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Jeffrey Ellis - Page 120

Jeffrey Ellis

Jeffrey Ellis is a Nashville-based writer, editor and critic, who's been covering the performing arts in Tennessee for more than 35 years. In 1989, Ellis and his partner launched Dare, Tennessee's Lesbian and Gay Newsweekly which later became known as Query. Ellis is the recipient of the Tennessee Theatre Association's Distinguished Service Award for his coverage of theater in the Volunteer State and was the founding editor/publisher of Stages, the Tennessee Onstage Monthly.  He is a past fellow of the National Critics Institute at the Eugene O'Neill Theatre Center and is the founder/executive producer of The First Night Honors - the history of which can be traced to 1989 and the first presentation of The First Night Awards - which honor outstanding theater artisans from Tennessee in recognition of their lifetime achievements and also includes The First Night Star Awards and the Most Promising Actors recognition. Midwinter's First Night honors outstanding productions and performances throughout the state. An accomplished director, Ellis helmed productions of La Cage Aux Folles, The Last Night of Ballyhoo and An American Daughter, all in their Nashville premieres, as well as award-winning productions of Damn Yankees, Company, Gypsy and The Rocky Horror Show. Ellis was recognized by The Tennessean as best director of a musical for both Company and Rocky Horror. Since 2015, Ellis has been increasingly in demand as a director by a variety of Tennessee theater companies and he has helmed productions of Picnic (Circle Players), The Last Five Years (VWA Theatricals), The Miss Firecracker Contest, Cabaret, My Fair Lady, Daddy's Dyin'...Who's Got the Will?, South Pacific, Winter Wonderettes and The Wizard of Oz (The Larry Keeton Theatre), The Little Foxes (ACT 1), The Boys in the Band (Jeffey Ellis Presents), Singin' in the Rain (Arts Center of Cannon County) and The Secret Garden (Center for the Arts, Murfreesboro) and, in 2020, the 70th anniversary season production of La Cage Aux Folles for Circle Players. Later this year, he will be directing Beautiful: The Carole King Musical for Center for the Arts.




LEARN MORE ABOUT Jeffrey Ellis

First Show:

EVITA, starring Patti LuPone

Favorite Stories:



Redwood's THE OLD SETTLER opens at Amun Ra for 5/13-29 run
Redwood's THE OLD SETTLER opens at Amun Ra for 5/13-29 run
May 11, 2011

John Henry Redwood's The Old Settler, directed by Kenetha carr, runs May 13-29 at the Amun Ra Theatre Playhouse, 2508 Clifton Avenue, in North Nashville.

Local Playwrights Showcased During TEN MINUTE PLAYHOUSE Tonight
May 10, 2011

The Ten Minute plays will be presented as staged readings performed and directed by volunteers from the Nashville theater community. Audiences in attendance will not only get to see exciting new plays, but will also be able to give the playwrights feedback following the readings.

ALEXANDER'S VERY BAD...DAY onstage at Barter Theatre
ALEXANDER'S VERY BAD...DAY onstage at Barter Theatre
May 8, 2011

The Barter Players bring Alexander and the Terrible, Horrible, No Good, Very Bad Day to life at Barter Theatre through May 21, complete with new songs to accompany the story, at the ter in Abingdon, Virginia.

Dance Theatre of Tennessee Presents CINDERELLA, Closes 5/8
May 8, 2011

Dance Theatre of Tennessee brings the magic and beauty of Cinderella to life through dance in celebration of the Mother's Day weekend at Middle Tennessee State University's Tucker Theatre in Murfreesboro.

Circle Players Mounts Nashville Premiere of Jason Robert Brown's 13, Closes 5/8
May 8, 2011

Circle Players' upcoming production of Jason Robert Brown's new musical 13 will close at Larry Keeton Theatre on May 8.

