and witness-led accounts of the events.
After graduating from the University of Virginia in 2016, Neus worked at local station NBC29 for a year and a half before leaving to report for CNN. Shortly after starting at CNN, Neus returned to Charlottesville to cover the Unite the Right rally for Anderson Cooper.
“I had my first idea of an oral history of August 12, 2017, on about August 18, 2017,” says Neus. “I pitched a story to CNN to do an oral history. … I had just left my job, and there was this incredible backstory of the day, behind the scenes of how the local journalists were covering it in a way that I thought would be really interesting as an oral history. The pitch didn’t get accepted, I never wrote that piece, but I always had that in the back of my head.”
Despite an abundance of coverage of Charlottesville’s summer of hate, widespread misinformation and misconceptions persist, according to Neus. “Six years after the events of August 12 and that weekend and the whole summer of hate, there still is such a misconception about what actually happened,” she says. “It got really frustrating to have to try to explain over and over again that this was not something that came out of nowhere. … There was a very serious, concerted effort to try to warn policymakers and leaders at all levels of government and public life that this was going to happen. There was going to be a white nationalist riot, and it would be violent, and they would try to kill people.”
While Neus had considered collecting an oral history of the build up to and events of the Unite the Right rally for years, it was the Sines v. Kessler lawsuit that prompted the journalist to start writing her book. “I was still at CNN at the time, and just felt like there needed to be an account of what happened,” she says. “And when I went to go look for one that was very thorough, I didn’t feel like there was one thorough account yet.”
Neus collected accounts from numerous people in and around Charlottesville on August 11 and 12, 2017. While she felt the project was important, recounting the experience was still hard for Neus and the survivors and witnesses. “I thought it was going to be really emotionally taxing and difficult to write, so I prepared myself for that, and then it was way worse than I thought it would be. I mean, just on a very personal level, my nightmares about August 11th and 12th came back,” says Neus. “There’s a big responsibility I feel in honoring those stories.”
She says she also has regrets about what she didn’t do that weekend. “I said that to someone I was interviewing, that I really regretted not doing more. I don’t know even what that would have looked like, but just that I wish I had done more. And [they were] like, ‘We don’t need your regret, we need you to work moving forward.’ And I hope this book is part of that work.”
To ensure that her book supports the community, Neus compensated activists and community members for their responses, and a portion of the book’s profits will go to survivors.
While 24 Hours in Charlottesville can be emotionally taxing to read, Neus stresses that the accounts shared remain painfully relevant today. “I think the main reason that people should read the book, even though it is a hard read … is that this is not over. This fight is very much just beginning. There is already a rise in fascist activity in the U.S., and it is going to be groups of citizens that have the best shot of combating that hate,” she says.
Tossing back suds and spirits with the folks who know a thing or two about alcohol. Photo by Tom McGovern.
For this year’s Drink Issue, we asked local bartenders what wets their whistles at the end of a shift, queried winemakers on their favorite brews, and raised a toast to the time-honored drinks we’ve featured over the years.
Negroni from The Alley Light
This tried-and-true
bittersweet aperitif is
right at home in the
dusky vibes of downtown’s secret spot. Photo by Tom McGovern.
.38 Special from The Local
The spicy-sweet old-fashioned gets amped up with Bulleit Bourbon, local honey, Canton Ginger Liqueur, bitters, and muddled cherry and orange. Photo by Emily Sacco.
B. Moss from Bang!
Made with just three ingredients, this refreshing and crisp cocktail is served in a frosted martini glass. Photo by Emily Sacco.
Murano from Maya
Take it onto the patio: Some natural light helps illuminate the stained glass effect of this sweet update on the cosmo. Photo by Emily Sacco.
Where the pros go
Drinking with friends after a long shift
Miller’s serves food and liquor into the wee hours, which makes it a favorite after-work spot for area bartenders. Photo by Tristan Williams.
Bartending shifts are long, physically demanding, and often psychologically draining. So it makes sense that there is a deep camaraderie that develops between co-workers and across the industry. Going out for a drink is both an opportunity to relax and a chance to swap stories and connect with bartenders at other spots. So where do some of your favorite bartenders head when not delighting you with their latest concoctions?
“My favorite place to drink after a bar shift, or on a day off, is anywhere where the crowds have cleared out and you can walk in and be a breath of fresh air for a colleague who’s just been through the weeds,” says Drew Kuechler, who spreads his time behind the stick working at Smyrna and consulting at the newly opened Crozet rooftop spot, Bar Botanical.
