by Becca Risley | Aug 25, 2015 | Arts and Entertainment, News Slider
Several Lipscomb theatre students were named as 2015 Most Promising Actors for The First Night Honors, an annual celebration of all things theatrical held in Nashville every September. The First Night Honors, styled after the Tony Awards, is a ceremony held for the Nashville theatre community. Every September a gala recognizes the young Most Promising Actors, Star Award Winners and First Night Honorees for their performances and work produced. Lipscomb students selected as Most Promising Actors this year are sophomores MacKenzie Lewis, Rebekah Stogner and Scott Patrick Wilson, junior Bekah Purifoy, and 2015 spring graduates Tyler Russell and Lacy Hartselle. They are joined by 16 other young performers. “Being able to get my name out there in the theatre community in Nashville is great,” Stogner said. “Before this, I only knew of two theaters in the area and this process has opened me up to so much more. This was my first brush with the theatre world of Nashville.” To determine who this season’s young Most Promising Actors would be, Nashville writer, editor and performance art critic Jeffrey Ellis traveled throughout the region seeing several shows and scouting young talent. “If he sees someone, normally younger than 21 or 22, that is impressive to him, he’ll nominate them for the award,” Stogner said. “I was in Picnic earlier this year and I played a teacher. Jeffery directed the show and nominated me because of that.” In addition to performing at the First Night Gala later in September and being recognized at the First Night Preview Party in July, the Most Promising Actors took center stage at The Darkhorse Theatre...
by Anna McClure | Jun 13, 2015 | Arts and Entertainment
Following a successful first set of photoshoots, rising sophomore Sarah Johnson is preparing to continue her project in which she hand makes costumes and then photographs students from the theater department in them. During the spring semester, Johnson completed several shoots of various Disney characters at locations around Nashville. The characters included Alice, the Mad Hatter, Belle, Ariel, Tarzan, and Jane. “The first round went really well. Johnson said “I was blessed with actors willing to give a lot to the characters and work very well with an amateur photographer to create magic for a few moments, enough to capture and share with others.” Johnson faced several challenges along the way, including hand sewing costumes after her sewing maching broke and photographing Lacy Hartselle underwater as Ariel. Johnson purchased a waterproof camera case, which had a built in floatation device. “I had to physically push the case underwater and hold it down while trying to take pictures and not resurface. Johnson said “Each time we went under, we only had about a 7 to10 second interval to get pictures before I was pushed to the surface again. [Lacy] worked equally hard, trying to swim with her legs in a tail and keep her wig on, all while looking like a princess.” An additional challenge she faced was directing the actors about what to do and how to pose. She often gave them free reign as their characters and captured the moments as they happened. Despite the challenges involved, the end results have surpassed Johnson’s expectations. “I’ve loved every one thus far. Johnson said “Each character or set of characters...
by Jamin Craig | Oct 17, 2014 | News Slider
Two infamous gangs are squaring off on Collins Alumni Auditorium stage on Halloween weekend. No, these gangs are not real, but they are part of the iconic musical phenomenon known at West Side Story. The musical, inspired by Shakespeare’s Romeo and Juliet, tells the story of two star-crossed lovers,Tony and Maria. The two meet at a dance and immediately fall in love, but they quickly realize they have to keep their relationship secret since they come from rivaling groups of people. The setting is the West Side of New York City. The two groups are gangs; the Sharks, a feisty group of Puerto Ricans that are friends of Maria, and the Jets, the tough group of New Yorkers that Tony aligns himself with. Mike Fernandez, the dean of the new College of Entertainment & the Arts, is directing the show. He said that West Side Story presents new opportunities for those involved. “We were really aching for a strong, gritty musical that had some great dance to it,” Fernandez said. “We certainly had done shows before that explored dance, but we really wanted something that would push us in terms of dance capability. We also felt like we wanted to push ourselves musically, and so how better to do that than with West Side Story?” Tyler Russell, a senior theatre major, will be playing the role of Tony. Russell said he is ecstatic that he gets to play such an iconic role. But, to Russell, playing Tony has not come without its challenges. “Physically, emotionally and vocally, Tony is the most difficult role I have ever played,” Russell said. “So...
