Jeffrey Ellis - Page 31

Despite its provocative title and abundant profanity (or maybe even because of it), Stephen Adly Guirgis' The Motherf**ker With the Hat is actually filled with a lot of humanity and heart, enough that you'll find it difficult to shake off the story and its characters long after the final scene has played out. And thanks to director Kurt Jarvis' production for Destiny Theatre Experience's tenth anniversary, the Nashville debut will likely be talked about and recounted for months to come - which seems the perfect testament to the impact of Shawn Whitsell's company on Music City's vibrant arts and theater company.

Shawn Whitsell's Destiny Theatre Experience celebrates its tenth anniversary starting tonight with the opening of Stephen Adly Guirgis' The Motherfucker With the Hat at Nashville's iconic Darkhorse Theater. Directed by Kurt Jarvis and featuring a cast of local stage favorites, along with some intriguing newcomers, including Michael Carlo, Megan Blevins, Matt N. Smith, Amie Lara and Tony Insignares.

Looking for a challenging role or to embark upon a new onstage adventure? Here is the latest audition information to come to the BroadwayWorld Nashville newsdesk.

Opening tonight in Gallatin is Scott Seidl and Stephen Kummer's Civil War musical Across the Lines, running through Saturday night at CenterStage, 250 Hancock Street. The new musical, based on a true story drawn from the letters of Captain Robert A. Ragan and his memoir Escape From East Tennessee to the Federal Lines, continues its development with the three performances which feature a cast of local artists who bring the various characters in the story to life.

Feeling the urge to let your imagination run wild, your spirit to soar or to just leave the world in which you live and go on an adventure? Sounds like a trip to the theater is in order! Luckily, companies all over the Volunteer State have been hard at work, creating new productions to transform and to transport, shows that will entertain you this summer.

Lady Day at Emerson's Bar and Grill, writer Lanie Robertson's insightful and moving look at jazz legend Billie Holiday and her life and career, continues its run at Brentwood's Towne Centre Theatre. Directed by Dave Ragland and starring Jennifer Whitcomb-Oliva in her stunning onstage transformation to become Lady Day, it's one of the highlights of an especially impressive Nashville theater season filled with strong performances and shows both challenging and introspective.

Distraction Theatre Company brings The Drowning Girls – written by Beth Graham, Charlie Tomlinson and Daniela Vlaskalic – to life August 18-26 at Nashville's Darkhorse Theater.

Woven Theatre Company presents Silent Sky, by Lauren Gunderson, as part of their Women Pioneer Series, opening this Friday, July 21, at Belmont University's Troutt Theatre. The Women Pioneer Series consists of plays about historically significant or under-recognized women, written by women.

t's been an exceptionally busy summer thus far for recent Cookeville High School graduate Emma Choate as she prepares to make the transition to college student at Tennessee Technological University in her hometown. Making the leap from high schooler to college student is a challenge, no matter who you are, but for Emma - who has been an over-achiever in live theater most of her life - it's probably made easier by her decision to remain at the local college, where she plans to major in vocal music education.

Jennifer Whitcomb-Oliva's miraculous transformation into music legend Billie Holiday may well be the performance of 2017, theater-wise, in a city where we revere and venerate our favorite vocalists. But in Music City, where live theater is often perceived as a mere afterthought by the entertainment establishment, oftentimes performances such as hers may be given short shrift, overlooked by the so-called powers-that-be whose tastes tend toward the middle of the road, pop-infused, sound-like-everyone else, cookie cutter variety of singers.

Once again, Cori Laemmel and Laura Matula - along with their team of creative collaborators and their always surprising and courageous troupe of young actors at The Theater Bug - have achieved much with their latest original musical. If I Were You, which focuses on four young protagonists gives the youthful Theater Bug company of actors an opportunity to explore the depths of their own emotions amid the turmoil of their formative years and, in so doing, they give every audience member a chance to examine their own emotions and preconceived notions of the people around them.

Seventh Annual Sideshow Fringe Festival - billed as Nashville's Progressive Performing Arts Event, presented by Sideshow @ Actors Bridge - gathers hundreds of local artists for what promises to be its largest endeavor in its seven-year history. Sideshow Fringe runs July 27 through August 6 at various Nashville locales.

Feeling the urge to let your imagination run wild, your spirit to soar or to just leave the world in which you live and go on an adventure? Sounds like a trip to the theater is in order! Luckily, companies all over the Volunteer State have been hard at work, creating new productions to transform and to transport, shows that will entertain you this summer. That's where THE NASHVILLE THEATER CALENDAR comes in handy: Peruse our listings every week to find out what shows you should see!

One of the world's best-known and longest-runnng musicals - The Fantasticks by Tom Jones and Harvey Schmidt - ushers in the 2017-18 season at Franklin's Pull-Tight Theatre in a new production helmed by director Pat Street, running August 11-26.

Sister Act - the feel-good musical comedy smash based on the hit 1992 film that has proven to be a hit with audiences all across Tennessee - will open at Crossville's Cumberland County Playhouse on July 21, running through September 8.

Bring It On The Musical launches Circle Players' cinema-inspired 68th Season - a lineup that includes four musicals and one play - and the company is offering season ticket packages for theater-goers eager to witness the oldest community theater in Middle Tennessee's latest slate of productions, all related to  major motion pictures.

Ragtime, the stirring Lynn Ahrens-Stephen Flaherty-Terrance McNally musical about American society at the turn of the 20th century - based on the E. L. Doctorow novel of the same name - premieres on the Murfreesboro stage of the Center for the Arts, directed by Rachel Jones and starring a cast of Middle Tennessee's favorite performers.

Opening tonight at the Arts Center of Cannon County in Woodbury is the newest iteration of the beloved musical Annie, directed by Matthew Hayes Hunter and featuring an all-star cast of actors bringing the show to life. Featuring songs that have become musical theater standards since the show's premiere on Broadway in 1977 - including "Tomorrow," "Maybe," "Easy Street" and "Hard Knock Life."

Kurt Jarvis directs Stephen Adly Guirgis' The Motherfucker With The Hat for a July 21-29 run at Nashville's Darkhorse Theater, marking the tenth anniversary summer production from Destiny Theatre Experience, founded by actor-playwright-director-producer Shawn Whitsell.

Nashville Shakespeare Festival (NSF) continues its tradition of Shakespeare in the Park with The Winter's Tale and Antony & Cleopatra, running from Thursday, August 10 through Sunday, September 17 at Centennial Park's band shell.