Andrew Johnson News

Tennessee Rep's A Christmas Story may be as good as it gets this holiday season. Wrapped up in a spectacularly designed package by Gary Hoff and featuring the cleverly imaginative direction of Rene Dunshee Copeland, it's the one Christmas gift you owe yourself this year. And it's a surefire way to lift your spirits and make you forget all the bad news that inundates your everyday life.

Jean Shepherd's classic memoir of growing up in the 1940s Midwest - A Christmas Story - will usher in the holiday season at Tennessee Repertory Theatre, as the venerable Nashville professional company presents the stage adaptation of the film cult classic for a November 21-December 19 run at TPAC's Andrew Johnson Theatre.

Directed by Tennessee Rep's singularly accomplished producing artistic director Rene Dunshee Copeland, this fine production is so much more than a mere revival of the company's 1989 production, although it once again stars Mary Jane Harvill in the role of M'Lynn. This staging is perhaps most newsworthy because it pairs Harvill onstage for the first time with her daughter, Marin Miller, who plays the doomed Shelby in Steel Magnolias. As the launch of this silver anniversary season, perhaps no one could come up with a more apropos project: Harvill was one of the founding actors of the company in the mid-1980s, while Miller has left her own sizable imprint on the company in more recent years. Copeland is to be commended for her decision to cast the mother-and-daughter team and for her lovingly felt and richly etched production.

Tennessee Repertory Theatre kicked off its 25th anniversary season celebration Wednesday night with Nashville Scenes, a look ahead to the company's upcoming season, held at The Acorn restaurant and co-sponsored by the Nashville Scene.