Virginia Repertory Theatre

Staff and Board of Directors

Staff can be reached at (804) 783-1688 and the extensions below.

Desirée RootsDesirée Roots is one of Virginia’s best known and most accomplished performing artists. She is the first of three Artistic Directors to be announced in a new leadership model that will steer all artistic aspects of Virginia Rep.

Roots began her association with Virginia Rep at age 16, when she served as a high school intern with Theatre IV, which merged with Barksdale Theatre to form Virginia Rep in 2012. Her first professional engagement was when she appeared in the cast of Theatre IV’s production of Ain’t Misbehavin’ in 1988. Since then, she has starred in numerous Theatre IV, Barksdale Theatre and Virginia Rep productions, most recently The Color Purple, Dreamgirls, Caroline or Change and Ella and Her Fella Frank.

Roots has vast experience in the Richmond area working with schools and businesses to build community awareness and appreciation for the arts. Her professional background includes working as Program Coordinator for Richmond Jazz Society and as Booking Manager for Downtown Presents (now Venture Richmond). She studied Musicology at the University of Michigan and has a B.A. in Art Education/Performance from Virginia Union University. She was honored with the 2005 Theresa Pollak Award for Outstanding Vocalist in Virginia, is a member of Actors’ Equity Association, and is a panel judge for the Virginia Commission for the Arts.

As Artistic Director – Community at Virginia Repertory Theatre, Roots is the senior artistic leader of one of Virginia Reps three focus areas: Community Health and Leadership. Her chief responsibilities include:

  • ensuring that Virginia Rep’s historic commitment to social justice and racial equity remains front and center in every aspect of the company’s operation,
  • staffing the Inclusion, Diversity, Equity and Access Committee of the Board of Directors,
  • leading the artistic team that supervises all music operations,
  • conducting and recording the ongoing racial equity audit,
  • directing specific Community Health + Wellness programs including TALL (Theatre Arts Learning League, a mentoring program for rising 4th through 6th grade youth from low socioeconomic status families), and
  • stewarding ongoing partnerships with Richmond Public Schools and Virginia Union University.

Ext. 1001, droots@virginiarep.org

Todd NorrisTodd is an American theatre director, educator, writer, and actor. He recently served as president of the International Museum Theatre Alliance and continues to act as an advisor.

Todd comes to Virginia Rep from the Children’s Museum of Indianapolis, IN — the world’s largest children’s museum — where he worked since 2013, serving as Director of Interpretation and then Associate Vice President of Interpretation and Family Programs. In these roles, he was responsible for fiscal management, artistic direction for its professional children’s theatre seasons, coordinating holistic approaches to gallery performances, and overseeing quality for hundreds of daily programs.

From 2003 - 2013, Todd worked at the Colonial Williamsburg Foundation, eventually becoming Senior Manager of Performance Interpretation. While at Colonial Williamsburg, he also acted in several episodes of their Emmy-Award winning Electronic Field Trips and directed and performed in many evening programs and special events. Favorite previous directing assignments include Humble Boy, Tales of Olympus, Eleemosynary, and The Santa Clues.

He has taught and directed at several schools including The College of William and Mary, Christopher Newport University, Alice Lloyd College, and Wright State University.

He was born in Columbus, OH, and received his M.F.A. in Acting from University of Louisville and his B.A. in Theatre Performance, with a minor in music, from the University of Findlay. He is a member of the Stage Directors and Choreographers Society.

Todd will focus on programs for children, families, and schools including touring programs and arts in education. He and Desirée Roots will lead Virginia Rep’s award-winning Community Health + Wellness program, which creates, implements and assesses model projects that demonstrate how theatre can be used as an effective tool in addressing critical educational and societal challenges.

His responsibilities at Virginia Rep include leadership of all programming with children, families and schools as well as liaising with the Virginia Dept. of Education, Virginia PTA, Virginia Commonwealth University, the Virginia Museum of Fine Arts, and the Virginia Museum of History & Culture. He is co-leader (with the Artistic Director – Community) of Virginia Rep’s award-winning Community Health + Wellness program which seeks to create, implement and assess model projects that demonstrate how theatre can be used as an effective tool in addressing critical educational and societal challenges.

Ext. 1140, tdnorris@virginiarep.org

Rick HammerlyRick has worked as an award-winning, DC-based actor, director, filmmaker, and arts manager for over three decades.

He received a 2018 Helen Hayes Award for his direction of Lela & Co. and a 2020 Helen Hayes Award nomination for his direction of Agnes of God, both for Factory 449. Other directing credits include Dizzy Miss Lizzie’s Roadside Revue’s The Brontes (New York Musical Theatre Festival), Reykjavik (Rorschach Theatre), Emilie: La Marquise du Châtelet Defends Her Life Tonight (WSC Avant Bard), Driving Miss Daisy featuring Karen Grassle (Riverside Center for the Performing Arts), Junie B. Jones Is Not a Crook (Adventure Theatre MTC), Dead Man Walking (American University) and Closet Land (Factory 449). In 2015/16, he was selected to participate in The Shakespeare Theatre Company’s inaugural Directors’ Studio program.

