Jeffrey Ellis - Page 146

Auditions for the second production of Steeple Players' 16th season, The Homecoming: A Christmas Story, based on the novel by Earl Hamner Jr. and adapted by Christopher Sergel, will be held Monday, September 21, and Tuesday, September 22, at Steeple Players Theatre, 260 West Main Street in Hendersonville.

Four free performances by Australia's Strange Fruit, the international outdoor festival performers, will launch the 35th anniversary of Great Performances at Vanderbilt this week, with shows at Nashville's Centennial Park and on the Alumni Lawn on the Vanderbilt University campus. Other events in the 2009-2010 season include a radio documentary performance by L.A. Theatre Works and the social revolutionary group, Grupo Cultural AfroReggae with Anderson Sa himself on-site direct from Rio de Janeiro including among residency activities the screening of Favela Rising, recipient of 36 international film festival awards.

Eppler's richly textured script might best be described as a send-up of Anastasia meets Grey Gardens, with some Sleeping Beauty, Annie, You Can't Take it With You and The Grifters (and an affectionate nod to Fiddler on the Roof) thrown in for good measure, all presented in a farcical manner that works on every level. Kudos to director David Compton for keeping things moving at a good clip and coaxing some stellar performances from his cast of gifted players.

'Combine the awkward trials of adolescence with incredible intelligence and obscure words and you have a recipe for a great night at the theatre,' according to Katherine Kolodzie, director of public relations and development for the Clarskville theatre company. 'Catchy tunes comically lamenting the woes of puberty and special onstage guests will leave audience members in stitches.'

Since that time, Maryanna's artistic focus has changed somewhat, and now she is artistic director for the Nashville-based Tennessee Women's Theatre Project, which is dedicated to 'presenting theatricial productions of the highest quality to Middle Tennessee audiences, to producing plays that express the human condition in the female voice; to providing acting, directing, design and management opportunities for women in professional theater; and to bringing live theater to new, underserved audiences.'

Fresh off a sold-out run in Wilmington, North Carolina, over the Labor Day holiday weekend, Street Theatre Company reprises its critically acclaimed production of Parallel Lives for three performances Upstairs at Bongo Java, Thursday through Sunday, September 10-13. Starring Holly Allen and Cathy Sanborn Street, Parallel Lives is based on the comedy act of Mo Gaffney and Kathy Najimy, and is directed by Lauren Shouse.

Patrick Waller plays the title role in the Nashville Children's Theatre production of The Adventures of Tom Sawyer, running September 22-October 11. Part of Twain and Twang , Nashville's Citywide Celebration of Mark Twain, a year-long salute to the work of writer Mark Twain, Tom Sawyer is a companion piece to the Tennessee Repertory Theatre production of Big River, slated for a run in spring, 2010.

Eat the Runt, by Avery Crozier, is described as a comedy that toys with ideas of perception, political correctness, and societal and cultural norms, requires eight actors ages 30-50. Robert A. O'Connell's Christmas on the Pecos is a tale of two modern-day cowboys, a couple fleeing to a better life and a group of travelers lost in a snow storm; the script requires eight actors, ages 30-60, including one Latino couple in their 20s.

Director Macon Kimbrough will hold auditions at Circle Player's rehearsal space in Madison (801 N. Gallatin Pike, between Due West Avenue and Old Hickory Boulevard, behind Madison Square Shopping Center). Auditions are scheduled from 10 a.m. to 12 noon and 1 to 3 p.m. on Saturday, September 19, and from 5:30 to 7:30 p.m. and 7:30 to 9:30 p.m. on Sunday, September 20. Callbacks are slated for Tuesday, September 22, from 6:30 to 9:30 p.m. at Tulip Street United Methodist Church, 522 Russell Street, in East Nashville. All times are CDT.

Everything you've heard about Wicked is true; it's an awe-inspiring stage spectacle filled with special effects, gorgeous sets and lighting, exquisite costumes, an amazingly gifted cast, a glorious musical score and an immensely entertaining, yet slightly irreverent (and maybe even a little subversive) script. It also has plot points so broad that you could drive a freight train through them, but if you're willing to suspend disbelief and allow yourself to become totally immersed in the phenomenon, you can't help but walk away tremendously satisfied, humming those wonderful tunes and having a sort of 'which came first: the chicken or the egg' debate with your companions.

