Layne Sasser News

Opening Friday, April 9 - and continuing for nine performances through April 17 - Potty Talk is the latest play from Crist's fertile imagination. 'A 'royal flush' of Nashville comediennes polish the nuggets of wisdom that women discuss in the ladies' room,' is how Crist herself describes the play.

Opening Friday, April 9 - and continuing for nine performances through April 17 - Potty Talk is the latest play from Crist's fertile imagination. 'A 'royal flush' of Nashville comediennes polish the nuggets of wisdom that women discuss in the ladies' room,' is how Crist herself describes the play.

The East Tennessee native has called Nashville home for the past several years, following her graduation from nearby Middle Tennessee State University, and earlier this season she won great critical acclaim (which means I absolutely raved about her performance) in GroundWorks Theatre's production of Neil LaBute's Fat Pig, a show perfectly tailored for her talents. And I wasn't the only person - or critic, for that matter - to be totally enraptured by her courageously drawn portrayal of the play's plus-sized heroine Helen. After her appearances as the matriarch in A Sanders Family Christmas at Chaffin's Backstage at the Barn, the role of Helen gave Amanda Lamb the opportunity to show another side of her immense talent.

So what's the problem with Moon Over Buffalo? Oh yeah, despite all the good stuff, Ken Ludwig's script is also leaden, filled with cliches and one-dimensional characters, with enough convoluted situations to render the play stupefying. With the Towne Centre Theatre production, this is clearly a case of eight fine actors and one competent director in search of a much-better script. No matter how hard they work and how thoughtfully they approach the material, if that material is inferior there's not a lot they can do to save it from mediocrity.

Ludwig's play focuses on the lives of George and Charlotte Hay, itinerant actors performing Cyrano de Bergerac and Private Lives in repertory during the heyday of the 1953 theatre season in Buffalo, New York. Charlotte dreams of becoming a Hollywood star, while George is happy on the stage, considering live theatre far superior to film. But when word comes that famous Hollywood director Frank Capra is coming to give George one last shot at film stardom, all manner of hilarity ensues as miscommunication runs rampant backstage - and onstage.

If, indeed, 'it takes a village,' and if, as the poets say, 'no man is an island,' then perhaps no art form is more collaborative than live theatre. With a village of artists backstage and offstage assuring that each production is mounted, then coming to life during each performance, the collaborative effort is renewed. And what audiences see onstage is the collaboration of artists, the people who comprise the acting ensemble, the folks who bring the stagebound script to life, sending it soaring into our imaginations.

With the holiday season just around the corner, Chaffin's Barn Dinner Theatre has a special gift all wrapped up for the Nashville theatre-going public with their production of Christmas Belles, opening November 19 and running through December 31. The hilarious Futrelle sisters and all the other denizens of fictional Fayro, Texas return in this holiday-themed sequel to the smash hit comedy, Dearly Beloved by the playwriting trio of Jessie Jones, Nicholas Hope and Jamie Wooten. Directed by Nate Eppler, the cast features some of Nashville's best-loved actors and promises to be one of the hottest tickets in town this season.

Directed by Nate Eppler, Christmas Belles is staged in the round at Chaffin's Barn (as are all their shows), which works well for the play's hilariously overblown situations. Audiences have a birds-eye view of everything that's happening and that lends an even greater ring of authenticity to the hijinks unfolding onstage. By using every square foot of the Barn's playing area, Eppler involves the audience more intimately in the yuletide frivolities at the Tabernacle of the Lamb Church.

With the holiday season just around the corner, Chaffin's Barn Dinner Theatre has a special gift all wrapped up for the Nashville theatre-going public with their production of Christmas Belles, opening November 19 and running through December 31. The hilarious Futrelle sisters and all the other denizens of fictional Fayro, Texas return in this holiday-themed sequel to the smash hit comedy, Dearly Beloved by the playwriting trio of Jessie Jones, Nicholas Hope and Jamie Wooten. Directed by Nate Eppler, the cast features some of Nashville's best-loved actors and promises to be one of the hottest tickets in town this season.

With the holiday season just around the corner, Chaffin's Barn Dinner Theatre has a special gift all wrapped up for the Nashville theatre-going public with their production of Christmas Belles, opening November 19 and running through December 31. The hilarious Futrelle sisters and all the other denizens of fictional Fayro, Texas return in this holiday-themed sequel to the smash hit comedy, Dearly Beloved by the playwriting trio of Jessie Jones, Nicholas Hope and Jamie Wooten. Directed by Nate Eppler, the cast features some of Nashville's best-loved actors and promises to be one of the hottest tickets in town this season.

Eppler's richly textured script might best be described as a send-up of Anastasia meets Grey Gardens, with some Sleeping Beauty, Annie, You Can't Take it With You and The Grifters (and an affectionate nod to Fiddler on the Roof) thrown in for good measure, all presented in a farcical manner that works on every level. Kudos to director David Compton for keeping things moving at a good clip and coaxing some stellar performances from his cast of gifted players.

Nate Eppler's original comedy Filthy Rich opens Tuesday, September 8, at Chaffin's Barn Dinner Theatre, directed by David Compton and starring a veritable who's who of Nashville comedy actors. Layne Sasser, Erin Parker, Dietz Osborne, and the playwright himself, Nate Eppler. Described as 'a bright farce full of crosses, double-crosses, false identities and fakery, Filthy Rich is hilarious, lunatic fun.'

Nate Eppler's original comedy Filthy Rich opens Tuesday, September 8, at Chaffin's Barn Dinner Theatre, directed by David Compton and starring a veritable who's who of Nashville comedy actors. Layne Sasser, Erin Parker, Dietz Osborne, and the playwright himself, Nate Eppler. Described as 'a bright farce full of crosses, double-crosses, false identities and fakery, Filthy Rich is hilarious, lunatic fun.'