Tennessee Players, Inc.
"Cultural Ambassador to the World"
1983 - Thurston Moore and his wife, Georgianna, (1927-2002) moved to Nashville from New Canaan, Connecticut where Georgianna was active with the Town Players of New Canaan.
1986 - Georgianna directed Harvey, starring Tom Dolan, at Lakewood Theatre. In July she directed an outdoor production of Thornton Wilder’s Our Town for Goodlettsville’s Homecoming Celebration. In October she directed Death Takes a Holiday. In these latter two productions Georgianna directed James Denton, TV/film star, in his first theatre work. He wrote later, “I think about you and Georgianna more often than you might think…I will always be indebted to you both for your help in getting started ‘learning how to act’ (still trying) and just wanted to let you know. My father was always very fond of you both and we spoke of you often.”
Presented The Magic of An Old Fashioned Christmas in a “store window” at Madison Square Center. This was a 30-minute performance, set in a Victorian Living Room, seen 48 times over a four week period. Longtime theatre critic Clara Hieronymous reviewed it, saying, “Theatre is where you find it.” Georgianna and Thurston originated this concept with a store window production in 1976 in a store window on Roosevelt Island, New York City.
1987 - Tennessee Players co-founded by Thurston and Georgianna. In addition to well-known plays, several important original productions were produced. "Mark Twain" and "Lincoln" characters were created and Georgianna presented memorable characterizations of Clara Barton and Mary Todd Lincoln. She was the principal director for all of the Tennessee Players' productions.
Published eight editions of the Spotlight On the Arts, full color tabloid covering the performing and visual arts in Middle Tennessee.
Presented the first of three Christmas season week-end presentations at The City of Nashville’s historic Two River Mansions of The Magic of An Old Fashioned Christmas, directed by Georgianna.
The events included a hostess in Victorian dress, harpist Lloyd Lindroth, strolling choral group outside, condensed versions of Dickens’ A Christmas Carol, written by Georgianna; The Nativity Story; ‘Twas the Night Before Christmas; and the premiere by Georgianna of an important original work: Willie’s Comin’ Home.
Willie was presented in an adjacent building that was the slave’s quarter of this historic 1802 house. Noted actress Donna Stephenson (she can be heard on Dear World: Anne Frank) portrayed Willie’s Mother and performed this, her signature piece, more than 100 times through the years. Tom Dolan’s son, James, portrayed Willie.
1988 - Thurston Moore conceived and produced An Evening of Entertainment on Nashville's PBS station to aid their membership drive. The production, directed by Georgianna, featured 29 performers in 24 skits. Characterizations included "Twain," "Scrooge," "Elvis" (backed by the original Jordanaires), "Queen Victoria," and "Hamlet." Tennessean columnist Jerry Thompson and Nashville Mayor Bill Boner portrayed "Laurel and Hardy." Harp virtuoso Lloyd Lindroth, among others, provided music, and voice-overs included Art Linkletter, Bennett Tarleton, and Kenneth Schermerhorn, late director of the Nashville Symphony Orchestra. This show premiered Tennessee Players’ unique old-fashioned Melodrama: Curse You Jack Dalton. It was presented in a series of sketches, unfolding the drama, in great anticipation throughout the evening. This TV presentation garnered tremendous full color press and recognition.
The Twentieth Century Woman’s Club in Dickson, Tennessee, invited Tennessee Players to "bring culture to Dickson." Tennessee Players’ Traveling Repertoire presented two One-Act Plays: The Boor by Anton Chekhov and When God Comes to Breakfast, You Don’t Burn the Toast, both directed by Georgianna. Ventriloquist Shannon Shrum and Rod introduced the plays. The Renaissance Center in Dickson opened in 1999.
These plays and others were presented at various venues throughout Middle Tennessee through the years.
Live Theatre at Business Expo ’88 was presented at the Nashville Business Center. This was a two-day event and ongoing theatre was presented throughout the days. Performances included Willie; the vaudeville hit of the show: Dr. Goodheart’s Old-Time Medicine Show; short plays and drama skits, including a dynamic portrayal of Joan d’Arc by Sue Detweiler; David Sturges Marionettes; Shannon and Rod; Lloyd Lindroth, harpist; and the popular Broadway and the Blues.
