UVa to break ground on arts addition

Two long-time contributors to arts and education at the University of Virginia believe their $4 million donation to a new drama building will raise the profile of area arts by providing a venue for dance, drama, music and film.

The donation from Ruth and Mortimer Caplin will help to fund the Ruth Caplin Theatre inside UVa’s new $13.5 million drama building addition. The theater will provide UVa performers with a unique venue featuring a thrust stage with a sprung floor. The stage will extend into the audience for a more “intimate and exciting theatrical experience,” officials said.

“We wanted to give something to the college and to the community, and the arts are an important part of life and should be enjoyed by all,” Mortimer Caplin said in a telephone interview Tuesday. “My wife, Ruth, and I both have a love of the arts — she’s participated in the arts all of her life through painting, sculpting and dance — and we have a great love of [UVa].”

UVa will hold an invitation-only groundbreaking ceremony for the drama building expansion Thursday. Besides the 300-seat Caplin Theatre, dressing rooms and back-of-house support spaces, the expansion includes lobby restrooms and a roof terrace.

The Caplins share a deep connection to the arts. Ruth Caplin earned an arts degree from Skidmore College and worked as a fashion designer in New York City and in Charlottesville. She also wrote the screenplay for “Mrs. Palfrey at the Claremont,” a film produced by the couple’s son Lee Caplin. It premiered at the 2005 Virginia Film Festival.

The Caplins’ three sons are UVa alumni, with Lee graduating from the law school in 1972, Michael from the law school in 1976 and Jeremy earning a master’s of fine arts degree from the College and Graduate School of Arts & Sciences in 1980.

Cate Caplin, an accomplished professional dancer, choreographer and director in plays, movies and the stage, is their daughter.

“The Caplins’ gift is a reflection of their desire to assist the university in raising the profile of the performing arts here, as well as their great love of the fine and performing arts,” said UVa President Teresa A. Sullivan.

The Caplins have contributed to the law school and funded visiting artists over the years. The Arts Grounds Challenge Fund, provided by an anonymous donor, matched the Caplins’ $4 million gift.

Although Mortimer Caplin is better known for his legal career, including founding the Washington law firm of Caplin and Drysdale, serving as IRS commissioner during the Kennedy administration and serving on UVa’s Board of Visitors, he’s no stranger to the stage.

“I was a boxer in college and, in the off-season, I was part of the drama department and was even president of the Virginia Players,” he said. “And, for about 30 seconds, I was encouraged to even go to Broadway to apply for a part that involved a violinist who becomes a boxer.”

Although he didn’t try out on Broadway, Caplin has served on the boards of Arena Stage, the Shakespeare Theatre and the Wolf Trap Foundation for Performing Arts.

“The arts are an important part of education and especially of life,” Caplin said. “It’s important to have art in life and throughout it. We hope the theater and the new building will make the arts not just part of course work, but a part of [students’] lives.”