Blog
Introducing Blackbird Theater
July 03 2010
I know what you’re thinking.
Another theater company? Isn’t there a slew of companies already? And isn’t there a shortage of good venues? Come to think of it, won’t this put further strain on dwindling financial support for the arts? Does it even make sense to start a new theater company?
Okay, maybe that’s not what you’re thinking. But I am, and here are my answers: Yes, yes, yes, maybe, and absolutely.
Let me explain.
When Wes and I decided it was time to take our bubbling cauldron of stories and start making our mark as dramatists, we took our most substantial and ambitious project to date – a lush, full-scale musical called Myth – and shopped it around, all around. We submitted it to prestigious musical theater competitions across the country. We made cold calls to important regional theaters. We met with local theater professionals and discussed it over coffee.
Reactions varied – thankfully.
From the national level, we received a couple of kind rejection letters. From the director of a prominent regional theater in Virginia – who actually took my call – the response was, “Oh, yeah, you’re the guys with the cast of thirty. You really don’t want to get this show produced, do you?”
I’m pleased to say that local responses ranged from cheerfully pessimistic (“there’s no money in town for new plays”) to noncommittally encouraging (“this is a great show, but we’re not producing musicals right now”).
After two years of knocking on doors and mailing off scripts, we were left with this realization: There is no mechanism, no industry process, for producing new works in Nashville – or, practically, anywhere else when you’re living here. The Nashville theater industry is energetic, encouraging, and supportive, but creating a new play is a DIY dream.
As Wes put it, it’s like having a baby. Everyone will be happy for you, but no one wants to be a surrogate mom. And does anyone want to adopt a problem child as demanding and temperamental as a musical?
In short, we’ve got stories to tell. So, yes – absolutely – another theater company makes perfect sense.
And now for the twist. We didn’t find a surrogate, but there was an organization willing to play midwife, and it was the last place we would have looked – our alma mater, Lipscomb University. In our day (the early- to mid-90s), there was respect for the arts at Lipscomb, but support went mostly to the 3 B’s – Bible, Business, and Basketball. Yet, with a new school administration and a new chair for the theater department – one Mike Fernandez – renewed interest in the arts and especially the impact of theater was evident. This spring, we formed a partnership with Lipscomb giving Wes and me the resources to tell stories with spirit, tales with teeth.
Our gratitude for the opportunity should go without saying, but I’ll say it anyway: thanks, Mike, and thanks Lipscomb – it’s great to be back to the place where many of our dreams (including Myth) began. And congratulations, Nashville, your theater family is growing. Have a cigar – it’s a bouncing baby bird.
- Greg