September 15, 2025 • 18 mins
Ever wondered what it takes to bring Broadway-quality theater to a community without the hassle of big-city traffic? The Fredericksburg Neighbors Podcast pulls back the curtain on the Riverside Center for the Performing Arts with special guest Allison, Director of Development and Marketing.
Nestled just off I-95, this cultural gem has been serving the Fredericksburg area for 26 years, though many locals still remember it as Riverside Dinner Theater. The recent transition to nonprofit status marks an exciting new chapter for the organization, opening doors to enhanced community engagement through educational programs, sensory-friendly performances, and a vision for a future performing arts school.
What makes Riverside truly special is the leadership of Patrick Ahern, a Broadway veteran who performed in the original cast of Les Misérables, bringing world-class theatrical expertise to the local stage. The Center consistently delivers productions that rival those in major metropolitan areas, featuring both exceptional local talent and occasional guest performers from Broadway and London's West End. Current and upcoming shows include the Tony Award-winning "Next to Normal," which thoughtfully addresses mental health issues, the beloved "The Sound of Music," and the holiday classic "White Christmas."
Allison dispels common misconceptions about dinner theater quality, highlighting the Center's commitment to excellence in both performance and dining. With a talented chef creating beautifully presented meals, patrons can enjoy a complete evening of entertainment without having to brave the notorious I-95 traffic to DC or Richmond.
Whether you're a longtime theater enthusiast or someone looking for a new cultural experience, discover why Riverside Center for the Performing Arts at 95 Riverside Parkway deserves a place on your must-visit list. Stop by for a show and ask for Allison—she'd love to personally welcome you to this magical place where Broadway meets Fredericksburg!
Allison Mayberry
Riverside Center for the Performing Arts
riversidedt.com
boxoffice@riversidedt.com
+1 540-370-4300
95 Riverside Pkwy, Fredericksburg, VA, United States, Virginia
Mark as Played
Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Speaker 1 (00:00):
This is the Fredericksburg Neighbors Podcast
, the place where localbusinesses and neighbors come
together.
Here's your host, Dori Stewart.
Speaker 2 (00:12):
Welcome back to another episode of the
Fredericksburg Neighbors Podcast, where we feature the stories
of local legends in theFredericksburg area.
I'm excited to introduce you tomy guest today.
She is the Director ofDevelopment and Marketing at
Riverside Center for thePerforming Arts, Allison.
Welcome to the podcast.
Speaker 3 (00:31):
Hi Dori, Thanks for having me.
I'm excited to get to chat withyou for a little bit.
Speaker 2 (00:35):
Yes, I'm excited to get to know you and learn more
about the Riverside Center.
So let's start there.
Can you share with us a littlebit about the Riverside Center
for the Performing Arts?
Speaker 3 (00:48):
Sure, so most people might know us as Riverside
Dinner Theater.
They became the Dinner Theater26 years ago, but it was
rebranded in 2016 as RiversideCenter for the Performing Arts,
looking more for getting towardsnot totally away from food
service, but having people havethe focus of.
(01:09):
You can come here and see anincredibly great Broadway
quality production and on top ofit, you can have a meal
beforehand if you don't want togo somewhere else.
But we do work with a lot ofpeople in the community, so we
always, you know, encouragepeople.
There's great restaurants inFredericksburg to go to
beforehand if you don't want toeat here.
We also a wonderful thing thathappened in January of 24 is we
(01:33):
just became a 501C3 nonprofit,so we are super excited about
that.
That opens the door for us tobe able to apply for some grants
in the area where we can reallydig into the community.
You know we want to be at theschools, we want to be out and
helping the community, sothrough grants, we're able to do
(01:54):
some sensory friendly shows.
We're able to take our actorsinto the schools and qualify for
some other things.
And then also, you know youhave great people that want to
support the theater, and nowit's a tax write-off for them,
so it's a win-win for us.
Speaker 2 (02:12):
That's amazing.
Congratulations on earning thatstatus.
I know that takes a lot of hardwork, oh my gosh.
Speaker 3 (02:19):
Our CEO and our producing artistic director,
patrick Ahern, has workedcountless hours and timeless
hours with people on our boardand our board president, dorothy
Mondack, to make that happen.
