Actors Bridge Ensemble Stages Nashville Premiere of VINCENT IN BRIXTON

British playwright Nicholas Wright's Vincent in Brixton opens at Belmont University's Black Box Theatre On Friday, May 14, in the Nashville premiere from Actors Bridge Ensemble.

Directed by Bill Feehely, Vincent in Brixton stars Brent Maddox (a new member of Belmont University's theatre faculty) and Kim Bretton in their Nashville stage debuts, along with Jessika Malone, Mitch Massaro and Colleen Allen.

Wright's play focuses on the time that Vincent Van Gogh spent in London and Brixton in the 1870s - a period before he drew his first sketch and one that changed him completely. The play depicts Van Gogh as a young man, someone full of life yet struggling to find his way and to walk the artist's path. Vincent develops a rapport with a widow twice his age, which blossoms into a full-blown love affair, only to be cruelly curtailed by the arrival of his fiercely puritan younger sister.

Vincent in Brixton runs Friday, May 14 at 7:30; Saturday, May 15 at 7:30; Sunday, May 16 at 4:30; Thursday, May 20 at 7:30; Friday, May 21 at 7:30; Saturday, May 22 at 7:30; and Sunday, May 23 at 4:30 at Belmont's Black Box Theater, 1575 Compton Avenue (just off Belmont Blvd near International Market). Tickets are $15 ($12 for seniors/students) and $5 for AEA members. For reservations, email info@actorsbridge.org or call (615) 341-0300.

photo of Kim Bretton and Brent Maddox by Hatcher & Fell Photography