Desirée Roots, former co-artistic director of community at Virginia Rep, has joined the leadership team of the newly established ATLAS Partnership. Roots’ previous position, was eliminated during a recent restructuring of Virginia Rep.

  

Founded nine months ago by Emily Cole-Jones, along with senior advisors Bruce Miller and Phil Whiteway, ATLAS Partnership welcomes Roots as its program director. All three founders recently parted ways with Virginia Rep.

“It’s a joy to continue to work within the community that has always embraced me,” Roots said. “I feel like I’m coming home again.”

Roots started her career with Miller and Whiteway at Theatre IV, a non-profit children’s theater they founded in 1975. Theatre IV later merged with Barksdale Theatre in 2012 to become Virginia Rep.

ATLAS Partnership, a nonprofit theater-based historical society, will focus on four major projects in the coming year:

“Gabriel,” a new musical set to premiere in fall 2025 that commemorates the 250th anniversary of Virginia’s founding and tells the story of Gabriel, an enslaved man who led a significant slave rebellion in 1800; “Walking the Line,” a revival of a play from the late 1980s and early 1990s that addressed the crack cocaine epidemic, with an updated version focusing on the current opioid crisis and set to tour Virginia schools starting in the 2025-26 school year; “Plays & Playmakers,” a series of recorded panel discussions and interviews with Richmond’s foremost theatrical artists and leaders, produced in cooperation with the Library of Virginia; and “We the People,” a revival of a historical musical revue produced by Theatre IV in 1976, which will tour Virginia’s historical sites and schools starting on Independence Day 2025.

Roots will co-lead the company with Cole-Jones, who serves as managing director.

“ATLAS exists for the benefit of all area theaters,” Cole-Jones said. “We aim to support and collaborate with existing theaters rather than compete with them.”

Whiteway emphasized that ATLAS is not a new theater but rather a partnership-driven initiative. The organization’s mission is “to recognize and respect, honor and protect the legacy assets of professional theater in Central Virginia.” 

According to their website, their vision is for current and future generations to steward and benefit from Central Virginia’s rich theater history and legacy programs.

Additionally, ATLAS publishes “Full Circle,” a free weekly e-newsletter covering Richmond professional theater.

The group also plans to celebrate the 70th anniversary of Barksdale Theatre’s first production at Hanover Tavern and the 50th anniversary of Theatre IV’s founding as Virginia’s first professional children’s theater.

“I’m very blessed to have landed so quickly in such a responsible and nurturing environment, with such good friends,” Roots said. “I look forward to many future years in service to our community.”

For more information, visit atlaspartnership.org.