David Compton News

The Nashville Shakespeare Festival will present Julius Caesar, a complex political story with themes of corrupted power, betrayal and tragic consequences, at Belmont University's Troutt Theater Jan. 10-29, 2012.

With taut, focused direction by Beki Baker and what is arguably the finest cast of actors to be assembled on a Nashville stage in recent memory, Nashville Shakespeare Festival heats winter up to a fever pitch with its remarkable production of Julius Caesar, Shakespeare's timeless-and very timely-tragedy rife with unbridled ambition, conspiratorial plotting, revenge and deception.

Playwright Nate Eppler, Mas Nashville's FIVE, the Boiler Room Theatre, Lipscomb University's Hairspray, ACT 1's American Buffalo and the national touring company of Memphis, the Musical were the top winners at Sunday night's Midwinter's First Night at Nashville's Keeton Theatre, which also featured the presentation of the BroadwayWorld.com Nashville and Tennessee theatre awards.

It's almost over! There's just FIVE days of voting remaining for the 2011 Nashville Awards and here is the latest update! Have you voted yet, and helped to spread the word to support your favorites in the hopes that they will be the recipients of a 2011 BroadwayWorld Nashville Award? There is no time to waste, click on the voting link and make your opinion count! Below are the stats so far as of Monday December 26, 2011. Voting ends at midnight on 12/31 so time is running out.

There's just TWO short weeks left to go in voting for the 2011 Nashville Awards and here is the latest update! Have you voted yet, and helped to spread the word to support your favorites in the hopes that they will be the recipients of a 2011 BroadwayWorld Nashville Award? There is no time to waste, click on the voting link and make your opinion count! Below are the stats so far as of Monday December 19, 2011. Voting ends at midnight on 12/31 so time is running out.

There's just a few weeks left to go in voting for the 2011 Nashville Awards and here is the latest update! Have you voted yet, and helped to spread the word to support your favorites in the hopes that they will be the recipients of a 2011 BroadwayWorld Nashville Award? There is no time to waste, click on the voting link and make your opinion count! Below are the stats so far as of Monday December 12, 2011.

There's just a few weeks left to go in voting for the 2011 Nashville Awards and here is the latest update! Have you voted yet, and helped to spread the word to support your favorites in the hopes that they will be the recipients of a 2011 BroadwayWorld Nashville Award? There is no time to waste, click on the voting link and make your opinion count! Below are the stats so far as of Monday December 05, 2011.

There's just 4 weeks left to go in voting for the 2011 Nashville Awards and here is the latest update! Have you voted yet, and helped to spread the word to support your favorites in the hopes that they will be the recipients of a 2011 BroadwayWorld Nashville Award? There is no time to waste, click on the voting link and make your opinion count! Below are the stats so far as of Tuesday November 29, 2011.

Tennessee Repertory Theatre will once again present the holiday cult A Christmas Story adapted by Phillip Grecian and based on the motion picture by Jean Shepherd, Leigh Brown, and Bob Clark. A Christmas Story runs December 8-22 at TPAC's Johnson Theater.

Voting is now well underway for the 2011 Nashville Awards and here is the latest update! Now, it's time for you to get out and vote for your favorites in the hopes that they will be the recipients of a 2011 BroadwayWorld Nashville Award. No time to waste, click on the voting link and make your opinion count! Below are the stats so far as of Monday November 21, 2011.

Directed by David Alford (who first wore Crumpet the elf's turned-up slippers for Tennessee Rep) and starring audience favorite Matt Chiorini, who returns to Nashville to take on the festive mantle of the acerbic, take no prisoners, would-be actor and serious One Life to Live fan (wonder how he's doing in wake of the soap opera's demise), The Santaland Diaries opens Saturday night, November 19 at the Andrew Johnson Theatre at the Tennessee Performing Arts Center and runs through December 3.

Long Way Down, Nashville playwright Nate Eppler's critically acclaimed new work which premiered locally earlier this year, has been named a semi-finalist for the 2012 Harold and Mimi Steinberg/American Theatre Critics Association New Play Award.

Voting is now open for the 2011 Nashville Awards! Now it's time for you to get out and vote for your favorites in the hopes that they will be the recipients of a 2011 BroadwayWorld Nashville Award. No time to waste, click on the voting link and make your opinion count! Below are the stats so far as of Monday November 14, 2011.

The Nashville Shakespeare Festival will present Julius Caesar, a complex political story with themes of corrupted power, betrayal and tragic consequences, at Belmont University's Troutt Theater Jan. 10-29, 2012.

Now onstage at the nationally renowned and venerated company's Ann Stahlman Hill Theatre through October 16, Holes features an extraordinary cast of some of the region's finest actors bringing the beloved tale to life with such vigorous energy that audiences of any age (not just the ones 'age 8 and up' noted in the program) will become engaged in the story, its twists and turns and revelatory moments sparking their very imaginations (and, I suspect, to the library to once again experience the book).

When the last performers had sung the final song and the late honoree had been feted, the crowds at Belmont University's Troutt Theatre for the presentation of First Night, the Nashville Theatre Honors' 2011 Gala Concert, headed downtown to Cummins Station for the After-Party at The Listening Room Cafe.

Nashville Children's Theatre (NCT) presents the stage adaptation of Louis Sachar's Holes, opening on Tuesday, September 20 and running through October 16. Based on the popular novel by Louis Sachar, who also wrote the script, Holes tells the tale of young Stanley Yelnats who is sentenced (despite his innocence) to the wasteland of Camp Green Lake. He and his fellow juvenile detainees are forced to dig holes in the hot desert sun day after day after day by the Warden. What is she looking for? And how is the mystery connected to Stanley's 'no-good-dirty-rotten-pig-stealing-great-great-grandfather' and a long-dead outlaw named Kissing Kate Barlow?

Hosted by Jennifer Richmond and Trey Palmer, First Night, the Nashville Theater Honors Gala was preceded by the Red Carpet Event just before the tribute concert on a rainy Sunday, September 4, at Belmont University's Troutt Theatre.

With almost 150 performers taking to the stage of Belmont University's Troutt Theatre on Sunday night, September 4, members of the theater community throughout Tennessee joined together to fete the six members of the 2011 Class of First Night Honorees.

Tennessee's glittering theaterati gathered in Nashville for the 2011 edition of First Night, the Nashville Theatre Honors, paying tribute to six of the leading lights of the theater community -- PAM ATHA, DAN BREWER, GARY C. HOFF, DANNY PROCTOR, LAYNE SASSER and HELEN OLAKETI SHUTE-PETTAWAY -- on Sunday, September 4, the culmination of a nine-day long celebration of live theater in the Volunteer State. Hosted by two-time First Night Award winner David Compton, the Honors Gala featured staged musical and dramatic tributes to the six honorees, starring some of the best-known names in Tennessee theater.