And when they finally got thereand got to sign it and knew
that it was official, we werelike, yes, we did it.
You know.
So it is a lot of hard work butit's worth it because you know
(02:41):
you can do really great, greattheater.
But we also want to be part ofthe community.
We hope someday that we'll beable to take our building that
we have now and it'll end upbeing two stories and it will be
a performing arts school sowe'll be able to work with the
kids in this area, train them up, work alongside other kids
(03:03):
groups in the area and then sendthem off to college or Broadway
, broadway tours.
And so we have lots of dreamsand visions here that are coming
down the pike that Mr Ahern'sworking on.
Speaker 2 (03:15):
That is really cool.
Thank you for giving us thatsneak peek into what's to come.
That's really exciting for ourcommunity.
I love it.
Speaker 3 (03:24):
It is Well, why not?
You know, we're a regionalBroadway theater here, so why
not be able to use it for thecommunity, along with other
groups as well?
Speaker 2 (03:32):
Yeah, and we don't have to travel.
So you know, otherwise we wouldhave to go to Richmond or go to
DC.
It's so nice to have somethingthat that great of quality of
show right here inFredericksburg is really cool.
Speaker 3 (03:46):
Absolutely.
Obviously I work here, so Idefinitely agree with you.
And as I look out the windowhere and see 95 traffic stopped
this afternoon, we do joke whenwe do bus conventions and things
like that because we offergroup discounts and whatnot, I
always tell them when they're onI-95 going from you know, new
York to Florida, that when youhit the exit where there's the
(04:07):
traffic, if you get off, we havea great theater, we have a
great relationship with thehotel down the road.
So when you hit the traffic,get off and come see a show and
hang out with us for a while.
Speaker 2 (04:17):
Amazing.
I love it.
So tell me a little bit aboutyou.
How did you get into this lineof work?
You?
How did you get into this lineof work, wow.
Speaker 3 (04:26):
So I grew up on Long Island in New York and we would
go into New York City quite abit to see different shows and I
just fell in love with theater.
And then I'm a mom of four andall of my kids loved theater.
So they were part of aChristian theater group for
(04:47):
probably close to 10 years and Iwas working with them.
I started volunteering withthem but then they hired me to
do their advertising and theirpublicity.
And you know, when you have apassion for something, it's
really easy to talk about it.
And I just I fell in love withtheater more and more and we
would take the kids to the cityor we would come here to
(05:08):
Riverside and see shows.
We'd go and go down to Richmondin DC and see the tours and I
just knew this was like apassion of mine.
So to be able to call it aJ-O-B is an honor.
And then when Patrick Ahern hadcalled and said, hey, we'd love
for you to come work here atRiverside, I was I don't want to
(05:34):
say I was speechless, but I wasreally excited.
You know that he wanted me tojoin the team and a funny thing
with him and I is.
You know he used to be onBroadway so he was in the
original cast of Les Mis.
He's done Phantom, he's doneJoseph and the Amazing
Technicolor Dreamcoat.
But I actually got to see himon stage in the original
(05:54):
Broadway cast of Les Mis andobviously didn't know that
because that was back in like1989.
You know, I'm going to age bothof us.
But when I found out that hehad worked here years ago, I
actually brought my playbillwith me from 89 and had him sign
it and it was funny.
So it's neat to work with himand it is so cool to work
(06:19):
alongside him because he's gotso much knowledge from being in
the industry.
He's built an incredible teamhere and the talent that is in
this building.
I just love being around itbecause I can just sit and
listen to them sing all day orgo in and watch them dance and I
just love it.
It's so cool.
Speaker 2 (06:38):
Yeah, so I had no idea that he was on Broadway
himself.
What a cool, fun fact that is.
I love it, yeah.
Speaker 3 (06:46):
Yeah, and once in a while.
So we do a Riverside Christmasshow every other year and every
now and then he'll he'll sing asong or two in it and people
that know that he was inBroadway are like please sing,
please sing.
You know, and people will askhim in the community and
Fredericksburg or Stafford, youknow to come and sing and and he
(07:06):
does, but it's not, it's notthat often, but it is very cool
when he has friends that come bythat you know, played Phantom
on Broadway or sang and did thisand he's like oh, this is my
friend, and if you're a theaterperson like me, you're like oh,
my God you know you're trying tokeep your inner child calm, so
it's.