1990 - The Theatre Scene, a weekly radio show, was presented over WAMB with Georgianna as the host. For over three years she interviewed practically everyone in professional, university, and community theatre, as well as dance and music. Also many national artists were interviewed, both live and by telephone. Some of these programs are in the permanent archives of the prestigious Paley Center for the Media, New York City and Los Angeles. In addition, their acclaimed 50th Anniversary salute to Oklahoma! is also in the Rodgers and Hammerstein archives. Theatre bus tours were taken to nearby states, going to Outdoor Dramas.
1991 - Tennessee Players was commissioned by the elegant Fieldstone Inn, Hiawassee, Georgia, to present a stage production. The show was "Great Moments from Broadway Theatre." Featured were skits from five plays and eight musicals.
Tennessee Players proudly presented one of the great comedies in theatre history: You Can’t Take It With You…. by Moss Hart and George S. Kaufman, at the Goodpasture Performing Arts Center. It opened on Broadway in 1936 and ran for 838 performances.
Thurston acquired plans and sketches for the original Broadway set from the Theatre Archives of the Lincoln Center branch of the New York Public Library and he re-created the set for their production. When the curtains opened at Goodpasture there was loud applause for the set! There was a stellar cast and it was another star in Georgianna’s directing crown. The Moores also presented this in 1977 in New York City.
1992 - The first annual Middle Tennessee Theatre Festival was produced at the Looby Theatre, Nashville, October 2 - 11, with more than 35 theatre companies participating. Thurston Moore was the Executive Director for the Festival and two major evening productions, An Evening of Theatre and A Theatre Anthology.
Presented Harvey, starring Tom Dolan, in association with the Lakewood Theatre.
1993 - Produced Lincoln and the Civil War, an original production by Thurston Moore, in the Tennessee Performing Arts Center. This was one of the major events of Nashville's "Summer Lights Festival."
1995 - Produced the internationally acclaimed Multimedia Musical Dramatization, Words of Albert Schweitzer and the Music of Bach, conceived, written, and produced by Thurston Moore, at Scarritt-Bennett Center, directed by Georgianna. For the premiere people came from 14 states and included Dr. Schweitzer's daughter and Arun Gandhi, grandson of Mohandas K. Gandhi. Actor Hugh O'Brian came from California to speak the words of Dr. Schweitzer. He has since appeared in productions in Santa Barbara and Los Angeles, in Denver, in Nashville at Symposium 2000, and at the Washington National Cathedral. O'Brian appeared again at the 10th anniversary productions at Scarritt-Bennett, October 14-15, 2005.
Words of Albert Schweitzer and the Music of Bach has been presented more than 130 times, throughout the United States and in Canada, Belgium, France, and Denmark.
Well known organists, personalities and important people have been featured in the production, including Robert Thurman, Columbia University author and Tibetan scholar (NYC), NPR announcers Carl Kasell and Jean Cochran (DC), university presidents, state senators, and Tony Award-winning actor Hal Linden (CA), Naomi Tutu, daughter of Nobel Laureate Desmond M. Tutu (TN), Lee Meriwether, former Miss America (CA), and Thomas Warfield, nephew of opera singer, Leontyne Price.
1996 - Lincoln and the Fisk Jubilee Singers, conceived and produced by Thurston Moore, directed by Georgianna, was presented in Fisk Memorial Chapel. This was the 125th anniversary of the Jubilee Singers and the first time they appeared on stage with another actor or singer. Georgianna appeared as Mary Todd Lincoln.
2000 - Thurston Moore conceived and produced Symposium 2000 - World Peace through Reverence for Life, a 16-day international peace event, sponsored by Vanderbilt University. Speakers and participants came from many states, Canada, and several European countries. The Hiroshima Boys Choir was brought from Japan and spent a week visiting Middle Tennessee schools and presenting concerts at the Ryman Auditorium and at Middle Tennessee State University. The concert at MTSU was recorded live and the CD was produced by Tennessee Players. The title song, Childhood Dreams, was written by Thurston Moore.
