Arts This Week: Persimmon Tree Players present “All Bark, No Bite”
By Sage Tanguay
Date: 04/26/2025 - 05/04/2025
Coco Ahn 00:08
The Persimmon Tree Players will be performing the play, “All Bark, No Bite” on April, 26th and 27th and May 3rd and 4th at the historic Victory Hall Theater in Scottsville, Virginia. For Arts This Week we spoke with the director and the assistant director/ stage manager, about the play.
John Rabasa 00:24
Hi, my name is John Rabasa. I am the director of All Bark, No Bite.
Pat Macomber 00:28
And I’m Pat Macomber. I am the assistant director as well as the stage manager for the play.
John Rabasa 00:33
“All Bark, No Bite” by Kara Emily Krantz is a love story involving several couples who have to work out their issues with commitment and love for each other.
Pat Macomber 00:44
We had a conversation with the playwright. She’s really excited. This is the Virginia premiere of the show, and she refers to it as a romantic comedy with heart. I still just snort sometimes when I’m watching the show. It’s a very funny, well written play, and the characters will win you over. You have Eugene, who is the curmudgeon. You have Bella, who just loves everybody, and she does truly believe that there will be peace in our lifetime. And you have Charlotte, who is so wonderfully intelligent and organized, and she’s learning to deal with messy things, and that’s quite humorous. Then you have Robert who tries very hard to be honest and and take things in stride. And you have Suzanne, who just grabs life and shakes it for all it’s worth. So you have a lot of really unique characters that learn to love each other.
Coco Ahn 01:35
What’s it been like seeing the script come to life, and seeing what was on the page now be played out by people?
John Rabasa 01:41
One of the things I love about the process is that you start with an idea of the characters in mind, but it’s only half-formed, because the other part comes from the actors, how they interpret it, what the energy they bring in, the choices they bring. And so our job as directors is to let that creativity, that co-creativity, unfold.
Pat Macomber 02:01
Everybody’s ideas and suggestions are taken at face value, and you give it a try, and if it works, it works, and if it doesn’t, we’d find something else. But they are amazingly creative people and just a blast to work with.
Coco Ahn 02:14
I’d like to talk about your group, persimmon tree players, who are the type of people who are involved.
Pat Macomber 02:18
I moved here about four and a half years ago, met Persimmon Tree Players about four years ago and have been involved ever since. It’s all volunteer. It’s been around for about 50 years. When COVID hit, there wasn’t a lot going on, but some of the movers and shakers on the board and with the organization itself, they found a local winery that has a really nice, big deck, and convinced them to let us do plays there. So during COVID, they kept theater going in central Virginia, which was a wonderful thing to do. I definitely think live theater is so important, because part of what makes it so wonderful is the way the actors will feed off the audience and vice versa, and you can enjoy a movie or streaming something and have a conversation with the person you’re with, but the interaction with the theater goers, with the actors afterwards, I think it’s magical. It’s just magical to watch a performance just blossom because the audience is so into the characters.
John Rabasa 03:17
I’m already anticipating where the laughs are going to be but we never know for sure. There’s something that might tickle somebody one way differently one night from the other night. I really hope that for two hours they forget whatever they have on their mind, because this is a simple, beautiful, loving story. It’s about love and about coming together as a family. So I really hope that for at least the time they’re with us. They’re just enjoying themselves, engaged with the actors, engaged with the lines, and they laugh.
Pat Macomber 03:47
Depending on what show you come to you might want to come in early and enjoy the town. There’s a great little coffee shop, a couple good places for dinners and meals. So Scottsville is great.
Coco Ahn 03:58
The Persimmon Tree Players performance of “All Bark, No Bite” will play on April 26th and 27th, and May 3rd and 4th at the historic Victory Hall Theater in Scottsville, Virginia. More information is available www.persimmontreeplayers.org .
Arts This Week is supported by the UVA Arts Council and Piedmont Virginia Community College. PVCC Arts presents a rich array of dance music, theater and visual arts programming. Learn more at pvcc.edu