Speaker 2 (07:29):
I love it.
So do you find that there areany myths or misconceptions
about the Riverside Center?
Speaker 3 (07:38):
Oh my gosh, there's so many.
Dispel a few for us.
Well, of course, dinner theater.
You know everybody says, oh,it's a dinner theater, you don't
want to go there.
Or like, oh, my grandma took mewhen I was five and I haven't
been back, you know.
And so it's funny because thegenerational gaps we're starting
(07:58):
to see.
Some of the younger kids and Idon't know if it was, if it has
to do with COVID or not but youknow, the older people love to
come.
I think some people, you knowmiddle age, are like, oh, no,
it's a dinner theater, I don'twant to go.
But then the younger people arelike this is really cool, like
let's go and grab a drink at thebar before the show and go see
(08:21):
the show.
But we do the myths of.
You know, the food is horrible.
We've worked really, reallyhard to find good chefs.
We have an incredible chefright now and he's making food.
How we're doing the plates thatwe're doing for the cost right
now, I have no idea.
Oh, it's beautiful.
(08:43):
You know, some people stillwant, like their chicken fish
steak and you're still you'regetting it, you know.
But he's he's making deliciousmeals, like we have cocoa on on
this menu that we're doing fornext to normal.
There's a salad that he's got,that's got salmon in it and it I
saw it yesterday lookedabsolutely amazing, so have
(09:05):
definitely stepped up our gamein that aspect, that's awesome,
yeah, so what are some showsthat we have to look forward to
in the next few months?
Speaker 2 (09:17):
Are you able to give us a little sneak peek?
Of course?
Speaker 3 (09:21):
of course.
Well, right now we actuallyjust opened Next to Normal,
which not very many people knowabout, but in 2009, it won three
Tony Awards and in 2010, itactually won a Pulitzer Prize.
And the great thing about thisshow it's a heavy show, but the
(09:41):
great thing about this show isit touches on mental illness.
It touches on mental health andwhen we became a nonprofit last
year, we really wanted to be anorganization that walks the
walk and not just talks the talk, and so we said we're going to
put a show in that we know isimportant to our community,
important to parents, importantto businesses.
(10:01):
And then this year alone youknow, look at there's been so
many shootings and just thingsthat our kids should not be
having to worry about.
You know, they can't even go toa park and play anymore.
And it's more, obviously, we'rea theater, so we can't cure
everybody.
We don't even know how to dothat, but we know that a theater
(10:23):
, you know, there's so manystudies that say that music just
soothes the soul and it's goodfor your brain and it's good for
your mental health, and so whatbetter way than to take an
incredibly beautiful show?
And we're working withdifferent organizations in the
area.
As a matter of fact, thisevening we have a wonderful man
that was raised in this areathat just wrote a book when a
(10:48):
man Exhales, I believe is thetitle of it.
His name is Antoine Carey Gayand he is Marvin Gaye's brother
and he's kicking off our series.
And you know, most people know,you know that his brother was
shot by his dad and that wasmental health related.
So you have a music legend, youknow, and so we're going to
(11:10):
have his brother come in tonightand talk about that.
So that's a short run.
It only goes for five weeks.
Our cast is phenomenal.
They are just incredible.
They'll take you on anemotional roller coaster.
And the music we have a liveorchestra here, which is
absolutely incredible as well.
But you know, you've got everygenre of music.
(11:30):
You've got a lullaby, but thenyou've got like a Metallica
break.
But you know, you've got everygenre of music.
You've got a lullaby, but thenyou've got like a Metallica
break moment.
You know where.
You've just got the guitars andthe drums.
So so that one we've got goingon now until August 3.
And then one of everybody'sfavorites, we have Sound of
Music and yep, that'll open inthe middle of August and because
it's such a favorite and lotsof people come to it, we're
(11:53):
actually running that show for10 weeks.
So that'll run Yep, that'll rununtil the end of October.
And then, of course, theChristmas season comes and we're
doing White Christmas this yearand that'll open November 5th
and run until after Christmas.
And Riverside is really aspecial place at Christmas time.
