Jeffrey Ellis - Page 40

Theater audiences in Middle Tennessee are treated to a delicious murder mystery from the doyenne of British whodunits as Arts Center of Cannon County unveils its latest production - Agatha Christie's And Then There Were None - in a sumptuous new mounting from director Cyndie Verbeten. Opening tonight and continuing through October 13, the story focuses on a group of people brought together on a remote island where there is danger and intrigue afoot.

It's the day of the show, y'all: The Nashville premiere of Mart Crowley's The Boys in the Band is tonight - at The Barbershop Theatre, 4003 Indiana Avenue in The Nations - and six of the actors portraying Crowley's now-iconic characters took time from tech week to answer questions about their processes and to offer their reasons for why you should come see the show.

There's just something about Kristin Chenoweth. It's almost undefinable, perhaps even undescribable, yet as with any writer's efforts to put into words how remarkable the woman behind the image is, I'll give it my best shot, attempting to encapsulate the wonder that is Kristin Chenoweth in 2,000 words or less (but if I go over, don't judge too harshly - I'm simply stating the facts that prove the folly of my initial hypothesis).

Matt Logan, the artistic director of Studio Tenn, will leave his position with the award-winning, professional theater company, effective November 2018, to 'pursue new creative opportunities.'

For Brooke Bethel, now enrolled at Nashville's David Lipscomb University, the road to becoming an actor - or, more to the point, majoring in theatre in college - has taken a circuitous route since her childhood in northwestern Idaho.

What would have happened if the United States had voted the wrong president into office in 1936 and the country had descended into fascism? That is the question explored as The Humanity Theatre Project launches its first season with a staged reading of It Can't Happen Here (Part 1) adapted by Tony Taccone and Bennett S. Cohen from the novel by Sinclair Lewis. The production will take place Thursday, November 1 through Saturday, November 3 at 7:00 pm at The Darkhorse Theatre, 4610 Charlotte Avenue, Nashville.

Looking into the future, you'll find a number of new productions on tap for your entertainment pleasure, thanks to the efforts of theater companies all over Middle Tennessee. Here's our calendar to help you plot your course...

For plenty of fast-paced action, along with some stellar performances by a fresh-faced cast of eager young theatrical triple threats and a coterie of Nashville stage favorites, one need look no further than Disney's Newsies, the latest onstage offering from Chaffin's Barn Dinner Theatre, the iconic Music City venue that's been entertaining audiences for more than half a century. In its way, The Barn (as it is affectionately known in these parts) and its laudable history ensure that its treatment of the popular musical theater title lend the show's historical basis more than a little gravitas in the making of a stage spectacle.

Acclaimed playwright Sarah Ruhl - who twice has been a finalist for the Pulitzer Prize for drama, a Tony Award nominee and the recipient of a MacArthur 'Genius' Grant - has been named as the 2018-19 Ingram New Works Playwriting Fellow at Nashville Repertory Theatre.

Talon David, who takes on the role of Aldonza in the Actor's Pointe production - starring opposite Lane Davies as Cervantes and Samuel Whited as Sancho Panza - agreed to answer our questions and to explain why she thinks you should come see Man of La Mancha.

Today, The Thursday Five(+1) shines the spotlight on four members of the Chaffin's Barn cast of Newsies - David Ridley, Samantha Blake, Natalie Rankin and Kayla Petrille - who took time out from their rigorous regimen of rehearsals to tell our readers more about themselves and to offer their own suggestions for why you should come see their show, which runs through October 22.

Nashville's own Broadway star, actress, recording artist and American Idol alum Diana DeGarmo will join the holiday spectacular Peter Pan and Tinker Bell - A Pirate's Christmas presented by Tennessee Performing Arts Center and the Lythgoe Family Panto December 13-23 in TPAC's James K. Polk Theater.

Ernie Nolan and his stellar crew of theatrical collaborators at Nashville Children's Theatre once again prove their mettle with a production worthy of adulation and acclaim, thanks to their world premiere of the TYA (theater for young audiences) version of the recent Broadway musical Tuck Everlasting. Based on Natalie Babbitt's 1975 novel - long considered one of the finest works ever written expressly for young readers - Tuck Everlasting is a thing of beauty, whether onstage or on the page, and audiences unfamiliar with either the book or the play are in for an emotional, thought-provoking journey that reverberates long after the final bows ring down the show's curtain.

Take Belmont University musical theatre major Liam Searcy, for example: He close Frankenstein, along with his cast and crewmates at Studio Tenn a scant two weeks ago and coming up this Friday night, he is among the talented ensemble of actors who will open The Civil War at Nashville's Street Theatre Company.My name is Liam Searcy and I am a Musical Theatre Major at Belmont University. Searcy is just one of the many students who learned early the necessity of staying on top of their academic load while pursuing their theatrical aspirations - all in hopes of a successful career spent in performance.

Managing to find time amid a typically busy week in Crossville, actors Weslie Webster and Lauren Marshall - who play Mrs. Lovett and the neighborhood beggar woman, respectively - graciously agreed to submit to The Tuesday 5(+1) and to answer our questions with enough candor and intrigue to ensure audiences come see their show!

Heathers, the off-Broadway musical by Laurence O'Keefe and Kevin Murphy based on the 1989 cult classic film of the same name, wraps up its sold-out run today at Murfreesboro's Center for the Arts, offering audiences an outrageously fun and on-target treatise on mean girls and caught up in the gravitational pull of their starpower at a fictional Ohio high school.

Despite some opening night technical problems, inconsistent sound issues and a lack of confidence performing Elizabeth Krebs' choreography, Mary Poppins - the musical theater version of the Disney film that was inspired by P.L. Travers' stories which, in turn, were loosely inspired by her own childhood adventures - opened to a rousing ovation from the audience at Smyrna's Springhouse Theatre Company Friday night.

The National Playwrights Conference was established in 1964 as the founding program of the Eugene O'Neill Theater Center. Led by NPC Artistic Director Wendy C. Goldberg, the conference supports playwrights during the creation and development of new plays. Writers of selected works will receive a July 2019 residency with a stipend, housing, meals, and transportation to support an intensive rehearsal process and two script-in-hand public readings with a professional cast and creative team.

There's just something about Kristin Chenoweth. It's almost undefinable, perhaps even undescribable, yet as with any writer's efforts to put into words how remarkable the woman behind the image is, I'll give it my best shot, attempting to encapsulate the wonder that is Kristin Chenoweth in 2,000 words or less (but if I go over, don't judge too harshly - I'm simply stating the facts that prove the folly of my initial hypothesis).

Daniel DeVault has been named founding artistic director for the Nashville-based Humanity Theatre Project. The Music City native will helm the organization as it moves toward is first full season of theater. A graduate of Roanoke College in Salem, Virginia, DeVault holds a Bachelor of Arts in theatrical performance and design with a concentration in communications. He has since made his career as a theater professional in Middle Tennessee having worked with such companies as Nashville Repertory Theatre, Chaffin's Barn Dinner Theater, Circle Players, and Southern Stage Productions, among others.