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Most recently, the pair worked together on the summer festival’s 2018 production of “A Chorus Line,” which Steffens directed and choreographed. Now Steffens, fresh off his role as associate choreographer on the Tony-nominated revival of “Into the Woods,” is back at UVA to direct “Cabaret.”

Coming Home

A lot has changed in the arts at UVA since Steffens graduated in 1998. The Caplin Theatre, where the “Cabaret” cast rehearses, didn’t exist. The arts have spread across Central Grounds and into Charlottesville, but the box office where he and Wales worked as students still smells the same. That helps him feel that returning to Grounds is a homecoming.

“I really think of the University of Virginia as my artistic home,” Steffens said. “I think of it as a place where I can take chances.”

The artistic freedom he feels at UVA is enhanced by his friendship with Wales. The two talk about theater just as often as they talk about UVA basketball.

“We’ve been working together so long, there’s a shorthand because there’s no ego involved,” Steffens said.

That allows them to work through any differences of opinion that arise. Wales consults him even when they aren’t working on a production together and Steffens has become an “artistic touchstone” for her over their decades of friendship.

“We have very similar aesthetics. Even when we disagree, we can find ways to connect through that, artistically,” Wales said.

The changes they’ve seen in the arts scene at UVA have been for the better, Steffens and Wales said, and performances have gotten even stronger.

“It’s really deeply embedded the experience of making and studying art for the University students in a broader way,” Wales said.

“There’s a higher bar to meet, of what we need to create,” Steffens said.

Steffens credits UVA with teaching him the skills that have made him a successful director. He studied politics, but “spent every ounce” of his life involved in UVA productions.

“Something that is important for me about UVA is that not only did we get an education in the arts, but we got an education as well-rounded, thinking individuals,” Steffens said.

That well-rounded education shaped how “Cabaret” will be staged. The musical takes place in 1929 as the Nazi Party rises to power in Germany’s Weimar Republic. Steffens drew upon his knowledge of European history and contemporary politics as director.

“Nothing that we do in the theater is siloed. It’s all so collaborative. So to have the opportunity at UVA to intersect with so many different types of learning and teaching and people … informs the work we do,” Wales said.

Perfect Timing

“Cabaret” comes at just the right time. For starters, it’s the Virginia Theatre Festival’s first production without any pandemic restrictions since 2019.

“Audiences are really starting to come back to the theater, so we can start going on these collective journeys again, which I think is something we all miss,” Steffens said.

The show also deals with themes of antisemitism and homophobia. In Weimar Germany, Jewish people and members of the LGBTQ community enjoyed greater acceptance than in some other parts of the world. That ended with the rise of the Nazis. Steffens sees a parallel between that period and today, as hostility toward Jews and LGBTQ people is on the rise.

“When we think of ‘Cabaret,’ we think of the sweeping score and the dances that take us on this journey. I think sometimes we forget how resonant a piece it is,” Steffens said.

The production features 20 cast members – culled from more than 1,500 auditions – from across the country, statistics that make Steffens and Wales proud. The show’s leading lady, Sally Bowles, is played by Ainsley Seiger, a series regular on “Law & Order: Organized Crime.”

Steffens and Wales have come a long way since they first met in Peabody Hall nearly three decades ago.

“We are now living a dream that is bigger than we could have dreamt for ourselves,” Wales said.

Even at the Tony Awards in New York, Steffens, who choreographed one of the awards show’s performances, thought of UVA.

“I found myself still dreaming about the work that I was doing here,” Steffens said.

Tickets for “Cabaret” are on sale now. The show opens July 7 and closes July 16.