The whole building is decoratedbeautiful, the outside's
(12:16):
decorated great and you justhave so many generations of
families that come in.
There's always reunions,somebody's getting engaged, you
know, there's lots of differentthings going on, so it's a
pretty magical place to be hereat the holiday time.
Speaker 2 (12:31):
So fun.
I love that.
Thank you for sharing that withus.
Oh thanks, yeah, and so are.
I'm curious are most of the,the cast and the musicians, are
they mostly local, or do theycome in?
Are they like traveling groups?
Talk to me a little bit abouthow that works.
Speaker 3 (12:50):
Sure.
So we have most of our cast islocal and that's where I was
saying earlier, the talent inthis area is incredible.
I mean, you come see our showsand I will say it publicly.
You know most people are.
I know Patrick will obviouslysay it too.
You know, we are so confidentin our shows.
You can put it up against aBroadway show or a Broadway tour
(13:11):
show and you wouldn't even know.
And we do have some kids.
I say kids, they're all kids.
We have some of the actors thatcome through here and they do a
couple of shows with us and thenthey end up out on a Broadway
tour.
Yeah, everybody's favorite,sally Struthers.
She comes in every now and thenshe just did Love Letters last
(13:32):
year with us.
So we do have people that thatcome and go.
I won't mention her name, butwe do have an actress who's
actually been performing over inLondon and who's been in some
shows on the West End and she'sgoing to be here for Sound of
Music.
So people will yes, people willhave to either check out our
(13:56):
socials when we announce it in afew weeks or come see the show
and just be mesmerized by hervoice.
But we're again lucky, you know,because Patrick has that
connection with people in theindustry, so we do have people
that come in from time to time.
Adrienne Hick, who is playingthe mother in Next to Normal
(14:17):
right now her and her husbandare not from this area but she
has been in three of our shows.
So whenever we have a role thatPatrick knows is just right for
her, he always gives her a calland she comes in.
And some of our patrons areseason ticket holders that have
seen her in other shows.
When they know she's coming,they're buying the ticket right
away just because they want tosee her.
(14:38):
So it's nice to have thosefamiliar faces too that's so
cool.
Speaker 2 (14:43):
I love that, yeah, so what is something that you wish
the listeners knew about?
The riverside?
Speaker 3 (14:51):
Something I wish they knew.
Well, you heard me say it's amagical place at Christmas time,
but I wish the listenersactually knew about Riverside.
So many people will drive byour building and not have any
idea what it is.
We're right off of I-95, andsince they've been doing
(15:12):
construction, you can actuallysee our building now.
So for me, I would love peopleto just know that we're here.
Um, you'd think after 26 years,we had saturated the market, but
as the marketing director, Ican't even tell you how many
people I've met that have saidoh, I didn't even know you were
here, and we're always in thenewspaper, we do tv interviews,
(15:32):
we're always in the newspaper,we do TV interviews, we're on
the radio.
So I'd love for people to knowjust the great quality theater
that we have and the staff here,the passion that the staff has
for the people in this communityto be able to come and have a
five-star rating, from themoment they walk in the door and
have a meal or just get a drinkat the bar until they walk out
(15:56):
of the theater.
We want this to be a memorablemoment for them, without having
to get on a bus or a train or aplane to get to New York City.
Richmond and DC are an houraway, but with traffic on 95,
you never know how long it'sgonna take you.
So just know that you've got anamazing performing arts center
(16:16):
that's here and, obviously, withus being a nonprofit, you know
that you can.
You can future support us forthe future and become, say, a
legacy donor or a sustainingmember with us.
And we're hoping for, you know,another 26 years to see where
it leads us.
And I can only wait until webecome a performing arts school
(16:39):
to really see the kids grow andthen see them be on our stage
and then go, say, be on aBroadway tour.
That's going to be, that'sgoing to be incredible, amazing.
Speaker 2 (16:52):
So if the listeners don't know where you are or
don't know where to find you,give us the address and your
website.
Speaker 3 (17:00):
Sure, so we are at 95 Riverside Parkway.
We're kind of a special kind ofa building because we are a
Fredericksburg address but aStafford zip code, I mean a
Stafford County zip zip code.
