Robert Bailey, Director & Teacher

“THIS IS MEMORABLE THEATRE”
Thank you to Deborah Klugman of Stage Raw for coming to the show and for her generous review and recommendation. Here’s an excerpt:

“…Bailey’s Reverend speaks intimately and confidingly, the small theatrical venue where he’s performing heightening one’s sense of one-on-one. Every so often, he intersperses his monologue with a heartrending folk song or with melodic strains on a harmonica. His performance takes in the other characters in his story, whom he also portrays…”

“Directed by Billy Siegenfeld,this is memorable theater. If the narrative itself is of a particular time and place, the play’s message — what happens when fervor closes the mind and twists into an instrument of pain — is certainly of our time, and every other time as well.”

“…we journey into the soul of this wildly errant yet unflinchingly honest character, whose life has been bleak, but whose willingness to share somehow opens on both sides a small porthole of light.”

Thank you to the many friends who came to opening night of “In Some Dark Valley” at Moving Arts Theatre. Here are just a few.

We’re opening! 🎭 In a story told through multiple characters and punctuated with traditional songs, this fiery post Civil War Appalachian preacher faces the consequences of an unbending will, in a journey that’s both haunting and illuminating in its relevance to today. Tickets at

🎭 Hope to see you this weekend or next! Sats 8pm / Suns 4pm. in Atwater Village.

We’ll break for two weekends and come back for two more (Fri/Sat 8p) Sept 12, 13 / 19, 20

Link in bio for more info about the show.

Another 2025 run! Weekends Aug 16-Sep 20 at . In anticipation, here’s an insightful review by Ernest Kearney (The TVolution) from the 2024 Hollywood Fringe Festival. Excerpt below:

The dark wooden canopy of the Appalachia Valley, known as The Great Valley, shrouds a deep and massive scar that cuts across the eastern landscape of America. As the titular character In Some Dark Valley: The Testament of Reverend Brand, Writer/Performer Robert Bailey succeeds from his first moment on stage in capturing that unknown terror which the vastness of wilderness has held for humanity from Oedipus and Dante to Dorothy and The Evil Dead…

Bailey commands the stage masterfully, with a robust physical presence while he envelopes the theatai in the essence of postbellum America through his sincere singing of [songs] from the period.

What most impressed me about In Some Dark Valley was how Bailey, through the enfolding of his language, succeeded in conveying the preeminence of the spoken word held in the nineteenth century…

Bailey captures the period’s respect for language through his characters’ usage. They choose their words carefully to communicate their thoughts with clarity; as when Agnes, the Reverend’s young wife, seeks to warn her husband of his faltering faith, “You bruise where you oughta caress.”

Or when Brand realizes what his failure to live his belief has brought him to, “a loneliness so deep it didn’t have no depth.”

As directed by Billy Siegenfeld, Robert Bailey’s In Some Dark Valley has but one flaw that I could see; it was limited to only three performances thus denying more Fringe audiences the opportunity of experiencing this exceptional and exquisite work.

Traditional songs weave through this story, told through multiple characters and a fiery post Civil War Appalachian preacher who ultimately faces the consequences of an unbending will, in a journey that’s both haunting and illuminating in its relevance to today. Tickets at

In a story told through multiple characters and punctuated with traditional songs, this fiery post Civil War Appalachian preacher faces the consequences of an unending will, in a journey that’s both haunting and illuminating in its relevance to today. Tickets at

Jake Soss directs Skylar Okerstrom-Lang and Tamarra Graham in a film scene in week 4 of the summer directing workshop.

Actors Zach Roozen and Monisha Dadlani take direction from Yulianna Anikieieva for a scene from an original screenplay in week, three of the summer session directing workshop.

Director Taylor James prepares actors Kanoa Goo and Caitlin Stasey for a comedic scene in week, three of the summer directing workshop.

With actors DeJuan Christopher and Kacie Rogers and director Andi Chapman after BERTA BERTA at the Echo Theatre. Angelica Cheri’s bold script seamlessly blends realistic and supernatural elements that are beautifully realized in the direction and acting. Exquisitely theatrical, authentic, and affecting work all around. A must-see!

Writer director Cristina Sasso works with actors Ryleigh Dionne and Martin Renteria on a scene from her screenplay in the summer session of The Directors Workshop.