Nashville Repertory Theatre is a professional, Actors' Equity-affiliated regional theatre company based in

Nashville, Tennessee Nashville, often known as Music City, is the capital and List of municipalities in Tennessee, most populous city in the U.S. state of Tennessee. It is the county seat, seat of Davidson County, Tennessee, Davidson County in Middle Tennessee, locat ...

. 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 larg ...

. The first production was

Macbeth ''The Tragedy of Macbeth'', often shortened to ''Macbeth'' (), is a tragedy by William Shakespeare, estimated to have been first performed in 1606. It dramatises the physically violent and damaging psychological effects of political ambiti ...

. The theatre's original home base for production was the 1100-sea
James K. Polk
Theater in the

Tennessee Performing Arts Center The Tennessee Performing Arts Center (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. ...

. 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 sensation (psychology), 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 ...

'', 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 Wallichs Music Cit ...

, was developed at Tennessee Rep and had a Broadway 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 far ...

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'' (1846–1847). The original tale became a feature of 19th-century melodrama and London legend. A barber from Fleet St ...

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. 2021's production of

Ragtime Ragtime, also spelled rag-time or rag time, is a musical style that had its peak from the 1890s to 1910s. Its cardinal trait is its Syncopation, syncopated or "ragged" rhythm. Ragtime was popularized during the early 20th century by composers ...

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. In 2024, Brewer's production of

Indecent Inappropriateness refers to standards or ethics that are typically viewed as being negative in a society. It differs from things that are illicit in that inappropriate behavior does not necessarily have any accompanying legal ramifications. Co ...

was deemed "the best Nashville Rep production in a decade" by reviewer Jef Ellis, and Brewer's production of

A Christmas Carol ''A Christmas Carol. In Prose. Being a Ghost Story of Christmas'', commonly known as ''A Christmas Carol'', is a novella by Charles Dickens, first published in London by Chapman & Hall in 1843 and illustrated by John Leech. It recounts the ...

, which he adapted and directed, was the highest grossing production in the Rep's 40-year history.

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,

Christopher Durang Christopher Ferdinand Durang (January 2, 1949 – April 2, 2024) was 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 th ...

, Doug Wright, Donald Margulies,

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 Pri ...

, Steven Dietz, and Theresa Rebeck have all participated. * The Ingram New Works Festival presents public readings of all the plays under development.

References

External links

*
Production history website
{{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