Andrea Rouillard, assistant bar manager at The Alley Light, doesn’t venture out with the same frequency as she did in years past, but when the mood to hit the town strikes, she has some favorites. “I like to pop by Lost Saint and see a whole bunch of my friends,” she says. “Nicky and Niko there usually have some playful cocktails with good puns or jokes that make me giggle.”
In a state where drink programs are often limited by brands and ingredients, it can feel more difficult to be innovative, so it’s not uncommon for bartenders to swap advice on fixes for impossible to stock products or share specs on a rediscovered classic. Having recently returned to the Charlottesville bar scene to take the helm as bar manager and assistant general manager at Café Frank, John Higginbotham is viewing things with a fresh perspective. After spending the last two years digging into San Diego’s cocktail culture, Higginbothom is eager to put his learnings to work. “I got to work with some of the absolute best in the business, working in and around incredible bar programs and having access to ideas, techniques, and ingredients I hadn’t experienced previously,” says Higginbotham.
He also finds himself in an era of life where nightly bar outings are a thing of the past. “I don’t go out nearly as much as I used to, but when I do make it out I really dig sitting at the bar at Oakhart chatting with the staff, or the patio at Guajiros, anywhere that has a solid daiquiri and mojito on the menu is calling my name.”
Often when their evenings have been spent crafting the perfect cocktails for thirsty patrons, asking for the same experience from another in the trenches isn’t the look, rather bartenders keep it quick and simple when patronizing other spots. Kuechler says the best part of a post-shift drink—or any drink on a day off—is just chatting with whoever is behind the bar, and “a beer and a shot of fernet, or a rail bourbon, depending on the day” hits the spot.
Rouillard agrees. “I’m a huge fan of all the Miller’s bartenders. And a place that serves me shots of tequila or fernet (depending on the night I’ve had), cold Coors Light, and chicken tenders or pretzel bites until 1am is sure to find a way into my heart. And I have a soft spot for Dex over at Brightside, with his Miami Vices and pimento dip.”
As the long days of summer set in, and much of the Charlottesville service industry sees the pace slow, look for your favorite bartender on the other side of the bar, enjoying a cold drink, whatever their go-to may be.—Carrie Meslar
Original WJ Moonshine Punch from The Whiskey Jar
The once-illegal moonshine gets dressed up with a mix of seasonal fruit and citrus, plus some dashes of orange and angostura bitters. Photo by Eze Amos.
Espresso Martiki from Vitae Spirits
A modern favorite gets an infusion of coconut plus the distillery’s own coffee liqueur, a local collaboration with Mudhouse Coffee Roasters. Photo by Eze Amos.
Big City Blues from Public Fish & Oyster
This hybrid concoction is a fusion of a mint julep and a Manhattan (with a touch of
blueberry shrub). Photo by Emily Sacco.
Beer before wine
Local winemakers share their brewery favorites
Local brewers offer many refreshing beers, from crisp lagers to fruity IPAs and unique sour beers. Our list of favorites from area winemakers might help you find your own new favorite. Supplied photo.
“It takes a lot of beer to make good wine” is oft repeated among winemakers, though the saying’s origin remains unknown. After a hot and tiring day working in the vineyard, a cold refreshing beer is often the beverage of choice. Curious as to what local brews area winemakers are enjoying, we asked for their recommendations.
Emily Hodson Veritas Vineyards and Winery
Hodson names the Baby Bask from Basic City Beer Co. as her current favorite. She finds the New England-style IPA to be “a balanced IPA with great freshness and citrus quality.”
Ben Jordan Common Wealth Crush Co.
Jordan also includes a Basic City beer among his favorites. The Te Reo, which the brewery describes as a “New Zealand pilsner,” is a distinct lager, dry-hopped with hops sourced from New Zealand. (Jordan’s recently established winery is located immediately adjacent to Basic City in Waynesboro.)
Stephen Barnard Delfosse Vineyards and Winery
Barnard, who recently took over winemaking at Delfosse after leaving Keswick Vineyards, points to the Home Run Hefe from Patch Brewing Co. as his current favorite. Barnard describes the beer as “cloudy, fruity, and full of that yeasty character” that he loves.
AJ GreelyHark Vineyards
A self-proclaimed “sucker for Belgian-style Tripels,” Greely appreciates complexity not just in wine but also in her beer. She finds the Tripel Note from Starr Hill Brewery to be a great example of the style, specifically appreciating the “hints of fruit and spice” that it brings.