You know, um, but we arelocated right off of I-95 and
our website is riversidedt.
com.
(17:22):
And of course I always say,like dog Thomas, not dinner
theater, it's so bad, um, butriversidedt.
com.
And of course you know, if youlook up Riverside, you can find
us on Facebook, instagram,twitter or X.
Now we're there and we hopethat if there's some listeners
of yours that you have thatdidn't know about us, that
(17:44):
they'll find us and come see us.
And if you come to the theater,ask for me so I can say hi and
introduce myself in person,Amazing Allison.
Speaker 2 (17:52):
Thank you so much for joining me on the podcast today
and sharing the Riverside withus.
Speaker 3 (17:58):
Thanks for having me.
Speaker 1 (18:01):
Thank you for listening to the Fredericksburg
Neighbors Podcast.
To nominate your favorite localbusinesses to be featured on
the show, go tofxbgneighborspodcast.
com.
That's fxbgneighborspodcast.
com, or call 540-534-4618.
This is the Fredericksburg Neighbors Podcast
, the place where localbusinesses and neighbors come
together.
Here's your host, Dori Stewart.
Speaker 2 (00:12):
Welcome back to another episode of the
Fredericksburg Neighbors Podcast, where we feature the stories
of local legends in theFredericksburg area.
I'm excited to introduce you tomy guest today.
She is the Director ofDevelopment and Marketing at
Riverside Center for thePerforming Arts, Allison.
Welcome to the podcast.
Speaker 3 (00:31):
Hi Dori, Thanks for having me.
I'm excited to get to chat withyou for a little bit.
Speaker 2 (00:35):
Yes, I'm excited to get to know you and learn more
about the Riverside Center.
So let's start there.
Can you share with us a littlebit about the Riverside Center
for the Performing Arts?
Speaker 3 (00:48):
Sure, so most people might know us as Riverside
Dinner Theater.
They became the Dinner Theater26 years ago, but it was
rebranded in 2016 as RiversideCenter for the Performing Arts,
looking more for getting towardsnot totally away from food
service, but having people havethe focus of.
(01:09):
You can come here and see anincredibly great Broadway
quality production and on top ofit, you can have a meal
beforehand if you don't want togo somewhere else.
But we do work with a lot ofpeople in the community, so we
always, you know, encouragepeople.
There's great restaurants inFredericksburg to go to
beforehand if you don't want toeat here.
We also a wonderful thing thathappened in January of 24 is we
(01:33):
just became a 501C3 nonprofit,so we are super excited about
that.
That opens the door for us tobe able to apply for some grants
in the area where we can reallydig into the community.
You know we want to be at theschools, we want to be out and
helping the community, sothrough grants, we're able to do
(01:54):
some sensory friendly shows.
We're able to take our actorsinto the schools and qualify for
some other things.
And then also, you know youhave great people that want to
support the theater, and nowit's a tax write-off for them,
so it's a win-win for us.
Speaker 2 (02:12):
That's amazing.
Congratulations on earning thatstatus.
I know that takes a lot of hardwork, oh my gosh.
Speaker 3 (02:19):
Our CEO and our producing artistic director,
patrick Ahern, has workedcountless hours and timeless
hours with people on our boardand our board president, dorothy
Mondack, to make that happen.
And when they finally got thereand got to sign it and knew
that it was official, we werelike, yes, we did it.
You know.
So it is a lot of hard work butit's worth it because you know
(02:41):
you can do really great, greattheater.
But we also want to be part ofthe community.
We hope someday that we'll beable to take our building that
we have now and it'll end upbeing two stories and it will be
a performing arts school sowe'll be able to work with the
kids in this area, train them up, work alongside other kids
(03:03):
groups in the area and then sendthem off to college or Broadway
, broadway tours.
And so we have lots of dreamsand visions here that are coming
down the pike that Mr Ahern'sworking on.
Speaker 2 (03:15):
That is really cool.
Thank you for giving us thatsneak peek into what's to come.
That's really exciting for ourcommunity.
I love it.
Speaker 3 (03:24):
It is Well, why not?
You know, we're a regionalBroadway theater here, so why
not be able to use it for thecommunity, along with other
groups as well?
