MUSIC CITY CONFIDENTIAL: Inquiring Minds Want to Know the Scoop

Hear ye, hear ye...Music City Confidential is back! Which means, of course, that I've heard an awful lot of scuttlebutt since last week's column went live on the interwebs - or, more likely, that I am trying to avoid boring and mundane stuff like packing - I'll let you decide what my motivation truly is...

Last Tuesday night, at Mamma Mia!, I was seated next to a charming young man and woman - he was a first-timer at TPAC, she's obviously a theater fan of longer service. When they passed by me, I noticed she was carrying a Co'Cola and he had a Dr. Pepper. As soon as they were seated, I asked: "Where's my Diet Coke?" "What?" he responded rather tentatively. "Where's my Diet Coke?" I repeated, explaining that I had left word at the door that whoever was seated next to me should bring me a Diet Coke. He apologized profusely and we wrote it down to a lack of customer service at the will-call window. The young woman congratulated me on how convincing I was in my request, saying she was just about to go buy me a Diet Coke when I confessed my ruse.

Meanwhile, after the show, there was a quartet of younger theater goers standing on the corner of Charlotte and 6th, talking loudly and floridly about the show they'd just seen: "It was pretty good for Nashville," one young woman said. "They sometimes do really good stuff...for Nashville!"

"But it really bothered me," said one young man. "It bothered me that Sky was blond, not dark-haired like in the movie."

Just as I turned to gently correct their misplaced assumptions and to educate them on what constitutes theater in Nashville, their Uber arrived and they were safely inside the vehicle before I was able to start my rant. Kids today! I gotta tell ya...

Perhaps the best part of the evening: seeing all sorts of local theater types scattered among the crowd, including Liz Walsh, Christen Heilman, TPAC's Christi Dortch and Tony Marks, The Tennessean's Amy Prough Stumpfl, Stephen Belk (was Lauren there? We didn't actually lay eyes on her), Ramona Richards and a host of other people whose presence was lost in the haze of all those memories of drunken revelries on smoky dancefloors. Ah, youth.

We bade farewell to 1974 Brookhaven, Mississippi, and the grand adventure that was Beth Henley's The Miss Firecracker Contest at The Larry Keeton Theatre on Saturday night and I would be remiss if I didn't express at least once more how great it was working with a cast of talented and devoted individuals and a crew of imaginative and hard-working people over the past six weeks or so.

We had the time of our lives bringing these crazy, dysfuctional and lovable characters to life and telling a story that resonated so deeply for me. I loved setting the play in 1974, during the summer before my senior year of high school, which brought memories flooding back into my heart every day. Now, as we move on,I'm feeling a little wistful, missing some folks who've been all up in my face for a while, and aspiring to improve as a writer, a director, a friend and a man. Thanks for being there for me, y'all...I am very grateful.

We were all very grateful, as well, to all the theaterati who came to see the show during its three-week run. You're all swell...and you know who you are.

THIS JUST IN FROM THE NEWSROOM: Tennessee's own Jeremy Benton, whom we've always claimed to be the best tap dancer on the Broadway and currently starring in Cagney (the new off-Broadway musical by Peter Colley, Robert Creighton and our pal Christopher McGovern), has been feted with an Astaire Award nomination as the best male dancer off-Broadway. His nod is one of four for Cagney: he's joined in the nominations by Creighton, choreographer Joshua Bergasse and actress/dancer Ellen Zolezzi.

Nominations for the 2016 Fred and Adele AstaireAwards, which honor outstanding dance and choreography on stage and screen, were announced yesterday at the Friar's Club by New York Post columnist Michael Riedel. For the first time, the Fred and Adele Astaire Awards have explored recognizing excellence in dance, movement, and choreography off-Broadway. Twenty eligible shows in the non-profit and commercial off-Broadway arenas met the eligibility requirements and were considered.

The even bigger news for Mr. Benton may well be that this is the first time we've ever made an announcement early: Jeremy Benton is a 2016 First Night Honoree, and he will be honored on September 25 at The 2016 First Night Honors Gala (although he may still be tapping his way into the hearts of thousands of theater lovers - Cagney has extended its run at the Westside Theatre through that very date - and thus unable to attend).

We hear it all the time: "The theater community here in Nashville is unlike any other place I've ever lived." Right? You've heard that, haven't you? Well, I thought a nice feature story about that very subject would be something worth pursuing and something y'all would enjoy reading. So I contacted 30-some members of the theaterati and put that question to them - and only four people responded to my query. I'm still uncertain why they didn't respond, although it's been suggested that feelings of competition and a reluctance not to promote oneself might explain that particular failing.

Well, theater and entertainment - all the creative arts, as it were - practically demand self-promotion, but it should be remembered that it ain't self-promotion if a reporter asks the question. Repeat that declaration over and over to yourself until you are able to get past your Southern-bred reticence and speak with honesty and spontaneity to your friendly neighborhood theater writer (no one else really gives a damn, after all).

