Gatrell, O'Brien et al. Names Class of 2010 First Night Honorees at Hard Rock Nashville

Eight of the leading lights of Nashville theater were announced Monday night as the Class of 2010 Honorees for the First Night Nashville Theatre Honors, to be presented Sunday, September 19. The Hard Rock Cafe Nashville's Reverb Room was the setting for the preview party and announcement of honorees.

The 2010 honorees include:

• Scot Copeland, producing artistic director of Nashville Children's Theater

• Paul Gatrell, chairman of the Department of Theater and Dance at Belmont University

• Kathleen O'Brien, president and CEO, Tennessee Performing Arts Center

• A. Sean O'Connell, actress/director/producer, co-founder of ACT 1 and GroundWorks Theater

• Robert A. O'Connell, actor/director/producer, co-founder of ACT 1 and GroundWorks Theater

• Mac Pirkle, founder of Southern Stage Productions and Tennessee Repertory Theatre

• Barry Scott, actor/director/producer and theater manager/director at Tennessee State University

• Shannon Wood, former stage manager for Tennessee Repertory Theatre and a co-founder and owner of Darkhorse Theatre

The eight will be honored in September with a gala production at the Troutt Theatre, featuring a cast of more than 100 of Nashville's best-known actors paying tribute to the honorees for their years of commitment to quality theater in Music City USA and their continued leadership and collective artistic vision.

"Our 2010 honorees can genuinely be referred to as visionaries," First Night executive producer/founder Jeffrey Ellis said. "They are largely responsible for the exciting and vibrant theater community of Nashville today."

A crowd of about 80 gathered to hear Ellis make the announcement and to listen to some First Night memories from Melissa Bedinger Hade, Carolyn German and Matthew Carlton, all of whom were First Night Award winners during the recognition program's first incarnation.

Hade recounted her emotional experience coming back from graduate school at the University of Memphis to be a presenter at the 1993 First Night Awards, while German recounted a story of one of her favorite First Night performance moments.

Carlton recalled his own initial First Night experience and how winning the award made him realize he had a Nashville theater family. He referred to the newly revived First Night as "a family reunion."

Upcoming First Night events include The First Night Fashion Extravaganza - "Put On Your First Night Clothes" - on Monday, August 16, at Macy's at the Mall of Green Hills. Among Nashville stage favorites taking to the runway to model red carpet fashions are: Jennifer Richmond, Mike Baum, Dietz Osborne, David Compton, Jenny Wallace Noel, Alice Raver, Cori Laemmel, Lauri Gregoire, Cary Street, Christi Dortch, Matthew Baxter, Bakari Jamal King, Britt Byrd, Jenny Norris Light, Martha Wilkinson and Laura Thomas Sonn. The event starts at 7 p.m. and is free and open to the public.

On Monday, September 13, the First Night Symposium will be held at the Black Box Theater at Belmont University, with the eight honorees gathering for a free-wheeling discussion of the history of Nashville theatre and where it's headed in the future, from their unique perspectives. Ellis will moderate and questions from the audience will be strongly encouraged. The Symposium gets under way at 7 p.m. and is free and open to the public.

The First Night Honors Gala begins on Sunday, September 19, at 6:30 p.m. with the Macy's Red Carpet Event, hosted by Trey Palmer and Jennifer Richmond, with fashion commentary from Cary Street and Richard Browder. The Silent Auction will be held in the lower lobby of the Troutt Theatre, with some special features to be unveiled at a later date. At 7:30 p.m., the Honors will be bestowed upon the honorees as they are paid tribute to through musical performances and excerpts from some of the best productions of the 2010 theater season in Nashville.

Ellis promised more surprises will be revealed in the coming weeks: "Those people who are familiar with First Night and who have a history with us, will find this year's show is exponentially bigger and better than what they are expecting," he said. "And those people who are just finding out about First Night and are becoming more and more enthusiastic about the whole event will find that it's more than they could ever have imagined."

The First Night Awards were last presented in 1996 and came to an abrupt end with the death of Ellis' partner, Stuart Bivin, who died suddenly and unexpectedly from a heart attack in 1997.

"Since then, I've been trying to come up with a way to revive First Night and have been plotting its comeback seriously for about three years," he explained.

Tickets for the First Night Gala, which will include the After-Party at Hard Rock Cafe Nashville, are $25 (cash or check only) per person and may be purchased at the box office the night of the event. Persons wanting to reserve tickets for the 300-seat Troutt Theatre, should call (615) 530-6178 for further information.

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