Tickets are on sale for the first full Heritage Theatre Festival of the Jenny Wales era, and the University of Virginia Department of Drama alumna is enjoying the spirit of anticipation.

“The energy is incredible,” Wales said after walking past three busy rehearsal rooms full of actors and checking in on bustling set builders, paint crews and lighting designers.

It’s the 1998 graduate’s first season to program from scratch, and Heritage’s new artistic director is confident that audiences also will pick up on the excitement shared by casts and crews. Starting with Thursday evening’s preview performance, “A Chorus Line” will use Marvin Hamlisch’s memorable music — “What I Did for Love” and “I Hope I Get It,” for starters — to share the stories of auditioning actors facing their fears as they chase their dreams.

Broadway actress Nikki Graff Lanzarone will star as Cassie in the musical, which reunites Wales with director Matthew Steffens, whom she met when both were first-year students at UVa. Steffens is back on Grounds for the first time since becoming a professional actor, singer, dancer, choreographer and director. For her part, Wales, who has enjoyed collaborating with Steffens on a variety of productions over the past two decades, has savored the time she has had to prepare for this moment.

The Danville native, who earned a master’s degree in acting from the Alabama Shakespeare Festival/University of Alabama, came to Charlottesville from Chapel Hill’s PlayMakers Repertory Company, where she served as associate producer and director of education and outreach. This time last year, she was watching and learning.

“I started last July and moved here from Chapel Hill, North Carolina,” Wales said. “I was able to make several trips up here to see Heritage in action.”

For her first season at the helm, Wales said, “To look forward, I looked back.” Known as Heritage Repertory Theatre back in the day, the summer staple was founded to present American plays and, along the way, “to investigate the American experience.” This summer’s festival will feature distinctly different American stories.

“A Chorus Line” will run through July 1 in UVa’s Culbreth Theatre. Also in the cast are Jim Moscater as Zach, Jesus Sepulveda as Larry, Emma Benson as Bebe, Camden Loeser as Mike, Hannah Kevitt as Connie, Jeffrey Marc Adkins as Greg, Helena Fay Thompson as Sheila, Kade Wright as Bobby, Ainsley Steiger as Maggie, McLain Powell as Judy, Mason Reeves as Richie, Josh Dunn as Al, Cassidy Halpin as Kristine, Gianina Mugavero as Val, Michael Hardenberg as Mark, Julian Sanchez as Paul, Nina Mercado as Diana, Alisa Ledyard as Vickie, Camden Luck as Tricia, Christine Thalwitz as Lois and Daniel Kingsley as Roy.

It’s followed on July 5 by the opening of Mary Chase’s Pulitzer Prize-winning comedy “Harvey” in the Ruth Caplin Theatre.

Under the charming upper layers of the tale of eccentric Elwood P. Down and his invisible rabbit companion “are actually a lot of dark moments,” Wales said. “There’s alcoholism and mental illness and treatment of women.”

The problems tackled by the play still remain in American culture almost three-quarters of a century after the play’s debut, but also still with us are its moments of “hope and love and family, and being allowed to be who you truly are,” she said.

Next up is “The Cocoanuts,” a Marx Brothers musical comedy that opens July 19 in the Culbreth.

Frank Ferrante, an acclaimed interpreter of Groucho Marx’s iconic comedy style who delighted local audiences with “An Evening with Groucho” during the 2014 season, is back to portray the crafty owner of a low-budget motel who has high-dollar dreams of relieving tourists of their money through shady land deals.

“The Mountaintop” will bring audiences back to the Caplin starting July 26. After a somber, soul-searching year since the violence of Aug. 11 and 12, Katori Hall’s Olivier Award-winning reflection on what the Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King Jr.’s last night on Earth could have been like — a challenging look back at an iconic life and career after a conversation with a Lorraine Hotel maid the night before his assassination — ends the season on a note of unity and hope.

Wales said the show examines “the legacy of his legacy” and offers “a fantastical re-imagining of the last hours of Martin Luther King’s life.” Post-show discussions are being planned to get the community reflecting on the play’s issues and talking about their relevance in Charlottesville in 2018.

“What is our responsibility as a community? I think we’re in a moment where we can discuss that,” Wales said.

And speaking of looking back in gratitude while looking forward in hope, this year’s season is dedicated to the memory of David W. Weiss, former chair of the Department of Drama and a Heritage founder.

Season tickets and tickets for individual shows are available at . For Heritage season details, visit heritagetheatrefestival.org.

Jane Dunlap Sathe
Original Publication: The Daily Progress