Amber Buker, managing director of the new Distraction Theatre Company, who moved here with her partner Randall Tye Pike and they're now launching their new company: Nashville has an incredibly welcoming theatre scene. Everyone we talked to seemed genuinely excited to have more theatre folk in town and welcomed us with open arms. I think we are all wanting to accomplish the same thing as far as making theatre a bigger part of the creative economy here, so it makes total sense to want to grow the amount of work being produced. That was pretty different than what we saw in Portland. Nashville also has a very youthful theatre scene compared to other markets. So many young people are moving here and it shows in theatre as much as it does in other sectors like music or tech. Altogether, Nashville theatre has a lot of energy around it right now. A really exciting vibe!

Nancy Allen, musical theater coordinator at Belmont University's Musical Theater department and a longtime performer on local stages: I honestly believe one thing that makes us different is that we really do get along well with one another. We collaborate and work together, actors support other actors, and theaters respect each other and don't try to undermine what the other is doing. There are many situations in which one theatre will borrow from another theater. I am not saying that we don't compete with one another for audience draw, but in general there is a lovely sense of respect and support. This is also true in educational theater. Another big difference about Nashville theater is that educational, community, and professional theaters are all growing and thriving in spite of a lack of support from Nashville. There is more theater going on than audience to support it.

Tim Larson, president of the Board of Directors of Circle Players, the oldest community theater company in Middle Tennessee: I do not think it is. I think we all strive for quality theatre whether it be a musical or not. Nashville has many theatre companies and each have different visions and missions and I think they all could complement each other with collaboration. I would like to see a Nashville Theatre Consortium where we all come together and discuss our upcoming seasons and ensure that the wealth is shared and that we all have the same vision, to bring live theatre to this community as one voice.

Denice Hicks, producing artistic director for Nashville Shakespeare Festival and a well-known director/actor in Music City: Here's one answer. I'm sure I could give you a different one every day, because Nashville is extraordinary! Mac Pirkle, who was the real beginning of professional theatre here for me, set the standard that everything we do is to enrich our community. Mac started Southern Stage/Tennessee Rep because the city needed professional theatre, not because he was trying to show off. We who have chosen to live, work, play and create here do it through and for the love of Nashville. We are dedicated to this city. I've only worked in a few other cities, but what I perceived there was that most artists were working to promote themselves and most organizations were competing with other similar organizations.

Here in Nashville we support each other-both the individual artists and the companies. We share, we encourage, we nurture. Companies and artists come and go, but the ones who last are those who collaborate and cooperate. We have done our best to create a culture of kindness and creativity, and because that is intentional, I also think it makes us different from other places. Large egos don't do well here. Short tempers have no place. The Nashville theatre community cares and takes care of our own.

Bradley Moore, Nashville theater's golden boy who doesn't know how to sit still and who leads his own company, Music City Theatre Company (not to be confused with Music City Theatre Collective): It's the people. I have worked theatrically in a lot of cities and the theatre community in Nashville is by far the most supportive, creative, and dedicated I have ever seen. Everyone I have been lucky enough to work with treats theatre like art, not just something to do. It seems that everyone wants to be better and by having that desire, they make everyone around them better. That is definitely something special.

Judith Woods, the consummate stage mother and theater devotee (she's Rachel Woods' mom, so she speaks from experience and a unique perspective): Nashville is different from other towns because it is a place where artists can live a balanced life. It isn't necessary to forsake friends and family here to be successful, so that makes it friendlier and more accessible.

When you have a solid sense of self which balance gives you, my belief is that you are more generous and more prone to see theater as a collaborative team effort. Yes, there are those little rivalries here and there, but there are also many people in the Nashville theater community with long term relationships, children, pets - things that ground a person. And if you're grounded, ego is less likely to get in the way of your success and that of others. Kindness breeds kindness, and we have a kind community that attracts the like. Just my opinion.

And that is from a highly protective observer: I never had any qualms about Rachel working with Nashville pros when she was younger. And I don't now, but now it's not really any of my business.

Rebekah Stogner is a Lipscomb University theater student and was in my casts for Picnic and The Miss Firecracker Contest, but she still won't acknowledge me in public: Theater in Nashville is a fairly close-knit community where everyone knows or knows of almost everyone else. There's so many different types of stories being told each weekend that one can easily see without having to pay huge sums of money. There's opportunities for growth in Nashville once you're in, to climb the theatrical ladder and make your way to bigger and better things while still remaining close to the people and places that gave you your start, as opposed to big cities, where a break is hard to catch and you may never see anyone again.

