GVT - An Oral History
Ann A. Benedict, from her document The History of Greenbrier Valley Theatre
It all began the summer of 1966 in a striped tent pitched on the banks of the Greenbrier River at North Caldwell. John Benjamin and his wife, the former Betty Vaughn of Lewisburg, planted a bold experiment in this pastoral corner of West Virginia. The essential shape of that endeavor persists in the philosophy and operation of the Theatre to this day. The Benjamins brought with them a small core of professional company of actors and a director, Dale Wilson, who later became the artistic director of the Old Red Brick Theatre in Elkins, WV. In the second year of operation, they established theatre offices and company housing at Elmhurst, a large house conveniently just across Rt. 60 from the river road heading to the tent’s location. … John shouldered the producer role, and infected a number of young recruits with the theatre bug, including Brad Dourif (later cast in the film of Ken Kesey’s One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest), Lee Gillespie, Peggy Townley, Ruth Benedict, and Paul Detch, now a local attorney. Meanwhile Betty saw to it that the company was housed and fed, that they had props and costumes, and most significantly, audiences.
Enthusiastic audiences of area residents and summer refugees from muggier climes embraced the combination of professional and amateur actors under professional direction. Confidence in the future of the Benjamins’ vision quickly led to the formation of a local Board of Directors, and on April 19,1967, Greenbrier Repertory Theatre was chartered as a private not-for-profit corporation.
The ambitious new theatre venture proved its mettle, producing five shows each summer.
Ellen Gibson Goodwin
I was in high school when the earliest productions of the Theatre began in the Tent. I had the pleasure of singing in the chorus of Brigadoon. Being in a tent on the river bank was a unique venue. However, through the eyes of a teenager, it was just so exciting to be a part of a production that featured professional actors. They were so very talented and yet, at the same time, so very kind to all of us in the chorus.
Gary Williams, West Virginia Jazz Orchestra Administrator
I played my first show with the Greenbrier Valley Theatre in a tent down by the river at Caldwell. It was in the late 1960s when John Benjamin and Lee Gillespie were involved with the theatre. The show was Annie Get Your Gun. Throughout the years I’ve played many other shows. Each has been a magical experience.
Ann A. Benedict, from her document The History of Greenbrier Valley Theatre
In 1969, the Tent was relocated overnight for its final two productions to the parking lot across Rt. 219 from the entrance to The State Fair of West Virginia, and produced an additional pair of shows, one in Cass and another for a convention at the Greenbrier Hotel. Sadly, when John and Betty Benjamin departed, the fledgling Board found itself unprepared to assume the operating responsibilities of Greenbrier Repertory Theatre, and no successors to fill the Benjamins’ vital roles were immediately apparent. The Tent folded, never to reopen.
Mary Ann Mann
There were various venues used after the tent, including Carnegie Hall, and even a restaurant in Fairlea, beside Fritz’s Pharmacy. Specifically I remember A...My Name is Alice was produced there. We also had dinner theatres in the basement of Fort Savannah and the Landco building, which became the Longanacre Funeral Home in Fairlea. I remember helping Ann Benedict serve those meals in there.
Ellen Gibson Goodwin
After the Tent, my fondest memory was performing in the ‘first’ barn on the former Laird property near I-64. I was a music student at WVU then and had the lead in West Side Story under the direction of Lee Gillespie. Lee had been my high school band and choir director, so I understood quite well the discipline and hard work that would be required and expected with being in the cast for this show. Even though we were not professional at that point, under Lee’s wonderful direction, the cast and staff did strive to provide the audience with the most professional performances possible. Many people in Lewisburg will remember Elaine Pugh. Without her, I would not have had the wonderful black wig she loaned me in transforming my ‘blonde self’ to the role of Maria.
Mary Ann Mann
Back in the early years, the general public was not convinced GVT would be a permanent fixture. I think they thought we were all a bunch of gypsies! And had it not been for Ann Benedict’s determination we would not be here today.
