Chambers Stevens News

Thus, we are happy to present the return of one 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. Something's missing? That's an easy fix: just send us a message here, on Facebook, or by email at jeffreyellis37215@att.com.

Caroline Davis' tour-de-force performance as American poet Emily Dickinson distinguishes the current production of William Luce's The Belle of Amherst - onstage through November 22 at The Filming Station Downtown, in a delightful revival helmed by veteran director Melissa Carrelli - and, clearly, is reason enough to make seeing the show an absolute must for theater devotees.

Halloween's all done in, there are still three weeks ahead before we officially give thanks, and Christmas - and all its accompanying frenzy and frivolity - is about seven weeks away! So what's there to do for all the theatrical types jonesing for a trip to make believe? Plenty! Theater companies all over middle Tennessee are showing off their best and brightest, with a number of eagerly anticipated shows opening this weekend and/or continuing from their earlier opening nights and next Tuesday there's a sparkling new Broadway musical swinging through Music City to entertain you…

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.

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.

Chambers Stevens is a bona fide Hollywood multi-hyphenate - actor-comedian-acting coach-author - who somehow has encapsulated all of that and more in his new one-man show It's Who You Know, premiering at Memphis' Evergreen Theatre, 1705 Poplar Avenue, October 15-18. Tickets are available online at www.ItsWhoYouKnowOnTour.com.

Chambers Stevens is a bona fide Hollywood multi-hyphenate - actor-comedian-acting coach-author - who somehow has encapsulated all of that and more in his new one-man show It's Who You Know, premiering at Memphis' Evergreen Theatre, 1705 Poplar Avenue, October 15-18. Tickets are available online at www.ItsWhoYouKnowOnTour.com.

Chambers Stevens is a bona fide Hollywood multi-hyphenate - actor-comedian-acting coach-author - who somehow has encapsulated all of that and more in his new one-man show It's Who You Know, premiering at St. Louis' Gaslight Theatre, 358 N. Boyle, September  10-12. Tickets are $30 and are available online at www.ItsWhoYouKnowOnTour.com.

Chambers Stevens is a bona fide Hollywood multi-hyphenate – actor-comedian-acting coach-author – who somehow has encapsulated all of that and more in his new one-man show It's Who You Know, premiering at the Missoula Zoo Town Fringe Festival August 21 and 22 at the Crystal Theatre.

Today's spotlight falls upon Chambers Stevens, who defines the word "multi-hyphenate." (Seriously, look in a dictionary-they still make dictionaries, don't they?-and you'll find his headshot next to the word.) He is an actor-director-playwright-acting coach-producer-consultant-husband-and-father. And in 2012, he was recognized as a First Night Honoree for the role he has played in the development of theater in Tennessee.

Inspired by all the seasonal festivities that abound, we asked people in the theater community to share their favorite things to see onstage during the run-up to Christmas…

This week the spotlight falls on two actors who are sharing the stage in the Nashville premiere of 2012 First Night Honoree Chambers Stevens' Twain and Shaw Do Lunch, directed by veteran director Melissa Carelli: Brian Hill and Michael Roark, arguably two of Music City's finest actors, onstage together playing literary lions Mark Twain and George Bernard Shaw, respectively.

In a delightful production helmed by veteran director Melissa Carelli, and starring a trio of very capable Nashville actors, Twain and Shaw Do Lunch treats audiences to an imagined afternoon affair in which the two literary lions-Mark Twain and George Bernard Shaw at the top of their parlor game-swap stories, trade quips and exchange bons mots.

Caroline Davis, taking on the role of Charlotte Shaw, has performed with various local theatre groups-ACT 1, Blackbird, Carrick, Circle, Groundworks, Rhubarb-"on occasion as an ice skater, a geisha, a monkey, a dog, a Marx Brother, a shepherdess (twice) and a dead person (thrice)."

Theater people from throughout Tennessee gathered at Belmont University's Bill and Carole Troutt Theatre on Sunday night for the 2013 First Night Honors to pay tribute to a group of eight remarkable people who have made indelible marks on the theater scene throughout their storied careers. Hosted by Holly Shepherd and Joel Diggs, the gala evening honored the eight leading lights of Tennessee theater as they were recognized as members of the First Night Class of 2013 Honorees.

Theater aficionados from throughout Tennessee gathered at Belmont University's Bill and Carole Troutt Theatre on Sunday night for the 2013 First Night Honors, paying tribute to a group of eight remarkable people who have made indelible marks on the theater scene throughout their storied careers. Hosted by Holly Shepherd and Joel Diggs, the gala evening honored the eight leading lights of Tennessee theater as they were recognized as members of the First Night Class of 2013 Honorees.

Dressed to the nines-despite forecasts of thunderstorms and a tornado watch that hung over the region-theater people from throughout Tennessee gathered at Belmont University's Bill and Carole Troutt Theatre on Sunday night for the 2013 First Night Honors. Hosted by Holly Shepherd and Joel Diggs, the gala evening honored eight leading lights of Tennessee theater as they were recognized as members of the First Night Class of 2013 Honorees.

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…

We've been doing our part to prepare ye the way, watching the action onstage, taking some furtive peeks backstage, listening to all the offstage gossip and venturing beyond the confines of the theater to gain the informed knowledge to see more shows in the Volunteer State than you ever thought possible. So, good people of the theaterati, read on and get all the information you need to know in this, our latest installment of Music City Confidential. This is #6…

Eight individuals, whose names attest to the depth and breadth of live theatrical performance in Nashville, have been named as members of the 2012 Class of First Night Honorees and will be feted with a special tribute concert on Sunday, September 2, at Belmont University's Troutt Theatre.