Kirsty Harmon Blenheim Vineyards
Harmon favors the Helles Lager from Fine Creek Brewing Company, located in nearby Powhatan. She describes it as a “light and crisp, no-nonsense beer that is refreshing and perfect in hot, humid weather.” Harmon has sampled numerous Fine Creek brews thanks to an ongoing professional collaboration between Blenheim and Fine Creek.
Rachel Stinson VroomanStinson Vineyards
The Raspberries on Acid from Blue Mountain Brewery currently sits at the top of Vrooman’s list. Although she clarifies that she isn’t seeking this flavor profile in her wine, she finds a “high alcohol sour beer so refreshing in the summer.” She also applauds the fact the beer is aged in used barrels from Michael Shaps Wineworks.
Michael Shaps Michael Shaps Wineworks
Speaking of Wineworks, Shaps offers two recommendations. For everyday consumption, he likes the Three Notch’d 40 Mile IPA due to its “slightly richer style,” and notes the West Coast-style IPA has just enough hop character. However, during harvest, he opts for a lighter, thirst-quenching beer and favors the Hardywood Park Craft Brewery Pils, a classic German-style Pilsner.
Matthieu Finot King Family Vineyards
“I was drinking a lot of IPA 10 or 15 years ago, but I have to say with my old age that I am not drinking as much … I need to watch my dad bod!” This is how Finot humorously explains his preference for beers that are, in his words, “everything that is not trendy.” Finot proffers the “light, crisp, and refreshing” Vienna Lager from Devils Backbone Brewing Company as a great example that aligns with his tastes.—Paul Ting
“Moat Mountains and Ledges from Intervale” is included in “N’Dakinna Landscapes. Publicity Image.
A pair of shows on view at The Fralin Museum of Art at the University of Virginia shine a spotlight on arts, culture, and the very existence of two groups of Indigenous people in North and Central America. “N’Dakinna Landscapes Acknowledged” and “Look Three Ways: Maya Painted Pottery,” curated by Adriana Greci Green, The Fralin’s curator of Indigenous Arts of the Americas and Dorie Reents-Budet, research associate at the National Museum of Natural History, center on work drawn from the museum’s collection.
“N’Dakinna Landscapes Acknowledged” takes an innovative approach to presenting landscapes by members of the White Mountain School of painting, which flourished in New Hampshire during the 19th century. Similar to, though lesser known, than the Hudson River School, it shared some prominent Hudson River artists. Featured in this show are works by White Mountain painters Benjamin Champney, Samuel Lancaster Gerry, Samuel W. Griggs, and Sylvester Phelps Hodgdon.
As the robust American landscape painting tradition reveals, the land—its beauty and vastness—was a source of enormous inspiration and pride for newly arrived settlers. America’s great expanses represented a present-day Garden of Eden that was theirs to inhabit and tame into cultivation. This reverence was far-reaching, extending even to those who might never actually see these places in person. Champney’s paintings, for example, were often reproduced as chromolithographs that were widely distributed.
This perspective ignores the fact that the land had been inhabited for millennia by a whole host of Indigenous peoples who had very different ideas about the land and its stewardship. N’Dakinna (homeland) is the Abenaki’s (People of the Dawn Land) name for this area, which they have occupied for 13,000 years. The Fralin show asks us, when looking at these beautiful paintings, to consider the Abanaki and their relationship to the land.
As we navigate the choppy waters toward a more accurate understanding, the trick is to hold two different realities in one’s mind, acknowledging the experience of loss—of people, land, and culture, known as territory acknowledgment—and yet appreciate these paintings for what they are: beautiful landscapes that provide an incredibly valuable snapshot of what pre-industrial America looked liked.
Champney’s “Moat Mountains from Intervale” depicts a broad vista of cultivated valley before a backdrop of the dramatic geological formations known as the Ledges, with mountains beyond. The picture is surprisingly small given the grandiosity of the scene, but there’s an appealing intimacy to its size. The other works, oil on paper studies, provide charming pastoral vignettes, with Gerry’s view of a twisted tree against a blazing evening sky possessing a moodiness reminiscent of the almost contemporaneous German Romantic painters.
In addition to the paintings, two maps included in the exhibition speak to the Indigenous people’s relationship with the land. One, a topographical map Greci Green produced in collaboration with Chris Gist of UVA’s Scholars Lab, features the Abenaki and neighboring nations, the Haudenosaunee and Wabanaki, spelled out in a striking orange font across the map. The bold, flat writing effectively subverts the map’s imposed borders, proclaiming whose land it really was.
