In July, Cumberland County Playhouse and the Scopes Trial Festival in Dayton co-produced Front Page News, a new, historically accurate 'play with music' about the famous Scopes 'Monkey Trial.' Following that success, director Jim Crabtree turns to the fictional drama inspired by those events, Inherit The Wind. The play is based on elements of the Scopes trial, but also inspired by the McCarthy hearings of the 1950s. Crabtree's hymn-filled production strives to promote respect for all views. 'Working on Front Page News was a revelation,' says Crabtree. 'The more I learned the actual surrounding the Scopes Trial, the more respect I gained for the real people of Dayton. This knowledge informs our Inherit The Wind.'
MainStreet Dayton and The Scopes Festival bring Cumberland County Playhouse's productions of Smoke on the Mountain and A Sanders Family Christmas to the historic Scopes Trial Courtroom of Rhea County Courthouse this September and November. Smoke on the Mountain (rated G, sponsored by Cracker Barrel Old Country Store), now in its 21st year at the Playhouse, and touring the Southeast, plays in Dayton on September 28 at 3:00 PM EDT, with A Sanders Family Christmas (rated G), in its 16thCCP season, visiting on Nov. 30, also at 3:00 PM.
Cumberland County Playhouse is proud to announce a new collaboration with award-winning songwriter and MFA candidate Bobby Taylor… 'In Our Own Words,' a new writing workshop that will empower students to find and fine-tune their creative voices in a relaxed, supportive environment.
Cumberland County Playhouse and its producing partner The SCOPES FESTIVAL, in Dayton, TN, have added three more performances of FRONT PAGE NEWS, the newly adapted, historically accurate play with music, opening Friday July 18 in the historic "monkey trial" courtroom in Dayton's Rhea County Courthouse. Additional shows of the new work are on Saturday, July 26 at 2:30 and 7:30pm, and the final show on Sunday, July 27 at 2:30 pm (All times are EDT). "Tickets for opening weekend are going fast, with a few good seats still open, especially on Saturday night at 7:30" says MainStreet Dayton director Anna Tromanhouser of the Festival Committee. "But call now!"
The ever-popular Smoke on the Mountain returns to Tennessee's Family Theater today, May 30th. Now in its twenty-first consecutive year at Cumberland County Playhouse, Smoke continues to play to sold-out crowds and delight audiences again and again.
The ever-popular Smoke on the Mountain returns to Tennessee's Family Theater on May 30th. Now in its twenty-first consecutive year at Cumberland County Playhouse, Smoke continues to play to sold-out crowds and delight audiences again and again.
In July 2014, Crossville's Cumberland County Playhouse and Dayton's Scopes Trial Festival will produce FRONT PAGE NEWS: Dayton and the World Famous Scopes Trial - a newly adapted play with music - in the historic Rhea County courtroom where William Jennings Bryan and Clarence Darrow clashed over whether Tennessee schools would teach evolution or Biblical creation during Dayton's 1925 'Monkey Trial.'
It's the most requested title - and the most popular production - in Playhouse history, and February 28 through May 22, Cumberland County Playhouse brings The Foreigner back to the Mainstage! Since its 1983 premiere, The Foreigner has earned two Obie Awards and two Outer Critics Circle Awards as Best New American Play and Best Off-Broadway Production. In Larry Shue's hilarious farce, painfully shy Charlie Baker (Jason Ross) visits a fishing lodge in Georgia with his friend Froggy LeSeuer (Michael Ruff), a British demolitions expert who runs training sessions at a nearby army base. Terrified of actually having to converse with strangers once Froggy departs, Charlie adopts the persona of a foreigner who doesn't understand English. When the other residents of the lodge begin to speak freely around him, he not only becomes privy to secrets both frivolous and dangerous, he also discovers an adventurous extrovert within himself.
What makes a great song a 'hit'? What makes a hit song 'great'? Bobby Taylor, an award winning top-10 Billboard country and musical theater songwriter will dig into these questions and many more in his new songwriting classes: 'Building a Songwriting Toolbox,' followed by 'Song Workshop and Collaboration.' Each class will run for four weeks, for a total of eight weeks.