It was time to find a new home. At a GVT board meeting, Edgar Lewis Smith suggested, “Let’s build a tabernacle.” He was a member of the County Airport Authority, and knew of an ideal space. Planning and serious fundraising soon began for an intended new Arts Center to be built opposite the terminal at the Greenbrier Valley Airport. With an estimated cost of $60,000, fundraising began in earnest with auctions of donated services, or even roles in upcoming plays on the block to raise money. Building material donations were also sought, with much of it coming from salvaged barns. These included a barn on Ben Buck Farm, owned by Cleve and Ann Benedict, and from the Meadow River Lumber Company in Rainelle, which had been purchased by Georgia-Pacific and was being relocated.
Ann A. Benedict, from her document The History of Greenbrier Valley Theatre
Completion of basic construction at the barn permitted occupancy by the opening of the 1976 summer season, even though only the main section, a ‘lobby’ shed on the front featuring a pair of windows from an old church and an original teller’s window from the Greenbrier Valley Bank at the box office, and another shed on the east side had been completed. The floor was gravel. Seating was on donated chairs of all sorts: plastic ‘bucket’ chairs, ladder-backs, canvas chairs, dinette chairs with padded seats, folding director’s chairs, classroom chairs donated by WVSOM from the old Greenbrier Military School. The performing space was reconfigured for each production by unbolting, carrying, and reattaching large, heavy wooden platforms, so each show had a two or three-week run rather than a rotating repertory. There was no plumbing, hence no restrooms; patrons and company used the facilities in the airport terminal. Neither were there any dressing rooms. Costumes were changed backstage, with men in one corner, women in another, and a strict honor system of ‘No Peeking’ in force. This primitive but flexible theatre space became the home of Greenbrier Valley Theatre for the next twenty-four years.
Cathey Sawyer
I’ll never forget the first day in my new makeshift office at the Barn. I arrived there before anyone else and unlocked the padlock to the double barn doors then the padlock to what was used as the office. I remember thinking, “Why would they need a lock on the office? There’s nothing here.” I dusted off the top of the desk and opened a drawer. To my shock about six large mice jumped out and ran around the floor while I stood on a chair. Convincing those mice that they were evicted was no easy task. To my great consternation, they continued to return all summer.
Dr. Larry Davis
In the summer of ‘78, just before the opening night of South Pacific, the island stage in the GVT barn was ready for the singing and dancing of the sailors, nurses, and Polynesians. The only catch was that the seating area had been turned into a shallow sea by a rain storm that sent a cascade of water down from the airport. The result was a highly realistic setting for that Rodgers and Hammerstein musical performance, but the opening was postponed until things dried out.”
Mary Leb
I remember having to “hold” onstage while the last plane landed at 8:15 p.m. during early days at the Barn, postponing opening night in 1978 for Oklahoma as the theatre flooded, fog rolling in each night before the walls were added to the Barn, skunks and possums making their home in the prop room, building indoor restrooms in the Barn, ducking bats during performances, and dismantling old barns which provided the barn wood for the Barn theatre.
Cathey Sawyer
One summer in the Barn, a young soprano was singing her love ballad onstage in dim lighting. I was sitting outside on a bench listening to the show when I heard a feminine twitter from the audience. I rushed inside to seewhat had happened and found that four ladies were semi-standing in their chairs while an opossum meandered under their feet, down the aisle and under the stage. We searched backstage for him and never found him, but later, in another dimly lit scene, he wandered our from under the stage, up the aisle and back under the feet of the same four ladies. I’m not sure we ever saw them again that summer.
Mary C. Davis
In 1990 at 9-years-old I went with my Dad to audition for Annie at GVT. I got in and so did my dad, Larry Davis, a long time GVT performer. My first play! I got to play a chorus orphan with no name and I was thrilled! Though, I did get in trouble from the girl playing Annie that I was singing along with her parts. At one point I was dancing one of the numbers and as we moved to the right, I fell a couple feet off the side of the stage into the Orchestra pit. Obviously, I was too into it to look down. I got made fun of quite a lot for that. Also it was clear from watching a video of the show later that I didn’t really know the timing of the dances. I was in the front and a few moves behind everyone else in “It’s a hard knock life.” It was a ball!