Words of Albert Schweitzer and the Music of Bach was presented at St. Thomas Church, Strasbourg, France, and at the Historic Roskilde Cathedral in Denmark. (It was repeated in Denmark six months later.) Albert Schweitzer gave organ concerts in both.
Two major productions were presented as preludes to the Symposium: The Spirit of Albert Schweitzer, November 6, 1999, West End United Methodist Church, featuring Tony Gerber’s Spacecraft, dancers from the Nashville Ballet, choral and organ Music and bagpipes, and two narrators, all directed by Georgianna.
The Albert Schweitzer Tribute Concert, featuring major musicians and vocalists from the Blair School of Music, Vanderbilt, was presented at the Belcourt Theatre, with an opening film on the life of Schweitzer. The finale of this memorable sold-out concert was a two-piano duet (on Steinways) of the finale of Grieg’s Piano Concerto in A Minor. Produced by Thurston Moore.
2001 - Tennessee Players became international representative for noted Japanese artists Masaaki and Chikako Tanaka.
2002 - Thurston Moore delivered the "keynote address" at the International Conference on Universal Harmony through Reverence for Life, December 6-7, New Delhi, India. He brought messages from Dr. Schweitzer's daughter and Gandhi's grandson to the more than 2,000 people who attended. The President of India inaugurated the conference and spoke on the same day.
2003 - Words of Albert Schweitzer and the Music of Bach was presented in Romerohaus, Rijweg, Puurs, Belgium, and the first production in Canada, was in Vancouver, British Columbia.
The Message of the Sunflowers, story by Georgianna, narrated by Thurston Moore, was released on a CD, (complete with a package of sunflower seeds!) with beautiful music, courtesy of NAXOS of America.
2005 - An Albert Schweitzer Tribute Concert, featuring the music of Mozart, and the Words of Albert Schweitzer and the Music of Bach, were presented at The First United Methodist Church, in Santa Barbara, California, March 13, 1995. The afternoon concert featured Christiane Engel, Schweitzer’s granddaughter, on the Steinway, with the famed Stern Quartet from Prague, Czechoslovakia. The S-B production was presented in the evening.
Words of Albert Schweitzer and the Music of Bach was presented April 19, 2005, at the Holy Trinity Lutheran Church, New York City. Robert Thurman spoke the words of Schweitzer and Mayor Bloomberg proclaimed it Albert Schweitzer Day. In his proclamation, he stated ..."further establishes the Tennessee Players reputation as one of the nation's most innovative and conscientious arts organizations."
July - Words of Albert Schweitzer and the Music of Bach was presented at the Washington National Cathedral. The Tenth Anniversary production of Words of Albert Schweitzer and the Music of Bach with Gail Archer, concert organist who also played for the Schweitzer-Bach productions in Nevada and New York City, was held in Nashville. On October 15 she recorded the music of the production in Wightman Chapel at Scarritt-Bennett. This CD, Words of Albert Schweitzer and the Music of Bach, features selected words of Dr. Schweitzer, taken from the production and spoken by Robert Thurman, Columbia University.
Thurston Moore, accompanied by Tennessee Players’ Music Director, Debbie Wilson, traveled to France to visit Strasbourg, Dr. Schweitzer’s Gunsbach House, his birthplace and other important sites.
2006 - September 10 - Words of Albert Schweitzer and the Music of Bach was presented at the Trinity Evangelical Lutheran Church, Somerset, Pennsylvania, as part of a Commemorative program of the Fifth Anniversary of the Flight 93 crash of 9-11-01.
2007 - Dear World, a landmark 56-page book in full color with 2CDs featuring words and music pleading for peace and a better environment was released on Earth Day, April 22. Spoken over beautiful music, this compilation opens with these words spoken by Stefanie Powers, actress and President of the William Holden Wildlife Foundation:
"These songs speak of world peace, of love, of the environment, and of the hopes of a safer and more beautiful world -- a world that will embrace Dr. Albert Schweitzer's philosophy of a reverence for all that has life. May we draw inspiration from the words from these heroes of peace who exemplify the finest spirit of mankind."
