SWEENEY TODD, 'VANYA AND SONIA' & More Set for Tennessee Rep's 30th Anniversary Season

The return of a very special Tony Award-winning musical favorite. A contemporary drama about loyalty and secrets as the definitions of freedom and servitude are rewritten in April of 1865. A Pulitzer Prize-winning classic that defined the American "tragic hero." And the latest Tony Award-winning comedy about an absurd weekend of sibling angst and hilarity. Plus, the return of Nashville's All-American holiday tradition!

These plays comprise Tennessee Repertory Theatre's 2014-2015 season of live, professional, critically-acclaimed theatre. The season, which kicks off in October, marks the 30th anniversary for Tennessee Rep.

"I love this time of year-the prospect of a new theatre season with all its brimming potential is always so exciting," says Tennessee Rep Producing Artistic Director René D. Copeland. As we move into Tennessee Rep's 2014-15 season, I am excited about continuing to fuel the passion Nashville has for theatre. And to top it off, I am so excited about the brilliant plays which comprise our 30th anniversary season. There is truly something for everyone, and every show has its own set of artistic challenges that will highlight the talent we are lucky to have here in Middle Tennessee."

Sweeney Todd: The Demon Barber of Fleet Street
Music and lyrics by Stephen Sondheim, book by Hugh Wheeler
October 4 - 25, 2014 (previews: October 2 - 3)
Johnson Theater, TPAC

Back by Popular Demand! The rare instance of a musical thriller, this chilling, suspenseful, heart-pounding masterpiece of murderous "barber-ism" and culinary crime tells the infamous tale of the unjustly exiled Benjamin Barker (aka Sweeney Todd). He returns to 19th century London seeking revenge against the lecherous judge who framed him and ravaged his young wife. The enterprising (and unforgettable) pie-maker Mrs. Lovett helps Sweeney Todd exact his revenge in the most "delicious" of ways. Sophisticated, macabre, visceral and uncompromising, Sweeney Todd mixes intense drama with howlingly funny moments of dark humor.

The Whipping Man
by Matthew Lopez
February 7 - 21, 2015 (previews: February 5 - 6)
Johnson Theater, TPAC

In the post-Civil War South, three men are tied to each other by history and faith, but are also bound by secrets. A badly wounded Jewish Confederate soldier stumbles home at war's end to find his family has fled to the countryside. Remaining behind to greet him are two of his family's former slaves... and a cobbled together Passover Seder. The three men unite to celebrate the holiday, even as they struggle to comprehend their new relationships at a crossroads of personal and national history.

Death of a Salesman
by Arthur Miller
March 14 - 28, 2015 (previews: March 12 - 13)
Johnson Theater, TPAC

With its 1949 Broadway opening, Death of a Salesman struck a chord with audiences, and each generation since has embraced the play as an expression of their own struggle to achieve the American dream. In this Tony Award and Pulitzer Prize-winning drama, Arthur Miller redefined the tragic hero in Willy Loman-the aging, failing salesman who makes his living riding on a smile and a shoeshine. Death of a Salesman compresses epic extremes of humor and anguish, promise and loss, within the unstable walls of a suburban American home.

Vanya and Sonia and Masha and Spike
by Christopher Durang
April 11 - 25, 2015 (previews: April 9 - 10)
Johnson Theater, TPAC

In this 2013 Tony Award-winner for Best Play, Christopher Durang takes characters and themes from Chekhov, pours them into a blender, and serves them up dry as only this master of comedy can. Classic Chekhovian themes of loss and longing are given utterly hilarious (and occasionally touching) twists. Against the bucolic plague of a farmhouse in Pennsylvania, the stage is set for an absurd weekend of angst, hilarity, and global warming.

HOLIDAY SPECIAL:

A Christmas Story
by Phillip Grecian based on the motion picture by Jean Shepherd, Leigh Brown, and Bob Clark
November 29 - December 21, 2014 (preview: November 28)
Johnson Theater, TPAC

NASHVILLE'S ALL-AMERICAN HOLIDAY TRADITION! Humorist Jean Shepherd's memoir of growing up in the Midwest in the 1940s follows 9-year-old Ralphie Parker in his unflappable campaign to get Santa (or anyone else) to give him a "legendary official Red Ryder 200 shot carbine action range-model air rifle." Ralphie pleads his case before his mother, his teacher and even Santa Claus himself, at Goldblatt's Department Store. The consistent response: "You'll shoot your eye out." This irresistible piece of Americana is guaranteed to warm the heart and tickle the funny bone.

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