THE FRIDAY FIVE: Caroline Davis from TWAIN AND SHAW DO LUNCH

Inspired by BroadwayWorld.com's Friday Six, welcome to BroadwayWorld Nashville's freshest installment of The Friday Five: five questions designed to help you learn more about the talented people you'll find onstage throughout the Volunteer state. Our second spotlight of the week focuses on Caroline Davis, one of Music City's best-known and most beloved actresses, who opens tonight in the Nashville premiere of 2012 First Night Honoree Chambers Stevens' Twain and Shaw Do Lunch, directed by veteran director Melissa Carelli.

Caroline Davis, taking on the role of Charlotte Shaw, has performed with various local theatre groups-ACT 1, Blackbird, Carrick, Circle, Groundworks, Rhubarb-"on occasion as an ice skater, a geisha, a monkey, a dog, a Marx Brother, a shepherdess (twice) and a dead person (thrice)."

During the summer of 2013, she ran another busy English household while playing Olivia in the Nashville premiere of Mr. Pim Passes By (opposite frequent collaborator Rick Seay). Among her other favorite roles are Haley in Bad Dates, Amanda in Private Lives (directed by Brian Hill, who plays Mark Twain in Twain and Shaw Do Lunch), and the dog that is Sylvia-with special fondness for the Melissa Carrelli-directed adventures Enchanted April (Rose), Lady Windermere's Fan (Mrs. Erlynne), and Lady Frederick. A member of the Jane Austen Society of North America, Middle Tennessee Chapter, she is an alumna of Leadership Music and the FBI Citizens Academy.

What was your first "live onstage" taste of theater? My stage debut was in the third grade Christmas pageant as Mary, the Mother of Jesus. So I started at the top.

What is your favorite pre-show ritual? No rituals or superstitions; just a vocal warm-up and lots of stretching (I do like to do a few push-ups or some such in the playing space). I usually eat an apple (like the opera singers do, I once read).

What's your most memorable "the show must go on" moment? So many now-cherished disasters flash before my eyes: skirts falling off (yes, it's happened more than once), inappropriate relief when the gun finally goes off, a spork falling from the rafters among a gentle shower of rose petals. As far as plowing ahead, the AC went out for the opening of Act I's Private Lives and the Darkhorse turned into a sweat lodge. That was memorable to the degree that we could barely process where we were - but delirium from the heat couldn't intrude on Coward cool on the French Riviera.

What's your dream role? If it's really a dream, I can be the Pirate King from Pirates of Penzance, yes?

Who's your theatrical crush? Bill Irwin

Twain and Shaw Do Lunch, a comedy by Hendersonville native Chambers Stevens is inspired by the 1907 meeting of Mark Twain and George Bernard Shaw, and premieres November 7-15, for four performances at The Filming Station in downtown Nashville. Presented by In Another Life and Maverick Entertainment Group in association with Genuine Human, Twain and Shaw Do Lunch will play two weekends: Friday and Saturday, November 7-8 and 14-15, at 7:30 p.m.

Based on an actual meeting between Mark Twain and George Bernard Shaw, the comedy hurtles through a good deal of biographical, political and literary ground in the Shaws' London home. Having bumped into Mark Twain at Victoria Station, the prolific Irishman Shaw invites the aging American novelist home for lunch. Meanwhile, Shaw's wife Charlotte, herself an Irish heiress, has been doing battle with a dewy-eyed admirer of her husband. Will Shaw and Twain avoid coming to blows over their feelings for Wagner and Joan of Arc? Will Charlotte keep a star-struck young woman from gate-crashing the afternoon? Will anyone survive Charlotte's abysmal cooking?

Directed by Melissa Carrelli, the production features Brian T. Hill as Mark Twain, Michael Roark as George Bernard Shaw and Caroline Davis as Shaw's wife, Charlotte. Scott Orr is producer. Tickets for Twain and Shaw Do Lunch are $25 (includes complimentary beverages and secure parking next to the venue) and are available via (615) 734-9932 or ticketriver.com/event/12650.

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