Jeffrey Ellis - Page 118

Rehearsals are going frighteningly well. Even with the cast in their street clothes, rehearsing in a community room at an apartment complex, we've already been able to establish a haunting atmosphere and some strong character dynamics. When you produce a new or unknown work like Magic, there's always that fear that you'll be in the middle of rehearsals before discovering the play's really not that good. But that hasn't been the case at all.

Mark Allyn Nimmo is typical of contemporary young male dancers found on stages the world over today, combining athleticism with grace, as he pursues a burgeoning career. By performing with a company like Nashville Ballet, Nimmo is given the opportunity to take on a number of artistic and physical challenges, all while gaining experience that pays off when he is onstage: It's hard to take your eyes off him when he dances.

Six of the leading lights of the theater world in Tennessee will be recognized as members of the 2011 Class of First Night Honorees August 27-September 4 as First Night, the Nashville Theatre Honors hosts a series of theatrical events to celebrate their achievements and accomplishments.

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.

Directed by the company's producing artistic director Vali Forrister, Becky's New Car is a perfect choice for Actors Bridge, providing a showcase for a group of talented actors so charming and so engaging that you might find yourself falling a little bit in love with the whole lot. In fact, I'd probably drink the bathwater of the entire cast, so completely believable are they in this sharply written, inventively staged production. Take my advice: You best go look under the hood of Becky's New Car before its run ends on August 7.

To celebrate dance as an art form and fitness activity, Nashville Ballet will participate in National Dance Day on Saturday, July 30, by offering free sample classes and choreography provided by the hit realty show So You Think You Can Dance (SYTYCD).

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.

Tennessee Williams' The Glass Menagerie, starring Ashley Camps, Tricia Matthews, Nick Koesters and Nathan Whitmer, will be produced later this fall at Virginia's Barter Theatre. The State Theatre of Virginia will produce the classic American play October 7 through November 12 at Barter Stage II. The Glass Menagerie was chosen after Barter Theatre learned the script for Swamp Gas and Shallow Feelings (originally slated to open October 7) would not be completed in time for rehearsals.

Cori Laemmel would be the first to tell you: 2011 has been kind of a crazy year for her. She made her debut with Tennessee Repertory Theatre with her critically-acclaimed turn in Yankee Tavern; with four of her talented friends, she brought MAS Nashville to life, creating and performing in two stellar nights of cabaret - with more in store; and she launched her theater training program for younger actors aka The Theater Bug. Oh, and she was in the audience for her actor husband Tyson Laemmel's many performances, as well.

Have you ever been tempted to flee your own life? That's the question posed by playwright Steven Dietz in his play Becky's New Play, opening at Belmont University's Black Box Theatre on Friday, July 29, in a new production from Actors Bridge Ensemble, directed by the company's own Vali Forrister.

Eddie Mikrut is one of the leading lights of Nashville Ballet's professional company of dancers, taking on some of the most challenging roles in the dancer's repertory and consistently delivering awe-inspiring performances. Paired with some of the exceptional women in the company, Mikrut shows a superb command of his talent and his abilities, in so doing lifting (both literally and figuratively) the women to greater heights and showing off the various choreographic challenges cast upon him.

William Ellsworth's The Signal Season of Dummy Hoy, the tale of one of the first deaf baseball players to make it to the major league - and the man some people credit with the creation of baseball signals - opens at Lakewood Theatre Company in Old Hickory on August 12, running through August 27, in a production helmed by director John Carpenter.

Cumberland County Playhouse's CHICAGO is the talk of the town...you don't want to miss out on the fun so call and get your tickets now at 931-484-5000 or www.ccplayhouse.com. Enjoy this little tease and then grab your friends and come on down. Rated PG13.

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.

That all-too-personal journey taken by two upper middle-class parents, grieving the accidental death of their four-year-old son, gives structure and form to Rabbit Hole, now onstage at Murfreesboro's Out Front on Main theater in a compellingly acted and tautly directed production staged by George W. Manus Jr. Thanks to the total commitment of Manus' five-member ensemble of actors, Rabbit Hole is brought searingly to life, leavened with enough humor to make its impact all the more heartfelt, while affording audiences an opportunity to see a deeply personal story acted out on stage that one day ultimately might have a greater impact on their collective psyche.

Teaser for Blackbird Theater's production of Magic by G.K. Chesterton. August 12-13, 19-20, 25-27. Starring Amanda Card McCoy and David Compton. Ticket information at BlackbirdNashville.com.

You might want to take note that Kathy Griffin will be making a guest appearance on Joan Rivers' Fashion Police on E! tonight (Friday, July 22), promising to be inappropriately funny and bitingly incisive while hanging out with Joan, George and either Kelly or Giuliana. Griffin reminded her audience at Tennessee Performing Arts Center's Andrew Jackson Hall of that last night as she engaged in her trademark repartee before an audience filled with her deliriously attentive fans.

David De Silva, the man behind the creation of one of pop culture's most enduring tales of the individual's creative struggle for self-expression - known the world over as the film and stage musical, Fame - arrives in Tennessee today for the opening of Circle Players' regional premiere of Fame Forever: Talent Springs Eternal, which opens at Middle Tennessee State University's Tucker Theatre for a one-weekend run.

Don't tell the evangelical theater folks in Pigeon Forge, but Kathy Griffin's headed back to Tennessee and, this time, who knows whom she'll be telling to 'suck it'? Just a simple girl with a simple dream: the outspoken and outrageous comedy legend (surely, that will get me the exclusive and private interview I covet) brings her unique brand of comedy back to Nashville this summer for the first time since her last sold-out performance at the Tennessee Performing Arts Center.

For Damian Drake, one of Nashville Ballet's versatile and accomplished company members, 'a fantastic quality about dance as an art form is how it encompasses other artists to create together as a community,' exemplifying the collaborative nature of dance, whether classic or contemporary. As an integral member of the company, Drake has been featured in numerous works with the company since first joining the creative collective that has made Music City's homegrown ballet company one of the nation's artistic leaders - and one of the Nashville's best-attended performing arts groups.