PAM PAUL
I became aware of GVT when Cathey Sawyer, on Josie Helming’s recommendation, directed a production in NYC of Glory Girls, in which I acted and for the theatre I founded here—Abingdon Theatre Company. That was about 25 years ago. I came to the barn that first season to do three plays: Cemetery Club, Cole, and The Pride of East Texas.
Mary C. Davis
My first 9 seasons were all Summer Stock at the barn. I remember running around in the field outside the back stage of the barn with friends between scenes. Crisp summer evenings, catching lighting bugs, singing, laughing, being a kid! And I got to perform too! That barn had magic in it! A place without AC except for the hose with holes in it on the roof, possums running through the audience and backstage, little makeshift dressing rooms, a tiny tech booth with nails sticking out of the ceiling atop rickety stairs, one small set of bathrooms for audience and actors alike, filled with water after a heavy rain, and also filled with people with a purpose, a heartfelt need to share a story. We did it for the love! In my eyes growing up it was a place so pure, so loving, and so full of life.
The early 80s proved a time of growth for GVT, with new general manager, Harold Kingrey, coming aboard, determined to make GVT a year-round endeavor, with five summer productions in the Barn and a fall dinner theatre season at the Fort Savannah Inn. But in 1982, financial issues and the departure of key personnel led to the temporary suspension of productions for the second time in GVT’s history. Volunteer community actors, who had previously apprenticed during the professional productions, as well as theatre professionals who had relocated to Greenbrier County, became vital to GVT’s existence during the coming decade. The number of productions dropped, but live theatre was still being produced in the Greenbrier Valley.
Ann A. Benedict, from her document The History of Greenbrier Valley Theatre
Through the rest of 1998 and into the next, the Board defined three fundamental goals for positive development of Greenbrier Valley Theatre: ‘growth into a theatre marked by professional theatre attitudes and standards; the development of a sound program of youth involvement and education; and advancement toward a robust financial and volunteer infrastructure.’ Toward those ends, the Board made a bold decision and entered into a two-year relationship with Wayne Bowman as Artistic Director during the summers, as his position on the faculty at Ferrum College allowed him to do. The Barn, refurbished with funds granted by the Hollowell Foundation, welcomed nearly 4,000 people to three productions, including two sold-out performances.
With new goals in place, the board knew only a full-time artistic director could help take GVT to the next level. In 1991, after advertising the position and netting over 100 responses, their ultimate choice was an Actors’ Equity Association and Society of Stage Directors and Choreographers member, who also held an MFA in English and an MFA in directing, with experience on stage, in film and in television: Cathey Sawyer.
Barbara Wygal Lutz
Since we were out at the Barn, we performed in the summer. The line-up was usually two to three musicals and two plays. Just like today’s venue, the stage would get moved to various places in the theater. Also, like today, the larger productions always involved the core company, who were paid, supplemented by members of the community. We performed fewer shows but the schedule was similar - rehearse two to three shows at the same time while performing in a fourth. The Barn theater could never be the Equity house that the current space is but there were always excellent professional directors who created strong productions with the dedicated actors and technicians.
Kermit Medsker
Yes, I remember the barn—possums, floods, garden hose air conditioning, etc. Cathey had first called me in 1992, but I was unable to come due to prior commitments. In 1993 my schedule was clear, and so I trekked up from Memphis to spend my first season at GVT. In those days, members of the community would house actors and crew. I wasn’t too sure about how I would like that, so Cathey offered me a room at the Fort Savannah. When I arrived and met her at that little white house where the office and costume storage used to be, she said, “Before I take you to the motel, let me show you another option.” Then she drove me out to BenBuck Farm and introduced me to Ann Benedict who showed me to a charming suite. Well, thank goodness I wasn’t fool enough to turn down that housing offer.
During the 90s, it seems I always had retail jobs that slacked off during the summer, or a teaching job with a summer break, so I was able to come up at least every other year—if not for the entire season, then to act or music direct at least one or two shows. It was theatre on a shoestring in those days, but all terrific fun! And I acquired two pen pals from among the kids: Mary Davis and Anna Gibson.
