BOWLING FOR BEGINNERS by Trent Hill & Sarah Traynor

Introduction: Bowling for Beginners by Diana Grisanti was an ethnographic performance by members of Vanderbilt University Theater. The production took place in Neely Auditorium on February 27. The audience consisted of mostly Vanderbilt students and a few theater professors visiting from other institutions. The reading follows the Vanderbilt University women’s bowling team in the wake…

Posted by Trent Hill on March 18, 2019 in 1010 blog posts, Analysis Essay, Blog posts

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TOPDOG/UNDERDOG by Christopher Lei, Jake Silver, and Joseph Toye

Suzan-Lori Parks wrote the play Topdog/Underdog; it was performed from February 9th to February 24th at Johnson Theater at the Tennessee Performing Arts Center in Nashville, Tennessee. On the night of February 15th, the audience was composed of local Nashville theater enthusiasts and a handful of Vanderbilt theater students. Topdog/Underdog delineates the story of two…

Posted by Jake Silver on March 10, 2019 in 1010 blog posts, Analysis Essay, Blog posts, News, Production Review

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PIPPIN by Madison Lindeman, Lily Jaremski, and Hassatou Diallo

Pippin, with music and lyrics by Stephen Schwartz and a book by Roger O. Hirson, was Vanderbilt Off-Broadway’s 2019 mainstage production, performed January 17-19 in Ingram Hall. Pippin tells the story of a young man considering suicide as he searches for meaning and fulfillment. He is joined in his quest by a troupe of players…

Posted by Madison Lindeman on February 4, 2019 in 1010 blog posts, Analysis Essay, Blog posts, Production Review, Musical theatre, Vanderbilt Off-Broadway

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I Ain’t No Country Fan (But Man You Sure Sound Good To Me)

Being in Nashville’s historic Station Inn, made famous for its place in the bluegrass scene since 1971, a musical is far from expected. Around me, the lively audience with beers in hand waits anxiously for the arrival of Doyle and Debbie. The play, written by Ben Arntson, performed as Doyle and Jennifer Blood as Debbie,…

Posted by Salvador Miranda on May 3, 2017 in Analysis Essay, Bruce Arntson, Country, Doyle and Debbie, Gentrification, Jennifer Blood, musical comedy, Nashville, The Station Inn

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Set Design and Limitations on Identity: Walter Lee in Nashville Rep’s A Raisin in the Sun

Lorraine Hansberry’s A Raisin in the Sun is an unprecedented classic surging into existence at a time when it might have seemed least likely. Due to a cast of all-black characters and hesitant investors, producer Philip Rose had to work for a year to earn enough money to produce the play, but it garnered huge…

Posted by denneysg on May 2, 2017 in Analysis Essay

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Post Racial or Post Raisin?

Nashville Rep’s recent production of Lorraine Hansberry’s 1959 classic A Raisin in the Sun is a striking reminder of the naivete and falsehood of claiming that we have achieved a “post-racial” society. The talkback I attended with members of the cast erased any ambiguity about the play’s continued relevance in 2017. Early on, an audience…

Posted by Elizabeth Varley on May 2, 2017 in Analysis Essay, A Raisin in the Sun, Nashville Rep, THTR 3201W

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Never Stop, Never Settle

  The day was Wednesday March 1, 2017 and I hurried my way across Vanderbilt’s campus just in time to sneak into Neely Auditorium. Tim Miller (internationally acclaimed performance artist Tim Miller) was getting ready to perform acts from his new one-man show followed by a question and answer with the audience to further allow…

Posted by prestoct on May 1, 2017 in Analysis Essay, America, ArtsEmerson, David Dower, Empathy, Progress, Sympathy, Tim Miller

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“For the Love of the Game”: The 25th Annual Putnam County Spelling Bee

It was the last day to see Vanderbilt Off Broadway’s (VOB) 25th Annual Putnam County Spelling Bee, and my friend and I were already running late to the performance. We quickly rushed into Sarratt Cinema. Though the audience was filled with students and family, we found two vacant spots in the back and promptly sat…

Posted by Alexander Tu on April 13, 2017 in 1010 blog posts, Analysis Essay, Blog posts

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Yes, Gnit Now!

As I strolled into Neely Auditorium on a Thursday evening, the first thing I noticed was the transformed space. I was no longer in my secondary classroom for Intro to Theatre 1010, I was no longer walking into a room with black walls and empty seats, I was walking into a magnificent presentation. And in…

Posted by prestoct on April 9, 2017 in Analysis Essay, Emily Bishop, Gnit, Peer Gynt, State of America, Will Eno

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If You’re So Sympathetic: Vanderbilt University Theatre’s Gnit and Empathy

The lights go up on a Norwegian forest; near-comical cutouts of trees and a mountain range decorate the stage. A wooden turntable rests at a slight tilt; a stage for voluminous numbers of strangers, friends, and neighbors in colorful sweaters and floral corduroy overalls. Above the set dangles dozens of bare lightbulbs, twinkling a warm…

Posted by denneysg on March 27, 2017 in Analysis Essay

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