Jeffrey Ellis News

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.

The Wrestling Season, by Laurie Brooks, is a powerful, 90-minute examination of peer pressure's potentially devastating effects. With recent media attention squarely focused on our nation's teens and the harassment, bullying and intimidation they face daily, both in and out of school, Manchester's Millennium Theatre believed, with lives at stake, time was of the essence in producing the area premiere of this exciting and interactive theatre piece.

Jersey Boys veterans Jared Bradshaw and John Hickman will join Nashville's own Carrie Tillis and Laura Matula to head the cast of Studio Tenn's production of Guys & Dolls, running August 18-28 at the Franklin Theatare, kicking off the company's second season - their first in their new venue.

First Night's Class of 2011 Honorees will be revealed tonight (Monday, July 11) as First Night, The Nashville Theatre Honors kicks off the 2011 First Night Season with The Preview Party, to be held at The Listening Room Café in Cummins Station at 6 p.m.

Summer in Tennessee sizzles as Cumberland County Playhouse turns up the heat with its production of Kander and Ebb's Chicago, opening July 21 in an all-new staging that brings the 1920s roaring back. Chicago features music by John Kander and lyrics by Fred Ebb (the team behind Cabaret, Steel Pier and The Scottsboro Boys).

Street Theatre Company presents the musical Free to be...You and Me July 15-30, featuring over 20 area youth directed by Bakari King. The show is the culmination of a free five-week youth program, thanks in part to a generous grant from the Nashville Predators Foundation and a partnership with the Tulip Street United Methodist Church. During the camp, the young actors work with local professional artists including Cathy Street, Elaina Shaver and King.

With its four-week theater camp wrapping up last week, The Keaton Theatre is now focused on opening night for the Nashville premiere of Camp Rock, The Musical. Although with the onslaught of tech week, campers and counselors may find themselves yearning for yet another week of camp.

Shakespeare meets the Hatfields and the McCoys this summer in Tennessee Shakespeare Festival's family-friendly The Comedy of Errors, running June 17-July 10 in Bell Buckle on the campus of the Webb School. Tennessee Shakespeare Festival's latest production, The Comedy of Errors - described as 'a rollicking version of William Shakespeare's madcap tale of mistaken identity, set in the highlands of 1880s West Virginia.'

Let's face it: We all know people in our own lives who mirror pretty closely the denizens of the Armadillo Acres trailer park - the setting for The Great American Trailer Park Musical. Sure, maybe it's just from standing behind them at the Wal-Mart or trying to avoid their gaze when they're ordering 'them there fajitas' at Chez Mexicano or, perhaps, you're only a generation or two away from the gap-toothed, slack-jawed yokels yourself. But we know 'em here in Tennessee. Hell, they're probably knocking at the door right now, wanting directions to the mall.

Opening July 14 for a limited two week run is David Lindsay-Abaire's 2007 Pulitzer Prize Winner Rabbit Hole directed for the stage by George W. Manus, Jr. Rabbit Hole runs Thursdays-Sundays at 7:30pm, July 14-24. Tickets are $10. general admission or $5. students/seniors www.outfrontonmain.com

'Hairspray' opens at Chattanooga Theatre Centre on July 1st and runs through the 24th, 2011. The Broadway musical is written by Thomas Meehan and Mark O'Donnell with music and lyrics by Marc Shaiman and Scott Whitman. This musical is based on the 1988 film of the same name by John Waters and is based on Water's experiences growing up in Baltimore.

Get a unique insight into Cumberland County Playhouse's CHICAGO Leading Ladies as they take a break from the nights rehearsal. Rehearsals are in the early process but it is already shaping up to be a fantastic show that you will not want to miss! Opening July 21, 2011 at the Cumberland County Playhouse. Get your tickets now by calling 931-484-5000 or www.ccplayhouse.com.

Kinda wacky, definitely campy and darker than you might expect, Little Shop of Horrors - the musical about the flesh-eating plant and the denizens of Skid Row who bask in the glow of reflected celebrity - is brought to fun, frivolous and colorful life at Cumberland County Playhouse's Adventure Theatre, with a stellar cast dancing and singing their way throughout the show. Led by Greg Pendzick and Lindy Pendzick (yep, they're married) as flower shop schlemiel and amateur botanist Seymour Krelborn and the helium-voiced object of his affections Audrey, the ensemble of seven onstage personalities (and three very important offstage stars) tell the far-fetched story with a certain tongue-in-cheek delivery that works because they are playing the B-movie madness relatively straight.

Nashville's Blackbird Theater in August will mount a rare production of Magic - a play by the great, if largely forgotten, literary figure G.K. Chesterton - with performances at Shamblin Theatre on the David Lipscomb University campus, running August 12-27. Magic is described as 'a funny, fiercely dramatic, unabashedly romantic play that involves an aristocratic family whose conflicting beliefs and doubts about the supernatural are all challenged by the arrival of a mysterious conjurer.'

There comes a moment in the current revival of Oklahoma! (now onstage at Cumberland County Playhouse through September 2) when Jason Ross, the actor playing peddler Ali Hakim comes onstage and action stops for a thundering ovation from the audience. Yep, Jason Ross is so popular with Playhouse audiences that he gets entrance applause - a sure sign that an actor has been doing something right so far as the audience is concerned. Sure, they love other Playhouse veterans just as much, but to say that Jason Ross is beloved by audiences is not, by any stretch of the imagination, hyperbole.

Circle Players' production comes as the result of a request by creator David De Silva, and is a sequel to De Silva's original 1980 movie and musical Fame. Among the cast in Circle's July performances are MTSU alumni Jamie London, Erin Spencer, Elizabeth Walsh and David Arnold.

Allison Barnett plays the role of Tracy, with Scott Willis playing teen heartthrob Link Larkin. Arts Center favorite Matt Smith is hilarious in the role of Edna Turnblad, with Robert Hiers as Wilbur Turnblad, Scarlett Turney as Velma Von Tussle and Lindsay Mapes as Amber Von Tussle. Drew Lyons plays the role of Seaweed, with Zoe Phillips as his sister, Little Inez. Matt Hunter plays the role of Corny Collins.

There's a new tenant at Armadillo Acres - and she's wreaking havoc all over Florida's most exclusive trailer park. When Pippi, the stripper on the run, comes between the Dr.Phil-loving agoraphobic Jeannie and her tollbooth collector husband, the storms begin to brew. Directed and choreographed by Bryan J. Wlas, with music direction by Nathan W. Brown, the musical stars Jama Bowen, Chris Egging, Emma Jordan, Alan Lee, Jenny Norris-Light, Paula Makar and Margie Mills.

David De Silva, the creator and producer of the motion picture Fame, and also the stage adaptation, discusses his latest endeavor: Fame Forever, a sequel to the hit musical, with director-producer Evan Seplow

Could there possibly be a showtune more rousing than the eponymous 'Oklahoma!' from Rodgers and Hammerstein's historic musical - or an opening number more iconic or more easily identifiable than 'Oh, What a Beautiful Mornin'? With lyrics and melodies so memorable that you're likely to find yourself singing along (perhaps even before you realize it!) anytime you hear them played, they are among the best-known songs in American musical theater.