Speaker 2 (03:32):
Yeah, and we don't have to travel.
So you know, otherwise we wouldhave to go to Richmond or go to
DC.
It's so nice to have somethingthat that great of quality of
show right here inFredericksburg is really cool.
Speaker 3 (03:46):
Absolutely.
Obviously I work here, so Idefinitely agree with you.
And as I look out the windowhere and see 95 traffic stopped
this afternoon, we do joke whenwe do bus conventions and things
like that because we offergroup discounts and whatnot, I
always tell them when they're onI-95 going from you know, new
York to Florida, that when youhit the exit where there's the
(04:07):
traffic, if you get off, we havea great theater, we have a
great relationship with thehotel down the road.
So when you hit the traffic,get off and come see a show and
hang out with us for a while.
Speaker 2 (04:17):
Amazing.
I love it.
So tell me a little bit aboutyou.
How did you get into this lineof work?
You?
How did you get into this lineof work, wow.
Speaker 3 (04:26):
So I grew up on Long Island in New York and we would
go into New York City quite abit to see different shows and I
just fell in love with theater.
And then I'm a mom of four andall of my kids loved theater.
So they were part of aChristian theater group for
(04:47):
probably close to 10 years and Iwas working with them.
I started volunteering withthem but then they hired me to
do their advertising and theirpublicity.
And you know, when you have apassion for something, it's
really easy to talk about it.
And I just I fell in love withtheater more and more and we
would take the kids to the cityor we would come here to
(05:08):
Riverside and see shows.
We'd go and go down to Richmondin DC and see the tours and I
just knew this was like apassion of mine.
So to be able to call it aJ-O-B is an honor.
And then when Patrick Ahern hadcalled and said, hey, we'd love
for you to come work here atRiverside, I was I don't want to
(05:34):
say I was speechless, but I wasreally excited.
You know that he wanted me tojoin the team and a funny thing
with him and I is.
You know he used to be onBroadway so he was in the
original cast of Les Mis.
He's done Phantom, he's doneJoseph and the Amazing
Technicolor Dreamcoat.
But I actually got to see himon stage in the original
(05:54):
Broadway cast of Les Mis andobviously didn't know that
because that was back in like1989.
You know, I'm going to age bothof us.
But when I found out that hehad worked here years ago, I
actually brought my playbillwith me from 89 and had him sign
it and it was funny.
So it's neat to work with himand it is so cool to work
(06:19):
alongside him because he's gotso much knowledge from being in
the industry.
He's built an incredible teamhere and the talent that is in
this building.
I just love being around itbecause I can just sit and
listen to them sing all day orgo in and watch them dance and I
just love it.
It's so cool.
Speaker 2 (06:38):
Yeah, so I had no idea that he was on Broadway
himself.
What a cool, fun fact that is.
I love it, yeah.
Speaker 3 (06:46):
Yeah, and once in a while.
So we do a Riverside Christmasshow every other year and every
now and then he'll he'll sing asong or two in it and people
that know that he was inBroadway are like please sing,
please sing.
You know, and people will askhim in the community and
Fredericksburg or Stafford, youknow to come and sing and and he
(07:06):
does, but it's not, it's notthat often, but it is very cool
when he has friends that come bythat you know, played Phantom
on Broadway or sang and did thisand he's like oh, this is my
friend, and if you're a theaterperson like me, you're like oh,
my God you know you're trying tokeep your inner child calm, so
it's.
Speaker 2 (07:29):
I love it.
So do you find that there areany myths or misconceptions
about the Riverside Center?
Speaker 3 (07:38):
Oh my gosh, there's so many.
Dispel a few for us.
Well, of course, dinner theater.
You know everybody says, oh,it's a dinner theater, you don't
want to go there.
Or like, oh, my grandma took mewhen I was five and I haven't
been back, you know.
And so it's funny because thegenerational gaps we're starting
(07:58):
to see.
Some of the younger kids and Idon't know if it was, if it has
to do with COVID or not but youknow, the older people love to
come.
I think some people, you knowmiddle age, are like, oh, no,
it's a dinner theater, I don'twant to go.
But then the younger people arelike this is really cool, like
let's go and grab a drink at thebar before the show and go see
(08:21):
the show.
