Ah, November… the only socially acceptable time of the year to type “How does tryptophan work?” in your browser.

It is also a time to give thanks. We here at Pull-Tight want to give a huge shout-out to Curt and Aleah Christian for opening their lovely home for our annual Artist Membership Meeting in October. It was a wonderful evening of goodwill and camaraderie, complete with some excellent BBQ sliders! Our next Artist Membership Party will be December 15 at the theatre. Be on the lookout for an email with more details!

In other “things to be thankful for,” stop by and take a look at our new shed! The old props shed, affixed at the back of the building for many a year, has seen an upgrade. Just call it Sheddy 2.0! Final touches are ongoing, but we are grateful to have this new, revitalized area for storage and safeguarding our Pull-Tight odds and ends. Many thanks to Lynda Gibbs and Iain Macpherson, who have been at the forefront of seeing this project through.

We are supremely thankful for Sarah Kieffner’s directorial debut at Pull-Tight. Moonlight and Magnolias brought a unique spin to the origin story of Gone With the Wind, grounding us in both hysterics and history. The intimate show – featuring Dan Kassis, JT Landry, Tom Gregg, and Melanie McBurney – provided a grand evening for us all. Kudos!

As we enter full holiday mode (sidebar: thanks to Claudia Finnegan for agreeing to help deck our halls again this year!), White Christmas promises to be a surefire hit. Director Pat Street has assembled a supremely talented group of individuals to help spread some holiday cheer. Irving Berlin’s yuletide classic follows two former soldiers (David Gallagher and Jason Bell) and a sprightly sister act (Megan Roberts and Rachel Humphrey) as they set out to save a failing Vermont inn owned by the boys’ former commander (Greg Grimsley).

Because “’tis the season,” we find that our holiday show normally sells out very quickly. This year was no exception. Please don’t fret – just go! go! go! to our box office webpage and see what you can do to get yourself on that coveted wait list. If and when tickets become available, our rock star manager Johnny Peppers will make sure to fill these vacancies. It’s the hottest seat in town, so they won’t stay empty for long!

On a final note, please know that we do our best to accommodate how we can during this most glorious (and hectic) time of the year. Should you require any assistance, please reach out to me at the email address below. We want nothing but the merriest for you and yours this holiday season.

From all of us at Pull-Tight, Season’s Greetings!

Matt Grimes
President of the Board
james.m.grimes@vanderbilt.edu

In my sixth grade Sunday school class, we were asked to memorize a Bible verse to recite for Confirmation Weekend. I chose Ecclesiastes… no, let’s be real. I chose “Turn! Turn! Turn!” by The Byrds. It was the closest thing I had to a known Biblical selection off the top of my head, and so I went with that passage. The whole passage. To say my mom was mortified when I skipped entire sections would be an understatement. Perhaps it was a fool’s errand, but it was one that has stuck with me to this day.

That passage has more meaning today than it did back then. As it goes, there is a time to be born and a time to die, and it is unfortunate that we should have to lose a Pull-Tight family member so young. Raymond “Ray” Cruz passed away in late August after a valiant battle with Ewing-like sarcoma cancer. His fight was not without grace or beauty, though. In his waning time here with us, Ray strived to be the best example of humanity, of us all. His outreach was vast – you couldn’t go anywhere in the city of Franklin without finding someone touched by Ray’s spirit, be it a classmate from Centennial High or a fellow Pull-Tight player. He truly was a Ray of Light.

We at Pull-Tight hope to embody that same enthusiasm for life and for art in all that we do, and it should come as no surprise that our Youth Guild members – JYAG and Teen YAG – have done much within these past months to make everyone proud. The Junior Youth Actors Guild welcomed Melanie McBurney as a new advisor and reconvened after a summer break with a costumes and wigs workshop in August and a Shakespeare/Dr. Seuss fusion entitled “The Capulet in the Hat” written by Mark Price in September. Their next meeting is Saturday, October 12, from 10:30 AM until noon – a Halloween party! All children are invited and encouraged to come in costume.

The Teen Youth Actors Guild also welcomed a new member with the addition of Carmela Hofstee as co-advisor. We want to thank Jeremy Hargis for all his years of service! Jeremy has taken a well-earned break this year. Leslie Berra continues to serve as co-advisor. Their season started off with a bang in September with an Improv workshop led by the fabulous Abigail Nichol and Lily Thomas. The next class is on Saturday, October 5th from 10:30 AM until noon. The topic will be basic dance movement for the stage/musical theatre.

