Carey Van Driest News

Creative Arts Lab presents ACCENTUATE THE POSITIVE...THE SONGS OF JOHNNY MERCER, a new musical revue featuring the legendary songs of the American lyricist, songwriter and singer created by Brian Hurley, Gwen Arment and Martin Tackel.

Creative Arts Lab presents ACCENTUATE THE POSITIVE...THE SONGS OF JOHNNY MERCER, a new musical revue featuring the legendary songs of the American lyricist, songwriter and singer created by Brian Hurley, Gwen Arment and Martin Tackel.

There's so much great theater going on in the Nashville area right now, that you may be having a difficult time choosing among the bounteous offerings local companies are providing you. We're delighted to herald the return of BWW Nashville's Critics Choice with today's feature, offering up a compendium of what's available, what we recommend you see, and - in the cases of show's we've seen already - snippets of our reviews to help you make up your mind!

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.

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.

Make no mistake: Nate Eppler is far too good a playwright to remain Nashville theater's best-kept secret for much longer. If you need further proof of his brilliance (a word I don't use to describe people very often), even after witnessing it first-hand in his earlier plays - like the noirish Rear Widow, the imaginative Larries or the compelling Long Way Down - then get yourself as quickly as humanly possible down to the Tennessee Performing Arts Center's Andrew Johnson Theatre and allow yourself to be immersed in his latest work of stage wizardry: the challenging, enlightening and provocative Good Monsters.

Nashville Repertory Theatre stages the world premiere of GOOD MONSTERS, a psychological drama centering on an off-duty police officer involved in the shooting of an unarmed teen. GOOD MONSTERS begins its run today, February 13 in Johnson Theater at Tennessee Performing Arts Center. The production will play its final performance on February 27.

Nate Eppler is, arguably, the best playwright now pursuing his art in Nashville - and with his latest work, Good Monsters, opening tomorrow night at TPAC's Andrew Johnson Theatre, he finds himself squarely back in the spotlight. It is, after all, the world premiere production of his newest, perhaps most controversial and provocative, play.

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.

Thus, we are happy to present one of our most popular features: The Nashville Theater Calendar, a comprehensive - maybe even exhaustive (lord knows we're exhausted from putting it together, gathering all the info from all over the interwebs!) - listing of theatrical openings for the 2015/16 season. We'll update the calendar every Monday, clearing out the shows that have closed and adding additional information on the shows still to come

Thus, we are happy to present one of our most popular features: The Nashville Theater Calendar, a comprehensive - maybe even exhaustive (lord knows we're exhausted from putting it together, gathering all the info from all over the interwebs!) - listing of theatrical openings for the 2016 season. We'll update the calendar every Monday, clearing out the shows that have closed and adding additional information on the shows still to come.

Nashville Repertory Theatre is proud to produce the world premiere of GOOD MONSTERS, a psychological drama centering on an off-duty police officer involved in the shooting of an unarmed teen.

Nashville Repertory Theatre (The Rep) will perform a staged reading of GOOD MONSTERS today, November 3 at 7 pm. This play is presently being workshopped in preparation of a fully staged production by The Rep in February 2016. It contains adult themes and language.

It's Halloween weekend and every dramatic personage and theatrical type we've ever encountered is caught up in the annual rush to find just the right costume for their holiday revelries (we confess we've never had the knack for coming up with Halloween get-ups - not since we went in drag to a party at the First Baptist Church as the age of 12…tongues were wagging, we are certain, but we lived to tell about it, so it couldn't have been that bad). In the meantime, there are all sorts of onstage happenings this weekend to keep you otherwise engaged should the difficulty of selecting your costume prove to be too much.

Good Monsters tells the story of Frank, a Gulf War veteran and police officer who moonlights as a security guard to make ends meet. Safira was a shoplifter. It was dark. Frank thought she had a gun. She didn't. Now Frank's the guy who shot an unarmed teenager, with ramifications for his wife, his best friend, Safira's father, and a media spin doctor looking for a story. While he waits for the grand jury, Safira haunts Frank every night and soon she begins to make terrifying demands of him.

Nashville Repertory Theatre (The Rep) will perform a staged reading of GOOD MONSTERS on Tuesday, November 3 at 7 pm. This play is presently being workshopped in preparation of a fully staged production by The Rep in February 2016. It contains adult themes and language.

Join the cast of ShakesBEER as they head to historic Stone Street for the final pub crawl of the 2015 season on Saturday, November 7th and Saturday, November 14th.

The event kicks off at The Dubliner (45 Stone Street), before traveling on to Bavaria Bier Haus (19 S William Street) and two additional other bars to be announced. Admission is $45, which includes four drink tickets redeemable for beer, wine and select cocktails at the participating bars. Check-in begins at 2:30 PM at The Dubliner for the 3 PM kick off. Tickets are available at www.shakespeareexchange.org or at the door. Advance booking is strongly recommended.

ShakesBEER by the New York Shakespeare Exchange announced their September dates for entertaining pub crawls in the Hell's Kitchen neighborhood of New York City. Join the merriment on Saturday, September 12th and Saturday, September 19th.

New York Shakespeare Exchange, creator of the viral smash The Sonnet Project, is thrilled to announce their return to Hell's Kitchen for their September ShakesBEER. NYC's original Shakespearean pub-crawl takes place on Saturday, September 12 and Saturday, September 19.