New artistic director brings bold direction to Henley Street

Henley Street Theatre Company artistic director James Ricks has crossed the Rubicon: He has bought a car.

"I haven't had a car since high school," the 35-year-old thespian said recently in an interview at Panera Bread at Willow Lawn shopping center. "I've been living in New York and D.C. for the last 15 years. I haven't had any need for a car."

But Ricks is now a Richmonder; he moved here over the summer to take the helm at Henley Street. So he has expanded his transportation horizons: He has purchased a Grand Marquis.

A native of British Columbia, Ricks spent his 15 big-city years racking up a slew of acting credits: He has appeared in multiple national and regional commercials, as well as performed with the Shakespeare Theatre Company - a classical powerhouse in Washington - and other troupes.

A role in "Scapino!," the Barksdale Theatre's 2005-06 holiday show, introduced him to Richmond's arts scene, and his local connections grew from there. A one-time Hotspur for "Henry IV, Part 1" staged by Richmond Shakespeare, he has been an artistic associate at Henley Street for as long as the 2-year-old theater has been in existence. He directed the company's buzzed-about multimedia "Richard III" in fall 2008.

"He's been helping me form the mission since the beginning," says Henley Street founder and former artistic director Alex Previtera, who stepped down from day-to-day leadership of the theater because he thought he could be more useful "on the board side of things." Now president of Henley Street's board of directors, Previtera calls Ricks "absolutely the right person" to take over hands-on management of the company.

"I've worked with a fair number of artistic directors, and James seems to be in the best mold," says Bo Wilson, who is directing Henley Street's season opener, "Shining City." (The show, a tale of ghosts and faith by contemporary Irish playwright Conor McPherson, begins its run Thursday at Pine Camp Community Center.) Complimenting Ricks for his "aggressive long-term plans, which I think are so critical for an artistic director," Wilson compares the typical theater company to a shark: "If it's not moving, it's dead."

Indeed, Henley Street is already moving ahead boldly under Ricks' watch. For starters, the new artistic director has radically overhauled the company's ensemble, the band of affiliated actors who appear regularly in productions. The large group of names on the ensemble roster for the past two years has given way to a mere quartet: Lyddall Bugg, Jennifer Frank, Fredrick S. Kaufman and Jacob Pennington (Bugg and Pennington are in "Shining City"). From now on, ensemble affiliation will be a yearlong commitment, rather than an open-ended one, and auditions will be held every 12 months.

"Previously, [the ensemble] was kind of an amorphous entity, with multiple ensemble members that weren't necessarily getting the opportunity to take part in everything," Ricks says. "By making it smaller, we get to make sure that they get to be a part of the direction of the ensemble and the company itself."

Consistency with the ensemble aesthetic was the overriding consideration for Ricks while he was planning Henley Street's 2009-10 lineup, which follows "Shining City" with full productions of "A Servant of Two Masters" (Carlo Goldoni's 18th-century comedy, which Ricks is adapting) and Henrik Ibsen's "A Doll's House."

Eagle-eyed Richmonders may have noticed that Shakespeare is missing from this list, which might seem peculiar, given that Henley Street was launched as a classical troupe, has tackled Shakespeare annually and is named for the Bard's street of birth.

Ricks attributes the omission to Henley Street mounting only three full productions this season, rather than the four it has staged in previous years. The streamlining will allow him and managing director Jacquie O'Connor to focus on internal planning.

In the future, the company will again stage the Bard on a large scale. In the meantime, Ricks is excited about the Oct. 30 "Bootleg Shakespeare" evening - a completely unrehearsed performance of "Romeo and Juliet," performed by actors who have memorized their lines and brought their own costumes and props.

Such happy-go-lucky events can be great fun, Ricks says. "The audience eats it up if there's any kind of a train wreck - and there usually is," he says. (Admission to "Bootleg Shakespeare," presented in association with Barksdale Theatre, is free.)

Other plans up Ricks' sleeve include scheduling acting workshops (such as a clown class), in which the ensemble will train alongside fee-paying members of the public. He's also angling for Henley Street to provide free entertainment at local festivals. He has long been struck by the number of public celebrations held here. "Watermelon, strawberry," he reels off. "It's crazy! I've never seen a city with more festivals!"

He appreciates other aspects of Richmond creativity, too. "There's a very supportive theater community," he says. "There's a lot of great talent. And I think there's a lot of very young talent coming out of the arts programs of the schools, which I'd like to take more advantage of."

That makes the city fertile territory for someone like Ricks, who has long wanted to head a theater company. But he's grateful he didn't have to start Henley Street from scratch: Previtera put into place critical institutional building blocks, such as the board of directors. Now, as with that new Grand Marquis, Ricks simply has to step on the gas.

"It's just a matter of kicking things up a notch," he says.

Celia Wren is a former managing editor of American Theatre magazine. Contact her at .