For those in the Middle Tennessee area who enjoy attending, or being a part of, stage plays and musicals, Springhouse Church, a non-denominational church on Old Nashville Highway in Smyrna, operates a full professional theater company within its 450-seat auditorium.
“We invest in it. It’s important,” said Will Sevier, who currently serves as the arts pastor at Springhouse. Sevier has participated in over 100 theatrical productions over his career, primarily as an actor, but he is now making a foray into directing as well.
Sevier recently created an adaptation of the well-loved novel A Christmas Carol, a show Springhouse presented in December 2022 under Sevier’s direction.
He adapted the story “With a twist,” he said enthusiastically, “As if Dickens himself wrote himself into the play.”
Throughout his stage career, the Tennessee native has participated in productions at Chaffin’s Barn Dinner Theatre in Nashville, the Roxy in Clarksville, the Renaissance Center in Dickson, the Blackbird in Franklin and with other organizations.
He played Arthur Conan Doyle in Twilight of the Gods, but when asked about his favorite role, he replied immediately: “Jean Valjean in Les Miserables. I did that with two different theaters,” Sevier said.
Will Sevier / photo by Bracken Mayo
Sevier got affiliated with Springhouse in 2015, guest directing a show there, and a couple of years later he joined the church’s staff.
He said the Springhouse Theatre Company—while it is an extension of and shares facilities with a Christian church—operates with the mission to present quality theatrical productions to the community, whether or not audience members choose to be affiliated with the church or Christianity.
“We are a house of grace,” Sevier emphasizes. “We focus on shows that demonstrate grace and beauty, but we don’t necessarily proselytize [with the theater].”
Clearly, though, he approaches his artistic endeavors with a sense of serving, worshiping and honoring God.
“The Creator was creative,” Sevier said. “Worship is quite similar to the creative arts.”
Perhaps the Creator finds joy in humans striving to make something beautiful, whether that is an onstage production, a painting, a piece of music, or an art piece made of glass or wood.
The team members involved with Springhouse Theatre Company have used their creative talents to build an audience in the Smyrna area that finds joy in attending their productions. Springhouse currently has a roster of over 100 season ticket holders.
“That says a lot. Most people want to come back,” Sevier continued. “With this art form, you take some risk and do the best you can.”
Beauty and the Beast / photo by Kenn Stilger
He and Springhouse work to continue raising their standard, and the operation now includes professional personnel, lighting and costume equipment, and even a massive prop room onsite.
Jim Trasport, a local businessman and supporter of community life, said that after getting familiar with Springhouse via a drama camp his granddaughters attended there, and after appearing in acting roles in A Christmas Carol himself, he was highly impressed by the quality and professionalism of this community theater housed in a Smyrna church.
“You really appreciate how much goes into it,” Trasport said. “It takes exactness to pull it off on that scale.”
Sevier and Trasport
Some may be skeptical prior to attending a show. But, upon glimpsing the level of detail Trasport says went into the Christmas Carol set—“once they see it, see the London scenery, the smoke”—audience members will appreciate what is going on at Springhouse Theatre Company and become immersed in the setting, he predicted.
“These people do everything professional and appealing,” Trasport said, complimenting the organization as a whole.
Looking ahead, Sevier said he wants the facility to offer some opportunities to new directors and to draw in some folks who previously may not have been too enthusiastic or involved with the world of live theater.
The Music Man
“I know it’s not for everyone, but some may be missing out. Even if it doesn’t click the first time someone comes to see a play, it plants an artistic seed,” Sevier said. “Being part of an audience, a group of strangers, that commonality it offers is something that can’t be replicated onscreen.
“For an $18 ticket you will be hard-pressed to find the level of entertainment that you will get in this room.”
Coming up, Springhouse will present You Can’t Take It With You in February and Joseph and the Amazing Technicolor Dreamcoat in April. For tickets and more information on Springhouse Theatre Company, visit springhousetheatre.com.
Springhouse Theatre Company
14119 Old Nashville Hwy., Smyrna
615-852-8499
springhousetheatre.com
[Pictured at Top: Oklahoma / photo by David Warren]
