Rep Co. Acting Out at The Renaissance Center

Release Date: 1/1/2001. Expired: 4/30/2001

Act I, Scene I. The place is the Performance Hall of The Renaissance Center located in Dickson, Tennessee. Comfortably seating 450, no seat is more than 50 feet from the stage providing an intimate atmosphere between the audience and the performers.

The performers - three women, three men - who possess the passion and skills to bring their characters to life with the excitement that only live theatre can afford. The Renaissance Repertory Company is the in-house professional acting company of The Renaissance Center. Its goal is to educate and enlighten audiences with the finest in theatrical performances.

The Rep is a self-sufficient ensemble executing all aspects of the theatrical process, from sets and costumes to acting and directing. The members of the company are Erin Calvert, Amy Arrington, Erica Rowlett, Hal Partlow, Joe Leavitt and Matt Bridges. Pacer Harp and Kim Leavitt, staff members at The Renaissance Center, work with The Rep to produce the plays.

Springfield, Tenn., native Erin Calvert is a graduate of Austin Peay State University with a degree in Theatre and English. She has been a member of the Renaissance Repertory since its inception in June 1999. Her most recent roles include Snoopy in “You’re a Good Man, Charlie Brown,” Dover in “Bar-B-Q for Two,” and Emily Dickinson in “The Belle of Amherst.” She was also seen this past summer in the rock opera Tommy as Cousin Karen. She is performing in her fourth Gaslight Dinner Theatre production in “The Last of the Red Hot Lovers,” which runs through March 9, 2001.

Amy Arrington, as one of the newest members of the Rep, made her debut in The Gaslight Dinner Theatre with “The Last of the Red Hot Lovers.” After an extensive hiatus from the stage, during which she worked as a welder, legal secretary and professional picture framer, Amy returns to her first love, the theatre. She has been active both on stage and off, costuming shows for the Renaissance Repertory, Mockingbird Public Theatre and Nashville Shakespeare Festival. Some favorite performance credits include, Delightful in Dearly Departed with Mockingbird Public Theatre in Nashville and Snoopy in You’re a Good Man, Charlie Brown at Austin Peay State University.

New Rep member Erica Rowlett was recently seen as Belle in The Ryman Auditorium’s production of A Musical Christmas Carol. She is a graduate of Belmont University in Nashville, and last year performed in the Gateway production of The Wizard of Oz in New York City. Other credits include Hope in Anything Goes, Carmen in Fame, Felicity in The Real Inspector Hound and Alice in Alice in Wonderland.

Hal Partlow is originally from upstate New York, and has worked professionally throughout the country for 15 years. Having been at The Renaissance Center since its first season in the fall of 1999, he performs with The Rep Company in the Gaslight Dinner Theatre and in the Faraday Science Theatre, adapts scripts for curriculum shows, and directs various productions for the Theatre Department. His directing credits include The Belle of Amherst, The Glass Menagerie, and Twelfth Night for The Renaissance Center, and Ruthless and Suddenly Last Summer at the Roxy Regional Theatre. He is currently co-directing The Last of the Red Hot Lovers and will soon direct Grace and Glorie, both scheduled for the Gaslight Dinner Theatre at the center.

Joe Leavitt has been steadily performing since he made his stage debut in fifth grade. A native of Michigan, Joe studied theatre at Austin Peay State University where he received a performance scholarship from The Center of Creative Arts and was also the first recipient of The Roxy Regional Theatre’s performance scholarship. Joe has been fortunate to play a number of varied roles, including Father in Children of Eden with the Merhoney Theatre and Roxy, the title role in Sweeney Todd, Psuedolus in A Funny Thing Happened on the Way to the Forum, both at the Roxy, Tevye in Fiddler on the Roof with the Dionysian Theatre and Tom in The Glass Menagerie at The Renaissance Center. He is also the co-founder of The People’s Playhouse, a non-profit theatre in Clarksville, Tenn.

Continuing a lifelong obsession with theatre, Matt Bridges has just joined the Repertory Company at The Renaissance Center. Although a native of Mississippi, Matt has lived all over the U.S. A recent graduate of the University of Southern Mississippi with a bachelor of fine arts in theatre performance, he has had the privilege of performing in Massachusetts, Maryland, Mississippi, West Virginia and now in Tennessee. Among the numerous roles Matt has performed, a few of his favorites include Peck in Rimers of Eldritch at The Kennedy Center, Whitey Hawkins in Honey in the Rock with Theatre West Virginia, and Dottore’ in The Venetian Twins in the Hartwig Arena Theatre.

Kim Leavitt, a native of North Carolina, is the director of Theatre Education for The Renaissance Center. In addition to teaching and coordinating the drama and creative writing classes, she also oversees the Youth Theatrical Outreach Program and writes plays and performs for the center’s Gaslight Dinner Theatre and The Renaissance Rep. Kim has worked professionally as a director and actor in various theatres throughout the Southeast and has also taught Theatre and English courses for Austin Peay State University and Hopkinsville Community College. She holds a Bachelor’s Degree in Theatre and Speech Communications, a Master’s Degree in Theatre Arts and a Master’s Degree in English Literature.

Offering age-appropriate performances to all ages, younger audiences enjoy high-energy children’s theatre. Elementary age students see shows designed to stimulate their minds as well as to entertain. Middle and high school students experience classical theatre at its finest. They also present specially scheduled performances for the general public.

To see The Renaissance Repertory do a little “acting out,” come to the public performance of Swiss Family Robinson on April 28 and A Midsummer Night’s Dream on May 19. Each show will begin at 7 p.m. and tickets are $10 adults, $8 seniors, and $5 children under 13. They can also be seen in Last of the Red Hot Lovers in the Gaslight Dinner Theatre every Friday through March 9. Tickets for Dinner Theatre are $25.

Call (615)740-5600, visit The Renaissance Center at 855 Hwy. 46 S. in Dickson for more information.

Visit the Theatre page for more about community and professional theatre.

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