Matt Logan, who with his producing partner Jake Speck, has led Studio Tenn to new creative heights and has redefined "professional theater" in Music City: Middle Tennessee has been a home to many creative disciplines. Theater is one of them. In fact, "the Songwriting Capitol of the World" has only begun to find its place in the theatre world. In the coming years, I have no doubt that Nashville will become the birthplace to many shows that will find their way to Broadway. Middle Tennessee must keep raising the bar in order to secure that honor. I believe that this collaboration between TPAC and Studio Tenn [on this season's upcoming Evita] is a step in that direction.

I should probably point out that in my review last year of Studio Tenn's The Wizard of Oz that I suggested that production should wend its way to Broadway, so I'm claiming now that I am clairvoyant - and I cannot wait until a Nashville-bred show debuts on the Great White Way.

SAVE THE DATE!

May 4-14: Nashville Repertory Theatre's The Ingram New Works Festival kicks off! The entire festival lasts for these ten days, featuring five playwrights who have written five wonderful and thought provoking plays," says Elizabeth Davidson. A $35 pass will get you into all five plays, and individual tickets are $5 for students and actors, and $10 general admission. Readings are in Studio A at WNPT-Channel 8 studios.

May 4-15: 4th Story Theater at West End UMC presents Yasmina Reza's God of Carnage, featuring Christopher Bosen, Brittany Nelson, Adam Horn and Jill Braddock-Watson.

May 5: Any Song Will Do: Roles We'll Never Play, starring Leslie Eiler Thompson, Casey Hebbel and Tyler Osborne, is a pay-what-you-can event.

May 6-22: Women's Work 2016, Tennessee Women's Theater Project's annual salute to art created by women is back at the Z. Alexander Looby Theatre. Works featured this year includes a new play by North Carolina playwright Marilyn Anselmi, directed by Nashville's Vickie Bailey, featuring Kaul Bluestone, LaToya Gardner, Phil Brady and Katharine Poole. It's the fifth year that Anselmi and Bailey have teamed up: "It's been such an unexpected learning experience to work on five plays written by the same author," according to Bailey. "To be able to know what the author is thinking and what she wants to portray with her play is a privilege director usually doesn't get. What a great way to become good friends with a great North Carolina playwright like Marilyn Anselmi!"

May 10: Opera at Smith & Lentz Brewing, 903 Main Street, Nashville: "Come hang with us and members of our Nashville Opera chorus as we toast the start of our summer Opera @ series at Smith & Lentz! We'll be hanging out, singing some drinking songs, and enjoying craft beer. Bao Down will be serving tasty treats outside, and if you're in the mood to do good, $1 from every beer sold goes to Nashville Opera. All you have to do is show up and sip up."

May 14: Cupcake Hawthorne Live! At Bongo After Hours Theatre. The show's at 8 p.m. as Kevin Thornton offers Nashville audiences another opportunity to get to know his alter ego - the mad, bad and dangerous to know Cupcake Hawthorne.

May 19: Which leads us to this latest, gleefully anticipated, offering coming up from Actors Bridge: Nate VS. Rachel, a one-night only performance that sets up Nate Eppler and Rachel Agee to go toe-to-toe onstage at Actors Bridge Studio at Darkhorse Chapel, to raise money for production expenses for the world premiere of Eppler's The Ice Treatment, in which Agee may or may not be playing an infamous U.S. figure skater whose career went up in flames back in the 20th century. Go towww.actorsbridge.org for tickets; space is limited for this unique theatrical endeavor and you won't want to be caught making up memories because you weren't right there, smack dab in the middle of it all.

May 23: Happenin' at the Hollemans, Clarksville. Join the talented crew from The Roxy Regional Theatre as they reveal their 2016-17 season (which includes Million Dollar Quartet, we suspect, judging from what we read on the invitation and the four handsome guys to the left, who might be on hand for the festivities! And, of course, The Little Mermaid is a likely suspect, as well, because...well, just because...) of shows. Go to www.roxyregionaltheatre.org for details.

June 3: Back on Broadway, presented by Hume Fogg Academic High School, features performances by five HFA alumni, including Alison Downs Wilson (Class of 2001), Andrew Turner (2006), Savannah Frazier (2008), Johnny Knotts (2010) and Sophia Salveson (2011). 2014 First Night Honoree Daron Bruce, the creative genius behind the event (he's the director of theater at HFA, one of the finest high schools in the USA), says, "I'm so thrilled to have them all back onstage again and I cannot tell you how exciting it is to have Sophie Salveson performing again, along with a former student who just appeared on Broadway [Savannah Frazier made her Broadway debut in this season's Amazing Grace]."

The Good Wife airs its final episode ever this Sunday night, Downton Abbey is long gone, Grantchester won't be back until 2017 and I just can't get into Fear the Walking Dead! So here's my query: What are you watching on TV that I just can't live without?

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