Nashville Notes - Out Front on Main

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           Out Front on Main is a classy and classic example of what has come to be called "storefront theatre," the kind you'd expect to find in cities like Chicago, San Francisco or Seattle, except Out Front on Main is in Murfreesboro, Tennessee. Artistic Director George Manus has converted a former bridal shop at 1511 Main Street, into a fun and intimate jewel box of a theatre that would be the envy of many a theatrical impresario in our urban age. Seating 50, Out Front has everything a theatre needs, from a nifty little lobby whose walls are covered with company posters, to a mobile tech booth, eclectic seating and a swell stage space that currently sports Manus' handsome set for Tracy Lett's really weird play Bug.

The theatre sits along side three or four other smart looking shops, including a very enticing coffee/tea bar called Chill Spot, and a quite nice Chinese restaurant where you can grab some sweet and sour while waiting for the show to start. Checking out the posters on the lobby wall, you see the company history of a string of edgy and wacky shows that reads like the off off Broadway listings in The Village Voice, with titles like The Marijuana-Logues to For Whom the Southern Belle Tolls, to numerous stand up comedy events to something called Vaudeboro.

The current offering, as mentioned above, is a play called Bug, by playwright Tracy Letts, best known as the Pulitzer Prize winner for August, Osage County. Bug is a very strange play that fuses the energies of Tennessee Williams and Sam Shepard, with a touch of "The X-Files" thrown in for good measure - along with some very tasteful nudity. Not what you'd expect to find in Murfreesboro, maybe, but then again, when it comes to theatre, Murfreesboro is full of surprises.

Keeping the innovation wheels spinning, Manus has put together TWO casts who will share the stage over a three week period. Cast one takes the first week, cast two takes the second week, and then for week three the casts alternate days. There may even be a "luck of the draw" performance where cast members from both casts "mix it up." The cast for Saturday, October 15th included Molly Breen, Andy Woloszyn, Tara McBay, Mic Rex and Anderson Dodd. Breen plays Agnes, a disenfranchised bar maid who lives in a low-end motel room in "twilight zone" Oklahoma. Agnes hangs out with her lesbian buddy R.C. (sharply played by Tara McBay with appropriate hair cut), and the two gals enjoy a narcotic based camaraderie which is disrupted by the arrival of a couple of dudes - specifically Agnes' recently paroled ex-husband Goss (Mic Rex)  and the schizophrenic Peter (Andy Woloszyn), who, it seems, is AWOL from the military, which he claims has held him prisoner for four years while experimenting on turning the human body into a weapon of biological warfare - which may or may not be confirmed by the arrival of the unfortunate Dr. Sweet (Anderson Dodd) at the end of the play.

The role of Agnes gives Breen an excellent chance to stretch her acting wings and wear some pretty racy lingerie, as she degenerates from simply morose to flat-out whacked out, caught up in the escalating paranoia of her lover Peter. Woloszyn's dark hair, pale skin and intensity work beautifully for the character of the fragile young soldier who is hiding from "them," and Aggie's ex, Goss, is pretty scary in the hands of Mr. Rex. Come to think of it, Anderson Dodd's Dr. Sweet is pretty scary, too - he looks like such a nice young man - but what, really, is he doing there?

Next week's cast includes Jessica Theiss, David Bennett, Quiche Fletcher, Buddy R. Jones and Hudson Wilkes.

As director Manus points out, it's great fun to see both versions of the show to see how casting can affect the interpretation of the play. Neither cast has been allowed to see the other   cast as of yet, so each ensemble will bring it's own twist to the show - twist being the operative word.

For theatre lovers and those who are just discovering the joys of live theatre, a trip to Murfreesboro for an evening with Bug is an absolute must.

For more info on Out Front on Main  visit the website at www.outfrontonmain.com

Come to Murfreesboro and Go to the Theatre!