BY HAYLEY WILSON If you find yourself feeling bored, you might find some sort of activity to pass the time: read a book, go to a movie, perhaps attend the theatre for an evening of entertainment. Unfortunately, those activities…
Review: Love, Forwards and Backwards with River & Rail’s ‘The Last Five Years’
BY HAYLEY WILSON Love and romance—whether budding, persisting, or waning—are at the heart of human art, and theatre is the medium for some of the most memorable depictions of these themes. And while at times these themes can become…
Review: Chaos and Classics Clash in TKD’s ‘The Iliad, The Odyssey, and All of Greek Mythology in 99 Minutes or Less’
BY HAYLEY WILSON While Christopher Nolan’s recent retelling of The Odyssey has been on many of our minds lately, Theatre Knoxville Downtown has also tapped into the resurgent pop-culture interest in the Greek mythos with their production of The…
Tennessee Stage Company Announces New Plays Fest 2027
BY HAYLEY WILSON Tennessee Stage Company has just announced the 2027 New Plays Festival, to be held in Knoxville from January 5–17, 2027. The festival lineup was announced during a special preview event on August 23 at the Emporium…
Review: Tennessee Stage Co.’s ‘Merry Wives of Windsor’ — Airing the Dirty Laundry
BY HAYLEY WILSON If you enjoyed Tennessee Stage Company’s recent production of Henry IV Part II, you’re in for a treat—and more Falstaff. They have brought back the beloved boorish knight in Merry Wives of Windsor, co-directed here by…
Review: TKD’s ‘Arsenic and Old Lace’: An Intoxicating Comedy
BY HAYLEY WILSON All families have their secrets, but perhaps the Brewsters of Brooklyn, New York, have a few more than the rest of us—maybe eleven or twelve, they’ve lost count. And by secrets, I mean bodies buried in…
Review: TKD’s ‘She Kills Monsters’ – A Nerdy 90s Throwback
BY HAYLEY WILSON You enter the playhouse of Theatre Knoxville Downtown, and encounter a dimly lit stage. As you take your seat, the house lights fade, and you must roll a stealth check to silence your phone and hold…
Review: Tennessee Stage Company’s ‘Henry IV Part I’ Turns The Bard’s Histories into Herstories
BY HAYLEY WILSON Shakespeare’s history plays are known for centering powerful men; in a long list of Richards, Johns, and so, so many Henrys, women are hardly central to this genre in the Bard’s repertoire. However, that doesn’t mean…
Review: Theater23’s ‘Decoration Day’ — A Memorial Day Treat
BY HAYLEY WILSON Appalachia has its many traditions, one of which is Decoration Day, a time during late spring to early summer where families flock to the cemeteries to tend to the burial sites of their loved ones. This…
Review: TKD’s ‘Bug’ Gets Under the Skin
BY HAYLEY WILSON Paranoia can feel like an infestation, a slow and subtle creeping until you’re overwhelmed by racing thoughts like scuttering insects. Director Joseph Johnson knows just what it takes to get audiences’ skin crawling with his production…
