Jessika Malone News

Led by program director Jessika Malone and technical director Mitch Massaro - and named by CNN as one of 'most intriguing festivals' in the 'Best of the U.S.' - Nashville's Sideshow @ Actors Bridge unveils its fifth annual slate of performances for today, July 16, through July 19.

In between, there's a plethora of performances and events lined up, including a Sideshow-produced rendition of Mindy Kaling and Brenda Withers' Matt & Ben, starring Jenna Pryor and Britt Byrd, directed by Patrick Kramer: a what-might-have-happened comedy that considers how the pair of Boston-bred bros created an Academy Award winning screenplay.

Nashville's acclaimed Sideshow Fringe Festival gets under way next Thursday, so what better way to get ready for this year's event than by looking back at 2014's Saturday morning and evening events, captured in a series of photographs by Wesley Duffee-Braun. If 2014 looked this good...can you imagine what 2015 is gonna look like?

Nashville's acclaimed Sideshow Fringe Festival gets under way next Thursday, so what better way to get ready for this year's event than by looking back at 2014's Friday night events, captured in a series of photographs by Wesley Duffee-Braun. If 2014 looked this good...can you imagine what 2015 is gonna look like?

Nashville's acclaimed Sideshow Fringe Festival gets under way next Thursday, so what better way to get ready for this year's event than by looking back at 2014's opening night events, captured in a series of photographs by Wesley Duffee-Braun. If 2014 looked this good...what does 2015 have in store?

Led by program director Jessika Malone and technical director Mitch Massaro - and named by CNN as one of 'most intriguing festivals' in the 'Best of the U.S.' - Nashville's Sideshow @ Actors Bridge unveils its fifth annual slate of performances for July 16-19.

As time-and the fates-would have it, Gina D'Arco is back again! With today's feature, if memory serves, Gina is the first performer to do two Friday Fives for us. Have her answers changed? Just as her life has changed, so has her perspective, so of course you're going to learn something new about the young woman who opens tonight as Mary Hatch Bailey in It's A Wonderful Life, Springhouse Theatre Company's holiday season offering, running December 5-14.

The world premiere of a brand-spanking new musical with Broadway in its sights, a relatively young but awe-inspiring theater company and a sparkling, witty new play about Zelda and F. Scott Fitzgerald led the list of Tennessee's outstanding theatrical achievements in 2012 that was revealed Sunday night at Midwinter's First Night.

For Tennessee theater audiences, this weekend presents a bounty of theatrical riches, with six shows opening: Blackbird Theatre's Red, Sideshow's Crumble (Lay Me Down, Justin Timberlake), Chaffin's Barn Dinner Theatre's Spreading it Around, Boiler Room Theatre's Parade, Tennessee Women's Theater Project's Shooting Star and Street Theatre Company's latest incarnation of Macabaret.

Boldly moving into their second season of challenging audiences with compelling, new and exciting theater, Sideshow @ Actors Bridge will bring sexy back as they present the regional premiere of 13P member Sheila Callaghan's Crumble (Lay Me Down, Justin Timberlake).

Playwright Peter Sinn Nachtrieb knows how to deliver such a dramatic jolt and he does so in his play boom, the season-ending production from Sideshow, the "project" of Actors Bridge Ensemble that has brought something new and exciting to Nashville theater-pushing the envelope through a series of innovative theatrical initiatives that are far removed from the staid old comedies and dramas we tend to see so often on local stages.

What better way to kick off Sunday-and to celebrate Father's Day!-than with the latest installment of Music City Confidential! Here's where you'll find all the news that's fit to print (or not-depending on your perspective) from Nashville's ever-growing, ever-fascinating live theater industry. Amid the florid prose and flowery praise, you'll find all the stories that don't quite fit anywhere else, some of 'em kind of gossipy, some of 'em stone-cold serious, some of 'em just lists of names you need to know. You'll also find photos from our new "Intermission@" series, details about the latest cast parties and various and sundry minutiae-the veritable flotsam and jetsam-from backstage, onstage, offstage and beyond…

Looking for a way to express your creativity in a fresh and contemporary theatrical setting? Nashville's Sideshow Fringe, Actor's Bridge Ensemble's foray into that arena, is looking for artists to take part in this summer's Sideshow Fringe Festival-the group's second outing, following their wildly successful 2011 event.

Let's face it: You have to give Paul Vasterling, the grand poobah (as both artistic director and CEO of Nashville Ballet, what other title suits him best?) of all things musical/dancical/theatrical in Music City, a whole bunch of credit for the imaginative-heretofore unexperienced-heights he has helped his company achieve and his city to claim as its own. The man has redefined the idea of collaboration while giving human form to the term "synergy" with his continuing efforts to push the creative envelope in a city filled with artistic types and their sometimes conflicting sensibilities.

Sarah Ruhl's critically acclaimed play In The Next Room (or The Vibrator Play) highlights ACT 1's 2012-13 season, which is revealed today. Also on the season: a new adaptation of Dark of the Moon, Neil Simon's Broadway Bound and Ibsen's classic A Doll's House.

The Sideshow Ensemble at Actors Bridge provides a year-long training immersion opportunity for disciplined, dedicated artists seeking to take their development to the next level. Nashville artists will be selected by a panel of Actors Bridge ensemble members and current Sideshow artists for their cross-disciplinary skills, potential for growth, commitment to ensemble principles, and dedication to the longevity of Actors Bridge.

Vali Forrister retuns to the stage for the first time since her 2006 triumph in How I Learned to Drive to lead the cast of Actors Bridge Ensemble and the Belmont University Department of Theatre and Dance's production of Frederico Garcia Lorca's The House of Bernarda Alba. Jessika Malone, artistic associate at ABE, directs the cast of Emily Mann's adaptation of Lorca's work which has been described as 'a cross between Downton Abbey and The Bachelor with an added splash of Mommie Dearest.'

Tyrannical and imperious, Bernarda Alba rules her five daughters with an iron-fisted vehemence in Actors Bridge Ensemble and Belmont University Theatre's presentation of Federico Garcia Lorca's The House of Bernarda Alba, which marks the return to the stage of Vali Forrister, Actors Bridge producing artistic director, after a far too long six-year absence.

First up is Gina D'Arco, one of Belmont University's most gifted actors, who tonight opens in Actors Bridge Ensemble's staging of Federico Garcia Lorca's The House of Bernard Alba (the professional company's annual collaborative production with Belmont University's Department of Theatre and Dance), directed by Jessika Malone, who helmed last year's critically acclaimed and award-winning production of Eurydice by Sarah Ruhl.

Vali Forrister retuns to the stage for the first time since her 2006 triumph in How I Learned to Drive to lead the cast of Actors Bridge Ensemble and the Belmont University Department of Theatre and Dance's production of Frederico Garcia Lorca's The House of Bernarda Alba. Jessika Malone, artistic associate at ABE, directs the cast of Emily Mann's adaptation of Lorca's work which has been described as 'a cross between Downton Abbey and The Bachelor with an added splash of Mommie Dearest.'