CRITICS CHOICE: Resistance is Futile

The weekend is upon us, which means you have just a few hours to figure out a game plan so you don't miss out on all the fun that's happening all around you. Nothing is more stimulating that live theater -- whether it's Chaffin's Barn Dinner Theatre's production of John Chaffin's Cliffhanger or Ring of Fire and Singin' in the Rain at Cumberland County Playhouse. So, we implore you: Go see a show this weekend. We've got the goods on theatrical events this weekend, to save wear and tear on your brain, and we can offer some sound advice: Just do as we say and everything will be fine. Resistance is futile.

In the category of "Time Flies When You're Having a Good Time," for $500 Alex, the answer is "Tennessee Women's Theater Project's Women's Work Festival." The question is: Can you believe this festival celebrating the best and brightest among women in the theater has been around for nine years?

Continuing through Sunday, May 24, the festival spans styles and genres to offer a completely different program at every performance: poetry and essays; one-woman shows; plays and readings; dance, music, film and a display of visual art works in the theater.

Middle Tennessee's first and only annual showcase for the creative efforts of women came about when Maryanna Clarke, the company's founder and artistic director, was sidelined with a back injury in early 2007: "After weeks with my pain meds and my walker, I had to concede I would not be able to direct the play we had booked for May that year," says Clarke. "I sent emails to every woman artist I knew, offering our stage for their plays, poems, films - all varieties of performing arts."

Women from Nashville and across the country responded, and nine years later the showcase is going strong.

Women's Work 2015 includes both new and returning artists from the Nashville area, plus presenters from Florida, Georgia, Iowa, Maryland, North Carolina and Wisconsin.

Saturday, May 23, is Dance Night, always one of the festival's most popular programs. This year's presentation features the work of returning presenters Elaine Husted and Husted Dance, Jen-Jen Lin and Lisa Spradley, Epiphany Dance and Marci Murphree's REASONS Contemporary Dance Ensemble. Alicia Dawn Williams of Girls on Trapeze, best known as an aerialist, will offer a performance of ground exercises. Li Chiao-Ping, a professor at University of Wisconsin, brings the Li Chiao-Ping Dance Troupe from Madison, and Cynthia Adams, a dance instructor at Iowa State, will perform a solo piece. Local dance artists making their Women's Work dance debuts include Megan Ciccolone White, and Erin Law, who will screen a video dance creation.

Women's Work offers playwrights a stage for readings and workshop performances - audience exposure is crucial to the development of a play. Robyn Brooks of Maryland and Marilyn Barner Anselmi of North Carolina understand the benefits: both are presenting readings of new plays for the fourth year in a row. Charissa Menefee, who teaches playwriting at Iowa State-Ames presents a reading of her play How Long Is Fifteen Minutes?, Naima Bush of Jacksonville, Florida brings her Confessions Of A Big Girl, and Janice Liddell of Atlanta offers a reading of her Ptomaine Poison. Also on the roster are plays by Judy Klass, and the comedy troupe Sketchy Nashville Femmes.

Other highlights of Women's Work 2015: a short film from Nashvillian Emily Steele and music from singer/songwriters Wendy Westmoreland, Nancy Nettles and Allison Kerr. This year's visual art display includes photography and mixed media pieces by Lola White and Ashley Mintz.

Single tickets to Women's Work are an affordable $10 each; a $40 Festival Pass is good for admission to all shows. Ticket revenues and the support of sponsors and grantors including HCA Tristar Health and The Community Foundation of Middle Tennessee, are enabling the company to compensate the presenting artists for their appearances.

Women's Work plays at the Looby Theatre, adjacent to the Looby Branch Library at 2301 Rosa L. Parks Blvd. The festival continues weekends through Sunday May 24. Showtimes are at 7:30 pm Thursday through Saturday, and 2:30 pm Sundays. For a complete schedule of performers, show dates and times, reservations and information, call 615-681-7220, or visit Tennessee Women's Theater Project on Facebook or at its web site (www.twtp.org).

Coming up on Monday: New Play Reading: The Diaries of John and Lillie Spreckles by Debbie Watts, featuring Debbie Watts and Tom Dolan, is set for Monday, May 18 at 7 p.m. at the Centennial Black Box Theatre at The Centennial Art Activities Center in Nashville's iconic Centennial Park. It's free to the public.

It's opening night for Murfreesboro's Center for the Arts production of the Frank Wildhorn musical Bonnie and Clyde May 15-31 (which was produced at the Boiler Room Theatre in Franklin this time last year). Bonnie and Clyde is described as an "electrifying story of love, adventure and the crimes that captured the attention of the country is fearless in its betrayal of the reckless young lovers."