Eat the Runt, by Avery Crozier, is described as a comedy that toys with ideas of perception, political correctness, and societal and cultural norms, requires eight actors ages 30-50. Robert A. O'Connell's Christmas on the Pecos is a tale of two modern-day cowboys, a couple fleeing to a better life and a group of travelers lost in a snow storm; the script requires eight actors, ages 30-60, including one Latino couple in their 20s.

Wicked opened its run at Nashville's Tennessee Performing Arts Center Wednesday with a capacity crowd enjoying the performance by the Second National Touring Company in Andrew Jackson Hall. Opening night also featured the inaugural Nashville.BroadwayWorld.com First Night Theatre Event, with some 25 theatre devotees attending the show, with cocktails and hors d'oevres before curtain and a dessert/champagne reception afterward.

Don't tell Marcie Dodd and Helene Yorke (Elphaba and Glinda, respectively, in the second national company of Wicked), but during every performance Colin Donnell, aka Fiyero, has a ritual, 'a tradition' if you will, that he follows. He stands in the wings and watches his two leading ladies in a scene 'and everytime I do it, it gives me chills,' he says, 'it sort of reminds me what's going on with the show and why I'm doing it. They inspire me.'

The Complete Works of William Shakespeare (abridged) is described as 'a hysterical exploration of the Bard's great works performed by three frantic men as they attempt to perform all 37 plays in 90 minutes. This classic work is a sheer delight, but leaves the audience with a great appreciation for the fun everybody can have with what is usually thought of as the 'stuffy' poetry of the world's greatest playwright.'

According to Martha Wilkinson, artistic director for the historic theatre company now in its 43rd season, 'The late Mr. Lee was a cherished Barn patron, having been a season member since the theatre opened its doors in 1967. Mr. Lee was an avid supporter of all live theatre in the Nashville area, but Chaffin's Barn held a special place in his heart.'

Nate Eppler's original comedy Filthy Rich opens Tuesday, September 8, at Chaffin's Barn Dinner Theatre, directed by David Compton and starring a veritable who's who of Nashville comedy actors. Layne Sasser, Erin Parker, Dietz Osborne, and the playwright himself, Nate Eppler. Described as 'a bright farce full of crosses, double-crosses, false identities and fakery, Filthy Rich is hilarious, lunatic fun.'

More than 100 theatre professionals gathered Monday night, August 24, for the kick-off event for the fourth annual Shades of Black Theatre Festival. Nashville's Darkhorse Theatre, 4610 Charlotte Avenue, was the site for the Festival Mixer which opens the month-long event.

ACT 1, one of Nashville's oldest community theatre groups, staged the Gilbert & Sullivan classic The Mikado as the first production of its 20th anniversary season. Running August 7-22, The Mikado was directed by Bob Fish, with music direction by Lee Druce, the cast featured Francine Berk, Whitney Rose Cone, Steven Luboniecki, Valerie Navarre, James Rudolph, Daniel Sadler, Vicki White, John Wilson, L.T. Kirk, Amber Boyer, Megan Hunt, Jamie Janiszewski, Brenda Jones, Tricia Musser, Becca Nelson, Andrew Drumheller, Jamie Helms, Josh Matthews, Danny Proctor and Daniel Vincent. The show was produced by Donald Powell, Jennifer Rybolt and Sue Stinemetz.

Cathie Correia Stamps directs the seminal Broadway musical West Side Story as the 41st season-opening production of Franklin's Pull-Tight Players, opening Friday, August 28, and continuing through September 19. With a book by Arthur Laurents, lyrics by Stephen Sondheim, music by Leonard Berstein, the musical is currently reaching new audiences, thanks to the Tony Award-nominated revival on Broadway.

Green has long been heralded as one of the region's finest music directors, while Ditty has gained a justifiably stellar reputation as one of the best choreographers around. With this production, which exemplifies the term 'all-singing, all-dancing,' it's apropos then that the two would share the directing credit. Obviously, from the first notes of the overture to the final tormented moments of Jesus Christ's death on the cross, the shared vision of the two men is vividly portrayed and stunningly realized. The work, widely considered the first 'rock opera,' is movingly exhilarating, taking audiences on a veritable rollercoaster ride of emotional highs and lows.