Sideshow Opens Second Season By Bringing Sexy Back With CRUMBLE

Boldly moving into their second season of challenging audiences with compelling, new and exciting theater, Sideshow @ Actors Bridge will bring sexy back as they present the regional premiere of 13P member Sheila Callaghan's Crumble (Lay Me Down, Justin Timberlake).

With Callaghan's Crumble (Lay Me Down, Justin Timberlake), Sideshow launches its second season of fringy self-producing with "a one-of-a-kind theatrical event you have to see to believe," according to Jessika Malone. Crumble (Lay Me Down, Justin Timberlake) plays for one weekend only at The Darkhorse Theatre, October 4-7.

 Crumble (Lay Me Down, Justin Timberlake) wasfirst presented at Clubbed Thumb's Summerworks new play festival, follows foul-mouthed Janice (played for Sideshow by Sara Gaddis) and her bizarre Christmas wish-list.

"Join us and meet Janice, just your typical preteen living inside a dilapidated and sentient apartment with murder on his mind (Ricardo Puerta). Watch as she does battle with 'butt-ugly' Christmas sweaters, romances magical, flying Justin Timberlake (Matt Marcum), and satisfies her appetite for explosives. Marvel as Janice's mother (Erin Randolph) and aunt (Hayley Rose) struggle to put the pieces back together after calamity threatens to destroy them from the inside out," reads a press release.

Performances will also feature celebrity impersonation contests, dance-offs, video-karaoke and assorted "mayhem," as Sideshow brings sexy back for one weekend at the Darkhorse.

The Huffington Post heralded the new play with: "Every night before I go to bed I say a little prayer and thank the universe that we have indie theatre. Without independent art we would not have a play like Crumble...fascinating...remarkable…"

"The shortest, sharpest – and the most seemingly effortlessly poetic play you'll see…astute and …" wrote the DC Theatre Scene.

Crumble (Lay Me Down, Justin Timberlake) is Sideshow's third regional premier by a contemporary playwright presented in less than a year. Sideshow members will design the event as an ensemble, seizing every opportunity to cross-train and take creative risks together.

Malone suggests that you "Watch for design debuts, new ensemble members taking the stage, and emerging director and second-year ensemble member, JP Schuffman, directing."

Malone produces, along with other program founders Jaclyn Johnson and Mitch Massaro. Tickets are $15, or $10 if you come in costume. For tickets, go to http://sideshow.eventbrite.com/

Jeffrey Ellis is a Nashville-based writer, editor and critic, who's been covering the performing arts in Tennessee for more than 25 years. He is the recipient of the Tennessee Theatre Association's Distinguished Service Award for his coverage of theatre in the Volunteer State and was the founding editor/publisher of Stages, the Tennessee Onstage Monthly. He is a past fellow of the National Critics Institute at the Eugene O'Neill Theatre Center and is the founder/executive producer of The First Night Honors, held during Labor Day Weekend, which honor oustanding theater artists in Tennessee in recognition of their lifetime achievements and includes The First Night Star Awards and the Most Promising Actors. Midwinter's First Night, held the first Sunday in January after New Year's Day, honors outstanding productions and performances throughout the state. Further, Ellis directed the Nashville premiere of La Cage Aux Folles, The Last Night of Ballyhoo and An American Daughter, as well as award-winning productions of Damn Yankees, Company, Gypsy and The Rocky Horror Show, with Ellis honored by The Tennessean as best director of a musical for both Company and Rocky Horror.

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