“My own work is very much focused on Indigenous Native sovereignty and treaties,” says Greci Green. “When I think about art and landscape, I see it through those lenses.”
The other map, made in 1852 by cartographer Franklin Leavitt, features superimposed reproductions of the paintings placed where they were made, as well as a vintage postcard and a stereographic photograph. These latter two, which feature Abanaki posing for the camera, are souvenirs of the tourist industry that emerged around them. “These pictures of Abenaki basket makers at tourist spots highlight how these artists remain there in this landscape and are engaged with the local touristic economy,’’ says Greci Green.
“Look Three Ways: Maya Painted Pottery” explores the rich tradition that flourished on the Yucatan Peninsula during the first millennium. Included in the show are works from The Fralin’s impressive collection of this art form, dating from 250–900 CE. Over the years, certain of these pieces have been displayed in the museum’s study center for the benefit of students, but the collection has never been displayed in this fashion before.
The vessels vary from everyday uses to ceremonial objects important to feasts that could be celebratory in nature, or important political events between different groups. They share a similar palette of red, black, soft terracotta, and cream, and the shapes of the vessels are simple: rounded bowls of different sizes, their fubsy form derived from gourds, some footed, and tall cylindrical drinking vessels.
The title of the show alludes to the three ways the works are analyzed by scholars: interpreting the Maya hieroglyphic writing that decorates the vessels, the style of the pot—it’s size and shape—and finally, instrumental neutron activation analysis which can identify the place where the pot was made.
There is a poignancy to what is on view at The Fralin, an unmistakable sense of loss and displacement, of precious relics of obliterated human experience. But there is also a vibrancy in the artistry, a chance to sense what was so widely destroyed, and appreciate those who came before.
Embark on a cinematic voyage through the depths of human existence at The Bridge PAI’s free film series. This month, see Koyaanisqatsi, a hypotonic visual tone poem that depicts the derailment of natural life through technology. The 1982 classic is scored by Philip Glass, contains no narration, and uses primarily slow-mo and timelapse footage. Later screenings include Krysar (The Pied Piper) and O Pagador de Promessas (The Given Word).
Friday 7/14. Free, 7:30pm. The Underground at The Bridge Progressive Arts Initiative, 306 E. Main St. thebridgepai.org
A love of klezmer, blues, and bluegrass brought the San Francisco Yiddish Combo together. Led by cellist Rebecca Roudman, the quintet incorporates elements of jazz, folk, klezmer, and hip-hop into its lively performances of Jewish, and non-Jewish, musical traditions. The show begins with an informal dance lesson, and audience members can enjoy light hors d’oeuvres (knishes!) and beverages.
Wednesday 7/12. $10, 7pm. Congregation Beth Israel, 301 E. Jefferson St. cbicville.org
Live Arts' Heathers The Musical: Teen Edition. Supplied photo.
Brainy, beautiful teenage misfit Veronica Sawyer hustles her way into the most powerful and ruthless clique at school in Heathers The Musical: Teen Edition. A talented cast of young actors (Sophia Christensen, Nik Scott, Korinne Brier, Hope King, and Violet Craghead-Way) bring the band of preppy, vindictive teens to life under the direction of Daniel Kunkel. Don’t miss the audience talkback on July 23. How very is that?
Through 7/30. $20–22, times vary. Live Arts, 123 E. Water St. livearts.org
The next time you grab takeout from Ace Biscuit & Barbecue, you won’t be enjoying your beef brisket and baby back ribs from a styrofoam container. The recently resurrected BBQ joint is officially styrofoam free, years ahead of the mandated date set by Virginia lawmakers. Restaurants with 20 or more locations must be styrofoam free by 2028, and small businesses have until 2030. Ace employee Jackson Gitchell is pictured here with the restaurant’s new, more environmentally friendly to-go containers.
Kris Iden at Les Yeux du Monde. All images courtesy of the galleries.
Albert and Shirley Small Special Collections Library 2450 Old Ivy Rd. Permanent exhibitions include “Flowerdew Hundred: Unearthing Virginia’s History” and “Declaring Independence: Creating and Recreating America’s Document.”
Botanical Fare 421 E. Main St., Downtown Mall. “Familiar Scenes: Recent Landscapes in Oil” by Randy Baskerville. Through September 4.
The Bridge PAI 306 E. Main St. Open studios with member artists of The Underground.
