Megan Murphy Chambers News

With only days before the first preview performance of Part of the Plan (followed by a gala opening night on Sunday, September 10), the new musical drawing its score and inspiration from the catalog of troubadour Dan Fogelberg, the widely respected singer/songwriter who spent much of his early career in Nashville, attention should be paid to the motivating factors that led the producers to debut their show in Music City - with a look at the show's roots that are firmly planted in Tennessee.

GOOD MORNING, THEATERATI! It's Tuesday, May 16, 2017, and while the whole worlds goes to hell in a handbasket, what with the latest news coming out of Washington about highly classified secrets being passed on to the Russians, Nashville theater companies are still striving to prevent people from finding out what shows they plan to do next season…

Spring is here! Why doesn't my heart go dancing? Well, Mr. Lorenz Hart, personally, we are too damn busy with creating the magic of live theater: We're directing a show (Daddy's Dyin'…Who's Got the Will? opens next week - April 20 - at The Larry Keeton Theatre in Donelson, thank you very much) and trying to make it out to see as much theater in Nashville as possible before old age takes its toll - it's tough out there for a theater critic!

Led by a trio of veteran Nashville-area actors - Dan Zeigler, Pat Street and Lynn Yates - the quartet of eponymous characters is completed by Ryan Chavez Richmond, who is quickly making a name for himself (and gaining more than a little notoriety along the way) on local stages. The four of them are joined by Jeanne Valcarcel Drone as Cassandra and Nikki Gavin as Nina in Durang's rollicking comedy that is sure to make you laugh uproariously one moment and bring tears to your eyes in the next.

Erin Parker, Laura Matula, Cori Anne Laemelle, Melodie Madden Adams and Megan Murphy Chambers - collectively known as MAS Nashville - return to the stage for their tenth cabaret performance appropriately entitled MAS X, playing the Belcourt Theatre on Monday, April 17. Curtain is at 7:30 p.m.

Startling, stunning and evocative performances by an ensemble of Nashville actors performing at the top of their game in an altogether effective and moving production of a contemporary classic: that's what audiences are likely recalling now - hours, days, weeks - after experiencing the latest artistic achievement from Studio Tenn. Following up the opening of their 2016-17 season -  a critically lauded revival of Andrew Lloyd Webber's Evita, which launched the annual Broadway series at Tennessee Performing Arts Center - Studio Tenn presents another Broadway-worthy reiteration in the form of Bernard Pomerance's The Elephant Man.

Nashville Rep presents a staged reading of the quirky comedy Beyond Therapy by Christopher Durang at a REPaloud in partnership with OZ Arts Nashville today, January 14, 2017. A revealing talkback with Tony award-winning playwright Durang, the cast, director, and audience immediately follows the reading.

First Night's Top Ten of 2017 - critic Jeffrey Ellis' annual review of the best in Tennessee theater - were revealed tonight during a live Facebook broadcast at 7:30 p.m. (CST), with Actor's Bridge Ensemble and Studio Tenn/TPAC leading the nods in this year's listing of categories.

Nashville Rep presents a staged reading of the quirky comedy Beyond Therapy by Christopher Durang at a REPaloud in partnership with OZ Arts Nashville on Saturday, January 14, 2017. A revealing talkback with Tony award-winning playwright Durang, the cast, director, and audience immediately follows the reading.

Tony Award-winning playwright Christopher Durang - this season's Ingram New Works Fellow at Nashville Repertory Theatre - will be on hand for a reading of his quirky comedy, Beyond Therapy, on Saturday, January 14, 2017, at OZ Arts Nashville.

Some grand holiday traditions are exactly what is needed in these turbulent times and nothing is more pleasing than the 2016 version of Nashville Repertory Theatre's live stage version of A Christmas Story, the theatrical treatment of the movie of the same name that somehow captures all the memories and nostalgia, all the laughter and mayhem of the holiday season.

Nashville audiences can look forward to the warm-hearted and comedic holiday treat when Nashville Repertory Theatre produces A Christmas Story for an eighth consecutive season. This familiar story of young Ralphie's wintertime woes has become a tradition that many Middle Tennessee families eagerly attend year after year.

Nashville audiences can look forward to the warm-hearted and comedic holiday treat when Nashville Repertory Theatre produces A Christmas Story for an eighth consecutive season. This familiar story of young Ralphie's wintertime woes has become a tradition that many Middle Tennessee families eagerly attend year after year.

2013 First Night Honoree Jamey Green leads the cast of Act Too Pro's production of Roald Dahl's Willy Wonka, opening Tuesday night, October 18, at the historic Franklin Theatre. Running through October 23, Willy Wonka follows the critically acclaimed Act Too Pro debut production of Mary Poppins, which played to capacity crowds in 2015.

'7 Ways to Sunday' is a new musical written by Eric Fritsch and Cori Anne Laemmel that will run September 15th-18th and 23rd.

'7 Ways to Sunday' is a new musical written by Eric Fritsch and Cori Anne Laemmel that will run September 15th-18th and 23rd.

With former Tennessee Titan Eddie George, Jenny Littleton of The Doyle and Debbie Show, founding Rep actor Jackie Welch, a collection of audience favorites, and some intriguing new faces added to the mix, Nashville Repertory's five-show season for 2016-17 tackles the many dimensions of love: commitment, dilemma, risk, joy, and disappointment.

The New York Musical Festival (NYMF) presents The First Church of Mary, The Repentant Prostitute's FIFTH ANNUAL!!! Benefit Concert, Revival and Potluck Dinner, a new musical about faith, narcissism and red velvet cake with book and lyrics by Geoff Davin, additional music and lyrics by Nicole Boggs & KelleyAnn Hocter & additional music by David Mescon.  Martha Wilkinson directs a cast of six, including Geoff Davin, Megan Murphy Chambers, Jennifer Whitcomb-Oliva, Brooke Leigh Davis, Rosemary Fossee, and Michael San Miguel. The First Church of Mary is being staged at the June Havoc Theatre, 312 West 36th Street, 1st Floor in NYC for five performances from Monday, July 18 through Friday, July 22, 2015.

On the heels of their smash hit inaugural production of MARY POPPINS, Act Too Pro is proud to announce their next project - WILLY WONKA AND THE CHOCOLATE FACTORY. 

Oh, for the love of God, we get it, we get it: The superwomen – who might best be described as the superheroines of Nashville's theaterati and assorted non-stagey types – of SuperMAS love each other, admire each other's mad musical theater skills and get along as well as a bunch of Canadians trying to out-courteous one another! But just imagine how much fun it would be if the quintet of superior performers could somehow show us the seamy underbelly of their interactions and artistic collaborations, exposing us to the histrionics of the Real Housewives reality of their relationships…complete with overturned tables, repeated air kisses and trips to faraway lands where they redefine the term “ugly Americans.”