Middle Tennessee State University

Cooper’s clear and focused direction of [title of show] ensures that the action that transpires over the course of 90-plus minutes holds your attention, reminds you of people you know and delivers a pretty spot-on depiction of what real life is all about. With the able assistance of musical director Angela Tipps (the only non-student involved in the production, except for the professors who serve as mentors of the student-led creative team and production crew) and choreographer Paige Lovell (who provides the quartet of actors some fancy footwork that enlivens the proceedings), Cooper and his ideally cast quartet of actors, in this critic’s estimation, deliver the goods and then some.

Stephen Wilson Jr. has announced his debut headline tour with a run of acoustic dates this spring and summer. Within hours of being on sale, shows in New York City, Birmingham, Louisville and Minneapolis sold out with limited tickets left for the remaining dates.

Stephen Wilson Jr. released a live acoustic performance video for single “Year To Be Young (1994).” The video comes on the heels of Holler naming Wilson’s debut double album søn of dad their #1 Album of the Year, calling Wilson “a sage storyteller and unrivaled songwriter whose welcome arrival spurs a ground-breaking new energy in Nashville.”

We continue to celebrate the return of Collegiate Theatrics with an interview featuring one of our favorites from the theatre department at Middle Tennessee State University in nearby Murfreesboro: Logan Purcell, a native of Gallatin, Tennessee, who will be graduating in 2025. We know Logan from his onstage appearances in MTSU’s productions of Fun Home, Cabaret and Rodgers + Hammerstein’s Cinderella in which his talents were on prominent display.

Denice Hicks is a national treasure who's been hiding out in plain sight in Nashville, Tennessee, for more than a quarter century. One of the most sought-after actors and directors in town, she has appeared on virtually every stage and her exquisite talents have been enjoyed by audiences and fellow theatre-types since her first Music City appearance as a cast member at the now-defunct Opryland USA theme park.

Today, we herald the return of Collegiate Theatrics – our first interview with a university-level actor since before the pandemic – featuring one of our favorites from the theatre department at Middle Tennessee State University in nearby Murfreesboro: Emma Bastin, a native of Lebanon, Tennessee, who will be graduating next spring.

 The Blues Foundation has announced the elections of a new Board of Directors and officers. Scott Fitzke, whose tenure as Chairman of the Board is ending due to term limits, will be succeeded by Terika Dean, who served as Vice Chairman under Fitzke.

Today we celebrate our most recent sojourn with Cinderella and company, thanks to the sumptuously designed, beautifully staged and wonderfully sung Rodgers + Hammerstein’s Cinderella, presented in an all-too-brief one-weekend run at Middle Tennessee State University’s Tucker Theatre in Murfreesboro.

Following the release of his critically-acclaimed debut double album søn of dad via Big Loud Records, Indiana-born, Nashville-based singer/songwriter Stephen Wilson Jr. has shared a moving acoustic performance video for “Grief Is Only Love.” 

Wilson has also shared the official music video for “patches.' Directed by Wilson Jr. and Tim Cofield, the symbol-heavy video chronicles a day in the life of a cast of colorful characters in rural America – including an alien and an astronaut that can't seem to escape each other.

The Frist Art Museum presents The Power of Resilience, an exhibition featuring works by more than 80 adult artists with disabilities who are served by five social service agencies in Middle Tennessee. The exhibition includes individual and collaborative artworks and will be on view in the always-free Conte Community Arts Gallery from August 25, 2023, through April 1, 2024.

The John F. Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts virtually hosted more than 110 outstanding theater students from colleges and universities across the nation as part of the Kennedy Center American College Theater Festival (KCACTF).

The special two-hour concert event follows Wynonna’s history-making homecoming return to the Murphy Center at Middle Tennessee State University (MTSU), recreating The Judds’ 1991 farewell tour for a special televised event featuring Wynonna’s tourmates Ashley McBryde, Brandi Carlile, Kelsea Ballerini, Little Big Town and Martina McBride.

To be certain, Cabaret (in every iteration I have ever seen), represents the awesome power of live theater to challenge preconceived notions while creating a world audiences can only visit when in the thrall of a talented cast of actors inspired to indulge in fantasy while maintaining an earthbound realism that illuminates the human condition at any possible time in human history.

Tennessee Playwrights Studio has announced the TPS 2023 Virtual Reading Festival, January 21-23 and February 2-4, 2023 at 7:30 p.m. CST.