Andie Sanders

It's the day of the show, y'all: The Nashville premiere of Mart Crowley's The Boys in the Band is tonight - at The Barbershop Theatre, 4003 Indiana Avenue in The Nations - and six of the actors portraying Crowley's now-iconic characters took time from tech week to answer questions about their processes and to offer their reasons for why you should come see the show.

Nine Nashville area actors have been cast in the upcoming production of Mart Crowley's The Boys in the Band, which will play six performances at The Barbershop Theatre, 4003 Indiana Avenue, in a production helmed by veteran director Jeffrey Ellis, who is known throughout Tennessee as a leading theater journalist and critic.

Nine Nashville area actors have been cast in the upcoming production of Mart Crowley's The Boys in the Band, which will play six performances at The Barbershop Theatre, 4003 Indiana Avenue, in a production helmed by veteran director Jeffrey Ellis, who is known throughout Tennessee as a leading theater journalist and critic.

Helen Olaketi Mariah Shute-Pettaway, a 2011 First Night Honoree and one of Nashville's most revered actresses, will take on the iconic role of Regina Giddens in the ACT 1 production of Lillian Hellman's The Little Foxes. Directed by 2014 First Night Honoree Jeffrey Ellis, senior contributing editor for BroadwayWorld.com, The Little Foxes runs at Darkhorse Theatre May 4-19.

GOOD MORNING, THEATERATI for May 2, 2017 - we hope you're ready for the Tony Awards nominations being announced this morning at 7:30 a.m. God's time (which is also Nashville's time, aka daylight saving time) and pondering the musical question: What the hell goes into picking a season's worth of shows for local theatre companies? Sure, we presume it has something to do with selling tickets, enlightening their audiences and testing their artistic limits, but we sometimes fear it's for reason for too pedestrian for us to consider and far too plebeian for our tender psyches to even ponder…

Gina D'Arco and Taylor Novak will lead the cast of William Inge's Picnic, in a revival of the classic play helmed by Jeffrey Ellis, for Nashville's Circle Players, which this season celebrates its 65th year of bringing live theater to audiences throughout Middle Tennessee. Picnic will run tonight, March 27 through April 4, and will be performed at the theater at Hillsboro High School.

In its 65th season, Middle Tennessee's oldest community theater company presents an exciting and challenging new revival of playwright William Inge's seminal 1953 Pulitzer Prize-winning play about repressed desires and haunting recriminations: Picnic. Opening tonight, March 26, at Hillsboro High School Theatre in Nashville, Picnic runs through April 4.

In its 65th season, Middle Tennessee's oldest community theater company presents an exciting and challenging new revival of playwright William Inge's seminal 1953 Pulitzer Prize-winning play about repressed desires and haunting recriminations: Picnic. Opening Thursday, March 26, at Hillsboro High School Theatre in Nashville, Picnic runs through April 4.

Initial artwork for Circle Players' upcoming production of William Inge's Picnic, with art by Arthur Henry Kirkby IV and graphic design by David Arnold, has been released just as rehearsals get under way for the show's March 26-April 4 run at Nashville's Hillsboro High School.

Gina D'Arco and Taylor Novak will lead the cast of William Inge's Picnic, in a revival of the classic play helmed by Jeffrey Ellis, for Nashville's Circle Players, which this season celebrates its 65th year of bringing live theater to audiences throughout Middle Tennessee. Picnic will run March 27 through April 4, and will be performed at the theater at Hillsboro High School.

Danny Proctor, Helen Shute-Pettaway, Layne Sasser, Pam Atha, Dan Brewer and Gary Hoff were introduced Monday night as the six members of the 2011 Class of First Night Honorees during the First Night Preview Party, hosted by founder and executive producer Jeffrey Ellis at The Listening Room Cafe in downtown Nashville.

A cast of more than 125 performers took to the stage of the Troutt Theatre at Belmont University to fete the eight members of the 2010 Class of First Night Honorees in a production that featured the best of the best of Nashville theater and included a surprise appearance by Joseph Mahowald, winner of a 1989 First Night Award, now playing the role of Franklin Hart Jr. in the national tour of 9 to 5: The Musical, which opened in Nashville at the Tennessee Performing Arts Center on Tuesday, September 21.

Photographer Stacy Battles, one of Nashville's best known celebrity photographers, was on hand to shoot the red carpet arrivals that heralded the return of First Night, after an absence of some 14 years. First Night is presented by Jeffrey Ellis, who covers Nashville theater for BroadwayWorld.com, and who is the founder of the awards celebration that was first held on September 17, 1989.

First Night season in Nashville kicked into high gear on Monday night, August 16, as some of Nashville's best-loved actors released their 'inner Tyra' during the First Night Fashion Extravaganza at Macy's Green Hills. Some of the season's hottest Red Carpet Fashions were featured in the fashion show in advance of The First Night Nashville Theatre Honors, slated for Sunday, September 19, at Belmont University's Troutt Theatre.

First Night season in Nashville kicked into high gear on Monday night, August 16, as some of Nashville's best-loved actors showed off their 'inner Tyra' during the First Night Fashion Extravaganza at Macy's Green Hills. Some of the season's hottest Red Carpet Fashions were featured in the fashion show in advance of The First Night Nashville Theatre Honors, slated for Sunday, September 19, at Belmont University's Troutt Theatre.

All the hottest Red Carpet Fashions from Macy's Green Hills, modeled by some of your favorite Nashville actors, will be in the spotlight just in time for you to pick out your own Red Carpet Look for the return of Nashville's favorite theatrical event: THE FIRST NIGHT NASHVILLE THEATRE HONORS (Sunday, September 19 at Belmont University's Troutt Theatre).

All the hottest Red Carpet Fashions from Macy's Green Hills, modeled by some of your favorite Nashville actors, will be in the spotlight just in time for you to pick out your own Red Carpet Look for the return of Nashville's favorite theatrical event: THE FIRST NIGHT NASHVILLE THEATRE HONORS (Sunday, September 19 at Belmont University's Troutt Theatre).