Father-son duos take stage in Jamestown drama

VIRGINIA BEACH — Behind a wooden fence at a historical attraction on Fort Story, a young man in a leather loincloth twisted around to see his back in a mirror as he powdered the pale spots with “Plains dust.”

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Nearby, a girl in a fringed “deerskin” dress braided the hair of another, similarly attired.

Across from them, Keegan Vo, already costumed in what he called his 17th century “diaper,” or loincloth, stood watching his father, Tan, paint his face with white stripes.

The 36-member cast of “1607: First Landing,” an outdoor drama about the Jamestown settlers’ first encounters with the Indians, which took place on what is now Fort Story, was preparing for a show. The scene was warm and friendly, almost like a family gathering. The show, in fact, includes four father-and-son duos.

Dave Hobbs, 47, of Chesapeake has the role of Powhatan, paramount chief of a confederation of Virginia tribes. He gets to wear a robelike mantle with a cowrie-shell design signifying his territories. Son Ben, 16, plays Hobbs, a colonist role originated by his father.

Earl Vowell, 56, of Virginia Beach, plays John Ratcliffe, captain of the Discovery, the smallest of three ships that sailed from England. Son Daniel, 14, is a warrior from an Eastern tribe.

Keegan and Tan Vo, of Norfolk, are the only duo on the same side. Keegan, 20, plays an Indian warrior, and his 54-year-old father portrays a medicine man in a grand white headdress. Both wore knee-high moccasins and feather-bedecked arm bands.

Tan is Vietnamese, and his son is Vietnamese-Irish. They’re among the lucky few who don’t have to slather their skin with makeup or cocoa-colored dust. “I’m darker than the paint,” Keegan said.

“I always liked the way Native Americans look, even when I was a kid playing cowboys and Indians,” Tan said. “I like the way Native Americans carry themselves. Their way of life. The way they respect the earth.”

Director Bob Nelson, whose 15-year-old son, Will, is a stagehand this season, discovered Keegan in “Zombie Prom,” a spring show at the Little Theatre of Virginia Beach.

“He just came up to me and said, ‘Keegan, I need an Indian,’ and I was like, ‘OK.’” Keegan, who has long black hair, has acted in 20 shows in the past six years. He told Nelson his father looked even more like an Indian, so Nelson ended up hiring Tan, who had not been on a stage since his youth.

Tan said he’s enjoying watching his son “doing his thing. Not every father has the chance to do that. I never see how he carries himself and interacts in the theater. I’m impressed. He’s matured a lot.”

Daniel Vowell has worked in theater with his dad before, but it’s their first time doing the “1607” play and Daniel’s first paid acting job. “The guitar I want costs exactly what I’ll make this summer” — that’s $1,300, he said.

“My favorite part is when he comes down off the dunes at the beginning of the show,” Earl said. “I just like to see him as an Indian. It’s kind of cool.”

As the third of five kids, Ben Hobbs said he enjoys spending time with his father, who became an actor after retiring from the Navy in 2000. Ben and Dave were in the show last year, too.

“Doing this has helped us bond,” Dave said. “It gives us a chance, on the way to rehearsal, to talk about what’s going on with him, and what’s going on with me.”

Mostly, the fathers and sons don’t interact on stage, but Earl Vowell gets a kick out of a scene where Daniel gets to decide whether or not to trust him.

Offstage, Bob Nelson, 61 and a veteran of local stages, thought it best if he and Will were mostly separate, too. Will’s boss is the stage manager, “so he doesn’t have to take orders from me,” Bob said. “Personal relationships don’t enter into it, though ours is good. I give him a ride. We love each other.”

Bob didn’t force the job on him. “He asked to work backstage,” and his father had no idea why. “Boys don’t talk,” he said, chuckling. “I ask him if he’s enjoying it, and he says, ‘Yeah.’ “

Will spends the entire show beneath the stage, handing out props and helping with costumes. “I thought it would be really cool,” he said, “because my dad is really into acting.”