Nashville Repertory Theatre is a professional, Actors' Equity-affiliated regional theatre company based in Nashville, Tennessee.
Nashville Repertory Theatre was founded as Tennessee Repertory Theatre in 1985 by Mac Pirkle and Martha Rivers Ingram. [1] The first production was Macbeth. [2] The theatre's original home base for production was the 1100-seat James K. Polk Theater in the Tennessee Performing Arts Center. With an annual budget of more than $3 million, Pirkle emphasized the development of new musicals. [3] Dream , a musical revue based on the lyrics of Johnny Mercer, was developed at Tennessee Rep and had a Broadway run in 1997. [4]
After Pirkle's departure from Tennessee Rep in 1999, [5] the leadership of the theatre changed hands frequently. [6] David Grapes was artistic director until 2004, when David Alford took over. [7] In 2007, René Copeland was named artistic director. During this period of transition, Tennessee Rep shifted its production base from the Polk Theater to the 250-seat black box Andrew Johnson Theater, still located within the Tennessee Performing Arts Center. With the production of Sweeney Todd in October 2014, Tennessee Rep was rechristened Nashville Repertory Theatre. [8] Copeland held the artistic director position until her departure in May 2019, [9] after which managing director Drew Ogle assumed leadership. [10] 2021's production of Ragtime marked the Rep's return to the Polk Theater, with the company henceforth producing shows in both the Polk and the Johnson. In 2023 Micah-Shane Brewer was named artistic director of Nashville Rep.
Founded in 2009, Nashville Rep's Ingram New Works Project helps new playwrights develop their work, and has three parts: [11]
Yale Repertory Theatre at Yale University in New Haven, Connecticut was founded by Robert Brustein, dean of Yale School of Drama, in 1966, with the goal of facilitating a meaningful collaboration between theatre professionals and talented students. In the process it has become one of the first distinguished regional theatres. Located at the edge of Yale's main downtown campus, it occupies the former Calvary Baptist Church.
The San Jose Repertory Theatre was the first resident professional theatre company in San Jose, California. It was founded in 1980 by James P. Reber. In 2008, after the demise of the American Musical Theatre of San Jose, the San Jose Rep became the largest non-profit, professional theatre company in the South Bay with an annual operating budget of $5 million. In 2006, it was saved from impending insolvency by a $2 million bailout loan from the city of San Jose; this was later restructured into a long-term loan similar to a mortgage.
Berkeley Repertory Theatre is a regional theater company located in Berkeley, California. It runs seven productions each season from its two stages in Downtown Berkeley.
Robert Sanford Brustein is an American theatrical critic, producer, playwright, writer, and educator. He founded both the Yale Repertory Theatre in New Haven, Connecticut, and the American Repertory Theater in Cambridge, Massachusetts, where he remains a creative consultant, and was the theatre critic for The New Republic. He comments on politics for the HuffPost.
Trinity Repertory Company is a non-profit regional theater located at 201 Washington Street in Providence, Rhode Island. The theater is a member of the League of Resident Theatres. Founded in 1963, the theater is "one of the most respected regional theatres in the country". Featuring the last longstanding Resident Acting Company in the U.S., Trinity Rep presents a balance of world premiere, contemporary, and classic works, including an annual production of A Christmas Carol, for an estimated annual audience of 110,000. In its 52-year history, the theater has produced nearly 67 world premieres, mounted national and international tours and, through its MFA program, trained hundreds of new actors and directors. Project Discovery, Trinity Rep's pioneering educational outreach program launched in 1966, annually introduces over 15,000 Rhode Island, Massachusetts, and Connecticut high school students to live theater through matinees as well as in-school residencies and workshops. As of 2016, Trinity Rep's educational programs serve students in around 60% of Rhode Island schools, and it has a 9 million USD annual budget.
The Circle Repertory Company, originally named the Circle Theater Company, was a theatre company in New York City that ran from 1969 to 1996. It was founded on July 14, 1969, in Manhattan, in a second floor loft at Broadway and 83rd Street by director Marshall W. Mason, playwright Lanford Wilson, director Rob Thirkield, and actress Tanya Berezin, all of whom were veterans of the Caffe Cino. The plan was to establish a pool of artists — actors, directors, playwrights and designers — who would work together in the creation of plays. In 1974, The New York Times critic Mel Gussow acclaimed Circle Rep as the "chief provider of new American plays."
