Christi Dortch

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Review: Matt Logan Directs 'Stunning, Powerful, Deeply Moving' THE HIDING PLACE in Nashville Premiere

Stunning. Powerful. Deeply moving. The words come rather easily in an attempt to adequately describe the awe-inspiring performances to be found in director Matt Logan’s beautifully crafted production of A.S. Peterson’s The Hiding Place. Now onstage in its Nashville premiere at the Soli Deo Center (which, to be frank, is equally notable and worthy of excessive praise) at Christ Presbyterian Academy through July 23, the play – which had its premiere in September 2019 at A.D. Players in Houston, Texas – proves to be both accessible, engaging and, we daresay, hopeful even as it tells a story from one of the darkest eras in human history.

Kate Atkinson and Karen Harris' PART OF THE PLAN Set to Debut at Nashville's Tennessee Performing Arts Center

Though it may not have started out that way - and it was never a part of their plan - Kate Atkinson and Karen Harris, the two women who are responsible for bringing the new musical Part of the Plan to life onstage, may be proof positive that women, indeed, are getting the job done.

GOOD MORNING, THEATERATI for June 6, 2017

GOOD MORNING, THEATERATI! It's Tuesday, June 6, 2017 - and we know what you're thinking: Where the hell was my favorite early morning theater news and gossip yesterday? Unfortunately, due to circumstances beyond our control, we were unable to raise ourselves up from the bed and make our way to our desk in order to start writing. After a particularly challenging weekend, we were a bit under the weather and, truth be told, exhausted. We offer our abject apologies and request your indulgences, although we were just as disappointed as we hope you were because we were unable to live life dramatically with any sense of style on Monday.

GOOD MORNING, THEATERATI for May 24, 2017

GOOD MORNING, THEATERATI! It's Wednesday, May 24, 2017! How do we know this, you might ask? Well, we spent last evening at TPAC'S Andrew Jackson Hall, soaking up every possible bit of Carole King: The Beautiful Musical - wait, it's the other way around - Beautiful: The Carole King Musical and despite the earworm known as 'One Fine Day,' we are still floating on the inspiration and memories of opening night.

GOOD MORNING, THEATERATI for May 8, 2017

GOOD MORNING, THEATERATI! It's Monday, May 8, and it looks to be a beautiful spring day in Nashville (so live life dramatically), prompting us to ask the musical question: Do reviews matter anymore?

TPAC Launches 2017-18 Season With New Dan Fogelberg Musical PART OF THE PLAN

Fun Home, Waitress and An American in Paris headline the 2017-18 HCA/TriStar Health Broadway at TPAC Series, which leads off with the world premiere of a new musical in development - Part of the Plan, an original musical written by Kate Atkinson and Karen Harris and featuring songs from the catalog of famed singer/songwriter Dan Fogelberg.

Photo Coverage: 2016 First Night Preview Party

Two Broadway veterans join with a group of seven of Tennessee's most enduring, influential and outstanding theater artists to comprise the Class of 2016 First Night Honorees, who were revealed Monday night during the annual First Night preview party, hosted by First Night founder and executive producer Jeffrey Ellis.

Nashville Theater Mourns the Passing of Iconic Actor DAVID COMPTON

David Compton – one of the region's most accomplished and acclaimed and most beloved actors and directors – died early Wednesday morning, May 4, after a four-year battle with heart disease and cancer. He leaves his wife, Amanda Card Compton (whom he married on Tuesday, May 3, just hours before his death); his mother, Jo Compton of Badin, North Carolina; his sister Becky Compton Taylor; his brother Jim Compton; and countless other friends and family who are mourning his passing.

MUSIC CITY CONFIDENTIAL: Inquiring Minds Want to Know the Scoop

Hear ye, hear ye…Music City Confidential is back! Which means, of course, that I've heard an awful lot of scuttlebutt since last week's column went live on the interwebs - or, more likely, that I am trying to avoid boring and mundane stuff like packing - I'll let you decide what my motivation truly is...

Nashville's Theater Calendar 5/2/16

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.

CRITIC'S CHOICE: We're Back With Some Tips for Fall

We're back! After an extended absence due to The Last Five Years (we directed it to boffo notices from our critical colleagues), The 2015 First Night Honors (which played to SRO crowds at Chaffin's Barn in September) and a sense of overwhelming malaise and ennui (we are ever so dramatic at times), BWW Nashville's Critic's Choice is back on the interwebs, offering you our insights and advice on the shows that are coming up and what you should try to find time to see - or to avoid at all costs, depending on our perspective.

