Dietz Osborne News

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 Lamb, who made her debut at The Barn in the 2005, and who handled phone duties for the company for a number of years before heading back to graduate school. Luckily, for local audiences, she's still available to work on some shows from time-to-time and luckily, for us, she found time to offer her backstage/onstage/offstage memories of Nashville's legendary dinner theater.

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 actor Lane Wright, one of Nashville's most easily recognizable actors, who most recently starred in The Rainmaker and right now is onstage at Nashville's Z. Alexander Looby Theatre in The Disappearance of Janey Jones, presented by Tennessee Women's Theater Project (which is directed by Maryanna Clarke, herself a Barn alum).

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 actor Mark Delabarre, who made his debut at The Barn in the 1997 production of Sugar Babies-the Broadway musical comedy hit that actually got its start at the Clarence Brown Theatre at the University of Tennessee in Knoxville. And like Nancy Allen and Dietz Osborne (the first two Barn alums to take part in our continuing series), Delabarre's memories of working at the theater are vivid, funny and heartfelt.

Now owned by the second-generation Chaffins-John and Janie, who were recognized among Nashville's Top Entrepreneurs of 2012 by Business Leader Magazine-The Barn has touched the lives of many, both onstage and off-, and today we continue our special series of Onstage at The Barn: Memories from The First 45 Years, with actor/director/playwright Dietz Osborne, who made his debut at The Barn in a 1998 production of Guys and Dolls-and up until recently, his was the voice you heard on the company's voice mail system directing you which number to push when you call in to make reservations, inquire about group events or to buy a gift certificate.

Will Butler is pretty jazzed up about playing Eugene Morris Jerome in Circle Players' upcoming production of Neil Simon's Brighton Beach Memoirs which might be due, in part, to the fact that he's pretty certain he's got all the lines down pat. But the real reason he's excited is that Brighton Beach marks his return-it's kind of a comeback for the young actor-to the Nashville stage since his "senior capstone project" at Belmont University in 2010.

Will Butler is pretty jazzed up about playing Eugene Morris Jerome in Circle Players' upcoming production of Neil Simon's Brighton Beach Memoirs which might be due, in part, to the fact that he's pretty certain he's got all the lines down pat. But the real reason he's excited is that Brighton Beach marks his return-it's kind of a comeback for the young actor-to the Nashville stage since his "senior capstone project" at Belmont University in 2010.

Try as they might, director Martha Wilkinson and her talented ensemble of actors just can't breathe enough life into a thin, tepid script to make it work onstage for audiences eager to be entertained. Virginia Cate and Duke Ernsberger's Elvis Has Left The Building is pleasant enough, with a promising premise, yet it falls flat despite the best efforts of the cast and crew putting forth the new production at Chaffin's Barn Dinner Theatre.

What is described as 'an incredible slice of Broadway' comes to Franklin for the sixth annual Broadway at Bethlehem - Divas & Desserts benefit on Saturday, February 18 with an array of talented performers including Broadwayworld.com award-winning actors Dietz Osborne and Martha Wilkinson co-hosting and featuring singers Megan Murphy Chambers, Melodie Madden Adams, Laura Matula, Kandace Williams and Maggie McNulty at the Bethlehem United Methodist Church, Performing Arts Center, 2419 Bethlehem Loop Road in Franklin, Tennessee.

What is described as 'an incredible slice of Broadway' comes to Franklin for the sixth annual Broadway at Bethlehem - Divas & Desserts benefit on Saturday, February 18 with an array of talented performers including Broadwayworld.com award-winning actors Dietz Osborne and Martha Wilkinson co-hosting and featuring singers Megan Murphy Chambers, Melodie Madden Adams, Laura Matula, Kandace Williams and Maggie McNulty at the Bethlehem United Methodist Church, Performing Arts Center, 2419 Bethlehem Loop Road in Franklin, Tennessee.

Eppler's obvious affection for the genre is apparent from the play's very first moments-Caldwell gives a high-spirited reading of his role, delivering Eppler's tongue-twisting dialogue with high caliber self-assurance, while Gore makes the first of his hilarious appearances in the play-and he once again displays his deft hand at creating believable dialogue that's sharply witty and wondrously clever. The ease with which his characters rattle off the repartee he has written is largely because of his gift of gab, but it also points to the sure-handed direction of the piece by Martha Wilkinson (no stranger herself to the wonderful words cobbled together by Eppler), and the performances of the five-member cast who give life to the scriptbound characters.

Nate Eppler, the two-time First Night Award winning playwright of Southern Fried Funeral (with Dietz Osborne) and Long Way Down, will unveil his latest stage comedy with the premiere of Modern Love, running January 12-February 12 at Chaffin's Barn Dinner Theatre.

Playwright Nate Eppler, Mas Nashville's FIVE, the Boiler Room Theatre, Lipscomb University's Hairspray, ACT 1's American Buffalo and the national touring company of Memphis, the Musical were the top winners at Sunday night's Midwinter's First Night at Nashville's Keeton Theatre, which also featured the presentation of the BroadwayWorld.com Nashville and Tennessee theatre awards.

Nate Eppler, the two-time First Night Award winning playwright of Southern Fried Funeral (with Dietz Osborne) and Long Way Down, will unveil his latest stage comedy with the premiere of Modern Love, running January 12-February 12 at Chaffin's Barn Dinner Theatre.

There's just 4 weeks left to go in voting for the 2011 Nashville Awards and here is the latest update! Have you voted yet, and helped to spread the word to support your favorites in the hopes that they will be the recipients of a 2011 BroadwayWorld Nashville Award? There is no time to waste, click on the voting link and make your opinion count! Below are the stats so far as of Tuesday November 29, 2011.

Voting is now well underway for the 2011 Nashville Awards and here is the latest update! Now, it's time for you to get out and vote for your favorites in the hopes that they will be the recipients of a 2011 BroadwayWorld Nashville Award. No time to waste, click on the voting link and make your opinion count! Below are the stats so far as of Monday November 21, 2011.

Long Way Down, Nashville playwright Nate Eppler's critically acclaimed new work which premiered locally earlier this year, has been named a semi-finalist for the 2012 Harold and Mimi Steinberg/American Theatre Critics Association New Play Award.

Voting is now open for the 2011 Nashville Awards! Now it's time for you to get out and vote for your favorites in the hopes that they will be the recipients of a 2011 BroadwayWorld Nashville Award. No time to waste, click on the voting link and make your opinion count! Below are the stats so far as of Monday November 14, 2011.

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.