David Compton News

Nashville's Blackbird Theater, fresh off its successful, critically lauded premiere season, is offering two rarely produced shows for audiences in the company's eagerly anticipated second season - G.K. Chesterton's Magic (running August 12-27) and Stephen Sondheim's Tony Award-winning Pacific Overtures (February 9-19, 2012) - creating a buzz that other theater companies can only envy and hope to create for their own season announcments.

David Compton returns to a role he first played almost a quarter-century ago and Rona Carter plays a man who is transformed into an ass in Nashville Children's Theatre's upcoming production of Robin Goodfellow, playwright Aurand Harris' unique take on Shakespeare's A Midsummer's Night Dream. Opening on Tuesday, April 19, Robin Goodfellow runs at NCT through May 15.

David Compton returns to a role he first played almost a quarter-century ago and Rona Carter plays a man who is transformed into an ass in Nashville Children's Theatre's upcoming production of Robin Goodfellow, playwright Aurand Harris' unique take on Shakespeare's A Midsummer's Night Dream. Opening on Tuesday, April 19, Robin Goodfellow runs at NCT through May 15.

Quite simply, with Long Way Down Eppler proves himself a playwright of the highest order, delivering a well-crafted script that delves into the pro-life movement with an incisive wit that is blended artfully with a gritty realism to create a completely believable premise, peopled by characters so genuine it is as if you know them intimately. To put it succinctly, Nate Eppler is likely to become very famous, with Long Way Down a most worthy vehicle for his success

Lauren Shouse directs 3Ps Productions' upcoming workshop production of award-winning playwright Nate Eppler's Long Way Down, described as 'a new dark comedy'starring Rachel Agee, David Compton, Rebekah Durham and Jennifer Richmond, running May 6-28 at Street Theatre Company, 1933 Elm Hill Pike. Set just outside Nashville, Long Way Down tells the story of Maybelline and Karen, two southern women who decide to kidnap babies from undeserving parents. When they run out of room for all of the babies, one of the women decides there is enough room for all of the babies in Heaven.

Nashville Children's Theatre (NCT) will perform Robin Goodfellow on Saturday, May 7th at 11 am specifically for families of children with special needs.

David Compton returns to a role he first played almost a quarter-century ago and Rona Carter plays a man who is transformed into an ass in Nashville Children's Theatre's upcoming production of Robin Goodfellow, playwright Aurand Harris' unique take on Shakespeare's A Midsummer's Night Dream. Opening on Tuesday, April 19, Robin Goodfellow runs at NCT through May 15.

David Compton returns to a role he first played almost a quarter-century ago and Rona Carter plays a man who is transformed into an ass in Nashville Children's Theatre's upcoming production of Robin Goodfellow, playwright Aurand Harris' unique take on Shakespeare's A Midsummer's Night Dream. Opening on Tuesday, April 19, Robin Goodfellow runs at NCT through May 15.

Lauren Shouse directs 3Ps Productions' upcoming workshop production of award-winning playwright Nate Eppler's Long Way Down, described as 'a new dark comedy'starring Rachel Agee, David Compton, Rebekah Durham and Jennifer Richmond, running May 6-28 at Street Theatre Company, 1933 Elm Hill Pike. Set just outside Nashville, Long Way Down tells the story of Maybelline and Karen, two southern women who decide to kidnap babies from undeserving parents. When they run out of room for all of the babies, one of the women decides there is enough room for all of the babies in Heaven.

Chaffin's Barn, the venerable Nashville theatrical venue where you get top-flight productions served up alongside some mighty tasty roast beef, is on a roll this year. Coming off the success of its excellent production of 'Til Beth Do Us Part, Chaffin's mines their estimable comedy vault to bring back Larry Shue's Southern-fried and Georgia-bred classic The Foreigner - and audiences will be flocking to the Barn for a thoroughly delightful experience.