Despite renovations, the Barn facility was ultimately not suited to the development of three-season programming—particularly in regard to costume and prop storage. A five-year development plan was initiated to seek out a new space, preferably with a downtown Lewisburg location, to serve as a permanent home for GVT. The search for an appropriate space quickly narrowed to one possibility: the former Leggett Department Store building on East Washington Street. The Board decided not to conduct a public campaign for the purchase of the building, but to approach a list of 40 individuals in the community for support.
THE PERMANENT HOME
Mary Ann Mann
I came on the GVT Board around 1994. The Leggett building had just been purchased and it looked pretty dismal. But Cathey made the best of it. We had a stage area in a corner in the back. I remember Cathey constantly on latrine duty—plunging toilets that constantly overflowed. She was such a trooper—willing to do anything to keep the theatre going. She wore many hats.
Courtney Susman, GVT education director
The first show I remember being in at GVT was a youth showcase in 1996 called Patchwork Adventures. GVT was still renovating the department store, so we performed on a makeshift stage in what is now our beautiful lobby. I vividly remember feeling so anxious and excited while standing behind a pinned together curtain waiting to enter for my scene.
The renovations on the theatre, which included the creation of rental retail spaces at street level, as well as the raising of the ceiling height in the area that would become the theatre itself, did not occur without considerable setbacks and delays. Productions were held both in makeshift areas of the new building and also at the Barn facility during summer months.
Mary Ann Mann
I will never forget the first time I walked into the new “black box,” which is now our stage area. I am still awestruck at the transformation of that Leggett building and how Cathey’s vision did come to fruition. The beautiful lobby and that black box sealed the deal with the community. Finally GVT was taken seriously. Taking tours through the building was so much fun—people were just amazed. I still get excited each time I enter the theatre!
Cathey Sawyer
The Grand Opening of our new facility was tremendously exciting. We had believed and finally achieved a flexible, functional, and intimate theatre space with a welcoming lobby, proper restrooms, comfortable dressing rooms for actors, room for rehearsal and for classes, and shop space. We no longer had to build sets in the sun outside the Barn, wait until the audience was seated to run to the bathroom before the show started, and dress on make-shift platforms that floated when it rained. We felt like we had arrived and could finally realize the dream of doing work that the community and the state could be proud of and work that we could be proud of. We could build our education programs and perform even in inclement weather. Our Board had a vision of building something that would draw people to the community and turn the area into an arts destination. We did it.
Courtney Susman
I was cast in my first mainstage show, A Christmas Carol, in 2000 as a partygoer and a passerby. I had a blast! The sense of community, learning of theatre protocols, and stage time was something I never wanted to stop. I knew then that I was going to do theatre for the rest of my life. In 2001, I fully threw myself at theatre because I couldn’t get enough. I volunteered to help with GVTots classes, worked as an apprentice during the summer, performed in five shows, and took all of the classes I could. After high school, I went on to earn a BFA and MFA in theatre.
Joe Murray
In 2001, I was cast as Tom in Glass Menagerie. We began in late September, two weeks after 9/11. Following that dark time where GVT delivered resilient arts to a suffering community, I asked Cathey to pick Hamlet for 2002 so I could do the role, and she told me GVT couldn’t do Hamlet. When I asked why, she told me her audience needed to heal from all that happened—healed with comedy, with fellowship, with a season that brought people together and made us remember what makes our country strong. This is the essential role of the arts. Cathey Sawyer knows what her audience needs better than anyone in the world.
Joe Lehman
I first came out to GVT back in 2005 for a remount of an original musical with local ties. It was shortly after the newly renovated theatre opened. I remember being charmed by the town and the people and impressed that they could care so deeply about their theatre to give it such a beautiful home for the future.
Mary C. Davis
Cathey has taken GVT amazingly from a humble, spirited summer stock past into a vibrant, professional year round future. Her initiative, followed and supported by many others, to move the theatre into the building where it thrives today has made GVT a permanent part of the community. She is dedicated to making high quality productions that delight, challenge, inspire, and reflect what it is to be human in a perfect little town in the mountains. It’s a gift to us all. Thank you, Cathey!