The Center at Belvedere 540 Belvedere Blvd. Works in a variety of mediums by Nga Katz, Karla Berger, Terry Coffey, a collection of drawings and paintings by The Center’s Friday Art Group, and “Intersections,” acrylic paintings by Susan Patrick. Through August 31. Reception with Patrick and Katz July 15 at 10am.
Chroma Projects Inside Vault Virginia, Third St. SE. “Symbiotic Tango,” collaborative works by Beatrix Ost and Michelle Gagliano. Through July.
Crozet Artisan Depot 5791 Three Notch’d Rd., Crozet. “Sweet Stitches,” bags and accessories by Cathy Coulter, and “Virginia Countryside,” paintings by Michelle Nevarr. Through July. Meet the artists July 8.
C’ville Arts Cooperative Gallery 118 E. Main St., Downtown Mall. “Modern in Silhouette,” paper cuttings by Wendy Schultz Wubbels. Through July. First Fridays openings.
Wendy Schultz Wubbels at Cville Arts Cooperative Gallery.
The Fralin Museum of Art at UVA 155 Rugby Rd., UVA Grounds. Exhibitions include “Look Three Ways: Maya Painted Pottery,” “Processing Abstraction,” and “N’Dakinna Landscapes Acknowledged.”
Ix Art Park 522 Second St. SE. The Looking Glass Immersive Art Experience opens for free during First Fridays to showcase two new art pieces.
Sam Fisher, “The Door To The Forest” at The Looking Glass.
The Jefferson School African American Heritage Center 233 Fourth St. NW. The “Sally Hemings University Connecting Threads” exhibition encapsulates the semester-long work of the students of Sally Hemings’ University, a higher-level English course offered at UVA.
“Sally Hemings University Connecting Threads.”
Kluge-Ruhe Aboriginal Art Collection of UVA 400 Worrell Dr. “Performing Country,” an exhibition highlighting never-before-seen works, and other permanent exhibitions.
Les Yeux du Monde 841 Wolf Trap Rd. “Organic Matter,” new work by Monica Angle, Heather Beardsley, Michelle Gagliano, and Kris Iden. Opens July 8. Through August 27.
Live Arts 123 E. Water St. “Colors of the World,” watercolor paintings by Karen Knierim. Through August.
McGuffey Art Center 201 Second St. NW. In the Smith Gallery, “Flotsam, Discarded Materials Transformed,” an immersive installation of oceanic artwork by L. Michelle Geiger. In the hallway galleries, the summer members show. Through August 13. First Fridays celebration.
New City Arts 114 Third St. NE. “Soft Spot” features work by 2022-23 New City Arts Fellows Aidyn Mancenido, Audrey Parks, Eileen Johnson, Kia Wassener, Rachel Austin. Through July 28. First Fridays opening.
Phaeton Gallery 114 Old Preston Ave. “New Works,” loosely rendered oil paintings of nature and water by Jackie Moore Watson. Through July 15.
Jackie Moore Watson at Phaeton Gallery.
PVCC Gallery V. Earl Dickinson Building, 501 College Dr. In the North and South galleries, the 2023 Student Exhibition. Through September 4.
Quirk Gallery 499 W. Main St. “Trial & Error,” mixed-media works by Frank Phillips. “Ephemeral Spring,” a group show curated by Jessica Breed, featuring area artists. “House on Fire,” glass works by Kiara Pelissier and her team. Dates vary.
Random Row Brewing Co. 608 Preston Ave. #A. “Near and Far: Scenes from Virginia and Tennessee,” oil paintings by Randy Baskerville. Through August 30.
Randy Baskerville at Random Row.
The Scrappy Elephant 1745 Allied St., Ste. C. Reclaimed yarn works by Gryphon Corpus. Through August 1. First Fridays opening.
Gryphon Corpus at The Scrappy Elephant.
Second Street Gallery 115 Second St. SE. In the main gallery, “Ditto” showcases collaborative works by Tobiah Mundt and Sarah Boyts Yoder. In the Dové gallery, “Echoes in the Deep Blue,” a solo exhibition of new work by Sahara Clemons. Through July 21.
Sahara Clemons at Second Street Gallery.
Studio Ix 969 Second St. SE. “Artvolution: Transformations in Paper, Passion, and Paint,” works in a mélange of styles by Kweisi Morris. Through July 30. First Fridays opening.
Unitarian Universalist Congregation of Charlottesville 717 Rugby Rd. “Conversing with the Universe,” works by Linda Nacamulli. Through August.