With a score of songs by Wildhorn and Don Black, Bonnie and Clyde is the tale of Bonnie Parker and Clyde Barrow, the two small-town nobodies in West Texas who became two of America's best known folk heroes and the Texas law enforcement's worst nightmares. When Bonnie and Clyde meet, their mutual cravings for excitement and fame immediately set them on a mission to chase their dreams. Their bold and reckless behavior turns the young lovers' thrilling adventure into a downward spiral, putting themselves and their loved ones in trouble with the law. Forced to stay on the run, the two lovers resort to robbery and murder to survive. As the infamous duo's fame grows bigger, their well-known inevitable end plays out for all to see.

The Center for the Arts' production of Bonnie and Clyde is directed by Kim Powers, with musical direction by Charlie Parker and choreography by Emily Davis.

"I love this show because due to being raised by my Grandparents I have a passion for the 1920's/1930's era," Powers explains. "I love the music, and I love the history of this show. This show makes the history accessible to today's generation, and I think that is so important. This cast is super talented and they are doing such a great job with the material."

Starring in the title roles are Michael Adcock as Clyde - a familiar face to Middle Tennessee theater-goers - and Jamie Lawler as Bonnie, who is gracing the Center stage for the second time in her career. Joining them are three newcomers to the Center: Nashville actors Patrick Kramer, Corey Shadd and Britt Byrd. Kramer is cast as Clyde's brother Buck, Shadd as the lovelorn Ted Hinton and Byrd as Blanche Barrow. Gary Davis, who has appeared in numerous productions in Murfreesboro, plays the fire and brimstone Preacher. Rounding out the twenty-eight person cast are numerous ensemble members who also double as multiple characters.

Bonnie and Clyde opens Friday night, May 15, and will run through May 31, with performances on Fridays and Saturdays at 7:30 p.m. and Sundays at 2:00 p.m. Tickets are $15 for adults and $13 for Seniors, Students and Military and $11 for children age 12 and under. Tickets can be purchased on the Center's website - www.boroarts.org - by calling (615)904-2787, or by stopping by the Center during business hours.

Continuing at Mt. Juliet's Encore Theatre Company is their electrifying production of Arthur Miller's The Crucible, a look at the Salem witchcraft trials that premiered on Broadway in wake of the Congressional witch hunt for Communists in the good ol' US of A in the 1950s.

The Crucible continues this weekend: The doors open 30 minutes before show time which is 7:30 p.m. Friday and Saturday, and 2:30 p.m. Sunday. Purchase tickets online (encore-theatre-company.org) or at the door!

Meanwhile, over at TPAC's Andrew Johnson Theatre, the international sensation Motherhood the Musical wraps up its critically acclaimed run Sunday. The hilarious show first debuted at the aforementioned Women's Work Festival, then as a workshop at the Darkhorse Theater in November 2008, before it was picked up by several producers by the end of that year.

Motherhood the Musical is a four-woman show from author, songwriter and Nashville mom Sue Fabisch, who tapped into the country market with her wildly successful parody The Mom of Constant Sorrow. Sue performed her songs about motherhood as a one--woman show for years in the Nashville area before rewriting it into the four-­woman format that Motherhood the Musical is today.

The musical, which has 18 original songs, all written or co-­written by Fabisch, includes the hilarious Billboard Top 10 comedy hit, "The Kids Are Finally Asleep"; the rousing call-­to-­shoppers "Costco Queen;" and the tender ballad "I'm Danny's Mom."

Motherhood the Musical shares the humorous, loving journey of Amy, a soon?to-­be first-­time mom; Barb, an over-­worked, underpaid, stressed-­out mother of five; Brooke, a lawyer who works too much and barely sees her kids; and Tasha, a single mom struggling to balance work, family and a divorce. The cast is full of local talent, most of them moms as well: Jaclyn Lisenby Brown, Jennifer Whitcomb-Oliva, Corrie Miller and Sue Fabisch. The company is directed and choreographed by Kim Nygren, with Production management by Cecelia Lighthall, two more local talents and moms. The award-winning Johnny Rodgers supplies music direction and supervision, arrangements and orchestrations.

This weekend Nashville Ballet closes out its current performance season with its critically acclaimed Emergence series, an evening of four original pieces from Nashville musicians and guest choreographers, through Saturday night, at The Martin Center for Nashville Ballet.

Nashville Ballet company dancer Christopher Stuart choreographs an original work set to live music by the world-renowned Fisk Jubilee Singers, one of America's foremost a cappella ensembles who are also considered the premier performers of the spiritual, performing songs originally sung by slaves prior to the Civil War. Sixteen singers will perform three selections, including Soon-ah will be Done, There is a Balm in Gilead and I'm Gonna Sing 'til the Spirit Moves in my Heart.

"Emergence is one of the Fisk Jubilee Singers' first collaborations with an outside organization, and it's a privilege to merge our two art forms together for a piece filled with so much historical and emotional richness," Stuart said. "Conveying the spiritual depth of their music through dance adds a new layer of emotion for the audience."

Fresh from Nashville Ballet's Attitude series in February, local singer-songwriter Matthew Perryman Jones is paired with frequent guest choreographer Gina Patterson in a collaboration that blends original music and choreography. Jones and Patterson created their untitled Emergence piece organically in-studio together using inspiration from each other and the dancers.

