Maggie Pitt News

Inspired by BroadwayWorld.com's Friday Six, welcome to BroadwayWorld Nashville's latest installment of The Friday Five: five questions designed to help you learn more about the talented people you'll find onstage throughout the Volunteer state. This week the spotlight shines on Maggie Pitt, Jaymes Campbell and Susan Adkins - The Philadelphis Story's Tracy Lord and C.K. Dexter Haven and the director of Lakewood Theatre's production opening in Old Hickory this weekend.

Lakewood Theater Company presents its second show of their 2015 season with its production of the classic The Philadelphia Story, beginning tonight April 17, 2015 and running through Sunday, May 3, 2015.

Lakewood Theater Company presents its second show of the 2015 season with the classic The Philadelphia Story, beginning Friday, April 17, and running through Sunday, May 3.

Lakewood Theater Company presents its second show of their 2015 season with its production of the classic The Philadelphia Story, beginning Friday, April 17, 2015 and running through Sunday, May 3, 2015.

Dressed to the nines-despite forecasts of thunderstorms and a tornado watch that hung over the region-theater people from throughout Tennessee gathered at Belmont University's Bill and Carole Troutt Theatre on Sunday night for the 2013 First Night Honors. Hosted by Holly Shepherd and Joel Diggs, the gala evening honored eight leading lights of Tennessee theater as they were recognized as members of the First Night Class of 2013 Honorees.

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…

Directed by Trish Crist in a confidently acted and well-paced production from Rhubarb Theater Company at Nashville's Darkhorse Theater, Rising & Falling offers a fictionalized account of a controversy that swirled among members of the public and throughout the tony New York City art world about an artist's attempt to come to terms with the tragedy of 9/11 through the creation of a work of art depicting a woman falling from one of the WTC towers. In Hart's script, the artist is a resident of Nashville who, like so many of us, was privy to the horrors of 9/11 through television coverage of the events as they unfolded on-screen.

Do you remember where you were on Tuesday, September 11, 2001 - the day terror was brought home to us and our world was change irrevocably? Throughout our lives we all experience those events that will remain etched forever in our minds, the ones that will always be in our personal memory banks. As final rehearsals get under way in advance of opening night, members of the cast and crew of Rising & Falling reached into their own memory banks to let us know where they were on that fateful morning, which gives perspective to the play they're working on together to bring to life for a Nashville audience.

Danny Proctor, Helen Shute-Pettaway, Layne Sasser, Pam Atha, Dan Brewer and Gary Hoff were introduced Monday night as the six members of the 2011 Class of First Night Honorees during the First Night Preview Party, hosted by founder and executive producer Jeffrey Ellis at The Listening Room Cafe in downtown Nashville.

Performed by Hillwig's large cast against the backdrop of Jim Manning's beautifully conceived and exquisitely realized set that magically transforms the Keeton's intimate stage into a panoramic view of dustbowl Oklahoma, the fiery Southwest and the lush, verdant fields and orchards of California, The Grapes of Wrath is a visual tour de force that other community theater companies - frankly, any theater company of whatever ilk - should aspire to achieve.

The inspired lunacy of Michael Frayn's Noises Off is a good choice for any theatre company seeking to offer a glimpse into the wacky antics of life on the boards and Circle Players continues its 60th annual season with a largely successful production that features the aforementioned stellar performances of Maggie Pitt and Jeremy Maxwell in the roles of Poppy and Tim (the techies in Frayn's show-within-a-show structure). Pitt and Maxwell deliver disarmingly natural performances amid all the hilarious hijinks taking place in Frayn's wonderfully funny farce and they very nearly-actually, they do it outright-steal the show.

Michael Frayn's Noises Off is the next production of Circle Players' 2009-2010 season, running October 16 through November 1. Frayn's comedy is a play with a play, filled with door slams and physical gags as a dysfunctional cast and crew attempt to open a new theatre production to tour the British provinces.

Take one of east Nashville's hottest hot spots, mix in a couple hundred theatre enthusiasts, add a dollop of Vegas-style entertainment and a whole slew of gaming tables and you have the second annual fundraiser for Street Theatre Company: It's Vegas, Baby! Held Thursday, August 13, at Limelight, 201 Woodland Street, just across from LP Field, the event attracted a large sampling of Nashville's theatre community and socialites.