BWW Reviews: Nate Eppler's LONG WAY DOWN from 3PS Productions
BWW Reviews: Nate Eppler's LONG WAY DOWN from 3PS Productions
May 8, 2011

Quite simply, with Long Way Down Eppler proves himself a playwright of the highest order, delivering a well-crafted script that delves into the pro-life movement with an incisive wit that is blended artfully with a gritty realism to create a completely believable premise, peopled by characters so genuine it is as if you know them intimately. To put it succinctly, Nate Eppler is likely to become very famous, with Long Way Down a most worthy vehicle for his success

BWW Interviews: Joy Tilley Perryman, A Life in the Theater
BWW Interviews: Joy Tilley Perryman, A Life in the Theater
May 6, 2011

Joy Tilley Perryman always seems to be in motion, always busy and rushing from one theatrical venture to another and, somehow, she always has a smile on her face. But don't let that smile fool you: beneath that lovely, gentee and quintessentially Southern facade lies a mischievous soul...so keep your eyes open, there's no telling what's really going on behind that smile!

Nashville celebrates the Tonys at FIRST NIGHT: THE TONY CONCERT 6/6
May 6, 2011

Tennessee's best and brightest theatrical stars will take to the stage of the Boiler Room Theatre -to celebrate The Tony Awards during First Night: The Tony Concert, presented by Keeping Scores Concerts on Monday, June 6 - and to perform an evening of songs from Broadway musicals that have won the Tony Award for best musical.

Women's Work 2011: Mary McCallum of BLACK GIRL LOST
Women's Work 2011: Mary McCallum of BLACK GIRL LOST
May 5, 2011

Tennessee Women's Theater Project returns to Nashville's Z. Alexander Looby Theater for the fifth year running - beginning Friday May 6 - for its annual Women's Work festival of performing and visual arts created by women. Running through Sunday, May 22, the festival cuts a broad swath across styles and genres to offer eleven completely different programs: poetry and essays; one-woman shows; staged readings of new plays; film, dance, music and a display of visual art works in the theater lobby. On Friday night, May 20, audiences will be treated to Black Girl Lost, a new play by the prolific Mary McCallum (who also directs her cast), an acclaimed local actress, writer and director who is currently playwright-in-residence at Tennessee Repertory Theatre.

BWW Interviews: Christopher Mohnani, This Dancer's Life
BWW Interviews: Christopher Mohnani, This Dancer's Life
May 5, 2011

Since arriving in Nashville from his home in the Philippines a few years back, Christopher Mohnani has gained quite the glowing reputation, first as a dancer for Nashville Ballet, then as a choreographer and arts administrator for the relatively young Dance Theatre of Tennessee. Now in its second full season of offerings for Middle Tennessee audiences, DTT is already looking forward to its third season even while in final rehearsals for its full-length production of Cinderella, which plays this weekend at the Tucker Theatre on the Murfreesboro campus of Middle Tennessee State University.

GroundWorks premieres THE FALL TO EARTH for 5/6-5/14 run
GroundWorks premieres THE FALL TO EARTH for 5/6-5/14 run
May 4, 2011

After much too long an absence, 2010 First Night Honoree A. Sean O'Connell finds herself in the director's chair again, this time helming the latest production from Nashville's GroundWorks Theatre - the regional premiere of Joel Drake Johnson's The Fall to Earth.

Women's Work 2011: Lisa Soland of MY FATHER'S CHAIR
Women's Work 2011: Lisa Soland of MY FATHER'S CHAIR
May 4, 2011

Tennessee Women's Theater Project returns to Nashville's Z. Alexander Looby Theater for the fifth year running - beginning Friday May 6 - for its annual Women's Work festival of performing and visual arts created by women. Running through Sunday, May 22, the festival cuts a broad swath across styles and genres to offer eleven completely different programs: poetry and essays; one-woman shows; staged readings of new plays; film, dance, music and a display of visual art works in the theater lobby. On Friday night, May 13, audiences will be treated to My Father's Chair, a new play by Lisa Soland (directed by Charles R. Miller), a playwright-in-residence at Tennessee Repertory Theatre.

Local Playwrights Showcased During TEN MINUTE PLAYHOUSE, 5/10
Local Playwrights Showcased During TEN MINUTE PLAYHOUSE, 5/10
May 3, 2011

The Ten Minute plays will be presented as staged readings performed and directed by volunteers from the Nashville theater community. Audiences in attendance will not only get to see exciting new plays, but will also be able to give the playwrights feedback following the readings.

