Local actress, daughter to perform in play at Thomas Dale

Actress Melissa Johnston Price stepped up her engagement in her children's education this year, going beyond volunteering for PTAs to acting with her daughter in the classic "Pride and Prejudice."

Price, whose leading roles include "Deathtrap" and "Who's Afraid of Virginia Woolf?" in local theater productions, and her daughter, Meg, a freshman at Thomas Dale High School's Specialty Center for the Arts, are playing mother and daughter in Jon Jory's adaptation of Jane Austen's beloved classic.

"What a golden opportunity to really be involved in my kids' education and do something that I enjoy and have been doing professionally for a long time," she said before rehearsal Tuesday.

Several professionals have collaborated on the production, giving students the opportunity to work side-by-side with experienced people, said teacher and director Keri Wormald.

"If students decide to major in theater in college after they leave here, they would know exactly what the job entails," she said. "They won't be going in thinking it will be a nonstop joyride. Sort of the way I did."

The play starts tonight and runs through Saturday at Thomas Dale.

Wormald has directed several plays at Barksdale Theatre, most recently "Doubt" and "Well." She splits her time between the U.S. and Edinburgh, Scotland, where she works as a producer and promoter liaison for dance and theater companies during the summer. After a six-year absence, she returned to teach in Chesterfield County in August.

At the same time she was producing "Well," she was teaching theater production and acting as well as directing "Pride and Prejudice" at Thomas Dale. She wanted to choose something challenging for her first production with the school, she said.

"There are so many scene changes and so many light cues and period costumes," she said, as she directed students in a rehearsal.

Wormald invited Price, her longtime friend, to act in the play. Price taught theater to Wormald at Midlothian High School in the mid-1970s.

"Now I'm teaching her daughter," Wormald said.

The mother and daughter roles in the production have little similarities to their real-life relationship, Price said. Mrs. Bennet is obsessed with marrying her five daughters to rich men as a way out of the family's financial troubles. Meg Price plays the daughter Lydia.

"Meg and I are extremely close," Melissa Price said. "But the role Lydia is very immature, and Meg is the exact opposite. She's always been an old soul."

Melissa Price, who also has a son at Robious Middle School, introduced her daughter to theater production when Meg was about 10 years old. Now Meg, who is in her first play, is thinking seriously of pursuing an acting career.

"I love working with my mom," she said. "Without her, probably I wouldn't have found theater."

Her mother lets her initiate theater participation, such as auditions, but she provides advice and direction for improvement, Meg said.

"When we get in this theater atmosphere, it's an actor to an actor, director to an actor. It's more a professional kind of thing than a mother-daughter kind of thing."