Daniel Black News

First Night Award winning playwrights Dietz Osborne and Nate Eppler's Southern Fried Funeral will be featured among productions celebrating the Golden Anniversary of Crossville's Cumberland County Playhouse in 2015.

Beginning tonight, October 31, A Sanders Family Christmas, the heartwarming sequel to Connie Ray and Alan Bailey's wildly successful bluegrass/gospel musical Smoke on the Mountain, returns to Cumberland County Playhouse for its sixteenth year! It's Christmas Eve, 1941, and America is going to war. So is Dennis Sanders of the Sanders Family Singers. So the family gathers for one last holiday sing at Mount Pleasant Baptist Church before Dennis ships out to boot camp. Join Pastor Mervin Oglethorpe and the rest of the family as they share their music and witness - and send Dennis off with hilarious and touching stories and twenty-five Southern Gospel Christmas favorites.

Beginning Friday, October 31, A Sanders Family Christmas, the heartwarming sequel to Connie Ray and Alan Bailey's wildly successful bluegrass/gospel musical Smoke on the Mountain, returns to Cumberland County Playhouse for its sixteenth year! It's Christmas Eve, 1941, and America is going to war. So is Dennis Sanders of the Sanders Family Singers. So the family gathers for one last holiday sing at Mount Pleasant Baptist Church before Dennis ships out to boot camp. Join Pastor Mervin Oglethorpe and the rest of the family as they share their music and witness - and send Dennis off with hilarious and touching stories and twenty-five Southern Gospel Christmas favorites.

Beginning September 12, Cumberland County Playhouse promises audiences a devilishly good time as they present Damn Yankees, the Tony Award-winning musical that's all about America's favorite pastime, baseball! Middle-aged Joe Boyd (Jim Crabtree) will do anything to see his beloved Washington Senators win the pennant-even sell his soul to the Devil. So when charming Mr. Applegate (Jason Ross) offers him the chance to dethrone the Yankees and lead his team to the pennant, Joe can't resist the temptation. But when transformed into the baseball sensation of the year, young Joe Hardy (Blake Graham) must decide if the life he gave up is more important than youth and fame. Only with the help of the Devil's sultry seductress Lola (Leila Nelson) does Hardy have a chance at redemption.

On August 22, Cumberland County Playhouse will present Ron Murphy & Lauren Marshall: From A(udra) to Z(eppelin), a one night only concert with one of the most eclectic music mixes you've ever heard. Producer Jim Crabtree came up with the idea for the concert when he heard Ron and Lauren performing some jazz tunes in the lobby. Said Lauren Marshall, 'Jim approached us about doing a concert that would showcase the many different genres of music we enjoy. Ron and I both enjoy Zep; who doesn't? I'm a huge fan of that whole musical genre - The Beatles, The Who, The Rolling Stones. We thought, why not try to adapt the guitar-heavy sound of Led Zeppelin into our style (which for this concert includes a grand piano, keyboard, drums and bass)? It's been challenging, but oh, so much fun.'

Beginning tonight, August 14, Cumberland County Playhouse will present It Ain't Nothin' But The Blues, a rollicking celebration of America's first original contribution to music, the Blues! 'It Ain't Nothin' But The Blues is not only about the Blues, it's a sure cure for the Blues,' explains the show's director/choreographer Harry Bryce (Ain't Misbehavin', Crowns, Dreamgirls).

On August 22, Cumberland County Playhouse will present Ron Murphy & Lauren Marshall: From A(udra) to Z(eppelin), a one night only concert with one of the most eclectic music mixes you've ever heard. Producer Jim Crabtree came up with the idea for the concert when he heard Ron and Lauren performing some jazz tunes in the lobby. Said Lauren Marshall, "Jim approached us about doing a concert that would showcase the many different genres of music we enjoy. Ron and I both enjoy Zep; who doesn't? I'm a huge fan of that whole musical genre - The Beatles, The Who, The Rolling Stones. We thought, why not try to adapt the guitar-heavy sound of Led Zeppelin into our style (which for this concert includes a grand piano, keyboard, drums and bass)? It's been challenging, but oh, so much fun."