"Emergence is one of those rare opportunities as an artist where you are not only allowed, but encouraged to create without expectation," Patterson said. "The spirit ofEmergence is about digging deeper and stepping outside of your comfort zone to create an honest, unfiltered piece."

Nashville Ballet Artistic Director and CEO Paul Vasterling, a 2012 First Night Honoree, will choreograph an original piece entitled State of Grace in collaboration with Nashville Opera. It's not the first time the two organizations have performed together, but rather the first time the two have collaborated on a project together from start to finish, incorporating the choreography and vocalists as one. The piece includes three songs by American musical theater composer-lyricist Adam Guettel (Floyd Collins, A Light in the Piazza), including two from Myths and Hymns and one from Floyd Collins.

Earlier this season, Nashville Ballet invited local dance organizations to audition for the first slot in the evening's lineup. Belmont University Dance Company was selected to perform TrApPed, which uses tap dance rhythms to respond to the idea of being trapped-emotionally, mentally and physically.

Tickets to Emergence are $28 in advance and $35 day of show (based on availability). Tickets can be purchased in person at the TPAC box office in downtown Nashville or by phone at (615) 782-4040. Go to NashvilleBallet.com for details and the full performance schedule and more information.

For two more weekends, Murfreesboro Little Theatre presents its 5th annual "Backyard Bard" with William Shakespeare's spirited romantic comedy Much Ado About Nothing.

Bring a picnic, cooler, blanket or lawn chair and enjoy Shakespeare's most popular comedy outdoors in MLT's beautiful backyard. Opening Friday, May 8 at 7 p.m., and running three weekends, this event is FREE to the public, though donations are graciously accepted and concessions will be sold.

Directed by Donna Seage, Shakespeare's Much Ado About Nothing depicts the treacherous Don John's (Jacob Truax) attempts to destroy the true love of Claudio (Wesley Rutledge) for Hero (Jess Townsend) with false accusations of infidelity. Dogberry (Todd Seage), the comically self-important constable, and his hapless underlings stumble upon Don John's treachery, but are they too late to prevent tragedy? The play, however, is better known for its subplot, the battle of wits between Beatrice (Patti Long-Lee) and Benedick (Shane Lowery), and the Prince's (Pete Hiett) comic scheme to unite the two unlikely lovers.

The 2015 Ingram New Works Festival at Nashville Repertory Theatre wraps up Saturday night with another brilliant script by Nate Eppler (featuring Amanda Card, Tony Nappo and the altogether brilliant Rachel Agee).

The Ingram New Works Project gives playwrights an opportunity to develop new theatre works while in residency at Nashville Rep. Each year, the Project selects a Fellow and three Lab playwrights who all work together with Nashville Rep's Playwright in Residence to develop their new works. For Nashville Rep's 2014-15 season, the Ingram New Works Fellow is Pulitzer Prize-winner Donald Margulies, the Lab playwrights are Tori Keenan-Zelt, Bianca Sams and Gabrielle Sinclair, and Nashville Rep's Playwright-in-Residence is Nate Eppler.

Readings of the new works will be held through Saturday, May 16 at 7 P.M. each evening. A talkback will immediately follow each reading. The complete Festival schedule is listed below, along with brief descriptions of each show. Each reading is $10 per person, or a Festival Pass to see one reading of each play is available for $35. Reservations can be made online at NashvilleRep.org.

Nashville Rep is a non-profit theatre bringing classic and contemporary theatre to Nashville that inspires empathy and prods intellectual and emotional engagement in audiences. Nashville Rep's upcoming 2015-16 season will include productions of Rapture, Blister, Burn; Rosencrantz and Guildenstern are Dead; Good Monsters; Chicago; and A Christmas Story.

The Ingram New Works Festival will be held in Nashville Rep's rehearsal hall: Studio A at Nashville Public Television, located at 161 Rains Avenue in Nashville.

Consider yourself forewarned: Buckle your seatbelts for what promises to be the busiest, most intriguing theater week in quite some time with the opening of a whole bunch of new shows - so many, in fact, that critics will be rushing from pillar to post to make sure everything gets covered.

Check back on Tuesday for all the scoop in Critics' Choice, but go ahead and pull out your diary, datebook, iPhone, tablet - however else you keep track of stuff that's happening - and figure out how you'll make it to Circle Players' The 25th Annual Putnam County Spelling Bee at Pearl-Cohn High School ; the starry debut of Verge Theatre's The Nina Variations at Belmont's Black Box Theatre; the finale of GroundWorks Theatre in Nashville, with their production of Starlite Waltz at Darkhorse Theater; and the world premiere of Geoff Davin's "inspired by actual events" musical: The First Church of Mary, The Repentant Prostitute's Fifth Annual Benefit Concert, Revival and Pot Luck Dinner...a play about Faith, Narcissism and Red Velvet Cake.