'Ragtime' brings the curtain down on San Antonio's Woodlawn Theatre

So it means a lot to her that she's playing Sarah, one of the key roles in "Ragtime." The musical, which opens Friday, is the company's final mainstage production before moving to Wonderland of the Americas Mall this summer.

"It feels like an honor," Williams said, noting that the show also is the first she is choreographing. "It’s been a home for people of color, for minorities, for anybody underrepresented. I think the Woodlawn is one of those places that really started to take those chances first, and say 'You’re new, but we still welcome you here. You don’t have to suck up and pay your dues.  If you have talent, we want to see you onstage. We want to give you that shot.'

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"I think so many of us feel like we grew up here, and we just are excited to see it growing into what it’s going to continue to be in the new space."

Ragtime

When: Opens Friday. 7:30 p.m. Fridays-Saturdays and 3 p.m. Sundays through March 26.

Where: Woodlawn Theatre, 1920 Fredericksburg Road.

Tickets: $18-$32, woodlawntheatre.org.

 

 

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On ExpressNews.com: The Woodlawn Theatre has a lengthy history

The community theater company, which took on the name Wonder Theatre in January, is slowly working through a big to-do list to prep for the move. Once "Ragtime" is up and running, staff and volunteers will begin packing, starting with the administrative offices. A capital campaign to raise about $1 million is underway, too. And work has begun to transform two former movie auditoriums at the mall into Wonder's new theater and academy.

The plan is to be out of the Woodlawn by May 2.

Auditions take place March 11-13 for the first slate of shows in the new space: "Grease," "Into the Woods," "Kinky Boots" and "Meet Me in St. Louis."

For the first time since the company started doing season auditions, all of the slots were snapped up in just 24 hours. A total of 227 people signed up, a big increase over the 100 or 150 who typically take part. And the theater has gotten lots of emails and queries on social media from others who want to try out.

"People are excited abut the shows we're doing," said Christopher Rodriguez, who has served as the company's executive and artistic director since 2015. "People are excited to be in that space."

So is he.

"I almost feel like it’s us going off to college," he said. "It’s us leaving the nest. We’ve been in this space, it’s been comforting, it’s been home. We will always come back and still be part of the community, but we’re going to go off on our own and doing it in a new area, which is only a 5- to 8- minute drive up the street."

The Woodlawn, which opened in 1945 as a movie theater, has had a long history as home to live theater. Richard Rosen, who would later found Magik Theatre, produced original work there with some friends for about two years starting in 1980. Various ventures operated there after that, including a nightclub. From 1998 to 2005, Actors Theater of San Antonio produced shows in the space, followed by producer Jonathan Pennington, who staged musicals there for about six years.

The company based there now took over in 2012, led first by the late Greg Hinojosa. It built a reputation for big, well-staged musicals, including "Catch Me If You Can," "Avenue Q," "Priscilla, Queen of the Desert" and a production of "Mary Poppins" that sent the nanny flying out into the auditorium. It also is known for designer Benjamin Graybill's richly detailed sets.

The company brought in competitors from "RuPaul's Drag Race" to star in productions of "The Rocky Horror Show" for several years, drawing enormous crowds. And it has presented late-night cabarets in the lobby that gave vocalists opportunities to perform in a more intimate setting.

It also has built an expansive education program, now dubbed the Wonder Academy, which offers classes for all ages and also stages productions.

Some of the folks in "Ragtime" go back to the early days, including Megan DeYoung. She is playing Mother in the show, roughly 10 years after her Woodlawn debut as the Lady of the Lake in "Spamalot." Some of her castmates in that deeply silly musical remain her closest friends, she said.

DeYoung did several shows at the theater after "Spamalot," including "Into the Woods" and "White Christmas." "Ragtime" is her first there in a while.

"To have been part of one of the original shows and then to be back in this space, it means so much," she said. "I've thought about Greg a lot during this, and it's a little bittersweet. It's overwhelming."

On ExpressNews.com: San Antonio theater artist Greg Hinojosa dies at 57

Antonio Cruz, who plays Houdini in "Ragtime," has been a part of the theater's family since 2019. He first got to know the space as a patron, bringing his youngers sisters to shows during Christmas visits to San Antonio. When he moved to the city at the end of 2018, he started auditioning. "Ragtime" is his seventh Woodlawn show.

"Every show I did made me want to do another one," he said. "Coming in as a new person in 'Oklahoma!,' where everyone knew each other except for me, I was pretty welcomed in. I've been in experiences in other towns where that’s not been the case, so that’s always brought me back here, and I think we do great programing here, too."

He said all of the shows he's done have been significant to him, but "Ragtime" stands out.

"I get to be part of closing this chapter on this amazing stage with this incredible story," he said. "Also, the Woodlawn was where I made my first friends here. So to be in a show at the place that made the city feel like home to me with the people that made this feel like home, that’s probably the most powerful thing, aside from just how magnificent the show is."

"Ragtime" is a big show that deals with some challenging themes. Adapted from E.L. Doctorow's 1975 novel set at the turn of the 20th century, it explores America's promise as well as the racism, misogyny and anti-immigrant sentiment woven into its fabric.

There will be content warnings, because the show includes racial slurs as well as some police brutality and gunshots.

The show was last staged in San Antonio in 2013, when The Playhouse (now The Public Theater of San Antonio) produced it at the Charline McCombs Empire Theatre.

Williams was a part of that production, too. She said the show may be set in the past, but the issues it raises remain relevant. Her character is gravely injured in a confrontation with police, an event that evokes the deaths of George Floyd and Breonna Taylor, among others.

"We need to do what theater is supposed to do and use the show to turn a light on what’s happening in our world and let it be transformational for our audiences and for ourselves," she said. "And that’s one of the reasons I love the show, why I wanted to do it again and why I wanted to do it at the Woodlawn, where I had found a home."

She's looking forward to continuing to work with the company after the move.

"Everybody who's here loves what they’re doing, loves doing it together, and it really does feel like a team effort," she said. "And it's the people, not the building. At this point, we're all just excited that we have this history here, and we are excited to see how that same atmosphere travels to a new space."

dlmartin@express-news.net | Twitter: @DeborahMartinEN