Back in February we put up our Middle Tennessee Theatre Master List for February through July, and the response told us something we already suspected: a lot of people in this region want to see live theater and have no idea where to find a comprehensive list of what’s actually playing.
So we built one. Permanently. It lives at the top of the site now.
What’s on it
Every show we know about across Nashville and Middle Tennessee from now through summer 2027. Professional companies, community theaters, college productions, high schools, youth companies, and Broadway national tours at TPAC. Roughly 130 productions and counting.
Each show gets two or three sentences from us — what it is, why it matters, what to listen for. No press release language. No “you won’t believe what happens next.” Just a real read on a real show.
Shows are listed chronologically, so the next thing playing is always near the top. As shows close, we delete them. As new productions get announced, we add them.
Who’s on it
Four professional companies anchor the page: Nashville Repertory Theatre, Studio Tenn, Street Theatre Company, and Nashville Shakespeare Festival. They do the heaviest lifting in this region and they get the spotlight treatment they deserve.
But the page goes deeper. Roxy Regional in Clarksville, Hendersonville Performing Arts Company, Playhouse 615 in Mt. Juliet, Springhouse in Smyrna, Lakewood in Old Hickory, the Capitol Theatre in Lebanon, Center for the Arts in Murfreesboro, the Arts Center of Cannon County in Woodbury. Every Williamson County high school musical we can find. Belmont, Vanderbilt, MTSU, Austin Peay, Lipscomb. The Theater Bug. ClassAct Dramatics. Nashville Children’s Theatre.
If it’s a stage in this region, we want it on the list.
There’s a camps section now too
Scroll to the bottom of the tab and you’ll find a section we added for parents: every summer camp and year-round drama school we’d point a kid toward. Belmont, TPAC, Nashville Children’s Theatre, Metro Parks, Nashville Theatre School, Little Blue Theatre, The Theater Bug, ClassAct Dramatics. The pipeline from “kid in a camp” to “kid on a Broadway tour” exists, and these are the programs that build it.
Why we did this
Because no one else is doing it. Local press covers the openings at TPAC and maybe Nashville Rep. The school newspapers cover their own school. The neighborhood Facebook groups post the show their friend is in. No one is looking at the whole picture and saying: here is everything happening on every stage in Middle Tennessee, all in one place.
That’s the gap. We’re filling it.
Live theater is one of the last places we still experience emotion together. The applause is felt in your chest, not typed on a screen. Middle Tennessee has more of it than most people realize, and we want everyone to know exactly how much.
Tell us what we missed
We’re going to miss things. Productions get announced late. Schools post show dates the week of. Smaller companies don’t always have websites. If your stage isn’t on the list and should be, email us at NashvilleBuyLocal@gmail.com and we’ll add you.
The page is up top in the navigation, marked Local Theater. Bookmark it. Share it with your theater-kid friends. Use it to plan your weekends.
Then go see something.
