PATRON SPOTLIGHT:
COL. BOB & CAROLE HANUS

Col. Bob and Carole Hanus are long-time patrons of the UMW Department of Theatre and Dance. They organize the Elder Study program and have been attending performances in Klein Theatre since before most of our current students were born! For our first ever Patron Spotlight, the Department of Theatre and Dance asked Bob and Carole to come by for an interview.

T&D: What was the first show you saw in Klein Theatre?

Bob: It was about 20 years ago.

Carole: We were looking at the pictures up in the hallways, and we know that we’ve seen all of them but two since we started coming, but we don’t know how long we’ve been coming. You know, you see the names of the shows and you go: “Huh, do I remember that one?”

Bob: The only two we missed were because our daughter was in a car accident, and Carole was in the hospital. She had open-heart surgery. Even with that, we look at some of the titles on the pictures and say: “Oh, that sounds familiar, what was it about?”

T&D: What has been your favorite production you’ve seen over the last 20 years?

Bob: It’s really difficult to pick just one because I think all of the

productions we’ve seen here exemplify dedication and professionalism. Having said that, personally, Sweeney Todd [1998]would be #1. The production here in Klein Theatre – everyone was invested. Everyone was in it: the cast, the crew, and the audience. It was very well done, very humorous. The second choice I’d tell you is: A Company of Wayward Saints [2005]. Julie Hodge (Associate Professor, Scenic/Lighting Design) designed and the students built, what I’ll refer to as a gypsy wagon. This wagon they designed functioned essentially as the set. At the beginning of the performance, everything started opening up out of the gypsy wagon, and it became the set. It was astounding what they were able to create.

The third one was a winter production, done in December of that year, A Wonderful Life [2001]. It was a time you tried to do something over the holidays. The young man that was going to play the angel was going to perform on roller skates, but he didn’t know how to roller-skate. So he learns, and ends up breaking

his leg in the process! But the production went on with him on crutches! I think that’s just an example of what we’ve seen over 20 years: very dedicated students and extremely dedicated faculty, in terms of performance, production, direction, and design.

Carole: One of my favorite shows was Always…Patsy Cline [2014]. I think they did an outstanding job with that. It was nice to see it in February, and then again in the summer to see how the actors had grown into their parts even more. Emily Burke, who played Louise, joined the cast of the February production late in the rehearsal process as a replacement and was wonderful. Seeing her again in the summer, she was even more wonderful after having that time to live with the role; she really shined.

T&D: You’ve been coming to performances in Klein Theatre since long before the renovations were complete. What was your reaction the first time you walked into Klein Theatre and saw how it had changed?

Bob: Well the theatre was dormant for about a year, while the construction took place. Certainly the transition from the previous theatre to what it is now was impressive. One of the Elder Study classes we had, we learned specifically about the changes that were made to improve lighting and sound and the new equipment that was brought in.

Carole: The other thing that we found out was that the theatre re-numbered the seats to do them the way that most theatres were done, which we didn’t even know it was one way or the other, but we changed our seats from one side of the theatre to the other.

T&D: Where do you sit in the theatre when you attend a production?

Bob: We’ve stuck with the same seats even after they were flipped, F101 and F102, and we wound up making a donation to Friends of Theatre to have our names on those two seats. If you look at F103, Elder Study made the donation for a seat – Gregg asked us where we wanted the Elder Study seat, and we said: “If it doesn’t make a difference, why don’t you put it next to ours?”

T&D: You last saw Sunday in the Park with George with us, what did you take away from that production?

Carole: Well, we saw UMW’s first production of Sunday in 1997, and that was the first set that Julie Hodge designed at Mary Washington.

Bob: We participated in the Backstage Pass program for this fall’s production, and as a part of that we got to take a tour of the set while everything was still coming together, and we saw Julie painting part of the scenery in that dab-dab-dab style that’s used in the painting the musical is based around. Through Backstage Pass, we saw the final dress rehearsal for Sunday, and then we saw it two weeks later. We had sort of a Backstage Pass reunion a week after the last performance of Sunday, and while I realize that actors grow in parts the longer they spend with the role, what I didn’t see was a difference between the final dress rehearsal and the performance two weeks later, and I paid the company that compliment at the Backstage Pass reunion, that they had shown remarkable consistency.

Carole: Judi Jackson {(Dot/Marie) did an excellent job in that show. One moment that stuck out to me in particular was when her character is meant to be posing for the painting, and all she was able to do and from that position with her face and her voice. And then seeing her go from that character to the old lady she played in the second act… she did a really good job with that show.

T&D: It sounds like you’ve gotten to know the faculty and students pretty well over the years.