Derek Whittaker stars in the title role in the latest incarnation of The Foreigner, Larry Shue's classic stage comedy, opening at Chaffin's Barn Dinner Theatre March 24, running through April 30. The production is helmed by director Dietz Osborne.

Derek Whittaker stars in the title role in the latest incarnation of The Foreigner, Larry Shue's classic stage comedy, opening at Chaffin's Barn Dinner Theatre March 24, running through April 30. The production is helmed by director Dietz Osborne.

Feasting on the banquet that is the musical, magical prose of Tom Stoppard, the cast of Blackbird Theater Company's Arcadia delivers a pitch-perfect rendering of his intellectually stimulating play, under the fine direction of Ted Swindley. Certain to provoke thought and elicit a variety of responses, Arcadia is intricately crafted and imaginatively plotted, staged elegantly and confidently by the relatively new theater company in just its second production at David Lipscomb University's Shamblin Theatre.

Talk to cast members of Blackbird Theater Company's production of Arcadia and you get the idea that all this hard work we've heard so much about may actually be a whole lot of fun. And ask them why audiences should come see the show, which opens Friday night, February 25, at David Lipscomb University's Shamblin Theatre, and the answers you get may not be what you expect either.

At first blush, Beth Bailey - the anti-heroine of 'Til Beth Do Us Part, the new comedy from the crackerjack writing triumvirate otherwise known as Jessie Jones, Nicholas Hope and Jamie Wooten - is a Southern-bred, country-fried rube with questionable fashion taste and amazing organizational skills. Delve a little bit deeper and you'll find that she's a manipulative, conniving bitch of a 100% cotton barracuda. And played by Kim Thornton Nygren, she's one heck of looker with a flair for over-the-top pratfalls and expert timing.

Dedicated to her craft, she is an endearing blend of serious actress and sweet young woman. During her time on the Nashville stage, she's played a wide range of roles for a variety of companies, including Circle Players' production of Noises Off, Towne Centre Theatre's Moon Over Buffalo and Steel Magnolias, and Blackbird Theatre Company's Twilight of the Gods. And in each of those roles, she's epitomized 'versatility' with an exceptional performance every time she steps onto the stage.

Nashville's Blackbird Theater Company offers a second sneak-peek at its upcoming production of Tom Stoppard's Arcadia, featuring David Compton and Denice Hicks. Directed by Ted Swindley, this second production of Blackbird's inaugural season also features Amanda Card-McCoy, Jeff Boyet, Wes Driver, Britt Byrd and Scott Rice. Arcadia plays the Shamblin Theatre at David Lipscomb University February 25-March 12. For further information about Blackbird, visit the company website at www.blackbirdnashville.com.

Lydia Bushfield's 1940s musical revue, I'll Be Seeing You, opens the 2011 season at Chaffin's Barn Dinner Theatre this week, running January 6 through February 5. Directed by David Compton, the cast features Melodie Madden Adams, Nancy Allen and Jennifer Richmond as three World War II-era factory workers who discover their shared love of music during workday breaks from contributing to the war effort.

Playwright/director Ted Swindley helms a much-anticipated production of Tom Stoppard's Arcadia, presented by Blackbird Theater at Nashville's David Lipscomb University's Shamblin Theatre February 25-March 12. Swindley's cast includes Denice Hicks, Amanda Card-McCoy, David Compton, Jeff Boyet, Wes Driver, Britt Byrd, Scott Rice and Brad Forrister. Curtain is at 7 p.m. for all performances.

Thanks to the efforts of playwright Lydia Bushfield and a talented cast of actors and musicians, Chaffin's Barn Dinner Theatre takes audiences on a sentimental journey back to the American homefront during World War II with I'll Be Seeing You, a musical revue that features some of the best-loved tunes from that time. Wonderfully evocative, Bushfield's sweetly crafted - if somewhat overly earnest and perhaps a little mawkish - script tells the stories of three women keeping the homefires burning while their men are off to war, making the world a safer place.