Eva DeVirgilis has driven by Witchduck Road in Virginia Beach dozens of times. But, she had never questioned the origin until she participated in the Pipeline New Works Program through Cadence Theatre.
Founded in 2019 by Tony- and Pulitzer Prize-winning playwright and screenwriter David Lindsay-Abaire and Chris Lindsay-Abaire, the program helps creatives like DeVirgilis develop new works.
“Words cannot express our gratitude for Chris and David Lindsay-Abaire and for their investment in Cadence, new work and Virginia-based playwrights,” says Anna Johnson, founding artistic director of Cadence. “Eva was part of his second cohort of writers, and we have so loved following her journey from writing a first draft through the development process to production.”
DeVirgilis, a playwright, performer and speaker, started writing her play, WitchDuck, at the beginning of her Pipeline fellowship in 2023.
“I went down the rabbit hole with it,” she says of her research, much of which was done at the Virginia Museum of History and Culture.
Her research pulled back the curtain behind the road’s naming and revealed the myth and legend of the witch of Pungo.
“Grace Sherwood was a real person, and is beloved here in Norfolk and Virginia Beach. She was ducked (a colloquial term for dunked) in 1706 to see if she was a witch,” says DeVirgilis who was able to research preserved transcripts from Sherwood’s trial copied in the 1800s from the original transcripts.
Ducking is an old method used very often in England to detect witches. The practice of how to spot a witch was spelled out in Malleus Maleficarum (The Hammer of Witches), which was written in 1486 by Heinrich Kramer, a Dominican friar.
“One of the most jarring lines I read in the Malleus Maleficarum says that no one does more harm to faith than midwives. Grace Sherwood was a midwife, someone who held knowledge and power outside the control of the clergy and the upper class,” DeVirgilis says. “In a culture built on fear and control, that kind of female autonomy was deeply threatening. It’s not hard to see why they were so often feared and targeted.”
Bringing the Past Into the Present
In 2006, 300 years after the 1706 ducking, which she survived, Sherwood’s statue was installed on Witchduck Road. Her record was pardoned by then-Governor Tim Kaine and the first woman mayor of Virginia Beach, Meyera Oberndorf, on July 10, which was named Grace Sherwood Day.
In her play, DeVirgilis draws current parallels to Sherwood’s story. Her play is a joyfully defiant piece that brings “in modern day struggles that we are still dealing with today,” she says. “They can’t keep us down, if we are together. This piece isn’t about shaming women. We want all sizes and ages to be represented. This is about breaking out of those norms and reaching out and rising together.”
Over the years, women who misbehave have been subjected to all the creative ways men have tried to silence their female voices.
“That is happening now,” she says. “It feels good to have a response to the current climate and to make that funny. It’s important to see the humor and to express that.”
The cast of the play is stellar, she adds.
“We have a sublime director in Rebecca Wahls. She is a genius. I can’t tell you how lucky I feel to have a collaborator like her. Also, Laine Satterfield is doing some really evocative movement direction. We have quite the coven of women on this project!”
WitchDuck has been what DeVirgilis refers to as her baby.
“It’s vulnerable, and it’s in the best of hands,” she says.
Sherwood is being played by Anna Sosa, who is from Norfolk and has grown up with this legend.
“It’s very cool to have that connection,” says DeVirgilis, who also has a role in the play. “I am playing the bad guy. I had so much fun writing this role.”
Finding Power Through Storytelling
In all of her work, DeVirgilis advocates for women of all ages to be seen. Choosing to be in the play was not an easy decision for her.
“It was a deliberate choice to be on stage in my forties,” says DeVirgilis.
“Needless to say, WitchDuck sums up the very best of Eva,” says Johnson. “She is a strong advocate for women’s rights, keeps her finger on the pulse of what is going on in this world and is also hilarious. Since her work years ago in her solo show, In My Chair, we have been eager to collaborate with her again.”
Other theaters have already expressed interest in the play, and DeVirgilis would love to see her work go as far up the theatrical ladder as it can.
“All of this is thanks to the support of Cadence, Firehouse, and Tony Award winner David Lindsay-Abaire. How lucky was I to learn from him.”
WitchDuck is “naughty in all the right ways,” she adds. “We are having so much fun in the world of theater magic and mischief.”
She hopes people will walk away inspired to write their own work, “to tell their own story and use their voice,” she says.
WitchDuck is on stage at Firehouse Theatre from May 8 – 24. Tickets are available at firehousetheatre.org.
