Derek Whittaker News

There's a definite feeling of autumn in the air in Middle Tennessee - despite this week's warmer temperatures and plenty of sunshine - and as the calendar moves forward toward Halloween and the time of ghost stories and other sinister tales comes the opening of playwright David Alford's SPIRIT: The Authentic Bell Witch Experience, the final event of this year's Bell Witch Fall Festival in his hometown of Adams, Tennessee.

Nan Gurley's stunning performance of Mama Rose is reason enough to see Studio Tenn's 2015-16 season opening production of Gypsy - the legendary backstage musical about the rise to stardom of Gypsy Rose Lee - but there is so much more to be found in director Matt Logan's sumptuously appointed show than her career-crowning portrayal of the near-mythical character.

When word spread quickly among Nashville's theater community that Nan Gurley had been cast as Mama Rose in Studio Tenn's 2015-16 season opening production of Gypsy, the response was universal: artistic director Matt Logan once again had proven his brilliance. Simply put, Nan Gurley - a member of Nashville theater's first family - was the perfect choice to play the overpowering and flawed mother of stripper/entertainer/author/raconteur Gypsy Rose Lee.

After four critically acclaimed seasons, Nashville's Blackbird Theater will produce what company founders call their 'magnum opus,' the new musical Myth, set for a world premiere run tonight, July 16, through July 26.

Directors and producers in the Nashville region are seeking actors for upcoming productions of Heathers the Musical, Smoke/Spirit and The Music Man - and more! We've gathered the details together here to make your planning easier. So now you have no excuse!

Directors and producers in the Nashville region are seeking actors for upcoming productions of August: Osage County, Nunsense, The Last Five Years, Heathers the Musical, Smoke/Spirit and The Music Man. We've gathered the details together here to make your planning easier. So now you have no excuse!

Directors and producers in the Nashville region are seeking actors for upcoming productions of American Idiot, August: Osage County, The Last Five Years, Heathers the Musical and The Music Man. We've gathered the details together here to make your planning easier. This is planned as a regular feature and we invite you to send your audition announcements to Jeffrey Ellis, senior contributing editor, at jeffreyellis37215@att.net for inclusion in this column.

Hitting perhaps too close to home for some and harkening back to memories best left unrecalled, while challenging audiences to examine their own lives, Arthur Miller's Death of a Salesman remains an emotional, visceral theatrical masterpiece. Now, through March 28, it is vividly recaptured, like so much lightening in a bottle, in a deeply affecting production from Nashville Rep, directed with finesse by Rene D. Copeland and acted by an all-star cast of Nashville performers who together create a stunningly specific place in time that somehow is timeless and universal.

Nashville Repertory Theatre will present its newest production Death of a Salesman, the classic, Tony Award and Pulitzer Prize-winning drama. Death of a Salesman runs tonight, March 12-28, 2015 at Andrew Johnson Theater at Tennessee Performing Arts Center.

?After four critically acclaimed seasons, Nashville's Blackbird Theater will produce what company founders call their 'magnum opus,' the new musical Myth, set for a world premiere run July 16-26.

Nashville Repertory Theatre will present its newest production Death of a Salesman, the classic, Tony Award and Pulitzer Prize-winning drama. Death of a Salesman runs March 12-28, 2015 at Andrew Johnson Theater at Tennessee Performing Arts Center.

Denice Hicks' vision for Twelfth Night warmly ingratiates itself with the fluidity of its presentation, enacted by a delightful cast of NSF veterans and newcomers who envelop their audience with genuinely high-spirited good feelings sure to thaw the most frozen of hearts.

Finding it difficult to get into the holiday spirit? Studio Tenn has the perfect antidote to the grey, cloudy and wet days of early December in Nashville: It's A Wonderful Life-the company's production of the stage adaptation of the iconic holiday film. If it doesn't put you in the right frame of mind, then we suspect nothing will.

Tennessee Repertory Theatre has worked with Pulitzer Prize-winners, Tony Award-winners, and Oscar Award-winners (largely through its burgeoning Ingram New Works Project). And now Nashville's flagship professional theatre can add a Heisman Trophy-winner to that list: Eddie George. The former Tennessee Titan will headline the February production of The Whipping Man.

Tennessee Repertory Theatre will present the multiple Tony Award-winning musical Cabaret with book and lyrics by Joe Masteroff and Fred Ebb and music by John Kander. Cabaret runs tonight, February 16 - March 9 at TPAC's Johnson Theater.

Due to popular demand, Tennessee Repertory Theatre has extended its production of the multiple Tony Award-winning musical Cabaret with book and lyrics by Joe Masteroff and Fred Ebb and music by John Kander. Performances have been added through Saturday, March 16. Tickets for the added performances will go on sale Tuesday, February 5 at 10 am. Cabaret runs February 16 - March 16 at TPAC's Johnson Theater (with preview performances February 14 - 15).

Tennessee Repertory Theatre will present the multiple Tony Award-winning musical Cabaret with book and lyrics by Joe Masteroff and Fred Ebb and music by John Kander. Cabaret runs February 16 - March 9 at TPAC's Johnson Theater (with preview performances February 14 - 15).

The world premiere of a brand-spanking new musical with Broadway in its sights, a relatively young but awe-inspiring theater company and a sparkling, witty new play about Zelda and F. Scott Fitzgerald led the list of Tennessee's outstanding theatrical achievements in 2012 that was revealed Sunday night at Midwinter's First Night. Photographer Rick Malkin was on hand to capture the evening's highlights with his camera.

The world premiere of a brand-spanking new musical with Broadway in its sights, a relatively young but awe-inspiring theater company and a sparkling, witty new play about Zelda and F. Scott Fitzgerald led the list of Tennessee's outstanding theatrical achievements in 2012 that was revealed Sunday night at Midwinter's First Night.