Marie Wright News

Opening Friday, April 9 - and continuing for nine performances through April 17 - Potty Talk is the latest play from Crist's fertile imagination. 'A 'royal flush' of Nashville comediennes polish the nuggets of wisdom that women discuss in the ladies' room,' is how Crist herself describes the play.

The Theater for the New City and The Harlem Repertory Theatre will present a modern adaptation of 'Flahooley' by E.Y. Harburg, Fred Saidy and Sammy Fain, to be staged from December 18 to January 3 at the Theatre for the New City. This classic musical tells of a misbegotten toymaker during the McCarthy madness.

If, indeed, 'it takes a village,' and if, as the poets say, 'no man is an island,' then perhaps no art form is more collaborative than live theatre. With a village of artists backstage and offstage assuring that each production is mounted, then coming to life during each performance, the collaborative effort is renewed. And what audiences see onstage is the collaboration of artists, the people who comprise the acting ensemble, the folks who bring the stagebound script to life, sending it soaring into our imaginations.

While there were plenty of productions to be excited about during the 2009 Nashville theatre season, as with any year the most memorable theatrical moments were due to the many fine individual performances seen on local stages. Featuring a blend of both veterans and newcomers, the 2009 season proved once again that Music City has an impressive retinue of actors to call upon. Whether it's in an emotionally draining drama, a laugh-out-loud comedy or a joyously inspiring musical, there are actors here who can deliver the goods, time after time.

With the strains of 'Auld Lang Syne' mere moments away, minds are apt to be caught up in reflection, remembering the year now ending as a new one awaits just over the horizon. Certainly that's what I've been doing lately, looking back over the past year in Nashville theatre as I pencil in dates in my new 2010 (Here's a question to ponder: Is it 'two thousand ten' or 'twenty ten'...think about it and get back to me) calendar for the shows set to open in the months ahead.

On Christmas Eve, members of the Harburg family attended the show at Theater for the New City and joined cast members of E.Y. Harburg's'Flahooley'.

The Theater for the New City and The Harlem Repertory Theatre will present a modern adaptation of 'Flahooley' by E.Y. Harburg, Fred Saidy and Sammy Fain, to be staged from December 18 to January 3 at the Theatre for the New City. This classic musical tells of a misbegotten toymaker during the McCarthy madness.

The Theater for the New City and The Harlem Repertory Theatre will present a modern adaptation of 'Flahooley' by E.Y. Harburg, Fred Saidy and Sammy Fain, to be staged from December 18 to January 3 at the Theatre for the New City. This classic musical tells of a misbegotten toymaker during the McCarthy madness.

With consistently superb casting and amazingly focused direction, Avery Crozier's Eat The Runt is given its due in the play's Nashville premiere by GroundWorks Theatre. Now onstage through October 24 at the Darkhorse Theatre, the comedy is a smartly written treatise on the arts, workplace manipulation, 'human resources' and political correctness-heady subjects all that combine for one of the funniest plays of contemporary vintage that we've seen.

A. Sean O'Connell will direct the Middle Tennessee premiere of Avery Crozier's Eat the Runt, opening Friday, October 16 at Darkhorse Theatre, 4610 Charlotte Avenue in Nashville. The contemporary comedy will continue at Darkhorse through October 24. In the play, 'Crozier toys with ideas of perception, political correctness and societal and cultural norms as we follow a job applicant through an art museum interview process,' O'Connell said.

A. Sean O'Connell will direct the Middle Tennessee premiere of Avery Crozier's Eat the Runt, opening Friday, October 16 at Darkhorse Theatre, 4610 Charlotte Avenue in Nashville. The contemporary comedy will continue at Darkhorse through October 24. In the play, 'Crozier toys with ideas of perception, political correctness and societal and cultural norms as we follow a job applicant through an art museum interview process,' O'Connell said.