RED, AMADEUS On Tap as Blackbird Theater Announces its 2012-13 Season

Two critically acclaimed plays that are among the most compelling works in contemporary theater will make up the 2012-13 season of Nashville's Blackbird Theater, which embarks upon its third season of "intelligent entertainment" with productions of John Logan's Red and Peter Shaffer's Amadeus.

"Blackbird is thrilled to be presenting the Nashville premiere production of Red," says Greg Greene, Blackbird's managing director.

The winner of six Tony Awards in 2009 including Best Play, Red is written by Oscar-nominated screenwriter John Logan, and delves  unflinchingly into the work and ideas of famed artist Mark Rothko as he struggles to finish a series of paintings for the Four Seasons restaurant, one of the most lucrative and notorious commissions in the history of modern art.

"Because it's written by a top Hollywood screenwriter, Red has all the punch and precision of a great film," Greene says. "We love stories that explore the process of creation, and this show is one of the best about the power of great art and the pain in producing it."

Red will run October 18 through November 3, and will be directed by Mike Fernandez, Blackbird board member and chair of the David Lipscomb University Department of Theatre. Fernandez was named to the list of First Night's Top 10 Directors for his production of Doubt in 2010.

Peter Shaffer's masterwork Amadeus, another Tony Award winner and source for the Oscar-winning film, will be Blackbird's second offering of the season, presented in collaboration with the Lipscomb University Department of Theatre.

Amadeus takes a trenchant look at the troubled life, brilliant music, and tragic death of Mozart through the envious eyes of Salieri, the rival who claimed to have killed the great composer.

"Shaffer is one of my favorite playwrights," says Wes Driver, artistic director of Blackbird. "He has such a unique theatrical imagination, which I don't think was ever more fully realized than in this funny, ferocious, tour-de-force of a show. It's truly a modern masterpiece."

Amadeus runs March 7-23, 2013 and will be directed by Driver, who was named as one of Nashville's Top 11 directors of 2011 for his direction of Magic.

Both Red and Amadeus will be presented in collaboration with the Lipscomb University Department of Theatre and will be performed in Lipscomb's Shamblin Theatre.

Blackbird Theater is a non-profit theater company in Nashville, Tennessee, that has gained popular and critical acclaim with productions of Tom Stoppard's Arcadia (named among First Night's Top 11 of 2011 Best Plays), G.K. Chesterton's Magic, and Stephen Sondheim and John Weidman's Pacific Overtures.

Blackbird's first show, Twilight of the Gods, an original play written by Driver and Greene, was selected as "Best New Play" for 2010 by the Nashville Scene. More information is available at www.BlackbirdNashville.com.

Pictured (from top): Mike Fernandez, and Wes Driver and Greg Greene

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