Melissa Bedinger Hade News

Eight of the best-known names in Nashville theater will be announced next Monday, August 2, as the Class of 2010 for The First Night Nashville Theatre Honors. The newly remodeled Hard Rock Cafe, at 100 Broadway in downtown Nashville, will play host to the preview party from 6 to 8 p.m., when the names of the honorees will be revealed publicly for the first time.

As Nashville's summer theater season continues to heat up, anticipation continues to grow for September's First Night Nashville Theatre Honors, the revival of the Music City theater gala that will benefit Reading is Fundamental (RIF) and sponsored by Macy's and BroadwayWorld.com. Set for Sunday, September 19, at Belmont University's Troutt Theatre, First Night 2010 will honor eight individuals for their sustained and continued commitment to theater in Nashville.

Tennessee Women's Theater Project returns to the Nashville's Z. Alexander Looby Theater on Friday, May 7, with its fourth annual Women's Work showcase of performing and visual arts created by women. Running through Sunday, May 23, the festival cuts across typical borders of style, medium and genre, offering 11 completely different programs: poetry and essays; one-woman shows; staged readings of new plays; dance, and even a clown performance combining the Pochinko and Commedia dell' Arte Bouffon styles.

Tennessee Women's Theater Project returns to the Nashville's Z. Alexander Looby Theater on Friday, May 7, with its fourth annual Women's Work showcase of performing and visual arts created by women. Running through Sunday, May 23, the festival cuts across typical borders of style, medium and genre, offering 11 completely different programs: poetry and essays; one-woman shows; staged readings of new plays; dance, and even a clown performance combining the Pochinko and Commedia dell' Arte Bouffon styles.

ACT 1 (Artists Cooperative Theatre 1) continues its 20th anniversary season with a revival of Edward Albee's Who's Afraid of Virginia Woolf. The show plays through Saturday, April 3, at Darkhorse Theatre.

Evening performances are at 7:30 p.m. (CDT) with Sunday matinees at 2:30 p.m. at Darkhorse Theatre, 4610 Charlotte Avenue in Nashville. For reservations, call (615) 726-2281, and for further informatin about ACT 1, visit the company's website at www.act1online.com.

Cinda McCain is one of the most naturally gifted actors you'll find on a stage anywhere. Thankfully, though, most of her work has been performed in Nashville and over the years the Mississippi native has assembled a resume that's full of some of the best theatrical roles for women: Blanche DuBois in Tennessee Williams' A Streetcar Named Desire (which won her the First Night Award for Outstanding Leading Actress in a Play); Meg in Beth Henley's Crimes of the Heart; Nurse Ratched in One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest - the list goes on and on. Most recently, however, she's found herself on soundstages, making film appearances alongside such notables as Gwyneth Paltrow and Tim McGraw in the upcoming Love Don't Let Me Down.

Who's Afraid of Virginia Woolf? - Edward Albee's scathing evisceration of marriage and indictment of suburban morality - is brought to the Nashville stage once again in a superbly acted and confidently directed production from Artists Cooperative Theatre 1 (ACT 1). First staged by ACT 1 in its 1989-90 season in a critically-lauded staging directed by Peg Allen and headed by a cast that included A. Sean O'Connell, it is revived now as part of the company's 20th anniversary season, once again proving the power of Albee's exquisitely created words and plot and the frankly horrifying characters whose lives play out onstage.

Evening performances are at 7:30 p.m. (CDT) with Sunday matinees at 2:30 p.m. at Darkhorse Theatre, 4610 Charlotte Avenue in Nashville. For reservations, call (615) 726-2281, and for further informatin about ACT 1, visit the company's website at www.act1online.com.

If Starina Johnson is a little slow in returning your phone calls this week, give her a break! This week, she finds herself in hell - of a sort - as she and her co-stars prepare for the opening night of Who's Afraid of Virginia Woolf, the third offering in ACT 1's (Artists Cooperative Theatre 1) 20th anniversary season. Opening Friday night, March 29, and continuing through Saturday, April 3, at Darkhorse Theatre, Virginia Woolf features Johnson in the role of Honey, as she shares the stage with First Night Award-winning actress Melissa Bedinger Hade as Martha, real estate wiz and local TV personality Ed Amatrudo as George and Matthew Scott Baxter as Nick.

Evening performances are at 7:30 p.m. (CDT) with Sunday matinees at 2:30 p.m. at Darkhorse Theatre, 4610 Charlotte Avenue in Nashville. For reservations, call (615) 726-2281, and for further informatin about ACT 1, visit the company's website at www.act1online.com.

Now working on the role of 'Martha' in Edward Albee's Who's Afraid of Virginia Woolf, one of those roles every actress longs for, her resume also includes First Night Award-winning turns as Sally Bowles in Cabaret and as Madame de Tourvel in Les Liaisons Dangereuses. Her list of directing credits is even more eclectic: Lady Frederick, Lady Windermere's Fan, O Jerusalem, Quilters, The Tempest, A Winter's Tale and Crimes of the Heart - and that's just a sampling of her multi-faceted list of assignments.

'ACT 1 is doing things a little differently this year and asking all interested directors to submit a play he or she is particularly intertested in directing,' Hade explained. 'Whether you are a first-time director or an experienced one, the ACT 1 Board invites you to submit a script along with a proposal.'

Since returning to the world of theatre via BroadwayWorld.com about a month ago, after an almost seven year absence, I've had the invaluable opportunity of reconnecting with a number of old acquaintances and renewing long-dormant friendships and relationships with people connected to the theatre scene in Nashville and throughout Tennesseee.