A curtain call for Nashville theater in 2008

With the economy so uncertain, you'd think a retrospective on Nashville's 2008 theater scene might be dour. Then again, theater folk are always fighting financial pressure, so worries about production costs and attendance are, for them, business as usual. It's been ever thus in a city whose showbiz identity is dominated by country music. Where a non-Johnny paycheck is concerned, an aspiring performer in Nashville might do better filming the occasional Jimmy Wayne music video rather than spend weeks in rehearsal for a possible share of the (often tepid) gate. But while live theater remains Nashville's bastard stepchild of entertainment, somehow an intrepid community of actors, directors, designers and techies managed a consistently varied, generally worthy slate of productions both around and outside of town.

One big new theatrical occurrence was the debut of the Tennessee Shakespeare Festival in bucolic Bell Buckle, 50 miles away. The fest's emergence had a lot to do with the more recent return to Middle Tennessee of veteran television actors (and MTSU grads) Lane Davies and Ruth Cordell, who have also graced in-town stages with their polish and professionalism. The TSF production of A Midsummer Night's Dream kicked off what potentially becomes a summer tradition, and the company tapped into a wealth of local talent for the launch. 

Meanwhile, the Nashville Shakespeare Festival finished up a splendid year that featured two major productions—its own summer gala, Coriolanus, plus its debut performance earlier in the year in Belmont University's Troutt Theater, a challenging production of Hamlet starring Peter Vann. NSF's winter residency at Belmont guarantees a homier environ for mounting the Bard—Richard III up next—and it makes clear Belmont's importance as a thriving institution that appreciates the arts and generously allows others to play in their sandbox.   

As for our area's full-service professional Equity houses—Tennessee Repertory Theatre and Nashville Children's Theatre—they continue thriving under the separate stewardship of wife-and-husband René and Scot Copeland, respectively, turning out assured theater that includes works new to Nashville (e.g., Doubt, Moonlight and Magnolias). NCT has a beautifully renovated theater building, and some exciting work has been staged there by Julee Brooks, a younger associate who seems to have worthy directorial ideas and the energy to carry them out. If there's a critique to be leveled at these important organizations, it's that we tend to see a lot of the same actors (albeit very good ones) on their stages. Variety for theatergoers is always welcome, and there are gifted thespians here who rarely get a bigger shot. Happily, this happened to Shane Bridges, who played the smaller-theater circuit ably before getting cast at the Rep, for whom he'll perform twice before their current schedule is concluded. 

GroundWorks Theatre, Actors Bridge Ensemble, People's Branch Theatre, Rhubarb Theatre and the Tennessee Women's Theater Project—Nashville's "off-Broadway" equivalents—maintained their important contributions in presenting Nashville premieres of straight plays, while Franklin's ever-striving Boiler Room Theatre showcased quality offerings of primarily musical fare. TWTP, in particular, is investing its treasure in local talent, with producers Maryanna and Chris Clarke paying real-value wages to their hires. TWTP's spring "Women's Work" program also continued apace, providing opportunities for new scripts and various other performance arts.

Never to be outdone in spirit are Nashville's community theaters. The more established ACT I and Circle Players, for example, serve a vital function in encouraging tyros, and while the artistic results in '08 were decidedly mixed, this is where newcomers can dive into the talent pool. The upswing in African American community theater activity has been especially notable along these lines, with Mary McCallum's Sista Style Productions and Shawn Whitsell's Destiny Theatre Experience leading the way in determined fashion. Plus, the third annual Shades of Black Theatre Festival consumed six full weeks at the Darkhorse Theater with new plays, special guests and workshops. 

Hybrid form though it may be, improvisational theater made a serious impact in the past year. Improv Nashville, spearheaded in 2005 by performers who'd trained in L.A., Boston and elsewhere, scored a venue of its own in 12South. This was a historic development in a city where, for years, improv groups have come and gone, unable to stake out a more permanent claim to enthusiastic audiences and also have a legit place to seat them. Meanwhile, as further indication of the art form's growth, upstart FuseBox Theatre launched a series of imaginatively themed improv shows at various venues and attracted a faithful, brand-conscious following of its own.  

On the university front, college troupes mounted ambitious productions at Belmont (Thoroughly Modern Millie) and TSU (a hip-hop Romeo and Juliet), and Vanderbilt University maintained its general classical presence while also importing occasional dollops of cutting-edge, "big-city" theater via its Great Performances program. 

There may finally be a little less of the endless clamoring for suitable theater space in our town, but it'll be interesting to see what happens with Jim Reyland's new Writer's Stage space on Charlotte. Reyland was recently handed the keys to the place for the next year-and-a-half, and he'll doubtless be fielding inquiries from other performing groups interested in his rent-free alternative to coffeehouse spots like Bongo Java or Cafe Coco.