The title of the CD is from the 1969 Broadway Musical, Dear World, written by Jerry Herman (Hello Dolly, Mame!, etc.) The publishers of the songs and the recording labels have given Tennessee Players rights to the use of the songs in the CD without royalty. There are 18 songs, including the title song with Angela Lansbury and the Broadway cast. (She won the Tony!) Other songs include I Want to Live, John Denver; Silent Ruin, Olivia Newton-John; and Let There Be Peace On Earth, Gladys Knight.
Also included on the CDs are the words of Nobel Peace Prize Laureates (permission granted by the Nobel Foundation) and of Heroes of Peace. Among those included are Albert Schweitzer, Archbishop Desmond M. Tutu, President Theodore Roosevelt, HH the Dalai Lama, Mahatma Gandhi, and Anne Frank.
The first in a series of CDs featuring the highlights from Tennessee Players’ radio programs, The Theatre Scene, were released.
2008 - Schweitzer-Bach productions continued as plans were made to commemorate the 60th Anniversary of Dr. Schweitzer's Only Visit to America. He came here in 1949 to deliver the Keynote Address at the Goethe Bicentennial Convocation in Aspen, Colorado.
Thurston Moore wrote a One-Man Show entitled Albert Schweitzer: Memoirs from Africa.
2009 - Albert Schweitzer Portrait: Tone Poem for Orchestra and Narrator, inspired by Aaron Copland's Lincoln Portrait, conceived by Thurston Moore, music by Gene Scheer, adapted and arranged by Jonathan McPhee, orchestrated by Gary Fry premiered in Boston May 9 with the Longwood Symphony. Speaking the words of Dr. Schweitzer was Dr. David Satcher, former Surgeon General. The United States premiere for Organ and Narrator was presented June 5, at the Rockefeller Memorial Chapel, University of Chicago, with Chapel Organist Thomas Weisflog. The LSO will be presenting it June 12, 2010.
Albert Schweitzer: Memoirs from Africa, starring Tom Dolan, had its world premiere in Aspen, Colorado, July 6, celebrating the 60th anniversary of Schweitzer’s trip to America to give the Goethe Address in Aspen, at the beautiful Aspen Chapel. Its Nashville premiere was at the Memorial Chapel at Fisk University, August 28. In attendance were Ian Stevenson from the Albert Schweitzer Fellowship, Boston, and Dr. Schweitzer’s granddaughter, concert pianist Christiane Engel.
August 29 - Words of Albert Schweitzer and the Music of Bach was presented at the Schermerhorn Symphony Center in Nashville, sponsored by The Martin Foundation, with Gail Archer at the organ. In attendance were Ian Stevenson and also Dr. Lachlan Forrow of the Fellowship, Christiane Engel and author, Renate zum Tobel.
October 29 – Thurston Moore went to Princeton, NJ, for his S-B production, at the Miller Chapel, Princeton Theological Seminary, Princeton University. Honored guests included Mrs. Joel Mattison; she and her husband worked with Dr. Schweitzer at his hospital in the 1960s. Also there were Mr. and Mrs. William H. Scheide, noted collector of rare books. The world-famous Scheide Library is part of the Library at the University.
2010 -- Thurston Moore commissioned the Nashville Ballet to produce a ballet on George Gershwin’s Lullaby, which he wrote for string quartet around 1919. This will be a world premiere of this beautiful music set to dance and will be accompanied by the famed Blair String Quartet.
Albert Schweitzer: Memoirs from Africa was filmed at The Renaissance Center in Dickson, Tennessee, and released on DVD. The play will be presented February 28, at the 4,000 member First Community Church in Columbus, Ohio. The Senior Minister, Rev. Richard A. Wing, will be publishing a book on Albert Schweitzer, and the DVD will be encased on the inside front cover.
Many productions of the Words of Albert Schweitzer and the Music of Bach are scheduled for 2010. Foremost will be the production at Nashville’s downtown Baptist Church, May 18, a highlight of the Festival of Homiletics, May 17-21. It will feature Naomi Tutu with an all-star cast, and Gail Archer playing Bach on their great organ. Thurston Moore’s work continues.
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