From its earliest days, GVT has maintained an educational component as part of its mission. That has taken many forms over the years, from apprenticeships to educational programming for youth—which have, historically, thrived.
EDUCATION PROGRAM
Mary Ann Mann
Probably the most significant benefit of the theatre is the youth education program. What a wonderful opportunity for the youth of our area! The experiences these children are exposed to will benefit them in any field for the rest of their lives. It is so easy to pick out a GVT kid at any event where students are subjected to public speaking. The GVT youth are poised, articulate, self-confident. It doesn’t matter what role they played in a production—backstage or onstage. It makes a difference.
Courtney Susman
Having gone through the youth education program as a kid and then working here now, I feel like I have a leg up. I can understand what the students are experiencing which allows me to be the best advocate for them that I can be. I also know all the tricks, so no fast ones are pulled on me (hopefully)!
Mary C. Davis
The teen and youth programming GVT has now is giant and incredible! I barely have an inkling of what they do, but I know how important it is. Arts education is always on the outs in schools and GVT provides inspiration, guidance, and a creative home for these youth. They are safe and supported in a place where imagination, trust, and empathy are abound. These programs make a brighter future for this society through the lives they nurture.
Ellen Gibson Goodwin
Taking my young grandchildren to productions by GVT’s Education Program. They have so enjoyed every performance, but it was seeing and talking with the students after the performances that truly enhanced their experience. It was then that they realized that Pooh, Harold, the Little Mermaid, Flounder, Belle and Gaston were “real kids” playing the characters they knew so well! And, through their eyes was this “awesome excitement” that didn’t stop when we left the theatre—they talked about their experiences for days!
Courtney Susman
Out of the roughly 120 students that we teach during our spring semesters, each year about five of them go on to pursue theatre professionally. That might not seem like a lot, but our goal isn’t to raise an army of actors, we want to teach life skills through theatre. We also want to be a resource for those who wish to study theatre. While students are learning with us they experience and appreciate all of the work that goes into theatre. For most students who go through GVT and study something other than theatre, there’s a life-long respect of theatre which can range from becoming a theatregoer, volunteer, donor, or community actor/technician.
Mary C. Davis
Each role I played is like a precious little gem in my acting treasure box. Each part taught me something about myself and the world. I couldn’t get enough of that special feeling of being on stage, playing a character, and sharing a moment with an audience that will never be just the same again.
Amelia Anthony
I took after-school classes at GVT for 10 years and I have never had a better theatre experience. Every teacher I had was incredible, helpful and willing to assist in any way they could. My peers were amazing as well. … I especially loved how immersed in the theatre we could truly become, how much we became exposed to regarding how the technical aspects of theatre work and how much goes into making a play. I love every second at GVT and I always will! This place is my home. It’s where I grew up and where I’ll always come back to.
Kermit Medsker
What changes I have seen here in the last twenty five years! How the theatre has grown! From a staff of two or three to a staff of fifteen or more—from a barn to a state-of-the-art space—from a summer season of four plays to a year round season of seven or eight, with a separate eclectic music series—from a summer camp for kids to a year round comprehensive education program that includes a fully produced major musical for the teens—and, of course to becoming the State Professional Theatre of West Virginia!
I have a friend in New York City, a dancer from the Golden Age, who once pointed out to me that the urban renewal on the west side and indeed, the entire city, had begun with the construction of Lincoln Center. And when you think about the world throughout history, this is so often true in cities and towns of all sizes. An investment by the community in the arts and culture is an investment that returns riches that cannot be measured.
FUNNY STORIES
Dr. Larry Davis
“I was this clergyman in Merry Wives of Windsor with a mustache held in place by gum arabic. I was up on stairs stage left looking at Cathey Sawyer on a landing at center stage. The whole left half of the mustache came loose, and when I breathed out it would pivot out in front and tickle my nose. While I was trying to conceal this from the audience and say lines. I could see that Cathey was over there giggling to herself.”