Vault Virginia 300 E. Main St. “Frederick Nichols: Wilderness Reassembled,” large-scale silkscreens.
Visible Records 1740 Broadway St. “Entre Nos,” a group exhibition featuring works by artists in the undoc+ spectrum, curated by Erika Hirugami. Through August 19.
Cabaret opens July 7 at the Culbreth Theatre. Photo by Tristan Williams.
In the midst of preparations for the Virginia Theatre Festival’s production of Cabaret, lead actor Ainsley Seiger missed a few rehearsals to fly to Monaco for the Monte-Carlo Television Festival.
That’s the cost of staging a play led by an actor with a regular role on NBC’s “Law & Order: Organized Crime.” And it’s a price director and choreographer Matthew Steffens is more than willing to pay to direct Seiger, an actor he and Virginia Theatre Festival Artistic Director Jenny Wales have worked with since she was 14 years old.
“We really wanted Ainsley because we know what she brings to the table,” Steffens says. “It not only feels like a performance that is in the late 1920s in Berlin, but also something that could be in Charlottesville on a Friday night down at the mall.”
In Cabaret, American writer Clifford Bradshaw (Keith Rubin) visits Berlin while working on a novel. There, he meets mercurial English nightclub performer Sally Bowles (Seiger), who is both manic and tragic, dominating every scene she is in. Meanwhile, behind the flash of song and dance, the growing specter of Nazism looms.
Steffens calls Sally a “tornado.” Seiger describes her as “unhinged.”
“Even when we did our first read-through at the table … I couldn’t stop moving around in my seat,” Seiger says. “There’s something about her that just begs to move. She wants to be in a different place at any given moment.”
It’s difficult to think of a character more dissimilar to NYPD detective Jet Slootmaekers, the stoic, introverted tech specialist Seiger has played on “Law & Order: Organized Crime” since early 2021.
“That’s been fun to play with, the huge dichotomy between someone who is quite small, someone who is learning how to take up space, like Jet … versus Sally, who I don’t think cares about any of that,” Seiger says. “She walks into the room, and it’s her room now.”
In front of the “Law & Order” cameras, Seiger shares Jet’s emotions with the audience through the minutiae of a pursed lip or a quick downward glance. Those nuances become impossible when she is trying to convey happiness and heartbreak to the last row of the Culbreth Theatre.
For Seiger, a theater kid since middle school, it’s freeing to return to a live performance.
“That was a bit of a learning curve for me, learning to exist within the frame of the camera. You really are bound by where that goes and where it takes you,” Seiger says of her TV work. “There’s a lot more freedom of expression physically on a stage, because you want to take up the entire space.”
Seiger’s theater career began in earnest after her sophomore year in high school, when she arrived at UNC Chapel Hill for a summer theater conservatory. There, Steffens and Wales were holding auditions for Hairspray.
Seiger won the role of Amber Von Tussle and found two mentors.
“They were really the first people to ever take me seriously as a performer and an artist that weren’t my parents,” Seiger says. “They were a very formative part of my development as an artist. As the years have gone on, that creative relationship has just deepened.”
During Seiger’s sophomore year at the UNC School of the Arts, Steffens reached out to her about joining the Virginia Theatre Festival for the 2018 production of A Chorus Line. Seiger describes it as her first “truly professional show.”
“I felt like I learned so much from that, and I’m drawing so much on that experience just being back here,” she says.
In Seiger’s return to the Virginia Theatre Festival stage, Steffens and Wales still see the talent they first spotted a decade ago.
“I can give her a very broad direction, and I know that she’s going to play in the sandbox with me,” Steffens says. “It allows me, as a director, to just direct freely.”
They’re also noticing the new confidence of a professional used to high-pressure television takes that, unlike theater, do not allow for do-overs the next night.
“I’ve been dreaming along with her, for her, for the amount of time that I’ve known her,” Wales says. “And now to have seen her transition into a fully professional career outside of school, and to come back and have a chance to work with her again—not to be cliché, but it’s like a dream come true.”
Seiger is not the only cast member leaving New York for a Cabaret summer in Charlottesville. Steffens (Into the Woods) and music director Justin Ramos (Moulin Rouge) were both recently working on Broadway, as well as cast members Janet Dickinson as Fraulein Schneider (Anastasia and How the Grinch Stole Christmas) and David Mattar Merten as Emcee (Afterglow, an off-Broadway hit.)
“It’s gratifying, because I think that there is something special about Charlottesville, and about the Virginia Theatre Festival,” says Wales. “These are people who want to return to our community.”
