Theater | Grab the People’s Branch and Hang On!
Thomas Jefferson said, “Every generation needs a new revolution.” People’s Branch Theatre, founded by visionary artist Brian Niece in 2000, has established itself as Nashville’s professional progressive theatre, celebrating ten years of producing radically innovative and socially progressive plays. That’s a hard thing to do for one year, much less ten. Audiences like the familiar; it’s safe for them and safe for producers. It’s hard getting people in the seats for shot-in-the-dark theatre.
But People’s Branch Artistic Director Ross Brooks isn’t listening. An accomplished actor and playwright and graduate of the Creative Writing program at Boston University and an alumnus of the Boston Playwrights’ Theatre, Ross has prepared himself well to swing from a precarious branch; running a cutting-edge theatre organization in a reality-show world.
“I think that being a playwright helps, mainly because playwrights are trying to come up with new stories to tell, new ways to tell old stories. So looking for new ideas all the time as a writer puts me in a position to take risks, and that’s what theatre is all about. Theatre as an art form will survive only if it and its participants are able to adapt, and that means coming up with new ideas and new ways to tell stories.”
People’s Branch Theatre is consistently expanding the boundaries of what is possible on a local stage. PBT adds a dynamic and exciting voice to Nashville’s cultural landscape. And, according to Brooks, the key is to embrace as many new voices as possible.
“High-concept stuff fits in well with PBT’s mission, but we can like a play just for its originality of approach. Hanging Mary is a great example of that. Not only is it a really fascinating story—a true piece of Tennessee history—but the conceptual idea surrounding the way Matthew Carlton staged the play was compelling and innovative as well.”
People’s Branch Theatre marks its tenth year with a season of anniversaries and triumphs. The 2009-2010 season celebrates the lives of extraordinary people and extraordinary events, including Galileo by Bertolt Brecht, one of the twentieth century’s most radical and influential playwrights; a new musical about the quintessential American, Straight Outta Hannibal! The Life of Mark Twain, Rock Star by Ross Brooks, music and lyrics by Brooke Bryant and NaTasha O’Brien; the return of Hedwig and the Angry Inch by John Cameron Mitchell, music and lyrics by Stephen Trask; and 10x10x2, the second installment of PBT’s Short Play Festival, featuring three evenings of ten-minute plays written by Nashville’s best local high school, college, and adult playwrights.
These are wild economic times for all the arts, especially for local nonprofit theatre companies with a bent for the untried. But Ross says he’s not scared. “Scared? Nah. It is difficult to get people to take a chance on something unproven, when there’s no guarantee it will sell. However, there are always a few who have faith and who are willing to take the leap with you, and thanks to them.”
Actually, the current arts economy is a little like a typical People’s Branch production as Ross describes it. “I like not knowing what’s coming next. It’s okay to come to the theatre with a sense of uncertainty. It’s okay not to know what to expect, to come with an open mind. That’s when the theatre can truly affect you, when you’re open to the experience of something you’ve never seen before that is happening live right in front of your eyes.”
Hard work and calculated risk can bring big rewards. PBT is doing the work, work designed to capture a new generation of arts lovers willing to take a chance. If that sounds like you, then do your part by attending productions offered by People’s Branch and other companies like them. Seek out emerging artists and applaud their work. People’s Branch has proven itself a true theatre revolution, and it deserves our support.
Become a member of PBT and receive tickets to each production as well as information about classes, workshops, and special events that make you a part of Nashville’s vibrant arts community.
People’s Branch Theatre, P. O. Box 24412, Nashville, TN 37214, 615-495-4030
www.peoplesbranch.org mail@peoplesbranch.org
by Jim Reyland
Jim Reyland is the producing artistic director of Nashville’s Writer’s Stage Theatre www.writersstage.com and president of Audio Productions, Nashville www.audioproductions.com. His writing and composing credits include Used Cows For Sale, A Sugar-Coated Pill, Stuff, Further Than We’ve Ever Been, Shelter, A Terrible Lie, Article IV and the Musical 21 Baker Road with Addison Gore.
