Jan
12
Studio Tenn Brings Thrilling Historical Drama “Frost/Nixon” To Franklin Theatre Stage
Live Play With Ten-Person Cast Opens February 20, Runs through March 2
6 January 2014 – Nashville, Tenn – This February at the Franklin Theatre, Studio Tenn Theatre Company brings to life one of television’s most riveting moments—the most watched political interview of all time—in an intimate, live-on-stage experience. The “Frost/Nixon” runs February 20 through March 2. Tickets are available at StudioTenn.com or by calling the Box Office at (615) 538-2076.
Written by Peter Morgan and debuted in London in 2006, this gripping play relays the true account of British talk show host David Frost, who, in 1977, against all odds, booked the first televised interview with Richard Nixon after his resignation from the presidency—and who got him to admit in front of 45 million viewers his involvement in the infamous Watergate scandal.
Studio Tenn Managing Director Jake Speck said, “’Frost/Nixon’ is the story of two tenacious, prize-fighter public figures gambling on their careers, each trying to unravel the other on live television in front of a world audience.”
Chock-full of drama, “Frost/Nixon” and its ten-person cast goes beyond the interview and reveals the impossibly high stakes and close calls involved in the making of one of broadcast journalism’s most audacious pursuits. “This is a compelling play of risk and reward, desire and desperation,” said Speck. “Especially if you enjoyed Studio Tenn’s 2012 production of ‘Twelve Angry Men,’ you will not want to miss this show.”
The play’s original director Michael Grandage serves as an aesthetic inspiration to Studio Tenn’s Artistic Director Matt Logan. “He was a master at bringing cinematic elements into live theatre in a very precise, edited fashion,” Logan said.
“Frost/Nixon” was adapted into an Oscar-winning film by Ron Howard in 2008. More recently, several other Hollywood titles in the political thriller genre have enjoyed phenomenal success, including 2012’s “Argo” and 2013’s “American Hustle,” both set in the same era as the famous Frost/Nixon interviews.
Logan shares, “historical dramas allow you to immerse yourself in a momentous [past] event that is so often taken for granted, to experience with immediacy the adrenaline, the tension, the urgency, as though it were presently unfolding. History books are written with the distance of retrospect; theatre places you into the moment and humanizes the story.”
David Frost will be played by Brent Maddox, who has been featured in Studio Tenn’s productions including “Into The Woods” (The Baker) and “A Christmas Carol” (Bob Cratchit). The play opens in Franklin amid world-wide remembrances of the real David Frost, who passed away in 2013 at the age of 74.
Studio Tenn Theatre Company’s production of “Frost/Nixon” runs February 20 through March 2 at the Franklin Theatre in downtown Franklin. Tickets are available at StudioTenn.com or by calling the Franklin Theatre Box Office at (615) 538-2076. To wrap their 2013-2014 season, Studio Tenn will present “Les Miserables” for a two-night run at the Schermerhorn Symphony Center May 3 and 4. For more information about Studio Tenn’s productions and ways to get involved as a sponsor or donor, visit StudioTenn.com.
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