Bob: I think when you attend productions at a theatre for as long as we have, and get as involved as we have through the Elder Study program, it makes it so you are able to get to know the people who are involved making theatre happen here. We started getting to know Julie and Gregg Stull (Professor, Chair of the Department of Theatre and Dance); we worked with them to make these presentations and classes more interactive for Elder Study. Through that, we’ve gotten to know the students and the faculty. The faculty of the Department of Theatre and Dance are truly a gift to this university and this community.

Carole: The members of the faculty have really been so great with us, whether it be in their participation with the Elder Study program, or the other programs they’ve done. Kevin McCluskey (Associate Professor, Costume Design) did a presentation on puppetry, and Julie and David [Hunt], who’s retired now; they came in and did a program for us. When they did Seascape [2011], which actually is one of the two shows we ended up missing, they came with the costumes and Julie explained how they were made and all they did to make sure those lizard costumes would fit and look real. It was really amazing.

T&D: You have been long time patrons and donors and have seen a lot of students come and go, on and off the stage. What has your experience with the students been like over the years? 

Bob: The students that we’ve talked to about the theatre program always say that they’ve learned so much more here than they had before in high school or from other schools that they transfer from. I think Gregg has knowledge and connections that make it possible for the students here to have a well-rounded education, and to be ready for the professional world.

Carole: One of the students whose focus is on stage management had the opportunity to work on a production at The Kennedy Center, which must have been a wonderful chance for her to do something professionally, and get her foot in the door once she’s done with school.

Bob: I am amazed at the student talent that there is here.

Carole: We came to see the play in the fall, Doubt, and Stephen [Nickens], who played Father Flynn, was just fantastic. I don’t usually like to watch the movie version of a play before I see the play – when UMW did Proof [2007] a few years back, we saw that movie after we saw the play. For Doubt [2014] we saw the film version first, and were just astounded by the performances and I remember wondering how the students’ performances would compare. When I watched the film, Doubt, I felt at the end that Father Flynn was guilty. My interpretation of the play was that he was not guilty, and that just showed to me that these actors were able to make the parts their own.

Bob: An interesting side note, Helen Housley (Associate Professor), who directed Doubt, told Stephen to determine how he was going to play the part. She wanted him to decide if Father Flynn was gay or straight; to decide if Father Flynn was innocent or guilty. Helen asked him to decide these things, but not to tell her what was true about his Father Flynn. That’s one of my favorite bits of insight I’ve gotten from our Elder Study program.

T&D: If you could shadow one of our faculty members for a day, who would it be?

Bob: Kevin, who designs the costumes, because of what he puts together and how he puts it together. I was able to a gain an appreciation for his work with Backstage Pass.

Carole: Kevin also goes out shopping for pieces, and so does Julie Hodge. I’d want to go along with them just to see what they find, and their process of deciding what they can work with. Kevin talked to us about the costumes for Sunday in the Park with George; he had bought jackets at a consignment shop and was able to redo them and repurpose them for what he needed for that show.

Bob: Julie also finds things and puts them together for a show, and it’s really amazing what she’s able to find out there and how it comes together on the stage. You all have a really tremendous faculty.

Carole: They work together really well. The dedication of the faculty is so impressive, the amount of hours they spend working with the students is just amazing.

Bob: Seeing their dedication and being able to have our Elder Study program before each production, and the personal interactions we’ve been able to have with the faculty and the students has led me to a much greater appreciation for the theatre. I was in the Air Force for 30 years, stationed in The Netherlands, and traveled often back and forth from there, but we went through London quite a bit. Those were the days when Phantom of the Opera had its original cast, Les Misérables, Cats, and Starlight Express did too. You see those productions, and they’re wonderful productions, but it‘s a much different experience when you’re able to look behind the scenes and that’s what I think we’ve gotten over the last 20 years.

T&D: What’s your favorite kind of candy?

Carole: Chocolate covered caramels.

Bob: I don’t know if I have a favorite kind of candy.

T&D: What’s your favorite word?

Bob: You’re asking the ex-teacher that, which is good!

Carole: Well, what’s your favorite word?

Bob: I don’t have a favorite word.

Carole: Well, my favorite word is “no.”

T&D: Are there any productions that you haven’t seen that you are hoping UMW Theatre may take on in the future? Which one(s)?

Bob: Phantom of the Opera, Les Mis, Starlight Express, Cats…you can tell I enjoyed our time in London!

Carole: I think that it’s great that the selection of productions seems to be done with the students in mind and makes it so the talents of the Department really shine through. I do like when productions are brought back for a second run like Sunday in the Park with George, maybe if you did A Wonderful Life again, the angel would be on roller skates this time!