But we do the myths of.
You know, the food is horrible.
We've worked really, reallyhard to find good chefs.
We have an incredible chefright now and he's making food.
How we're doing the plates thatwe're doing for the cost right
now, I have no idea.
Oh, it's beautiful.
(08:43):
You know, some people stillwant, like their chicken fish
steak and you're still you'regetting it, you know.
But he's he's making deliciousmeals, like we have cocoa on on
this menu that we're doing fornext to normal.
There's a salad that he's got,that's got salmon in it and it I
saw it yesterday lookedabsolutely amazing, so have
(09:05):
definitely stepped up our gamein that aspect, that's awesome,
yeah, so what are some showsthat we have to look forward to
in the next few months?
Speaker 2 (09:17):
Are you able to give us a little sneak peek?
Of course?
Speaker 3 (09:21):
of course.
Well, right now we actuallyjust opened Next to Normal,
which not very many people knowabout, but in 2009, it won three
Tony Awards and in 2010, itactually won a Pulitzer Prize.
And the great thing about thisshow it's a heavy show, but the
(09:41):
great thing about this show isit touches on mental illness.
It touches on mental health andwhen we became a nonprofit last
year, we really wanted to be anorganization that walks the
walk and not just talks the talk, and so we said we're going to
put a show in that we know isimportant to our community,
important to parents, importantto businesses.
(10:01):
And then this year alone youknow, look at there's been so
many shootings and just thingsthat our kids should not be
having to worry about.
You know, they can't even go toa park and play anymore.
And it's more, obviously, we'rea theater, so we can't cure
everybody.
We don't even know how to dothat, but we know that a theater
(10:23):
, you know, there's so manystudies that say that music just
soothes the soul and it's goodfor your brain and it's good for
your mental health, and so whatbetter way than to take an
incredibly beautiful show?
And we're working withdifferent organizations in the
area.
As a matter of fact, thisevening we have a wonderful man
that was raised in this areathat just wrote a book when a
(10:48):
man Exhales, I believe is thetitle of it.
His name is Antoine Carey Gayand he is Marvin Gaye's brother
and he's kicking off our series.
And you know, most people know,you know that his brother was
shot by his dad and that wasmental health related.
So you have a music legend, youknow, and so we're going to
(11:10):
have his brother come in tonightand talk about that.
So that's a short run.
It only goes for five weeks.
Our cast is phenomenal.
They are just incredible.
They'll take you on anemotional roller coaster.
And the music we have a liveorchestra here, which is
absolutely incredible as well.
But you know, you've got everygenre of music.
(11:30):
You've got a lullaby, but thenyou've got like a Metallica
break.
But you know, you've got everygenre of music.
You've got a lullaby, but thenyou've got like a Metallica
break moment.
You know where.
You've just got the guitars andthe drums.
So so that one we've got goingon now until August 3.
And then one of everybody'sfavorites, we have Sound of
Music and yep, that'll open inthe middle of August and because
it's such a favorite and lotsof people come to it, we're
(11:53):
actually running that show for10 weeks.
So that'll run Yep, that'll rununtil the end of October.
And then, of course, theChristmas season comes and we're
doing White Christmas this yearand that'll open November 5th
and run until after Christmas.
And Riverside is really aspecial place at Christmas time.
The whole building is decoratedbeautiful, the outside's
(12:16):
decorated great and you justhave so many generations of
families that come in.
There's always reunions,somebody's getting engaged, you
know, there's lots of differentthings going on, so it's a
pretty magical place to be hereat the holiday time.
Speaker 2 (12:31):
So fun.
I love that.
Thank you for sharing that withus.
Oh thanks, yeah, and so are.
I'm curious are most of the,the cast and the musicians, are
they mostly local, or do theycome in?
Are they like traveling groups?
Talk to me a little bit abouthow that works.
Speaker 3 (12:50):
Sure.
So we have most of our cast islocal and that's where I was
saying earlier, the talent inthis area is incredible.
I mean, you come see our showsand I will say it publicly.
You know most people are.
I know Patrick will obviouslysay it too.
You know, we are so confidentin our shows.
You can put it up against aBroadway show or a Broadway tour
(13:11):
show and you wouldn't even know.
