Barksdale Theatre
Coordinates: 37°34′56″N 77°29′53.2″W / 37.58222°N 77.498111°W
Barksdale Theatre merged with Theatre IV in 2012 to become Virginia Repertory Theatre..
Barksdale Theatre in Richmond, Virginia, United States is Central Virginia’s first nonprofit professional performing arts organization, founded in 1953 at the historic Hanover Tavern by Tom Carlin, Stewart Falconer, David 'Pete' Kilgore, Priscilla Kilgore, Muriel McAuley and Pat Sharp. Before the merger, Barksdale presented season at two home locations: Barksdale Theatre at Hanover Tavern and Barksdale Theatre at The Shops at Willow Lawn. Barksdale is recognized as Central Virginia's leading professional theatre. It continues on as Virginia Repertory Theatre's Barksdale Season at Hanover Tavern under the leadership of Artistic Director Nathaniel Shaw and Managing Director Phil Whiteway.
On August 1, 1953, six actors, two children, a dog and two pigs moved into a historic ruin called Hanover Tavern. The transplanted New Yorkers founded Central Virginia’s first professional theatre, and named the company in memory of a deceased college friend, Barbara Barksdale. When they learned that their new neighbors looked forward to eating on evenings out, they combined favorite recipes and created the nation’s first dinner theater. They lived upstairs, performed downstairs, and served hearty meals in the historic rooms that fell in between.
During the first six years, four of the original founders moved on, leaving Pete Kilgore, Muriel McAuley and newcomer (and newly-wed) Nancy Kilgore firmly in charge. In the seasons that followed, Pete, Muriel and Nancy produced Greater Richmond’s first professional productions of plays by Tennessee Williams, Arthur Miller, Eugene O’Neill, George Bernard Shaw, Noël Coward, Thornton Wilder, William Inge and Edward Albee.
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