Joe Lehman
Noises Off—just so much fun and when Lee Blair had his toupee flip up on his head after his pratfall down the stairs and everyone lost it, how he would try to make it happen every night usually succeeding.
Courtney Susman
One of the funniest memories I have is from our 2014 production of Babes in Toyland. I had to step in and play the mayor for a few performances. I didn’t have a rehearsal, but it was a small enough role that I wasn’t too concerned. In a mayoral fashion I carried a clipboard onstage with my lines in case I needed to peek at them. Before the big town party song, the mayor declares, “Let the celebration begin!” This line was a cue for Kermit Medsker to start playing the song and for the actors to get into places for the dance. I completely blanked. I froze so badly that I forgot to look at my clipboard. There were about 25 of my students on stage and I smiled and declared loudly the first thing that came to my mind which was ‘Let’s set this party on fire!’ About every other week a student says ‘Let’s set this party on fire!’ to me. They won’t let that go anytime soon.
IMPACT OF GVT
Alan Porch
There are so many stories and memories that come to mind but what I remember most is how special the company was, how much everyone at GVT, board members, volunteers, community members made me feel like a part of their family. No matter how long the rehearsals or the days we almost always laughed. GVT was my family for all the years I worked there and I will love and respect the people I knew always. GVT made me feel special and empowered and helped me share the magic of theatre. Here’s to 50 more years!
Mary Ann Mann
Cathey’s dream of making GVT a professional theatre was genius. As a result of her amazing talents we are now an Equity theatre and a destination for actors of all ages and celebrity. GVT now has an amazing national presence.
Courtney Susman
Cathey is the core of GVT’s success. Every staff member, actor, designer, etc. who has worked here over the past 26 years has been influenced by her. Just like so many others, I am a direct product of her hard work here at GVT which trickles down to every student I work with. She has built a strong foundation of artistic excellence and community service that will continue throughout the years.
Ellen Gibson Goodwin
Being involved in the very early years of the Theatre are wonderful memories for me. So, it is somewhat surreal that I am again involved with GVT. I have had the pleasure of serving on the board and as its president last year. And, to chair GVT’s 50th Anniversary Celebration is indeed an honor and a pleasure. To have the opportunity to give back to an organization that touched my heart and soul is not only gratifying but a responsibility.
Barbara Wygal Lutz
The characteristics of a southern upbringing, artistic sensibilities and just plain bravery are what I believe helped form the vision Cathey had for GVT to become a year-round performing company housed in a permanent, fully-equipped theater. The “charm” of the Barn is gone but live theater is not.
Cathey Sawyer
We have survived a lot. We were seriously impacted by the June 23, 2016 floods. With so much water, the city’s drainage system couldn’t handle all the water and basements on Washington Street filled with water. Our basement floor cracked and water filled our costume and prop shops and storage with nearly 6 feet of water. Fifty years of costumes and props, antiques, specialty stage items were under all that water. When the disaster crew finally got the water down so we could survey the damage, it was shocking. Broken glass, furniture and rugs soaked, costumes filled with mud, shelves overturned - it was emotional for all of us, but we threw ourselves into clearing it out, making space for the clean-up. So much was going on, so many families hurting, that we felt like we shouldn’t complain, we should just soldier on. We only lost one performance, and once the word got out that we had been affected, the wonderful folks of this community came by and took costumes and props home with them to clean and help us salvage what we could.
Joe Murray
I don’t know if I can put into words what GVT means to me, as an artist and as an example of everything that is right about theatre in America. GVT has developed into one of the most important artistic and cultural centers in the mid-Atlantic states. The place is home to Professional theatre, Met opera, WV Jazz Orchestra, community theatre, Washington Street Strutters, poetry readings, art installations, cabaret performances, literary teas, and the education of our children. GVT is indispensable.
Joe Lehman
GVT holds a special place in my heart as does the unique town of Lewisburg. 50 years is such an amazing accomplishment in any industry let alone one whose brick and mortar is stories and memories. So excited to see what the next half century brings for GVT.
