Longtime Wayside Theatre actress visits old friends

Thomasin Savaiano, center right, beams for the camera between Front Royal residents Carol and Malcolm Barr Sr. Opposite, Craig Laird (at rear), Jim and Tracee Wink, and Sarah Blackwell. Barr is a former director at the Wayside. Photos by Alyssa Dunlat

Thomasin Savaiano, coaching drama students at the Independent School of Winchester this summer, took a breather to visit with old friends from Wayside Theatre days in Front Royal.

Included was a past chairman of the historic Middletown theater’s board of directors, Jim Wink, who is owner of the Horseshoe Curve Restaurant in Bluemont, and other past members of theatre boards. The Wayside, then the second oldest theater in the Commonwealth, closed its doors after a 51-year run a few years ago. Savaiano and her husband, theater director Warner Crocker, relocated to Chicago after more than a decade in the Virginia location.

In those days Craig Laird of Royal Oak Computers on Main Street was the valued go-to communications technician for the theater and last weekend hosted a “welcome home” gathering for Thomasin and another from the theater company, Sarah Blackwell of Richmond. The party was held in his “Vine & Leaf” wine and tea bar at 477 South Street in Front Royal.

Thomasin returns annually from her Chicago home to the Winchester school situated at 769 Roundhill Road to coach students for plays, several of which will be staged Friday, August 9, curtain time 1 p.m. on the Independent School stage. Since last summer the school relocated to the Roundhill Road address which was the site of an old firehouse. Savaiano pronounced the new location “amazing” as she prepared the children for their stage appearances, and friends wished her well in the new surroundings.

Claire McDonald, head of the school, has said that she is “delighted that (Thomasin) happily spends her summer vacations in Winchester, introducing young people to the magic of live theater.”

Former Wayside Theatre Board Chairman Jim Wink and wife Tracee join Thomasin Savaiano for a reunion snapshot.