Beginning August 14, Cumberland County Playhouse will present It Ain't Nothin' But The Blues, a rollicking celebration of America's first original contribution to music, the Blues! 'It Ain't Nothin' But The Blues is not only about the Blues, it's a sure cure for the Blues,' explains the show's director/choreographer Harry Bryce (Ain't Misbehavin', Crowns, Dreamgirls).

Starting June 13, Cumberland County Playhouse will present what just might be its most spectacular production yet, Shrek The Musical! Featuring 19 all-new songs, big laughs and amazing special effects, Shrek The Musical is part romance, part fairy tale and all fun! Based on the Oscar winning DreamWorks film, Shrek brings the hilarious story of everyone's favorite ogre to life on stage as our unlikely hero Shrek and his loyal friend Donkey set off on a quest to rescue the fiery Princess Fiona. Add a villain with a SHORT temper, a cookie with attitude and over a dozen other fairy tale misfits in an irresistible mix of adventure, laughter and romance and you've got a must-see musical comedy for all ages!

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.

Cumberland County Playhouse starts May off with a bang as they present Irving Berlin's beloved musical Annie Get Your Gun, starring Tennessee's Miss America Kellye Cash as sharpshooter Annie Oakley. Set to one of Berlin's most famous scores, the show contains such classics as 'There's No Business Like Show Business', 'Doin' What Comes Naturally', 'You Can't Get a Man With a Gun', 'They Say It's Wonderful', 'My Defenses Are Down' and 'Anything You Can Do'.

Cumberland County Playhouse starts May off with a bang as they present Irving Berlin's beloved musical Annie Get Your Gun, starring Tennessee's Miss America Kellye Cash as sharpshooter Annie Oakley. Set to one of Berlin's most famous scores, the show contains such classics as "There's No Business Like Show Business", "Doin' What Comes Naturally", "You Can't Get a Man With a Gun", "They Say It's Wonderful", "My Defenses Are Down" and "Anything You Can Do".

Beginning tonight, March 28, Cumberland County Playhouse will present a thrilling new adaptation of one of the most widely read books in the world, The Diary of Anne Frank. This unforgettable story dramatizes the true events of a teenaged Jewish girl, her family and others in danger - including a boy near her age - as they hide from the Nazi occupiers of wartime Amsterdam in the 1940's. Adapted by Wendy Kesselman from the original version by Frances Goodrich and Albert Hackett, the Playhouse production returns to Anne's original diary, sharing her thoughts and dreams of growing up, and the adventure of life amid the dangers of war and the fear of capture.

Beginning March 28, Cumberland County Playhouse will present a thrilling new adaptation of one of the most widely read books in the world, The Diary of Anne Frank. This unforgettable story dramatizes the true events of a teenaged Jewish girl, her family and others in danger - including a boy near her age - as they hide from the Nazi occupiers of wartime Amsterdam in the 1940's. Adapted by Wendy Kesselman from the original version by Frances Goodrich and Albert Hackett, the Playhouse production returns to Anne's original diary, sharing her thoughts and dreams of growing up, and the adventure of life amid the dangers of war and the fear of capture.

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.

The Cumberland County Playhouse production of The Miracle Worker shares the story of Helen Keller and her teacher Annie Sullivan with honesty and simplicity with stars Lindy Pendzick and Emma Rhea Sells.

Opening Friday, April 5, in the Adventure Theater at Cumberland County Playhouse is William Gibson's The Miracle Worker, starring Lindy Pendzick as Annie Sullivan, the gifted young teacher who brought light, words, and the world to a blind, deaf child.

Curtain's up on Cumberland County Playhouse's 15th annual presentation of A Sanders Family Christmas-the holiday-flavored sequel to the enormously popular Smoke on the Mountain-a down-home musical filled with faith, family and old-fashioned fun and starring a cast of Playhouse favorites.