The co-stars of the upcoming show at Richmond Triangle Players (RTP) are very excited about an unexpected upgrade to their production. Even so, one aspect of the show has become somewhat more awkward as a result.
“The Three O’Clock Briefing” is the latest homegrown original work by prolific Richmond playwright Bo Wilson. First drafted in 2014, there was a table read of the play at Virginia Rep in 2018. “I was pleased by the promise [the play] showed but I was in the middle of several other projects, so I decided to let it marinate,” says Wilson.
Wilson eventually brought the play to RTP and plans coalesced around holding a staged reading with maybe two or three public performances to support further development of the script. Two veteran actors were cast with established relationships with RTP, Evan Nasteff and Kendall Walker.
Walker is the company’s community engagement manager; she has also directed and appeared in several shows there. Nasteff has numerous local credits going back to 2011, including appearances at RTP in “This Bitter Earth” and “Cabaret.”
Conveniently, Nasteff and Walker are also a couple who have been together for more than three years.
As scheduling progressed, it became clear to the creative team that they had more development time than they thought. Then Nasteff had an idea related to a particularly pivotal scene at the end of Act 1.
“Evan had the idea that it would be a lot more visceral if we didn’t have scripts in our hands,” recalls Walker. After a lot of discussion and with director Lucian Restivo on board, the team decided to upgrade the staged reading to a developmental premiere. The change meant that the actors would be off-book and other theatrical elements – lighting, costumes, and a set – would all be created.
It also meant additional pressure on the show’s stars. “Given how condensed the rehearsal process has been, we’ve had to put in a lot of outside hours simply in memorizing our lines,” says Walker.
Also, one key aspect of the story that might have drawn little attention during a couple of staged readings now becomes more inescapable across a two-week run.
“The weirdest I feel about the show is when I tell non-theater people that we’re playing brother and sister,” says Nasteff.
Set in an unnamed location in the Middle East, the plot of “Briefing” concerns journalist Roberta “Bobbi” Bookman (Walker) who used to work as a military public affairs officer (PAO) and her older brother, Lt. Col. Cary Bookman (Nasteff), who is currently a PAO for the US Marines. Bobbi is trying to get Cary to confirm the facts of a story she’s working on but he refuses to do so.
The professional battle ultimately exposes a more personal and painful backstory, raising the stakes of the conflict.
“The benefit of us being chosen to do this is the chemistry that you would normally spend time building in rehearsals, we came in with that,” says Walker. “Whether it’s finishing each other’s sentences or taking playful jabs at each other, those little things that come with a family relationship, that came really naturally.”
“It kind of feels like skipping a grade in school,” adds Nasteff.
The two actors had only been in one production together previously, a one-night Bootleg Shakespeare event where they never had a scene together.
“It’s been so fun and it’s such a unique opportunity,” says Walker. “But I still like to make it as weird as possible, walking around our home calling him ‘bro.’”
“The Three O’Clock Briefing” runs April 23 – May 3 at Richmond Triangle Players, 1300 Altamont Ave. Tickets and more information available at https://rtriangle.org/.