As an actor, he has performed Off-Broadway and regionally, receiving a Helen Hayes Award for his turn as Hedwig in Signature Theatre’s production of Hedwig and the Angry Inch, as well as nominations for his work in Angels in America (Signature Theatre), Me and Jezebel (MetroStage) and Oliver! (Adventure Theatre MTC). For ten years, he played Mr. Fezziwig in Ford’s Theatre’s annual production of A Christmas Carol and was most recently seen as Miss Tracy Mills in Round House Theatre’s The Legend of Georgia McBride.

His debut film, signage, which he wrote, directed, and produced, has screened in over 60 film festivals worldwide, receiving 6 film festival awards and was subsequently licensed by MTV’s LOGO Channel.

He is a founder and the current Producing Artistic Director of Factory 449, the recipient of multiple Helen Hayes Awards, including the John Aniello Award for Outstanding Emerging Theatre Company, and the Executive Director of the Washington Area Performing Arts Video Archive (WAPAVA).

Rick is a member of the Stage Directors and Choreographers Society (SDC) and Actors’ Equity Association (AEA). He received a B.A. in Theatre from the University of Virginia, an M.A. in Film & Video Production from American University, and has completed the coursework for an M.A. in Arts Management, also from AU.

As Virginia Rep's Artistic Director of Programming, he provides leadership of our programming with adult audiences (the Signature Season, Hanover Season, and Partnership Productions) including our strategic planning processes. He is also our key liaison with the national theatre industry.

Ext. 1262, rlhammerly@virginiarep.org

Rick wratchfordAfter more than a decade as managing director for the American Shakespeare Center in Staunton, Va., Amy pivoted in early 2021 to launch The Wratchford Group, a nationally known arts management consultancy with regional theater clients throughout Virginia as well as Florida, California and Chicago.

Prior to leading the American Shakespeare Center, she was managing director of Synchronicity Theatre in Atlanta, and spent a decade in New York, acting, directing, and producing. Amy holds a Bachelor of Fine Arts in acting from the New York University Tisch School of the Arts and a Master in Fine Arts in performing arts management from Brooklyn College.

Amy has been immersed in the Virginia theater scene for 13 years and has a history with Virginia Rep, having participated in several of our strategic planning processes. She has an incredible passion for the arts, deep compassion for the people who make a theater run, and a keen understanding of the role we play within our community. Her expertise in interim theater leadership, financial analysis and organizational structure assessment and reorganization is precisely what we need right now as we chart an exciting future and launch a national search for our next managing director.

Ext. 1238, awratchford@virginiarep.org

Martha Quinn - Chair
Christopher S. Reina, PhD - Vice Chair
Meredith Miles - Corporate Secretary
Laura Lee Chandler - Immediate Past Chair

Jason De La Cruz
Trish Forman
Dr. Barbara M. Glenn
EmJay Johnson
Kathy Messick
Kendall Baltimore Neely
Carolyn Paulette
Susan Rickman
Martha Shickle
Vivian White
Leanne Yanni, MD

All Staff

Artistic Director of Programming - Rick Hammerly - ext. 1262

Artistic Director of Education - Todd D. Norris - ext. 1140

Artistic Director of Community - Desirée Roots - ext. 1001

Production Manager - Ginnie Willard

Production Associate- Hannah Hoffert

Technical Directors - Tommy Hawfield, Hans Paul

Carpenter - Shawn Goodman

Carpentry Apprentice - Hannah Joel Patteson

Scenic Charge Artist - Amy Gethins Sullivan

Scenic Artist - Dasia Gregg

Props Supervisor - Cai Hayner

Scenic/Props Apprentice - Alondra Castro

Production Electrician - Kacey Yachuw

Lighting Apprentice - Dennis Cheeks

Audio Visual Supervisor - Jonathan Pratt

Audio Visual Apprentice - Trusten Murrah

Director of Costumes - Sue Griffin - ext. 1248

Cutter/Draper - Marcia Miller Hailey - ext. 1248

Facilities Manager - Bruce Rennie - ext. 1244

Custodial Services - Tim Bethea

Company Manager - Donna Warfield - ext. 1120

Arts in Education Manager - Amber Martinez - ext. 1142

Education Manager - Vivian Preston Schwartz - ext. 1151

Tour Assistant - SJ Phillips

Student Field Trips - Please contact the Box Office at (804) 282-2620.

Interim Managing Director - Amy Wratchford - awratchford@virginiarep.org

Executive Assistant - Jessi Johnson Peterson - ext. 1125

Assistant Director of Development - Melissa Haber - ext. 1263

Community Health + Wellness Manager - Jamie Wilson - ext. 1123

Development Assistant - Austen Weathersby

Director of Sales - Mark Persinger - ext. 1118

Communications Consultant - Liz Nance - ext. 1133

Graphic Designer - Druanne Cummins

Internet Services Manager - Jessica Daugherty

Marketing Associate - Kylee Márquez-Downie

Box Office Manager - Janine Sears - ext. 1194

Assistant Box Office Manager – Shannon Frazier

Box Office Associates – Sam Cook, D.J. Cummings, Erin Dabrowski, Leanna Hicks, Joel Kimling, Emily Stava -- Please use (804) 282-2620

Front of House Manager/Rentals Coordinator – Janelle Cottman

Chief Financial Officer - Mike Muldowney

Accounting Associate - Sara Heifetz - ext. 1124

External Auditor - Keiter

Human Resources Manager - Lisa Kotula - ext. 1114

HR Consultant - Tinker HR

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