Joy Tilley Perryman News

2015 First Night Honoree Martha Wilkinson holds the record for the most First Night Awards with nine. A frequent performer on the First Night stage -- including particularly show-stopping numbers such as her rendition of 'You'll Never Walk Alone,' while clad in a white ballgown and backed up by a chorus of Nashville theater's leading men -- she's one of Tennessee's favorites for certain. She was first recognized by the First Night Awards in 1989, when she won the award for Outstanding Supporting Actress in a Musical for her role in Circle Players' production of Pippin.

More than 150 people gathered at Nashville's venerable Chaffin's Barn Dinner Theatre Monday night for the announcement of honorees and award winners for the 2015 First Night Honors. Preview Party celebrants were treated to a bountiful buffet of entertainment as cast members from several musicals currently on the boards or upcoming on Middle Tennessee stages performed numbers from their shows

More than 150 people gathered at Nashville's venerable Chaffin's Barn Dinner Theatre Monday night for the announcement of honorees and award winners for the 2015 First Night Honors. Preview Party celebrants were treated to a bountiful buffet of entertainment as cast members from several musicals currently on the boards or upcoming on Middle Tennessee stages performed numbers from their shows.

Nine individuals who have taken leading roles in making live theater in Tennessee better and more magical have been named as members of the Class of 2015 Honorees for The First Night Honors, the annual celebration of all things theatrical held in Nashville every September.

Nine individuals who have taken leading roles in making live theater in Tennessee better and more magical have been named as members of the Class of 2015 Honorees for The First Night Honors, the annual celebration of all things theatrical held in Nashville every September.

Sometimes it seems there is so much theater happening that it's difficult to keep track of it all. From personal experience, despite all the datebooks, smart phones, tablets, desktop computers and laptops...it's hard to keep everything straight in this wacky business of the show.

Theater in Tennessee has never been busier nor has it been more diverse than what you'll find onstage this weekend throughout the Volunteer State. From frothy and fun summer musicals that are sure to make you think - like All Shook Up at Chaffin's Barn and A Chorus Line at Cumberland County Playhouse - to new plays from Shawn Whitsell (his latest, Songs For Our Sons, premieres at Darkhorse Theatre on Friday night) and emerging playwright Che Pieper (his new script based on the book The Man With the Light in His Window debuts at The Theater Bug this weekend)…the magic of live theater is all around you…even in this heat and humidity! So pull your seersucker suits and sundresses out of the closet, get all gussied up and make your way to the relative cool of a darkened theater for some midsummer magic!

The First Night Honors' Class of 2015 will be revealed next Monday night, July 27, as Nashville Theater's Big Reveal: The First Night Preview Party gets under way at Chaffin's Barn Dinner Theatre at 6 p.m., featuring entertainment by the casts of some of the summer's biggest musicals throughout Tennessee.

Sometimes it seems there is so much theater happening that it's difficult to keep track of it all. From personal experience, despite all the datebooks, smart phones, tablets, desktop computers and laptops...it's hard to keep everything straight in this wacky business of the show.

There always seems to be so much to do in Nashville, from a creative and theatrical standpoint, we're often asked for recommendations of what's not to be missed on our calendar. Well, have no fear, gentle readers, we're at your service, at the ready to tell you of the shows you really should see this week and in the coming weeks…

Of course, Nashville's Iroquois Steeplechase is Saturday (and despite weather forecasts to the contrary, chances are that means it's going to be raining), so when it comes time to dry off, we suggest you head to the theater, where there's all sorts of good stuff onstage.

Looking for something fun to do in Nashville this week? We have done the necessary legwork - we're all about saving you time and helping you make informed decisions about how to spend your entertainment dollar, after all - and we are delighted to present you with our newest edition of Critic's Choice, filled chock-a-block with all sorts of fun stuff…enough to keep you off the streets and entertained until our Friday offerings come your way!

Who's to blame? That's the question that looms large over the onstage action of Richard Greenberg's Take Me Out, now in performance at Darkhorse Theatre in a superbly cast production directed by Joy Tilley Perryman for ACT 1.

Inspired by BroadwayWorld.com's Friday Six, welcome to BroadwayWorld Nashville's latest 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. This week the spotlight shines on Connor Hall, Kurt Jarvis and Shawn Whitsell, members of director Joy Tilley Perryman's ensemble for ACT 1's production of Take Me Out, the Tony Award-winning Richard Greenberg play which opens at Darkhorse Theatre tonight.

Looking for something fun to do in Nashville this week? Have no fear, gentle BWW Nashville readers, our team of writers have done the necessary legwork - we're all about saving you time and helping you make informed decisions about how to spend your entertainment dollar, after all - and we are delighted to present you with our newest edition of our official Critic's Choice column, filled to the veritable brim with suggestions for great stuff going on in these parts. Now, get out there and have some fun, y'all!

Members of the Nashville theater community will gather today to lay to rest - and celebrate the thriving legacy - of A.W. 'Big John' Chaffin, the founder of Music City's first professional theater company and the patriarch of one of the first families of Tennessee theater.

If you're in need of some intense family drama leavened with heaping helpings of laughter - just like the kind Mama and them can dish up along with the grits and the gravy - then look no further than ACT 1's cracklin' production of Del Shores' Daddy's Dyin'…Who's Got the Will?

Oh, that wacky and wily Joy Tilley Perryman…she's one of Nashville's favorite comedic actors and tonight she assays another Del Shores role as she opens Daddy's Dyin'…Who's Got the Will? for ACT 1 at the Darkhorse Theater. Because of that, she has our Friday Five spotlight focused squarely on her while she teases her hair high to heaven and creates food props that'll make you want to slap your mama!

Inspired by all the seasonal festivities that abound, we asked people in the theater community to share their favorite things to see onstage during the run-up to Christmas…

Although it seems hard to believe, Thanksgiving is this Thursday and as we reflect on the people, places and things that have made us truly happy this year and makes us most thankful, in general, we're also considering what things theatrical for which we are especially grateful in 2014.