GroundWorks Theatre is a professional live theater company located in Nashville, Tennessee

Nashville, Tennessee

Nashville is the capital of the U.S. state of Tennessee and the county seat of Davidson County. It is located on the Cumberland River in Davidson County, in the north-central part of the state. The city is a center for the health care, publishing, banking and transportation industries, and is home...

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History

In 2004 ACT 1 Theatre Company founding members Robert and Sean O’Connell left that company to start a new professional venture, producing only Nashville premiere productions. The company is one of the resident companies at the Darkhorse Theater.

"For years, Bob and Sean O'Connell were well-established contributors to the ACT I community theater company. Now they have founded this progressive project of their own, with sincere plans to expand horizons into the professional realm. Their inaugural production, Tape, was edgy, contemporary and highly entertaining, and the remainder of the forthcoming first season promises more of the same." (Nashville Scene

Nashville Scene

Nashville Scene is an alternative newsweekly in Nashville, Tennessee. It was founded in 1989, became a part of Village Voice Media in 1999, and later joined the ranks of sixteen other publications after a merger of Village Voice Media with New Times Media early in 2006. In 2009 the paper was...

, Best of Nashville, 10/07/2004) http://www.nashvillescene.com/Stories/Special_Issues/Best_of_Nashville/2004/10/07/Entertainment/index.shtml

GroundWorks is currently part of a city-wide movement toward more edgy and mature material, as documented in The Tennessean

The Tennessean

The Tennessean is the principal daily newspaper in Nashville, Tennessee, USA. Its circulation area covers 39 counties in Middle Tennessee and eight counties in southern Kentucky....

.http://www.tennessean.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=2008801270315

Seasons

2004 - Tape

Tape (play)

Tape is a 1999 play by Stephen Belber. It follows classical unities of action, time and space, featuring three characters in a single plot regarding their differing perspectives of past events, in one unbroken period of real-time, in a single motel room set. It was first produced at the Actors...

by Stephen Belber; Nocturne by Adam Rapp

Adam Rapp

Adam Rapp is a novelist, playwright, screenwriter, musician and film director. His play Red Light Winter was a Pulitzer Prize finalist in 2006.-Early life:...

; Hellcab by Will Kern.

2005 - The Pavilion by Craig Wright

Craig Wright (playwright)

Craig Wright is an American playwright and Emmy-nominated television writer.-Biography:Born in 1965 in Puerto Rico, Wright attended St. John's University in Collegeville, Minnesota and went on to earn a Masters of Divinity degree from the United Theological Seminary of the Twin Cities...

; Merry [BLEEP]ing Christmas, an original compilation by the Company.

2006 - Blackbird by Adam Rapp

Adam Rapp

Adam Rapp is a novelist, playwright, screenwriter, musician and film director. His play Red Light Winter was a Pulitzer Prize finalist in 2006.-Early life:...

; Enchanted April by Matthew Barber; Why The Sea Is Boiling Hot by Robert A. O'Connell; Mrs. Bob Cratchit's Wild Christmas Binge

Mrs. Bob Cratchit's Wild Christmas Binge

Mrs. Bob Cratchit's Wild Christmas Binge is a musical parody of the Charles Dickens story, A Christmas Carol. Written by Christopher Durang, the play was initially commissioned by in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania when Durang was asked by Artistic Director Tracy Brigden to write a Christmas comedy...

by Christopher Durang

Christopher Durang

Christopher Ferdinand Durang is an American playwright known for works of outrageous and often absurd comedy. His work was especially popular in the 1980s.- Life :...

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2007 - Closer

Closer (play)

Closer is the third play written by English playwright Patrick Marber. The play was premiered at the Royal National Theatre's Cottesloe Theatre in London in 1997, and made its North American debut at the Music Box Theatre on Broadway on 25 January 1999....

by Patrick Marber

Patrick Marber

Patrick Albert Crispin Marber is an English comedian, playwright, director, puppeteer, actor and screenwriter.-Early life and education:...

; Bad Dates by Theresa Rebeck

Theresa Rebeck

Theresa Rebeck 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 Edgar Award.-Biography:...

; Of Cabbages and Kings by Robert A. O'Connell; American Christmas by Robert A. O'Connell.

2008 – The Pillowman

The Pillowman

The Pillowman is a 2003 play by Irish playwright Martin McDonagh. It received its first public reading in an early version at the Finborough Theatre, London, in 1995...

by Martin McDonagh

Martin McDonagh

Martin McDonagh is an Irish-British playwright, filmmaker, and screenwriter. Although he has lived in London his entire life, he is considered one of the most important living Irish playwrights.-Life:...

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Awards

Best New Theatre - Nashville Scene

Nashville Scene

Nashville Scene is an alternative newsweekly in Nashville, Tennessee. It was founded in 1989, became a part of Village Voice Media in 1999, and later joined the ranks of sixteen other publications after a merger of Village Voice Media with New Times Media early in 2006. In 2009 the paper was...

2004 Best of Nashville. http://www.nashvillescene.com/Stories/Special_Issues/Best_of_Nashville/2004/10/07/Entertainment/index.shtml

Best Drama (Blackbird) - Nashville Scene 2006 Best of Nashville. http://www.nashvillescene.com/Stories/Special_Issues/Best_of_Nashville/2006/10/12/Arts_Entertainment/index1.shtml

External links

• GroundWorks Theatre Official Site
• Darkhorse Theater homepage