Entertaining Ideas

For Mason’s theater alumni, TFA is a home away from home

By Colleen Kearney Rich, MFA ’95

While much of the university was preparing for Homecoming in February, Mason’s own resident theater company, Theater of the First Amendment (TFA), was enjoying a little homecoming of its own. In the depths of winter, a number of Mason alumni from around the country gathered on campus to help mount the world premiere of a new musical, Open the Door, Virginia.

The new musical explores the historic moments of a student-organized strike in Virginia’s Prince Edward County in 1951—a strike that led to one of the pivotal court cases forming the Brown v. Board of Education decision. The work is the latest collaboration of award-winning choreographer Dianne McIntyre and bluesman Olu Dara. TFA has enjoyed a long-term professional relationship with McIntyre since 1991, and the alumni have enjoyed equally long relationships.

Kira Hoffmann, BA Theater ’94, serves as TFA’s company manager. She began her career at Mason in 1995 as a part-time employee and has moved up through the ranks. In 1998, Kevin Murray, TFA’s managing director, brought her on as the company manager. In this role, Hoffmann handles the administrative functions necessary to produce the plays, from purchasing and tracking expenditures for each production to hiring professional actors, designers, and laborers—which sometimes involves hiring alumni.

“We love to bring good people back,” says Hoffmann, who also is working on her master’s in arts management at Mason. “These people are well established and well respected in their fields. We are fortunate that many have family or other ties to Northern Virginia, which makes it easier for them to return here.”

The alumni who returned for the January premiere included stage manager Valerie K. Wheeler, BA Theater ’94; sound designer Jens McVoy, BFA Theater ’94; dramaturg and properties manager Suzanne Maloney, BA Theater ’03; and ensemble cast member Millie Langford, BA Theater ’02.

Wheeler has worked on a number of TFA productions through the years. These days, she calls Los Angeles home, but she has enjoyed a career that has taken her around the country, working with such groups as the Music Academy of the West, the University of Southern California Thornton School of Music, and the Pittsburgh Opera. The best part of coming back to Mason for Wheeler is the people.

“TFA gave me my professional start,” says Wheeler. “Without the support and encouragement of Kevin Murray, Rick Davis, and countless others, I never would have had the courage or belief in my abilities that have made me who I am today.”

McVoy is head of the sound department at Wolf Trap’s Filene Center and currently does freelance design work for two new performing arts buildings in New York. He is the proud recipient of one of TFA’s 12 Helen Hayes Awards. In 1993, McVoy won the award for his sound design on The Einstein Project.

Maloney served as assistant dramaturg and handled the props for Open the Door, Virginia. For many years, she has designed, directed, and stage managed for theater companies throughout the Washington metropolitan area. Most recently, she directed Steel Magnolias at the Vienna Theater Company.

Langford is a founding member of the theater group In My Mother’s Words. She returned to campus again in March for a performance of Music Is What Saved My Soul, in which she played jazz legend Billie Holiday.

“It’s thrilling to be able to work on new and premiere productions,” says Wheeler of her time at TFA. “To be surrounded by and working together with the high level of creative artistic talent that TFA brings together is humbling.”

For Hoffmann, a favorite part of the job is interacting with and mentoring students. “It gives me great satisfaction when I see them succeed after graduation,” she says. “My co-workers are really like a large extended family—this sense of community makes my job very enjoyable.”

Valerie K. Wheeler (far left) and Suzanne Maloney (far right) with the cast and crew of Open the Door, Virginia