The Tennessee Performing Arts Center, or TPAC, is located in the James K. Polk Cultural Center at 505 Deaderick Street in downtown Nashville, Tennessee. It occupies a city block between 5th and 6th Avenues North and Deaderick and Union Streets. The cultural center adjoins the 18-story James K. Polk State Office Building.
Seattle Repertory Theatre is a major regional theatre located in Seattle, Washington, at the Seattle Center. It is a member of Theatre Puget Sound and Theatre Communications Group. Founded in 1963, it is led by Artistic Director Braden Abraham and Managing Director Jeffrey Herrmann. It received the 1990 Regional Theatre Tony Award.
The Soho Repertory Theatre, known as Soho Rep, is an American Off-Broadway theater company based in New York City which is notable for producing avant-garde plays by contemporary writers. The company, described as a "cultural pillar", is currently located in a 65-seat theatre in the TriBeCa section of lower Manhattan. The company, and the projects it has produced, have won multiple prizes and earned critical acclaim, including numerous Obie Awards, Drama Desk Awards, Drama Critics' Circle Awards, and a Pulitzer Prize. A recent highlight was winning the Drama Desk Award for Sustained Achievement for "nearly four decades of artistic distinction, innovative production, and provocative play selection."
The Pan Asian Repertory Theatre is a New York City-based theatre group that explores the Asian-American experience and provides professional opportunities for Asian-American artists to collaborate. Pan-Asian was founded by Tisa Chang and Ernest Abuba in 1977, and Chang remains artistic director. Chang established the Pan Asian Repertory Theatre as a resident company at La MaMa Experimental Theatre Club in 1977, with the intention of popularizing Asian-American theater and leading to other similar theatre companies in cities with an Asian disaporic population.
The New Repertory Theatre is a Boston-area regional theater company founded in 1984, it has produced more than 70 East Coast, US, or World premieres. Since 2005 New Rep has been the resident company at the Mosesian Center for the Arts in Watertown, MA. It creates productions for the 340-seat Main Stage Theater, the 90-seat Black Box Theater, and its outreach program, New Rep Classic Repertory Company, performs for over 14,000 students, many from underserved communities, each year. In 2019, Michael J. Bobbitt was appointed as executive artistic director. In April 2021, New Rep named M. Bevin O’Gara its interim executive artistic director, as Bobbitt moved to the position of executive director for the Massachusetts Cultural Council.
David Findley Wheeler was an American theatrical director. He was the founder and artistic director of the Theater Company of Boston (TCB) from 1963 to 1975. He served as its artistic director until its closure in 1975. Actors including Al Pacino, Robert De Niro, Dustin Hoffman, Robert Duvall, Jon Voight, Stockard Channing, James Woods, Blythe Danner, Larry Bryggman, John Cazale, Hector Elizondo, Spalding Gray, Paul Guilfoyle, Ralph Waite and Paul Benedict were part of the company.
Ain Gordon is an American playwright, theatrical director and actor based in New York City. His work frequently deals with the interstices of history, focusing on people and events which are often overlooked or marginalized in "official" histories. His style combines elements of traditional playwrighting with aspects of performance art.
Jean Cocteau Repertory was a nonprofit resident theatre company in the Bowery area of East Village, Manhattan, New York City.
Tanya Berezin is an American actress, co-founder and an artistic director of Circle Repertory Company in New York City, and educator. She has performed on Broadway and Off-Broadway, and has also appeared in a number of films and television series.
Maria Manuela Goyanes is a first-generation Latina theatre maker, chiefly known for her work at The Public Theatre in New York City, as well as her September 2018 appointment as the artistic director of Woolly Mammoth Theatre in Washington D.C.
Eric Brent Rosen is an American theater director and playwright.
The Thirteenth Street Repertory Theatre is an Off-Off Broadway theater in New York City founded in 1972 by Edith O'Hara. It is home to the longest running play in Off-Off Broadway history, Israel Horovitz's Line which began its run at the 65-seat venue in 1974.
Ben David Alford is an American actor, playwright, and author, best known for portraying Bucky Dawes on the television series Nashville.
Michael Warren Powell was an American artistic director, director, actor and designer involved in the Off-Off-Broadway movement, Off-Broadway and in the development of new American plays.