BWW Reviews: ACT 1's Dismal DEATHTRAP

And that, gentle readers, is just the first problem with ACT 1's season-opening production of Ira Levin's Deathtrap, a sturdy, if perhaps shopworn, theatrical thriller now onstage through October 17 at Darkhorse Theater. Directed and produced by Susan Cole, Deathtrap features a notable cast of experienced local actors who seem to be trapped in a plodding, uninteresting production of a play that's well past its projected shelf life. There's a lack of polish (whether among the actors' performances or on the surface of set pieces) and a pervasive sense of not knowing the time, place and environs in which Deathtrap takes place that is disconcerting and off-putting.

THE FRIDAY FIVE: DEATHTRAP's Dortch, Greco and Jackson

Today, we focus our Friday Five spotlight on the intriguing Deathtrap trio of Christi Dortch, Dante Greco and Judy Jackson, as interesting a bunch of actors as you'll find in Nashville. Get to know them better, then book your seats to see Deathtrap…

It's Back! MUSIC CITY CONFIDENTIAL Number 8

You will not believe it! The last time we gave you a Music City Confidential (number seven), the London Olympics were winding up, LaToya Gardner and Kevin Mead were starring in Circle Players' Aida, Maggie Richardson and Cody Rutledge were headlining Xanadu at the Arts Center of Cannon County, and Music City was caught up in Nutty Professor fever! Today marks the return of Music City Confidential and we hope you'll be feeling particularly thankful for edition number 8.

BWW Reviews: 35 Years After Its Broadway Debut, THE SHADOW BOX Still Engages

Director David McGinnis and his cast of nine actors bring Michael Cristofer's Pulitzer Prize-winning play The Shadow Box to life in a solid and straightforward production that kicks off ACT 1's 2012-13 season at Nashville's Darkhorse Theater.

David McGinnis Directs THE SHADOW BOX To Open 2012-13 ACT 1 Season

David McGinnis makes his ACT 1 directorial debut with the upcoming production of Michael Cristofer's Pultizer Prize-winning play The Shadow Box, running October 12-27 at Nashville's Darkhorse Theater.

MUSIC CITY CONFIDENTIAL #7: All the News from Onstage, Offstage, Backstage and Beyond

Apparently, it is Elvis Week in Nashville (at least according to the fine folks at Loveless Cafe), so before we head out to the theater for a full weekend of show openings and the like, a trip to West Nashville for a slice of the Loveless' Elvis pie is in order (for the uninitiated, that's peanut butter, banana, bacon and homemade whipped cream-the four basic food groups, according to The King.), so before we slip into a diabetic coma, here's installment #7 of Music City Confidential, all the news that's fit to print from onstage, offstage, backstage and beyond…

Tennessee Remembers TENNESSEE: Nashville's favorite Williams plays

In recognition of the centennial of Williams' birth, I conducted a very unscientific survey among Nashville theater folk to determine which of his plays are the most popular and the best loved. Perhaps surprisingly, the top vote-getters in our informal survey were A Streetcar Named Desire, Cat On a Hot Tin Roof and Summer and Smoke, shows that have been given memorable (so memorable, in fact, that people continue to talk about them) productions in Music City in the last century. Members of the Nashville theaterati have definite ideas where Williams' plays are concerned.

Photo Coverage: First Night Nashville Theatre Honors, THE SHOW

A cast of more than 125 performers took to the stage of the Troutt Theatre at Belmont University to fete the eight members of the 2010 Class of First Night Honorees in a production that featured the best of the best of Nashville theater and included a surprise appearance by Joseph Mahowald, winner of a 1989 First Night Award, now playing the role of Franklin Hart Jr. in the national tour of 9 to 5: The Musical, which opened in Nashville at the Tennessee Performing Arts Center on Tuesday, September 21.

Excitement Grows for First Night Nashville Theatre Honors, 9/19

As Nashville's summer theater season continues to heat up, anticipation continues to grow for September's First Night Nashville Theatre Honors, the revival of the Music City theater gala that will benefit Reading is Fundamental (RIF) and sponsored by Macy's and BroadwayWorld.com. Set for Sunday, September 19, at Belmont University's Troutt Theatre, First Night 2010 will honor eight individuals for their sustained and continued commitment to theater in Nashville.

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