What makes a great song a 'hit'? What makes a hit song 'great'? Bobby Taylor, an award winning top-10 Billboard country and musical theater songwriter will dig into these questions and many more in his new songwriting classes: 'Building a Songwriting Toolbox,' followed by 'Song Workshop and Collaboration.' Each class will run for four weeks, for a total of eight weeks.
Members from the current West End casts of long-running hits THE PHANTOM OF THE OPERA and LES MISERABLES will convene to join former footballers and some A-list stars at Hayes Lane in Bromley for a special charity soccer game to benefit the Great Ormond Street Hospital.
One of the most unforgettable families to ever step foot on the Beef & Boards stage has come once again this summer for more entertaining bluegrass Gospel fun. Back by unprecedented demand and on stage through Aug. 18, the hilarious musical Smoke on the Mountain signals the return of the lovable Singing Sanders Family.
One of the most unforgettably entertaining families to ever step foot on the Beef & Boards stage returns this summer for more bluegrass Gospel fun. Back by unprecedented demand and opening July 5, the hilarious musical Smoke on the Mountain signals the return of the lovable Singing Sanders Family. Scroll down for a sneak peek at the show!
One of the most unforgettably entertaining families to ever step foot on the Beef & Boards stage returns this summer for more bluegrass Gospel fun. Back by unprecedented demand and opening July 5, the hilarious musical Smoke on the Mountain signals the return of the lovable Singing Sanders Family. Scroll down for a sneak peek at the show!
The Sanders Family of Smoke on the Mountain trilogy fame returns to Crossville's Cumberland County Playhouse November 18 for their 12th season of A Sanders Family Christmas, taking audiences back to Mt Pleasant Baptist Church to celebrate Christmas 1941, just weeks after Pearl Harbor, for their final Saturday night singing before Dennis reports for basic training. The Sanders Family will share songs and testimonies; all the while Preacher Oglethorpe continues his pursuit of June (played by CCP favorites Jason Ross and Patty Payne).
Nathaniel Hackmann and Britt Hancock, both skilled veterans of national theater tours, join some exceedingly talented Tennesseans - Nicole Bégué Hackmann, Jason Ross, Daniel Black and Leila Nelson - in Cumberland County Playhouse's summer musical Oklahoma!, running June 17-September 3 at the venerable Crossville venue.
By turns, Duck Hunter Shoots Angel will make you laugh out loud, consider deep and philosophical questions and, perhaps, even shed a few tears. Certainly, it's funny and heartwarming, and yet another example of writer Mitch Albom's estimable ability to provoke thought while entertaining - which, quite frankly, has become the stock in trade of the artistic collective at Crossville's Cumberland County Playhouse.
Nicole Begue Hackmann and her husband, Nathaniel Hackmann, are paired as Laurey and Curly in Cumberland County Playhouse's production of Oklahoma! opening Friday, June 17, in Crossville. In this teaser from the show, the Hackmanns sing 'Surrey With the Fringe On Top' from the timeless score.
Nathaniel Hackmann and Britt Hancock, both skilled veterans of national theater tours, join some exceedingly talented Tennesseans - Nicole Bégué Hackmann, Jason Ross, Daniel Black and Leila Nelson - in Cumberland County Playhouse's summer musical Oklahoma!, running June 17-September 3 at the venerable Crossville venue.
Now onstage at Crossville's Cumberland County Playhouse is Sanders Family Christmas, the second part of the trilogy, in which the gospel-singing family returns to Mt. Pleasant Baptist Church for a Christmas Eve singing in 1941, just two days before son Dennis ('He's the boy!') leaves to join the Marines and go off to the big adventure that is World War II. The Playhouse has been very good to the Sanders Family over the years (in fact, next year Smoke on the Mountain will start its 18th annual season at the venue) and, in turn, the Sanders Family has been very good to the Playhouse, bringing in countless devoted and new fans for the theater. And it's easy to see why.
