Blackbird Theater, based at Lipscomb, presents debut original show Aug. 6-21

 

In an effort to support new, local theatrical works, Lipscomb University has become the artistic home to Blackbird Theater, a new professional theater company focused on inventive original works, rarely produced plays by renowned playwrights, and one-of-a-kind special events.

 

Blackbird founders Greg Greene (‘93) and Wes Driver (‘96) are not only graduates of Lipscomb themselves, but they have established a board of directors made up largely of Lipscomb alumni.

 

Blackbird’s residence at Lipscomb was sparked when Greene and Driver met current Lipscomb theater chair Mike Fernandez and outlined a vision for a theater company that fit closely with the mission of the Lipscomb department.

 

“We want to do the kind of the shows that we ourselves most want to see—imaginative, intellectually stimulating, and uniquely theatrical,” said Greene.

 

When they met, Fernandez was in the midst of a ground-breaking collaboration with several of Nashville’s local professional theater companies to create a June production of Doubt, so he was excited to build on that foundation and work with another professional company long-term.

 

Blackbird Theater has an artists-in-residence partnership with the Lipscomb theater department and will present its inaugural season -- the original comedic thriller Twilight of the Gods in August and Arcadia by Tom Stoppard in February -- in Lipscomb’s Shamblin Theatre.

 

Various well-known community players and Lipscomb alumni including, Brad Forrister, Joshua Martin, Wesley Paine and Bethany Jones, will appear in the debut production Twilight of the Gods. Lipscomb’s students and staff will provide support for this production, a dark comedy that envisions a meeting between some of the century’s greatest minds that tragically turns deadly.

 

“Blackbird Theater provides the perfect complement to so many of the other advancements the Lipscomb theater department has made in the last year and will enjoy this coming school year,” said Fernandez.

 

“The success of our first professional production of John Patrick Shanley’s Doubt, exploding growth in the number of majors and minors in the department, the hiring of a new full-time design faculty member and renovations taking place in the University Theatre will certainly make the rest of 2010 an exciting year for Lipscomb theater.

 

“The Blackbird partnership will add to all that by bringing entertaining and challenging shows to Lipscomb’s campus and allowing our students to become familiar with a professional theater environment,” he said.

 

Greene and Driver can certainly share lessons from their experiences. The pair began their playwrighting career under the tutelage of former Lipscomb theater chair Larry Brown.

 

“We approached Doc with an idea for a musical called The Egg,” Greene recalls, “about a superhero with a really lame power: the ability to spontaneously generate an inexhaustible supply of eggs. Dr. Brown patiently sat through our pitch, cut us off at Act 1, and kindly suggested we take on something a little less ambitious.

 

“He made a counter-proposal, asking us to write a dinner theater-style murder mystery that we could put on in the Avalon house. It was the beginning of our Murder at Avalon series of three plays,” Greene said.

 

In 2004, the Lipscomb graduates decided to revive their collaboration and, drawing on the array of story ideas they had developed over several years, developed a musical called Myth, an original epic based on Greek mythology. Joining the writers was composer Michael Slayton (’94), a frequent collaborator, cast member in Twilight and associate professor of music theory and composition at Vanderbilt University.

 

“We shopped the idea of Myth around everywhere we could, from Nashville to New York,” Greene said.

 

“It took about two years worth of networking and rejection letters to learn that there is no institutionalized process for producing new works in Nashville – or practically anywhere else if you choose to live here,” Driver said. “The Nashville theater community is energetic, encouraging, and supportive, but creating a new play is a do-it-yourself dream.”

 

But a door opened when they met Fernandez. He asked them to form a professional theater company with Lipscomb as its artistic home and base of operations. Thus the idea of Blackbird Theater was hatched.

 

“We’re thrilled to partner with Mike Fernandez and his staff, and to do so as artists-in-residence at Lipscomb,” Greene says. “It’s a tremendous opportunity in the pursuit of our calling: to use stories – that most primal and most refined of human powers – to kindle the heart and capture the imagination.”

 

 

 

 

 

By Tennessee Williams

 

The Glass Menagerie is a gripping portrait of an American family struggling to maintain the fragile balance between a difficult past and an uncertain future. Renowned for its vivid characters, exquisitely written dialogue and absorbing story, The Glass Menagerie has the capacity to move, to entrance and to dazzle. Don't miss this production of Tennessee Williams' best-loved drama.

 

Directed By: Beki Baker

Where:  Shamblin Theatre

When:  Sept. 24-26, Oct. 1-3, 201o

Time: 7:30 p.m. and 2:30 p.m.

Prices: $15 Individual

$10 Faculty/Staff

$5 Students

 

 

Book by Terrence McNally

Lyrics by Lynn Ahrens

Music by Stephen Flaherty

 

Ragtime is not only a powerful portrait of life in turn-of-the-century America, but a relevant tale for today. The musical intertwines the stories of three extraordinary families, as they confront history's timeless contradictions of wealth and poverty, freedom and prejudice, hope and despair, and what it means to live in America.

 

Directed By: Mike Fernandez

Where:  Collins Alumni Auditorium

When:  Nov. 11-14, 2010

Time: 7:30 p.m.

Prices: $15 Individual

$10 Faculty/Staff

$5 Students

 

 

By C.S. Lewis 

 

Come celebrate the Easter weekend with C.S. Lewis' classic allegorical tale of the resurrection story, set in the land of Narnia.  This dramatization faithfully recreates the magic and mystery of Aslan, the great lion, his struggle with the White Witch, and the adventures of four children who inadvertenly wander from an old wardrobe into the exciting, never-to-be-forgotten Narnia.  The intense action features chases, duels, and escapes as the witch is determined to keep Narnia in her possession and to end the reign of Aslan.  This story of love, faith, courage and giving, with its triumph of good over evil, is a true celebration of life.

 

Directed By: Deb Holloway

Where: Collins Alumni Auditorium

When:  April 21-23, 2011

Time: 6:30 p.m.

Prices: $15 Individual

$10 Faculty/Staff

$5 Students

 

 

 

Come watch our advanced acting, directing and design students as they perform scenes from the forefathers of Modern Realism.

 

Directed by: Advanced Directing Students

Where: University Theatre

When: May 2-3, 2011

Time: 7:30 p.m.

Price: Pay what you can!

 

 

 

Twilight of the Gods

An original play

By Wes Driver & Greg Greene

 

When: Aug. 6, 7, 12-14, 20 & 21

Where: Shamblin Theatre

Time: 7:30 p.m.
Price: $15

 

 Tickets are currently on sale.  Please call our box office to make a reservation (615.966.7075) or you may also go to ticketmaster.com to order online.

 

 

by Tom Stoppard

 

When:  Feb. 24- March 6

Where:  Shamblin Theatre

 

To see more about Blackbird Theater Company visit their website at http://blackbirdnashville.com/.