Dietz Osborne News

Long Way Down, Nashville playwright Nate Eppler's critically acclaimed new work which premiered locally earlier this year, has been named a semi-finalist for the 2012 Harold and Mimi Steinberg/American Theatre Critics Association New Play Award.

Voting is now open for the 2011 Nashville Awards! Now it's time for you to get out and vote for your favorites in the hopes that they will be the recipients of a 2011 BroadwayWorld Nashville Award. No time to waste, click on the voting link and make your opinion count! Below are the stats so far as of Monday November 14, 2011.

First presented in 2010 by the Bethlehem Players (of Franklin's Bethlehem United Methodist Church), Southern Fried Funeral, now onstage through November 26 at Chaffin's Barn Dinner Theatre (where Osborne and Eppler staged their First Night Award-winning Rear Widow last year), is aging gracefully, taking on the patina normally reserved for the sterling silver serving pieces in that breakfront in the dining room. Lustrous and heartfelt - yet uproariously funny in a way that only Southerners can be - the story told in Southern Fried Funeral is authentic and genuine, farfetched and unbelievable.

Southern Fried Funeral, the latest collaboration from playwrights Dietz Osborne and Nate Eppler, opens at Chaffin's Barn Dinner Theatre on October 22, running through November 26 at the venerable Nashville dinner theater.

Southern Fried Funeral, the latest collaboration from playwrights Dietz Osborne and Nate Eppler, opens at Chaffin's Barn Dinner Theatre on October 22, running through November 26 at the venerable Nashville dinner theater.

When the last performers had sung the final song and the late honoree had been feted, the crowds at Belmont University's Troutt Theatre for the presentation of First Night, the Nashville Theatre Honors' 2011 Gala Concert, headed downtown to Cummins Station for the After-Party at The Listening Room Cafe.

Hosted by Jennifer Richmond and Trey Palmer, First Night, the Nashville Theater Honors Gala was preceded by the Red Carpet Event just before the tribute concert on a rainy Sunday, September 4, at Belmont University's Troutt Theatre.

With almost 150 performers taking to the stage of Belmont University's Troutt Theatre on Sunday night, September 4, members of the theater community throughout Tennessee joined together to fete the six members of the 2011 Class of First Night Honorees.

Annie, the irrepressible orphan of newspaper comics-fame who has been delighting audiences onstage since the 1970s, makes her return to Nashville's Chaffin's Barn Dinner Theatre this summer, running July 28-September 3, in a new production of Annie directed by Martha Wilkinson, with music direction by Jaclyn Brown and choreography by Bakari King.

Annie, that spunky, optimistic and determined orphan who first appeared in the 'funny papers' of the nation's newspapers in 1924 - only to become one of the most beloved musical theater heroines ever to express her hope for 'Tomorrow' in song on Broadway - returns to that magical levitating stage of Chaffin's Barn Dinner Theatre in a colorful and sprightly new revival helmed by the multi-talented Martha Wilkinson.

Annie, the irrepressible orphan of newspaper comics-fame who has been delighting audiences onstage since the 1970s, makes her return to Nashville's Chaffin's Barn Dinner Theatre this summer, running July 28-September 3, in a new production of Annie directed by Martha Wilkinson, with music direction by Jaclyn Brown and choreography by Bakari King.

Danny Proctor, Helen Shute-Pettaway, Layne Sasser, Pam Atha, Dan Brewer and Gary Hoff were introduced Monday night as the six members of the 2011 Class of First Night Honorees during the First Night Preview Party, hosted by founder and executive producer Jeffrey Ellis at The Listening Room Cafe in downtown Nashville.

Lauren Shouse directs 3Ps Productions' upcoming workshop production of award-winning playwright Nate Eppler's Long Way Down, described as 'a new dark comedy'starring Rachel Agee, David Compton, Rebekah Durham and Jennifer Richmond, running May 6-28 at Street Theatre Company, 1933 Elm Hill Pike. Set just outside Nashville, Long Way Down tells the story of Maybelline and Karen, two southern women who decide to kidnap babies from undeserving parents. When they run out of room for all of the babies, one of the women decides there is enough room for all of the babies in Heaven.

Lauren Shouse directs 3Ps Productions' upcoming workshop production of award-winning playwright Nate Eppler's Long Way Down, described as 'a new dark comedy'starring Rachel Agee, David Compton, Rebekah Durham and Jennifer Richmond, running May 6-28 at Street Theatre Company, 1933 Elm Hill Pike. Set just outside Nashville, Long Way Down tells the story of Maybelline and Karen, two southern women who decide to kidnap babies from undeserving parents. When they run out of room for all of the babies, one of the women decides there is enough room for all of the babies in Heaven.

In recognition of the centennial of Williams' birth, I conducted a very unscientific survey among Nashville theater folk to determine which of his plays are the most popular and the best loved. Perhaps surprisingly, the top vote-getters in our informal survey were A Streetcar Named Desire, Cat On a Hot Tin Roof and Summer and Smoke, shows that have been given memorable (so memorable, in fact, that people continue to talk about them) productions in Music City in the last century. Members of the Nashville theaterati have definite ideas where Williams' plays are concerned.

Chaffin's Barn, the venerable Nashville theatrical venue where you get top-flight productions served up alongside some mighty tasty roast beef, is on a roll this year. Coming off the success of its excellent production of 'Til Beth Do Us Part, Chaffin's mines their estimable comedy vault to bring back Larry Shue's Southern-fried and Georgia-bred classic The Foreigner - and audiences will be flocking to the Barn for a thoroughly delightful experience.

Derek Whittaker stars in the title role in the latest incarnation of The Foreigner, Larry Shue's classic stage comedy, opening at Chaffin's Barn Dinner Theatre March 24, running through April 30. The production is helmed by director Dietz Osborne.

Derek Whittaker stars in the title role in the latest incarnation of The Foreigner, Larry Shue's classic stage comedy, opening at Chaffin's Barn Dinner Theatre March 24, running through April 30. The production is helmed by director Dietz Osborne.

Before she returns to Broadway in a much-anticipated revival next year, Annie - America's best-known comic strip orphan turned musical comedy heroine - makes a stop in Franklin as the beloved musical that's 'all about her' hits the stage at Bethlehem United Methodist Church, March 4-13.