Profile: Richard Parison

Boulevard recently sat down with Richard Parison to discuss the impact of theater and visual arts to our region in an understated but impactful way. Richard Parison is the artistic director of Hampton Arts, which includes The American Theatre and The Charles Taylor Visual Arts Center. Richard has been a professional theater director and producer for more than 25 years. He began his theatrical career as artistic associate to the Obie-Award-winning Gerald Freedman at The Great Lakes Theater Festival in Cleveland, Ohio. He later spent more than a decade in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, as associate producing artistic director at the internationally recognized Walnut Street Theatre and then later as artistic director for the Prince Music Theater. As a director, he’s been nominated multiple times for the Philadelphia Barrymore Award for Best Director, the Richmond Critics Circle Award for the Best Director and the Sarasota Live Award for Best Production of a Play. For several years before coming to Hampton, Richard was the executive director of Richmond Center Stage, now the Dominion Arts Center. Nationally and regionally, Parison has served on several peer panels for the Theater Communications Group, National Alliance for Musical Theater, the Greater Philadelphia Cultural Alliance, and the Virginia Commission for the Arts. He holds a BFA from Miami University, Oxford, Ohio—with an emphasis in Directing and Arts Administration—and is a fellow of LEADERSHIP Philadelphia and a graduate of the PEW Charitable Trusts Emerging Arts Leadership Program.

Boulevard: I’d like to just dig in and ask a series of pre-working age questions. What is your backstory? What was the early home life like? Were you a performer as a child, musical family? Were you a late bloomer or did you or your family always know you’d be in performance arts?

Parison: I was always drawn to theatrical stories as a child and teenager. Whether it was a local traveling children’s theater that came to my elementary school, watching reruns of classic TV shows like Gilligan’s Island or Leave It to Beaver, or whether it was watching the PBS Great Performance of Sweeney Todd. Theatricality came in all types of media for me. My parents were not theatrical people and did not gravitate to the arts and culture—so I was the outlier growing up. But I knew from my pre-teens that this was something that gave me the power of self-expression—and that is a powerful thing for a child to realize.

When you were in school, what were you and your peers doing for fun? What was your first job?

I was dramatic. Prone to hyperbole and exaggeration. Looking back now, as an adult, there probably isn’t much difference! My first job was working as a stock boy at a small local beverage store in my hometown. It was not the outlet for creative expression that I dreamed up, but I loved that it provided pocket money.

Did you have a mentor that pushed you towards the performing arts as a profession?

My high school drama teacher, Myrna Rutkowski, was the first director I really saw at work in the theater. She cast me in my first high school production of “You Can’t Take It with You.” She didn’t push me, but she certainly gave me the outlet that allowed my passion to flourish. Later in college, a new

[ by david polston ]

“Acting was not to be my destiny, but my skills were going to be laid out in a different creative direction.”

professor, Janice Dean, was the first to recognize that I was going to work in professional theater as producer and director. Acting was not to be my destiny, but my skills were going to be laid out in a different creative direction.

Were you on another career path before this and if so, what was it and when did it change?

No. This was really always my journey. I was fortunate in my life to be able to make a living doing what I loved doing. Not everyone is that lucky. I recognize that.

What was your first production as a performer and then director?

As an actor it was in fourth grade, I played Sasha in our class production of “Stone Soup.” And then in college, my first production as a director was “Bearclaw” by Timothy Mason. That was the production that launched my directing career.

Post graduate? What were the circumstances that led to professional administrative theater work?

In summers between college years, I worked as a leasing agent at a large townhouse/apartment community in the area of my hometown. The owner’s wife was on the board of trustees at The Great Lakes Theater Festival in Cleveland. She facilitated an interview with Gerald Freedman, the artistic director [at the time], who was a Tonynominated director and a leader in the national field. I went on to work with him for several years as assistant director and this was the beginning of my life and career in regional professional theater.

What were the circumstances that led you to this area? Is it a big change to what you were used to at your former position?

I was taking time off after the death of my mother. I had worked

HISTORIC IMAGES COURTESY OF PHOEBUSMEMORIES.ORG

American Theatre 1931

in Richmond at the Richmond CenterStage (now Dominion Arts Center) for several years. As I was home in Cleveland, settling my mother’s estate, this position came open and it felt like a tremendous opportunity to return to Virginia, which had come to feel like my second home.

What are some current struggles and pleasant achievements with the American Theatre and Visual Arts Center? Dispel some misconceptions if you know of any.

I am fortunate to lead a team of dedicated and passionate people who are committed to presenting artists on stage and in the galleries from around the world and around the corner. The American Theatre is an intimate 388-seat venue. The Charles H. Taylor Visual Arts Center is a small, regional visual arts center. Small, but mighty. When you travel, you have the opportunity to stay at a quaint, intimate bed and breakfast— or you can stay at the large corporate chain hotel. I like to think of The American Theatre and the Visual Arts Center as two lovely bed and breakfasts in a sea of corporate chain hotels.

What could we expect happening in the future with the theater and arts in Pheobus over the next year or five-plus years from now?

My goal as artistic director is to continue making the arts and culture (performing and visual) an integral part of the community. I want the arts and arts education to be accessible to everyone in Hampton and [throughout] the region. Additionally, representation and inclusion matters to me. I want the arts on stage and in the galleries to represent and include

The American Theatre approx. 2016

the wide diversity that is Hampton and our region. In my role as artistic director there is nothing more important to me—it is a privilege to serve the citizens and our vast community through professional theater, music, dance, education and visual arts.

David Polston is the scenic designs, carpentry and production supervisor for CBN (The Christian Broadcasting Network). He is also an internationally published freelance photographer, blogger and writer, and the resident professional photographer for Seven Venues, LiveNation, Virginia Beach, Regent University Theater, Hampton Coliseum, The VaArts Festival and the Virginia Symphony, among others.

DAVID POLSTON

The American Theatre has evolved through the many decades in operation (as shown in the photos opposite and at the top left of this page). TOP RIGHT: An ad for a show which appeared in the July 10, 1919 edition of The Daily Press, starring Charles Chaplin. ABOVE: H. Duncan Barnett (left) and Richard Parison at the American Theatre’s 2020 season announcement event. Barnett is on the board of directors for the Hampton Arts Foundation and is the upcoming recipient of the Coastal Virginia Renaissance Award.