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…
Review: River & Rail’s ‘Eurydice’ – Mythology in Wonderland
BY HAYLEY WILSON If you thought River & Rail’s final show at the Old City Performing Arts Center would be last year’s holiday special Little Women, think again—they have come back with a bang for one final production to round out…
Review: Knoxville Theatre Club’s ‘Cindy & Ella’ — The Tragic Roots of Fairytales
BY HAYLEY WILSON You might not think that the old adage “when the going gets tough, the tough get going” would apply to princesses and fairytales, but Knoxville Theatre Club’s JP Schuffman and Sara Gaddis might beg to differ.…
Next Rung Productions’ ‘Page Against The Machine’— Pitting Playwrights Against Programs
BY HAYLEY WILSON To ChatGPT, or Not to ChatGPT. That is the existential question plaguing many of us today now that Large Language Models (LLMs) like ChatGPT, Claude, Grok, and Gemini have become more and more unavoidable. From using…
Review: TKD’s ‘Private Lives’ Airs Out the Dirty Laundry
BY HAYLEY WILSON Sometimes, old flames don’t die, but come back with a roaring and furious passion. This is the case with Noel Coward’s 1930 play Private Lives, a quick-witted and entertaining comedy of manners that gets close to…
Wrapping Up: Tennessee Stage Co.’s New Play Festival 2026
BY HAYLEY WILSON January was a huge month for theatre in Knoxville, and one reason for this burst of theatrical activity during this season is Tennessee Stage Company’s annual New Play festival. This year’s New Play festival was held…
Review: In the Castle of Eternal Sunset – A Critical Hit for Immersive Theatre in Knoxville
BY HAYLEY WILSON For three nights only, First Take Co. and Fable Hollow Bookshoppe hosted an interactive and gamified theatrical experience, In the Castle of Eternal Sunset, a new play by playwright Charles Green. The play incorporates the chance…
Review: TKD’s ‘Doubt, A Parable’
BY HAYLEY WILSON In the opening monologue of John Patrick Shanley’s 2005 Pulitzer Prize and Tony Award winning Doubt, A Parable, Father Brendan Flynn (Ben Park), priest of Bronx Catholic school St. Nicholas, delivers a sermon about the feeling…
