This year Virginia’s longest running professional summer theatre celebrated an important milestone with the 40th Anniversary season of Heritage Theatre Festival. Founded in 1974 by then Drama Chair David Weiss, Heritage was originally designed as a vehicle for U.Va. students and faculty to collaborate on classic American plays and musicals. Over the years the Heritage expanded to include a wide array of genres and to welcome accomplished actors from New York and around the country. Over the years audiences have been treated to performances by some of the most talented actors in the region as well as by established stars like the late Jean Stapleton. Producing Artistic Director Robert Chapel, who just completed his 28th year with Heritage, put together an anniversary season with a focus on fun and frivolity, kicking off with a pre-season presentation of An Evening With Groucho, starring Frank Ferrante. The season officially opened with a critically-acclaimed production of the Tony Award-winning musical Thoroughly Modern Millie. Next up came the hilarious whodunit Shear Madness (one of the hottest tickets of the Charlottesville summer); the highly decorated and greatly loved puppet-powered musical comedy Avenue Q and the uproarious British farce One Man, Two Guvnors.