Bobby Smith Appeared on Broadway in Crazy for You. Off Broadway: Forever Plaid (original cast), Kander and Ebb’s The World Goes ‘Round, and the revival of George Gershwin’s Of Thee I Sing. National tours include Brigadoon and The World Goes ‘Round. His most recent projects include: No Place to Go, a solo performance written by Ethan Lipton that garnered 3 nominations for outstanding artistry by The Helen Hayes Awards committee, along with his performance in She Loves Me for which he was nominated as well.

He is featured in the new film Burst the Silence, based on a world premiere musical by Robbie Schaefer that will be released later this year. He appears annually as a soloist in Wolf Trap National Park for the Performing Arts’ concert Broadway in The Park featuring the Wolf Trap Orchestra with Maestro Jon Kalbfleisch. Solo performances include The National Symphony Orchestra with Maestro Kent Nagano; The Richmond Symphony under the direction of Maestro George Manahan, The Baltimore Symphony Orchestra Maestro Jack Everly Conductor and The American Pops Orchestra with Luke Frazier and Liz Calloway. Recordings of Ben Bagley’s’ Rodgers and Hart Revisited and Resnois’ Gershwin, Disney’s Freaky Friday, and Cameron Macintosh’s The Fix. Performance and directing credits include Old Globe Theatre, Alley Theatre, Alliance Theatre, Denver Center, Philadelphia Theatre Company, Barter Theatre, La Jolla Playhouse, Olney Theatre Center, The Gem Theatre, Ford’s Theatre.

After relocating to Washington DC, Mr. Smith has received 19 Helen Hayes nominations and is the recipient of 3 Helen Hayes Awards for outstanding performance by a leading actor. Most recently he was one of five artists to be honored with The Anderson-Hopkins Award recognizing actors and artists of the DC theater community whose creative lives demonstrate great accomplishment to date and promise for the future. Created and originated roles for Stuart Ross, Susan Stroman, Scott Ellis, John Kander and Greg Pierce, Royce Vavrek and Josh Schmidt, John Dempsey and Dana Rowe, Neil Bartram and Brian Hill, Liesl Tommy. A few productions at the Tony award winning Signature Theatre include Grand Hotel A Little Night Music, Titanic, Simply Sondheim, Company, Midwestern Gothic, Road Show, Threepenny Opera, Passion, Assassins, Disney’s Freaky Friday, Michael John Lachiusa’s See What I Want To See, La Cage aux Folles [Helen Hayes Award for Outstanding Actor], and Spin [Helen Hayes Award for Outstanding Supporting Actor].

Other credits consist of Studio Theatre: A Class Act [Helen Hayes Award nomination for Outstanding Lead Actor in a Resident Musical], Paula Vogel’s’ The Long Christmas Ride Home, Caroline or Change, Grey Gardens, Reefer Madness, [Helen Hayes Award nomination for Outstanding Lead Actor in a Resident Musical], Jerry Springer: The Opera. Theater J: Two Jews Walk into a War. Ford’s Theatre: Elmer Gantry, Violet, A Christmas Carol, Liberty Smith, 1776. Round House Theatre: A Year with Frog and Toad [Helen Hayes Award nomination for Outstanding Lead Actor in a Resident Musical]. Metro Stage: Girl in a Goldfish Bowl, The Musical of Musicals, [Helen Hayes Award nomination for Outstanding Lead Actor in a Resident Musical], Jacques Brel is Alive and Well and Living in Paris [Helen Hayes Award for Outstanding Actor] The Kennedy Center: The Happy Prince, The Flea and the Professor. Olney Theatre Center: On the Town, The Sound of Music [Helen Hayes Award Nomination for Outstanding supporting Actor], Annie [Helen Hayes Award nomination for Outstanding Lead Actor in a Resident Musical].

He played Lumiere in Olney Theatre Center’s nationally recognized, groundbreaking production of Beauty and the Beast directed by Marcia Milgrom Dodge, who’s vision was to redefine beauty by rebranding the characters and the Disney princess by casting different body types, ethnicities and actors with disabilities. He has directed and choreographed for colleges and regional theaters across the country including Alley Theatre, Denver Center, Philadelphia Theatre Company, Seaside Music Theatre, Olney Theatre Center, Ford’s Theatre, Montgomery College, George Mason University and Old Globe Theatre. Mr. Smith has had the pleasure of working with students for over ten years. He teaches Acting the Text and Directing for Music Theatre at Catholic University of America, The Kennedy Center where he is the co-chair and instructor for the American College Theatre Festival musical theater fellows, Overtures for Signature Theatre, Theatre Lab, American University, George Mason University, Montgomery College, University of Alabama, Peabody Conservatory, Baltimore School of the Arts, St. Johns College, SPARC (School of the performing arts in Richmond Va.) and The Talent Machine in Annapolis Md. a free program producing 3 theatrical productions yearly focusing on artistic enrichment for young artists and their families.

R.L. Rowsey has spent his life immersed in the arts.  From his start in Richmond, 

Virginia studying voice and piano at Virginia Commonwealth University and serving as the resident musical director at the Haymarket Dinner Theater, R.L. moved to the Washington, D.C. suburbs, serving as musical director for a new American opera, singing the title role in Michael Nyman’s The Man Who Mistook His Wife for a Hat, teaching and directing at The Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts, The Studio Theatre, and Woolly Mammoth Theatre Company.  R.L. left the area to tour the country as musical director and conductor for a number of national tours of Broadway musicals.  Following a quick stint as the associate producing artistic director for TheatreVirginia, R.L. was back on the road first as conductor, then company manager, and finally general manager for NETworks, one of the nation’s leading producers of national tours. Twenty-two years ago, R.L. and his partner John Glenn moved to Hailey, Idaho to work with Company of Fools, a professional theatre company which started in Richmond. Currently, in addition to his work as the Operations Director for the Sun Valley Music Festival, he also serves as the music director for Light on the Mountains Center for Spiritual Living and conductor of Caritas Chorale.  R.L. also delights in every opportunity to work with The Spot, St. Thomas Playhouse, and The Liberty Theatre Company. His life continues to be immersed in the arts and the amazing people who give them breath. 

R.L. Rowsey has spent his life immersed in the arts.  From his start in Richmond, Virginia studying voice and piano at Virginia Commonwealth University, R.L. moved to the Washington, D.C. suburbs, serving as musical director for a new American opera, singing the title role in Michael Nyman’s The Man Who Mistook His Wife for a Hat, teaching and directing at The Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts, The Studio Theatre, and Woolly Mammoth Theatre Company.  R.L. left the area to tour the country as musical director and conductor for a number of national tours of Broadway musicals.  Following a quick stint as the associate producing artistic director for TheatreVirginia, R.L. was back on the road first as conductor, then company manager, and finally general manager for NETworks, one of the nation’s leading producers of national tours.

Twenty-two years ago, R.L. and his partner John Glenn moved to Hailey, Idaho to work with Company of Fools.  In addition to his work as the Operations Director for the Sun Valley Music Festival, he also serves as the music director for Light on the Mountains Center for Spiritual Living and conductor of Caritas Chorale.  R.L. also delights in every opportunity to work with The Spot, St. Thomas Playhouse, and The Liberty Theatre Company.