Chip Arnold

Nashville Repertory Theatre  unveiled its 2021-22 season Tuesday night at Kimpton Aertson Hotel’s rooftop patio, featuring a plethora of Nashville theater’s brightest stars, who charmed and entertained everyone in their audience (each of whom were fairly adither with anticipation of what’s to come and the joy of watching live performance).

There is something about Hatty Ryan King a?" the young woman playing Alice Murphy in Lipscomb University Theatre's superb production of Bright Star (the recent Broadway musical by Steve Martin and Edie Brickell) now onstage at Collins Alumni Auditorium through November 10 a?" that sets her apart from her peers, that makes her seem destined for greatness and which ensures that every role she takes on is elevated by her unerring instincts, her palpable presence and her inestimable talent.

Brilliant social commentary or sophomoric lowbrow humor? Just what is it that makes Urinetown the Musical such a hit with audiences and theater companies a?' is it the biting satire delivered in Greg Kotis' book and lyrics and in Mark Hollmann's music and lyrics, or is it (in the case of Nashville Repertory Theatre's 35th season opening production) director Jason Tucker's fast-paced and quick-witted vision that's nothing short of mesmerizingly entertaining? We'll leave that up to you to decide a?' well, actually, we won't since that's why I am paid the big bucks to tell you what to think a?' but rest assured that no matter the reason, odds are you're going to love Nashville Rep's iteration of Urinetown and you'll want to score tickets before the show evaporates into the creative ether encircling Tennessee Performing Arts Center's Andrew Johnson Theatre.

Oh, those wacky Brits: They love their comedy dry, broad and often rather lowbrow, they adore mistaken identities, hijinks in the bedchamber and a bit with a dog. And that, gentle readers, is exactly what is delivered in the deliciously irreverent, surprisingly heartfelt Shakespeare in Love - Lee Hall's stage adaptation of the 1999 Oscar-winning best film of the same name - now onstage at Tennessee Performing Arts Center's Andrew Johnson Theatre in a sparkling new production from Nashville Repertory Theatre.

Today, in anticipation of their opening weekend, three members of Copeland's cast - Cailen Fu, Joseph Leitess and Jennifer Whitcomb-Oliva - offer some background information on what shapes them as actors (including their most memorable "the show must go on" moments) and offer suggestions for why you shouldn't miss Shakespeare in Love in our latest Friday 5 (+1):

Shakespeare in Love - the final show of Nashville Repertory Theatre's 2018-19 season - opens Saturday night, March 23, at the Andrew Johnson Theatre at the Tennessee Performing Arts Center, running through April 13. Replete with comedy, a secret romance, live music, a play-within-a-play, stunning costumes, swordfights, a hefty wager and Queen Elizabeth I herself, there's also the promise of a very cute dog to entice audiences to the theatre.

During the very first scenes of Ghost - the world premiere of the play by Idris Goodwin, based upon the 2016 book of the same name by Jason Reynolds, now onstage at Nashville Children's Theatre through February 3 - the audience becomes caught up in the emotional turmoil experienced by young Castle Cranshaw and his mom, Terri. As their world is upended by events taking place onstage, the story of Ghost is set in motion, hurtling toward a moment in which lives are changed and the future opens up in ways both unexpected and completely authentic.

In anticipation of the gala 30th anniversary celebration of The First Night Awards, Tennessee's best and brightest in live theater were revealed tonight as First Night's Top Ten of 2018 - reviewer and critic Jeffrey Ellis' annual recognition for theater in the Volunteer State - were announced during a Facebook Live presentation from Nashville.

Here's hoping you had a splendid Thanksgiving holiday weekend and that you're settling in for another action-packed season of events and shows to make Christmas 2018 sparkle even more! Looking ahead, you'll find a number of new productions on tap for your entertainment pleasure, thanks to the efforts of theater companies all over Middle Tennessee. Here's our calendar for November 26, 2018, to help you plot your course through the end of the year...

Looking ahead, you'll find a number of new productions on tap, including a whole slew of holiday favorites, for your entertainment pleasure, thanks to the efforts of theater companies all over Middle Tennessee. Here's our calendar for November 12, 2018, to help you plot your course through next February...

Looking ahead, you'll find a number of new productions on tap for your entertainment pleasure, thanks to the efforts of theater companies all over Middle Tennessee. Here's our calendar for November 5, 2018, to help you plot your course through the end of the year...

Theater's power to illuminate and to elucidate even while offering diverting entertainment has perhaps never been felt so strongly as in Nashville Repertory Theatre's engaging version of Jerome Lawrence and Robert E. Lee's Inherit the Wind, a fictionalized account of the 1925 Scopes Monkey Trial in Dayton, Tennessee, now onstage at TPAC's Andrew Johnson Theatre through April 25.

GOOD MORNING, THEATERATI! It's Tuesday, May 23, 2017, and we are all so very lucky to be alive and to be engaged in the creation of live theater - in Tennessee, no less - with the ability to live life dramatically and to reflect on the world around us. And what a world it is: Last night, people in Nashville were exultant…the Nashville Predators won the Western Conference Playoffs to advance to the Stanley Cup Final of the National Hockey League!

Nashville Rep will produce Posterity to run from February 11 - 25, with discounted previews on February 9 and 10. Posterity, by Pulitzer and Tony Award-wining playwright Doug Wright, had its world premiere at Atlantic Theater Company in New York. Nashville Rep's production will be only the second production of this play - and a regional premiere.

Nashville Rep will produce Posterity to run from February 11 - 25, with discounted previews on February 9 and 10. Posterity, by Pulitzer and Tony Award-wining playwright Doug Wright, had its world premiere at Atlantic Theater Company in New York. Nashville Rep's production will be only the second production of this play - and a regional premiere.

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.

Although the calendar tells us we're still in the spring season, things are quickly heating up in Nashville - theatrically speaking - and theater-goers have a plethora of shows coming up from which to choose, including some summer musicals that are sure to set feet a-tapping and a classic drama that's sure to provoke more thought and discussion than perhaps ever before.

Summertime is here, what with Memorial Day and all that it encompasses, and we can think of no better seasonal activity than taking in some local theater. No matter where you are in the Volunteer State, Tennessee theater companies are ready and willing to help transport you to a different world, another time and place where your life can be is transformed magically on a stage very near you!

Summertime is here, what with Memorial Day and all that it encompasses, and we can think of no better seasonal activity than taking in some local theater. No matter where you are in the Volunteer State, Tennessee theater companies are ready and willing to help transport you to a different world, another time and place where your life can be is transformed magically on a stage very near you!

'Spring is here! Why doesn't my heart go dancing?' - or at least to the theater to be transported to a different world, another time and place where life is transformed and magic happens before your very eyes...