Nashville Repertory Theatre is a professional,

Actors' Equity The Actors' Equity Association (AEA), commonly referred to as Actors' Equity or simply Equity, is an American labor union representing those who work in live theatrical performance. Performers appearing in live stage productions without a book ...

-affiliated regional theatre company based in

Nashville, Tennessee Nashville is the capital city of the U.S. state of Tennessee and the county seat, seat of Davidson County, Tennessee, Davidson County. With a population of 689,447 at the 2020 United States census, 2020 U.S. census, Nashville is the List of muni ...

. Nashville Repertory Theatre was founded as Tennessee Repertory Theatre in 1985 by Mac Pirkle and

Martha Rivers Ingram Martha Robinson Rivers Ingram (born August 20, 1935) is an American billionaire businesswoman and philanthropist. In 1995, Ingram succeeded her late husband as chairman and chief executive officer (CEO) of Ingram Industries, one of America's lar ...

. The first production was

Macbeth ''Macbeth'' (, full title ''The Tragedie of Macbeth'') is a tragedy by William Shakespeare. It is thought to have been first performed in 1606. It dramatises the damaging physical and psychological effects of political ambition on those w ...

. The theatre's original home base for production was the 1000-sea
James K. Polk
Theater in the

Tennessee Performing Arts Center 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 an entire city block between 5th and 6th Avenues North and Deaderick and Unio ...

. With an annual budget of more than $3 million, Pirkle emphasized the development of new musicals. ''

Dream A dream is a succession of images, ideas, emotions, and sensations that usually occur involuntarily in the mind during certain stages of sleep. Humans spend about two hours dreaming per night, and each dream lasts around 5 to 20 minutes, althou ...

'', a musical revue based on the lyrics of

Johnny Mercer John Herndon Mercer (November 18, 1909 – June 25, 1976) was an American lyricist, songwriter, and singer, as well as a record label executive who co-founded Capitol Records with music industry businessmen Buddy DeSylva and Glenn E. Wallich ...

, was developed at Tennessee Rep and had a

Broadway Broadway may refer to: Theatre * Broadway Theatre (disambiguation) * Broadway theatre, theatrical productions in professional theatres near Broadway, Manhattan, New York City, U.S. ** Broadway (Manhattan), the street **Broadway Theatre (53rd Stree ...

run in 1997. After Pirkle's departure from Tennessee Rep in 1999, the leadership of the theatre changed hands frequently. David Grapes was artistic director until 2004, when

David Alford Ben David Alford (born December 20, 1964) is an American actor, playwright, and author, best known for portraying Bucky Dawes on the television series '' Nashville''. Early life Alford was born and raised in Adams, Tennessee on his family's f ...

took over. 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 In science, computing, and engineering, a black box is a system which can be viewed in terms of its inputs and outputs (or transfer characteristics), without any knowledge of its internal workings. Its implementation is "opaque" (black). The te ...

br>Andrew Johnson
Theater, still located within the Tennessee Performing Arts Center. With the production of

Sweeney Todd Sweeney Todd is a fictional character who first appeared as the villain of the penny dreadful serial ''The String of Pearls'' (1846–47). The original tale became a feature of 19th-century melodrama and London urban legend, legend. A barber fr ...

in October 2014, Tennessee Rep was rechristened Nashville Repertory Theatre. Copeland held the artistic director position until her departure in May 2019, after which managing director Drew Ogle assumed leadership.

Ingram New Works Project

Founded in 2009, Nashville Rep's Ingram New Works Project helps new playwrights develop their work, and has three parts: * The Lab is a series of monthly workshops with in-house readings of the plays in development. * The Fellowship invites established playwrights to develop new works and mentor the Lab playwrights.

Sarah Ruhl Sarah Ruhl (born January 24, 1974) is an American playwright, professor, and essayist. Among her most popular plays are ''Eurydice'' (2003), '' The Clean House'' (2004), and ''In the Next Room (or the Vibrator Play)'' (2009). She has been the rec ...

Christopher Durang Christopher Ferdinand Durang (born January 2, 1949) is an American playwright known for works of outrageous and often absurd comedy. His work was especially popular in the 1980s, though his career seemed to get a second wind in the late 1990s. ...

Doug Wright Douglas Wright (born December 20, 1962) is an American playwright, librettist, and screenwriter. He received the Pulitzer Prize for Drama in 2004 for his play ''I Am My Own Wife''. Early years Wright was born in Dallas, Texas. He attended and ...

Donald Margulies Donald Margulies (born September 2, 1954) is an American playwright and academic. In 2000, he won the Pulitzer Prize for Drama for his play ''Dinner with Friends''. Background and education Margulies attended John Dewey High School in Brookly ...

John Patrick Shanley John Patrick Shanley (born October 13, 1950) is an American playwright, screenwriter, and director. He won the 1988 Academy Award for Best Original Screenplay for the film ''Moonstruck''. His play, '' Doubt: A Parable'', won the 2005 Pulitzer P ...

Steven Dietz Steven Dietz (born June 23, 1958) is an American playwright, theatre director, and teacher. Called "the most ubiquitous American playwright whose name you may never have heard", Dietz has long been one of America's most prolific and widely prod ...

, and

Theresa Rebeck Theresa Rebeck (born February 19, 1958) is an American playwright, television writer, and novelist. Her work has appeared on the Broadway and Off-Broadway stage, in film, and on television. Among her awards are the Mystery Writers of America's E ...

have all participated. * The Ingram New Works Festival presents public readings of all the plays under development.

References

External links

* {{coord, 36.13525, -86.76551, type:landmark_globe:earth_region:US-TN, display=title Theatres in Tennessee Culture of Nashville, Tennessee 1985 establishments in Tennessee