Lauren Marshall News

Ring of Fire: The Music of Johnny Cash returns to the Adventure Theater from March 27 through June 9, 2015. "The show was a huge hit for us in 2013," said director Bryce McDonald, "and since it closed we've had many people ask us to bring it back." Producing Director Jim Crabtree concurred, adding, "It's a wonderful production, full of heart, joy and great music. And we're fortunate to again have Kellye Cash in the show. As Johnny's niece, her perspective and her recollections of him make our production truly special."

After seven months as Seattle Musical Theatre's Artistic Director, Roy Arauz has resigned his position. Arauz was voted into this volunteer position by the Seattle Musical Theatre Board of Directors in July of 2014 and saw the company through Man of La Mancha, The Rocky Horror Show, and Fiddler on the Roof, and was instrumental in assembling the production team for A Funny Thing Happened on the Way to the Forum, set to open in April 2015. During his tenure, he spearheaded and fundraised for a New Works Program at SMT, which will be a part of the 2015/2016 season. He is also the Founding Artistic Director of Arouet, a local company inspired by the work of Voltaire.

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.'

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."

Seattle Musical Theatre has teamed up with local organizations Solid Ground and Theater of Possibility to create a brand new summer youth theater program for kids and tweens living in Solid Ground housing at Magnuson Park. After a six week program with professional teaching artists, the students are presenting a showcase of interactive theater games and improvisation exercises to be shared with family and friends in the audience. The student showcase will be presented at SMT's theater at the end of July.

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".

In anticipation of the upcoming Seattle Public Theater (SPT) production of Johnna Adams' play Gidion's Knot, LUCIDLounge and SPT present Knotty Words: An Evening of Inappropriate Poetry and Prose, Friday, March 21st, 7:00pm-10:00pm.

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.

This is the type of show that you take your girlfriends to, or your mother and sister or your daughter. The Dixie Swim Club explores the wonderful friendships that can happen between women if they just put forth the trust and effort, and lay aside the unimportant differences and embrace each other as family, instead of someone disposable.

Set during the Spanish Inquisition, Man of La Mancha is a look a morals, our view of ourselves, our view of others, and the world as a whole. Three different stories intertwine and connect, giving the audience an interesting look at reality as we know it.

Cumberland County Playhouse has a gem on their hands with their latest production of Rodgers & Hammerstein's The King & I. With direction by CCP newcomer, Amy London, audiences receive a fresh look at a classic production. Set in the 1860s in the Asian country of Siam, The King & I is a story of unconventional love, acceptance, and the way that vast cultural differences can divide and bring together two people.

The Cumberland County Playhouse production of 9 to 5: The Musical brings hilarity and joy to the stage and leaves you dancing along in your seat. But no worries about bothering your seat neighbor; chances are good they are seat-dancing right along with you.

Heartbreak, injustice, death, redemption, faith, determination, love, and a host of other human experiences are all there for you in Les Miserables. But all you truly need to remember to grasp the theme of the show is in the last song. 'To love another person is to see the face of God.'

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. Photographer Rick Malkin was on hand to capture the evening's highlights with his camera.