Joseph W. Ritsch, Producing Artistic Director of Rep Stage. Photo Courtesy of Rep Stage.
Rep Stage was founded in 1993 by Valerie Lash at Howard Community College. It has been the only theatre in residence at a community college in the country. Its professional casts and creative teams have brought classic, contemporary, and new professional productions to residents of Howard County and the surrounding area. Rep Stage usually performs at the Studio Theatre at the Horowitz Center for the Arts at HCC. It is a member of the Theatre Communications Group, Actors’ Equity Association, the National New Play Network and a member of Theatre Washington/Helen Hayes Awards. The company has been supported by donations, the Howard County Arts Council, and Maryland State Arts Council.
Sadly, its tenure at HCC will be ending with their spring production this year of “Falsettos” which was the first musical they produced 29 years ago. It is a Tony Award-winner, with music and lyrics by William Fiann and book by Finn and James Lapine. The characters in “Falsettos” include a charming and intelligent man, his wife, his lover, and his about-to-be-bar-mitzvahed son. It is both “hilarious and poignant.”
I had a chance to speak to Joseph W. Ritsch, Producing Artistic Director of Rep Stage who, fittingly, will be directing and choreographing “Falsettos.”
JOSEPH W. RITSCH is a director, choreographer and playwright who is currently the Producing Artistic Director at Rep Stage. Rep Stage directing credits include: “Venus in Fur,” “Sunset Baby,” “Technicolor Life,” “Antigone Project: A Play in 5 Parts,” “The Other Place,” “Dorian’s Closet,” “All She Must Possess,” “Sweeney Todd: The Demon Barber of Fleet Street,” “The 39 Steps,” “Souvenir,” “E2,” “Songs for a New World,” and the upcoming production of “Falsettos.” Joseph’s other recent directing credits include: “Machinal, “The Amish Project,” “Small Mouth Sounds” and “The Grown Up” (UMBC Department of Theatre); “Pride & Prejudice” (Catholic University School of Drama); “Spring Awakening” (Towson University); the multiple Helen Hayes nominated production of “OLIVER!” (Adventure Theatre); “The Understudy,” and “The Importance of Being Earnest” (Everyman Theatre.) He holds an MFA in theatre from Towson University, a BA in theater & dance from The School of Performing Arts at The University of Maine, and completed his initial graduate studies in the acting track at the Professional Program at Playwrights Horizons in New York City. Joseph was also a company member with Jane Comfort & Company. Joseph is a proud member of the Stage Directors and Choreographers Society (SDC) and serves on the Advisory Board of Theatre Washington.
“Falsettos” seems to be at this point the last of Rep Stage’s productions at Howard Community College. Did you know that when you chose this show or did it just work out this way?
“Falsettos” had been programed for the 2020-2021 Season and was canceled due to the pandemic shutdown. September, when I knew this was going to be Rep Stage’s final season, is when I began to rethink the programing for this spring, and decided to close with the show. A design team and partial cast had been secured back in 2020. It’s been really wonderful that all artists except for one were all still available and very excited to continue with the production.
As your time at HCC is ending, what is the future, if any, for Rep Stage? Will it locate elsewhere or just end?
Rep Stage is part of Howard Community College and not its own nonprofit entity. Due to this, there are no plans for Rep Stage to relocate.
Can you tell us one or two productions that you have done that you will always remember and why?
This is kind of like asking someone to identify their favorite child. “Venus in Fur” was the first show I directed in the first season I programmed, so “firsts” always hold a special place. I am also very proud of the new plays we have produced. In my tenure at Rep Stage, I have produced seven world premieres of new plays with a focus on playwrights that identify either as women or a part of the LGBTQ+ community. Two of these seven plays were the highest grossing productions in Rep Stage history. Five of the seven playwrights are local to the DC/MD/VA region. I have also produced eight regional premieres of new plays that included such playwrights as Dominique Morisseau, Samuel D. Hunter, Bess Wohl, and James Ijames, to name a few. During the pandemic shut down, I commissioned 10 local regional playwrights to write monologues about “love” which were rehearsed virtually, then filmed, edited, and streamed online.
What are your personal plans, theatrically, for the future?
As of now, my future plans are unknown.
What do you hope Rep Stage’s impact has been on Howard County and the surrounding area?
As I reflect back over my past nine years as Rep’s artistic leader, I am most proud of creating a theatre where folx feel at home. Whether it is the energy of the rehearsal room, the stories presented onstage, or interacting with patrons, staff, and artists, I have always strived for creating a theatre in which folx feel seen, heard, and celebrated in all aspects of the work we do. I hope our audiences have experienced times where they have seen themselves reflected onstage in a way that was true, perhaps even unexpected, and other times when they have seen someone very different from themselves represented in a way that expanded their hearts and minds. These experiences can only come when the artists creating the work also feel seen, heard, and celebrated in a brave space.
“Falsettos” will run April 27 – May 14, 2023 at the Studio Theatre at Howard Community College,
Howard Community College, 10901 Little Patuxent Parkway, Columbia, MD 21044. For information and tickets, email BoxOffice@howardcc.edu, call the Box Office at (443) 518-1500, or go to this link.