Thanks to Jeanne Drone, director extraordinaire, and her wonderful cast and crew for a fantastic production of The Miracle Worker! Everything about the production was transformative, and many patrons left with a bit of water streaming down their cheeks. Of course, that could have been from the Splash Zone (courtesy of the working pump!), but I am more than certain the lack of dry eyes was a testament to the hard work and effort of all involved.

In closing, I highly encourage you to purchase tickets as soon as possible for our next production, Moonlight and Magnolias. Sarah Kieffner makes her Pull-Tight directorial debut with this hysterical show that depicts the tumultuous writing of the script for Gone With the Wind, and I guarantee a hefty dose of laughter sprinkled with a dollop of ole-fashioned drama. This small but intimate show – starring Dan Kassis, JT Landry, Tom Gregg, and Melanie McBurney – is bound to be a crowdpleaser. And just as a heads-up – you may never look at peanuts and bananas the same way again! (If that doesn’t pique your curiosity, I don’t know what will…)

To everything there is a season, and we hope to be one small part of your fall season. Thanks for your support of Pull-Tight Theatre.

Best,
Matt Grimes
President, Pull-Tight Board of Directors
james.m.grimes@vanderbilt.edu

Hello, and a happy July to you all!

I must say, I have pretty large shoes to fill. It’s not easy to hype up the big 5-1 after our Golden Anniversary, but I promise to follow Pat Street‘s sterling example of poise in leadership in my aim to make this next season at Pull-Tight something truly memorable.

So what’s memorable right now? For starters, our 50th Anniversary Knot Awards Banquet, organized by Steve and Pat Evans, was a wonderful evening of camaraderie and class. Pull-Tight Players of past and present gathered for a night of celebration, honoring the founding days and the last year of plays and musicals that graced our stage.

We also inducted two lifetime voting members into our ranks – Walt Micksch and Lyn Sullivan Pewitt, both instrumental in helping bring the theater to where we are today.

Also in the “news to write home about” department, season ticket sales are through the roof … again! We have almost 700 in season ticket sales for the 2019-2020 slate of shows – a new record for us here at Pull-Tight. From our earnest beginnings in various hotels and locations around Franklin to the momentous accomplishment here before us, all of this is thanks to you, our loyal patrons.

Our popularity does come at a price sometimes – sold out shows mean we’re the hottest ticket in town, so we have continued to roll out holdover performances whenever possible to accommodate those in the community searching for that great date night opportunity. After evaluating various options to make sure we are serving the needs and wants of all of our patrons, we decided to take immediate action. Our current solution is to turn two Wednesday evenings each show into added performances available to the general public. Hopefully this will alleviate some of the demand for tickets when they first go on sale. And we expect the demand again this season, because who wouldn’t want to see these great shows?

The 2019-2020 season, too, offers a journey of emotions, with familiar names and new ventures. Our shows include Moonlight and Magnolias, a comedy that explores the making of Gone With the Wind; Irving Berlin’s classic, White Christmas; a touching Noel Coward dramedy about the kooky perils of aging, Waiting in the Wings; Tom Stoppard’s intellectual stage farce, The Real Inspector Hound; and the well-known Cabaret, made famous by the 1972 film version starring Liza Minnelli.

But first – William Gibson’s The Miracle Worker! This timeless work unites two Pull-Tight veterans – Director Jeanne Drone and Producer Cindy Davis Massey – with material near and dear to their hearts. The show, depicting the story of teacher Annie Sullivan as she begins her work with Helen Keller, was last performed on the Pull-Tight stage during the 1990-1991 season with Massey as Director and Drone playing Sullivan. We can’t wait to see the two usher in a production of the show that means so much to them. The 2019 version features Megan Roberts (last seen in Steel Magnolias) as Sullivan and Esther Jane Pope in the pivotal role of Helen Keller.

Stay tuned, and always check out our online presence for continuing updates! Our fantastic behind-the-scenes team, including box office guru Johnny Peppers and savvy social media expert Savannah Aiello, do an excellent job at keeping the public apprised of the theater’s news. If there’s something you wish to see or to learn more about, reach out to one of us.

Best,
Matt Grimes
President, Board of Directors
james.m.grimes@vanderbilt.edu