Bryce Conner News

Travis Brazil directs as Boiler Room Theatre continues its 12th season with John Steinbeck's classic drama Of Mice and Men, starrng Ross Bolen and John Mauldin, opening Friday April 13, at the theatre's venue in the historic Factory at Franklin, for a run that continues through May 5.

Since its publication in 1937, John Steinbeck's novella Of Mice and Men has inspired artists-there have been multiple film treatments, a Carlisle Floyd opera, ballets and stage productions based upon the tragic tale of migrant workers George Milton and Lennie Small-and it is now given a superb production at Boiler Room Theatre featuring stunning performances from the entire cast of actors under the confident and focused direction of Travis Brazil, who makes his area directing debut with this electrifying rendition of the timeless tale.

In recognition of The Barn's 45 years of bringing the magic of live theater to the stage, we continue our special series of Onstage at The Barn: Memories from The First 45 Years, with actress Amanda Card McCoy, who made her Barn debut in the acclaimed comedy Boeing Boeing, which was followed closely by her performance in Nate Eppler's Modern Love. Today, Amanda shares her memories of working at The Barn to the ones that we've been sharing of late to celebrate the 45th anniversary…

Travis Brazil directs as Boiler Room Theatre continues its 12th season with John Steinbeck's classic drama Of Mice and Men, starrng Ross Bolen and John Mauldin, opening Friday April 13, at the theatre's venue in the historic Factory at Franklin, for a run that continues through May 5.

The Boiler Room Theatre (BRT), Williamson County's original and longest-running professional theatre company, continues its 12th season with the John Steinbeck's classic drama Of Mice and Men opening Friday April 13th at the theatre's iconic namesake venue in the historic Factory at Franklin, 230 Franklin Rd., Building Six, in Franklin, Tenn. for a run through May 5.

It might not be great art, but Xanadu-the new musical onstage through March 3 at Franklin's Boiler Room Theatre-sure is great fun! Pure, unadulterated escapism, Xanadu is laugh-out-loud funny, thanks primarily to the book by Douglas Carter Beane, but you have to give props to director Corbin Green and his talented cast who bring the completely ridiculous musical (featuring the music of Electric Light Orchestra's Jeff Lynne and John Farrar) to life onstage.

Janie and John Chaffin and company have decked the halls and baked the cookies, so Chaffin's Barn Dinner Theatre, the venerable Nashville theatre celebrating its 45th year of bringing the best of Broadway to Music City USA, ushers in yet another holiday season with three shows offered for audiences of all ages.

First presented in 2010 by the Bethlehem Players (of Franklin's Bethlehem United Methodist Church), Southern Fried Funeral, now onstage through November 26 at Chaffin's Barn Dinner Theatre (where Osborne and Eppler staged their First Night Award-winning Rear Widow last year), is aging gracefully, taking on the patina normally reserved for the sterling silver serving pieces in that breakfront in the dining room. Lustrous and heartfelt - yet uproariously funny in a way that only Southerners can be - the story told in Southern Fried Funeral is authentic and genuine, farfetched and unbelievable.

Southern Fried Funeral, the latest collaboration from playwrights Dietz Osborne and Nate Eppler, opens at Chaffin's Barn Dinner Theatre on October 22, running through November 26 at the venerable Nashville dinner theater.

Southern Fried Funeral, the latest collaboration from playwrights Dietz Osborne and Nate Eppler, opens at Chaffin's Barn Dinner Theatre on October 22, running through November 26 at the venerable Nashville dinner theater.

When the last performers had sung the final song and the late honoree had been feted, the crowds at Belmont University's Troutt Theatre for the presentation of First Night, the Nashville Theatre Honors' 2011 Gala Concert, headed downtown to Cummins Station for the After-Party at The Listening Room Cafe.

Annie, the irrepressible orphan of newspaper comics-fame who has been delighting audiences onstage since the 1970s, makes her return to Nashville's Chaffin's Barn Dinner Theatre this summer, running July 28-September 3, in a new production of Annie directed by Martha Wilkinson, with music direction by Jaclyn Brown and choreography by Bakari King.

Annie, that spunky, optimistic and determined orphan who first appeared in the 'funny papers' of the nation's newspapers in 1924 - only to become one of the most beloved musical theater heroines ever to express her hope for 'Tomorrow' in song on Broadway - returns to that magical levitating stage of Chaffin's Barn Dinner Theatre in a colorful and sprightly new revival helmed by the multi-talented Martha Wilkinson.

Annie, the irrepressible orphan of newspaper comics-fame who has been delighting audiences onstage since the 1970s, makes her return to Nashville's Chaffin's Barn Dinner Theatre this summer, running July 28-September 3, in a new production of Annie directed by Martha Wilkinson, with music direction by Jaclyn Brown and choreography by Bakari King.

Led by the charming Debbie Kraski, who commands the stage with grace and wit as the show's wacky protagonist, director Jenny Noel's talented cast delivers a pleasant and amusing summer diversion by way of John Patrick's Everybody Loves Opal, now onstage at Chaffin's Barn Dinner Theatre.