 OUR MISSION GOALS:
- To facilitate the new play development efforts of the Playwrights Forum by providing space for meetings/readings, performed readings, and workshop productions of members’ new plays.
- To provide poets and other performance artists an intimate showcase for their work.
- To play an integral role in the revitalization of the Park Place community by bringing in the arts, and through first class redevelopment of formerly depressed properties.
- To play an integral role in the development of Hampton Roads as a hotbed for the arts – especially literary and theater arts.
- To encourage the use of the arts as a means to build community, to embrace diversity, and to foster peace and all good things known to humankind.
WHAT INSPIRED THE VENUE ON 35TH:
In 2000, co-owner Patti Wray founded the Playwrights Forum; then, a loosely formed group of local writers who began meeting in a local library. Eventually associated with the Generic Theater, the Forum continued to have to meet in “borrowed space” and had very limited access to a stage, which was much needed for staged readings and workshop productions. When Wray moved to Norfolk in 2005, she and Lucy White, her investment partner, decided to purchase a building and convert it into a café style performance space; one where the Forum could finally have a home and other writers and performance artists could easily perform and showcase their work.
In March 2007 – the dream was realized. The Venue on 35th opened on the 18th with a meeting/reading of the Playwrights Forum. On the 25th, local poets took the stage for a Slam event. Then, in April, a one man show was produced as a fund raiser for the Forum. The Venue has been housing, producing and showcasing local artists ever since.
ABOUT THE OWNERS:
Patti Wray and Lucy White have been called entrepreneurs and pioneers. Both women are physical therapists, who in 1986 began their first business venture together by opening a physical therapy practice in Smithfield, Va. – an area deemed as being underserved by rehabilitation services. In 1995, they decided to sell their lucrative practice to pursue other interests; the arts and real estate investing. In 2005, Wray and White purchased a shell of a building on 35th Street in the Park Place section of Norfolk – an area known for poverty and crime. Ignoring warnings from family and friends, the two set out to renovate their one-story building into a stylish, classy café theater to serve writers and performance artists. In the summer of 2007, they purchased an adjoining vacant lot and built an outdoor stage.
Collectively, Wray and White spent over 70 years using the healing arts to promote health and healing to persons in need. They hope to spend their remaining years using literary and performance arts to promote societal health and healing in these times of need.
WHO’S WHO AT THE VENUE
Owners/Managers: Patti Wray and Lucy White
Production Manager: Patti Wray
Financial Manager: Lucy White
Open Mic Events:
MC and Director: Dwayne Adams
Assistant MC: Brenda Bailey, Pinkie Chappell
Tech Assistant: John Elliot
Stage Assistant: Sheldon
Playwrights Forum:
Forum Directors: Patti Wray and Jean Klein
Casting and Stage Director: Pinkie Chappell
Resident Theater Company:
Bon Vie Productions
Owner/Director: Pinkie Chappell
Looking Glass Productions
Owners/Directors: Patti Wray & Lucy White
Music Productions:
Director: Darren
Community Outreach Programs/Other Events:
Director: Lucy White
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