Taking the Stage
Intriguing productions, a new company hold promise for theatergoers
by Martin Brady
After an inaugural year of critically acclaimed productions, People’s Branch Theatre continues its program of mind-stretching theater when it kicks off the 2001-2002 season with a new stage version of The Metamorphosis. Actor and Tennessee Rep favorite Matt Chiorini has written and directed this free adaptation of Franz Kafka’s classic novella. When Gregor Samsa, played by Brian Niece, awakes one morning to find himself turned into a gigantic cockroach, this dark comedy ventures into the outer realms of the absurd. Hilarity and grotesque fantasy combine for an extremely unusual theater event, from a company dedicated to enriching the life of its community through immediate, intimate, and dynamic performance. The show previews Nov. 1 and runs through Nov. 17. Performances will be held in a new space in The Gulch area, at 210 12th Ave. S. Call 254-0008 for information.
Tennessee Repertory Theatre, on the heels of its well-publicized production of West Side Story, keeps things moving apace this fall with three productions of note. First up is William Gibson’s The Miracle Worker, Oct. 17-28 at the Polk Theater. Todd Olson handles the directorial chores of this beloved and inspiring drama about the young Helen Keller and her courageous teacher, Annie Sullivan. Olson’s cast includes Anna Stone, Julie Rowe, Glory Kissel, and a unique double-casting of 12-year-olds Maggie Jones and Margaret Durkovic as the deaf, mute, and blind Helen. Then Rep executive producing director David Grapes mounts a production of Alfred Uhry’s ever-popular Driving Miss Daisy (Polk Theater, Nov. 28-Dec. 9), with former Little House on the Prairie star Karen Grassle in the lead role. In between, Olson comes back with the season’s first entry in the Rep’s Off-Broadway Series, Donald Margulies’ Pulitzer Prize-winning comedy/drama Dinner With Friends. The cast features two local married-couple acting tandems—Martha Wilkinson/David Compton and Kevin Haggard/Evelyn Blythe (Nov. 8-16 at the Johnson Theater). Call 244-4878 ext. 124 for information.
Forward-looking community theater ACT I stays active this fall, opening the season Sept. 13 with Claire Booth Luce’s The Women. Joy Warren directs a local cast of ladies who gab, dish, and otherwise confront their domestic travails in a wonderfully written slice of 1930s social mores. The company will follow later in the season with the Greek classic Oedipus Rex. Wesley Paine and Gregg Colson will co-direct Sophocles’ time-honored tale of family and fate, which runs from Oct. 26 to Nov. 11. Call 726-2281 for information.
Actors Bridge reaffirms its niche as a progressive yet fully accessible professional theater on the Nashville scene when it presents David Mamet’s acclaimed American Buffalo, Nov. 30-Dec. 9 at the Darkhorse Theatre. This play marked Mamet’s first trip to Broadway and subsequently garnered the New York Drama Critics Circle Award for Best American Play. It also marked the triumphant return of acting great Robert Duvall to the stage. The story follows a dumb junk-shop owner, a spaced-out junkie, and a violent paranoid as they plot a coin-collection heist. This landmark American drama receives a rare Nashville production. Don Griffiths is slated to direct. Call 341-0300 for information.
As Halloween approaches, what better way to get into the swing of things than by heading down to TPAC’s Johnson Theater, where Circle Players, Nashville’s oldest community theater organization, continues its 52nd season with Bram Stoker’s Dracula. Against a backdrop of the Victorian era, Dracula is resurrected in an excitingly visual and dramatic adaptation, capturing the original novel’s gothic suspense and subtle dark humor. This version of Stoker’s classic is commonly regarded as the most frightening and popular vampire tale ever. Bring your crucifix and garlic—you might need ’em. Opens Oct. 5. Call 254-0113 for information.
Halloween is definitely for the kids. Still, grown-up witches and goblins need to find their own ways to get into the swing of things. The recently launched BroadAxe Theatre Company, fresh off its acclaimed production of Mud, will present a salutary offering with its revival of Jeremy Childs’ The Vampire Monologues. The production dates for this ghoulishly humorous series of sketches will nicely sandwich around the usual seasonal festivities, from Oct. 25 to Nov. 3. at Bongo After Hours Theatre. Call 385-1188 for information.
Less commercial theatrical fare keeps rearing its head in our town, as one of Nashville’s newest theater companies, Glow Log Productions, presents a new translation of Jean-Paul Sartre’s existentialist vision of hell, No Exit, at the Darkhorse Theatre, Oct. 5-14. The play centers on three people sent to Hades, who, in the absence of devilish oppressors, end up torturing each other. The cast includes singer/songwriter Mark Islam, Stephanie Scott, Sharon Collins, and Tony Domenico. Glow Log’s debut production is designed to help establish the company as one dedicated to resurrecting older works that still speak to the 21st century. Call 268-8601 for information.
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