In 2020, the pandemic brought many changes to Cumberland County Playhouse’s original season lineup. The topical Alabama Story, for example, was a small cast show that the Playhouse decided to perform for both a limited in-person and live-stream audience simultaneously. Coming out of the pandemic, the Playhouse’s theme of “rebuild and renew, recommit to the community we share, and redefine the stories we tell,” helped drive the company’s decision to include the Pulitzer Prize winning Driving Miss Daisy and Godspell, a musical that celebrates love and community, in its 2021 season. Academy participants will be treated to scenes from all three of these productions, which Cumberland County Playhouse’s producing director Bryce McDonald will introduce and members of the company will perform. After the performances, McDonald and artistic director Britt Hancock will hold a question-and-answer session.

The Cumberland County Playhouse is the only major non-profit professional performing arts resource in rural Tennessee and one of the ten largest professional theatres in rural America. It serves more than eighty thousand visitors every year and has two indoor stages, one outdoor stage, theatre for young audience productions, a comprehensive education program, and a concert series. The Cumberland County Playhouse provides arts opportunities to a vast region that is under-served by other arts resources, including rural East and Middle Tennessee, North Georgia, Northern Alabama, Southern Kentucky, and metropolitan Chattanooga, Knoxville, and Nashville.

The appearance of Cumberland County Playhouse is made possible by a generous gift from Pat and Thane Smith.