“How I Learned to Drive” at MLT will benefit The Domestic Violence Program of Murfreesboro and The Carl Vogel Foundation.
Murfreesboro Little Theatre is very popular and well known for a number of reasons; it’s quaint, small, community style, warm and has friendly board members who are also easy to talk to. But they are, at the old log cabin, something more than all the other theaters in Rutherford County (and Cannon, too) are not.
Besides the usual well known stage plays they do, (as all the others), they are also known for stepping out on the edge: controversial plays, dark plays, productions that speak out to those who perhaps hear the beat of a different drummer, to use an old cliche. Several times a year, MLT will go beyond the stage box and reach into the hearts and minds and even deeper into the souls and hidden emotions of the patrons who sit on the old metal folding chairs and thus are mesmerized for several hours.
Such will be the upcoming production beginning March 19 and running for two weekends through March 28. Playwright Paula Vogel’s Pulitzer Prize winning masterpiece “How I Learned to Drive” is one of those plays no one else dares to put on stage around here. With a riveting cast, a small yet ample setting and a storyline that will keep you from even sighing or glancing at your watch; the mood will go from somber, to chuckles, to tears, to heartache, to anger, and back to somber. This play touches on sensitive matter; it’s timeless, honest, and is for mature audiences only. I do not want to give away the subject matter here; I think you should just show up, watch it intently, and “drive” home silently while you grasp the thought-provoking matter you just witnessed.
Several of your favorites are on stage for this production, and Director Shane Lowery is placing all his skills into the framework of this incredible show. I urge you: Don’t miss this one. Remember, visit mltarts.com for reservations.
Todd Seage, another one of my favorite director/actor peoples, had auditions earlier this week for May’s production of “Playboy of the Western World.” It is great to see Mr. Seage back in direction, and at MLT!
And, Sherry Sunday will be directing “Don’t Dress for Dinner” in April. Also coming this summer is “Best Little Whorehouse in Texas.” OK now, sensitive subjects in March, no one is getting dressed in April, playboys in May and whorehouses in June—is there a pattern here? Of course there is, it’s MLT.
“Anne of Green Gables” opens at Lamplighter’s Theatre in Smyrna on March 19 as well, for a two weekend run. Doors open at 7 p.m. on Fridays and Saturdays, 4 p.m. on Sundays.
See ya’ at the show.