BWW Interviews: Women's Work 2011 - Melissa Bedinger Hade of MOTHERLAND
BWW Interviews: Women's Work 2011 - Melissa Bedinger Hade of MOTHERLAND
May 2, 2011

Tennessee Women's Theater Project returns to Nashville's Z. Alexander Looby Theater for the fifth year running - beginning Friday May 6 - for its annual Women's Work festival of performing and visual arts created by women. Running through Sunday, May 22, the festival cuts a broad swath across styles and genres to offer eleven completely different programs: poetry and essays; one-woman shows; staged readings of new plays; film, dance, music and a display of visual art works in the theater lobby. On Saturday night, May 7, audiences will be treated to Motherland, a new play by two-time First Night Award winner Melissa Bedinger Hade (who also directs), starring Linda Speir, Amanda Bailey, Michael Roark and Phil Perry.

BWW Interviews: Ryan Bowie, A Life in the Theater
BWW Interviews: Ryan Bowie, A Life in the Theater
May 2, 2011

Ryan Bowie, now firmly ensconced in his new professional life in Clarksville, Tennessee, made his way southward from New York City to do one show and, thanks to fate, ended up deciding he'd found his way home. Now onstage in the Roxy Regional Theatre's production of The Civil War, the Frank Wildhorn musical that continues through May 21, he won acclaim (both critical and otherwise) at The Baker in the Roxy's 2010 revival of Into The Woods (ranked among the year's best performances by First Night and BroadwayWorld.com readers).

Women's Work 2011: Joy Tilley-Perryman of THUS SPOKE THE MOCKINGBIRD
Women's Work 2011: Joy Tilley-Perryman of THUS SPOKE THE MOCKINGBIRD
May 1, 2011

Tennessee Women's Theater Project returns to Nashville's Z. Alexander Looby Theater for the fifth year running - beginning Friday May 6 - for its annual Women's Work festival of performing and visual arts created by women. Running through Sunday, May 22, the festival cuts a broad swath across styles and genres to offer eleven completely different programs: poetry and essays; one-woman shows; staged readings of new plays; film, dance, music and a display of visual art works in the theater lobby. Opening the festival on Friday night is Thus Spoke the Mockingbird, starring Joy Tilley-Perryman as Harper Lee, author of To Kill A Mockingbird.

Arts Center of Cannon County Presents THE FOREIGNER, Closes 5/1
May 1, 2011

Mike Reed plays Charlie, a terribly shy man who seeks peace and solitude in a rural backwoods hunting lodge in north Georgia in Larry Shue's The Foreigner running April 15-May 1 at The Arts Center of Cannon County in Woodbury. Directed by Mary Wilson, The Foreigner also features Arts Center favorites Tim Spry, Phil Mote, Emily Roberts, Pat Garrett, Justin Winton, and Becky Coutras.

Lanford Wilson's BURN THIS Plays Murfreesboro's Out Front on Main, Closes 5/1
May 1, 2011

The theatrical legacy of playwright Lanford Wilson will be commemorated at Murfreesboro's Out Front on Main theater with the company's production of Burn This, closing May 1.

BWW Reviews: Keeping Scores' FUNNY GIRL in Concert
BWW Reviews: Keeping Scores' FUNNY GIRL in Concert
May 1, 2011

Of course, one way around that theatrical conundrum is to take the route that director Scott Logsdon and Keeping Scores Concerts at Franklin's Boiler Room Theatre have embarked upon for three performances this weekend: Cast 12 different actresses as Fanny Brice, each one well-qualified to take on a particular song, allowing her to interpret, both musically and dramatically, the character of Fanny. And for support of the 12 actresses taking up the Fanny challenge, you'll need an amazingly gifted ensemble. The result? A wonderfully entertaining night at the theater, replete with outstanding performances from some of your favorite Nashville actors - and the chance to hear a beautiful, memorable score brought to life as it was meant to be heard by the team of composer Jule Styne, lyricist Bob Merrill and librettist Isobel Lennart.

CIRCUMFERENCE OF A SQUIRREL Opens at Barter Theatre Tonight, 4/29
April 29, 2011

The award-winning play Circumference of a Squirrel rolls onto Barter Stage II on April 30: 'Round and 'round it goes, where it stops, even Chester doesn't know and the results are laugh-out-loud moments of comedy and discovery, plus heartfelt moments of revelation.



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