And we do have some kids.
I say kids, they're all kids.
We have some of the actors thatcome through here and they do a
couple of shows with us and thenthey end up out on a Broadway
tour.
Yeah, everybody's favorite,sally Struthers.
She comes in every now and thenshe just did Love Letters last
(13:32):
year with us.
So we do have people that thatcome and go.
I won't mention her name, butwe do have an actress who's
actually been performing over inLondon and who's been in some
shows on the West End and she'sgoing to be here for Sound of
Music.
So people will yes, people willhave to either check out our
(13:56):
socials when we announce it in afew weeks or come see the show
and just be mesmerized by hervoice.
But we're again lucky, you know,because Patrick has that
connection with people in theindustry, so we do have people
that come in from time to time.
Adrienne Hick, who is playingthe mother in Next to Normal
(14:17):
right now her and her husbandare not from this area but she
has been in three of our shows.
So whenever we have a role thatPatrick knows is just right for
her, he always gives her a calland she comes in.
And some of our patrons areseason ticket holders that have
seen her in other shows.
When they know she's coming,they're buying the ticket right
away just because they want tosee her.
(14:38):
So it's nice to have thosefamiliar faces too that's so
cool.
Speaker 2 (14:43):
I love that, yeah, so what is something that you wish
the listeners knew about?
The riverside?
Speaker 3 (14:51):
Something I wish they knew.
Well, you heard me say it's amagical place at Christmas time,
but I wish the listenersactually knew about Riverside.
So many people will drive byour building and not have any
idea what it is.
We're right off of I-95, andsince they've been doing
(15:12):
construction, you can actuallysee our building now.
So for me, I would love peopleto just know that we're here.
Um, you'd think after 26 years,we had saturated the market, but
as the marketing director, Ican't even tell you how many
people I've met that have saidoh, I didn't even know you were
here, and we're always in thenewspaper, we do tv interviews,
(15:32):
we're always in the newspaper,we do TV interviews, we're on
the radio.
So I'd love for people to knowjust the great quality theater
that we have and the staff here,the passion that the staff has
for the people in this communityto be able to come and have a
five-star rating, from themoment they walk in the door and
have a meal or just get a drinkat the bar until they walk out
(15:56):
of the theater.
We want this to be a memorablemoment for them, without having
to get on a bus or a train or aplane to get to New York City.
Richmond and DC are an houraway, but with traffic on 95,
you never know how long it'sgonna take you.
So just know that you've got anamazing performing arts center
(16:16):
that's here and, obviously, withus being a nonprofit, you know
that you can.
You can future support us forthe future and become, say, a
legacy donor or a sustainingmember with us.
And we're hoping for, you know,another 26 years to see where
it leads us.
And I can only wait until webecome a performing arts school
(16:39):
to really see the kids grow andthen see them be on our stage
and then go, say, be on aBroadway tour.
That's going to be, that'sgoing to be incredible, amazing.
Speaker 2 (16:52):
So if the listeners don't know where you are or
don't know where to find you,give us the address and your
website.
Speaker 3 (17:00):
Sure, so we are at 95 Riverside Parkway.
We're kind of a special kind ofa building because we are a
Fredericksburg address but aStafford zip code, I mean a
Stafford County zip zip code.
You know, um, but we arelocated right off of I-95 and
our website is riversidedt.
com.
(17:22):
And of course I always say,like dog Thomas, not dinner
theater, it's so bad, um, butriversidedt.
com.
And of course you know, if youlook up Riverside, you can find
us on Facebook, instagram,twitter or X.
Now we're there and we hopethat if there's some listeners
of yours that you have thatdidn't know about us, that
(17:44):
they'll find us and come see us.
And if you come to the theater,ask for me so I can say hi and
introduce myself in person,Amazing Allison.
Speaker 2 (17:52):
Thank you so much for joining me on the podcast today
and sharing the Riverside withus.
Speaker 3 (17:58):
Thanks for having me.
Speaker 1 (18:01):
Thank you for listening to the Fredericksburg
Neighbors Podcast.
To nominate your favorite localbusinesses to be featured on
the show, go tofxbgneighborspodcast.
com.
That's fxbgneighborspodcast.
com, or call 540-534-4618.
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