Darkhorse Theatre — Attraction in Nashville-Davidson

My wife and I saw a production of the Henrik Ibsen play Hedda Gabler. The theater is converted from what used to be a Presbyterian church. From what we could tell, there are actually two venues here. The play we saw was played out in a large room on the main floor, probably where the congregation would have gathered when it was a church. As we entered by the side door, we could see stairs going up to a second floor and could hear a production going on rather loudly upstairs, and we were concerned that the sound from the other play would intrude on the play we were seeing. However, once seated and watching the play, it became apparent that the two venues were adequately soundproofed, as we heard no more from the other production.

This is clearly a venue for amateur productions. There is no stage, no wings, no curtain, no place to hang backdrops nor any fixed seating. It is essentially a large almost empty room. The play is acted out in the middle of the room among whatever set decorations, furniture or props are arranged. For our play, which occurs mostly in the living room of a large house, the only set decorations were a couch with some pillows and an upright piano. At the back of the room was the sound and lighting equipment, with the sound and lighting engineer sitting at a table off to the side in front of a laptop to trigger the various light and sound effects as needed. The chairs for the audience were arranged three rows deep on two sides of the room, seating maybe 60 people. The audience was essentially on the same level as the actors, and the chairs in the front row were only inches away from the back of the couch. An audience member seated there could have easily reached out and touched the actors on the couch, giving the arrangement an intimate if somewhat unusual feel.

As there is no stage nor any wings, the actors had to exit the "stage" using the doors to the room, one of which actually opened to the outside. The "set" was comprised almost entirely of the couch, pillows, and piano. There was no curtain, so any set change, such as moving the couch and piano to different locations in the room, essentially giving the audience another camera angle, occurred in full view of the audience and the furniture moving was accomplished hurriedly by the principal actors themselves for minimal interruption of the action.

Given the sparseness and primitive nature of the venue, it's the actors and actresses who really need to carry the full weight of the performance, with only minimal help from the set, props, costumes, lighting and effects. Even with the limitations of the venue, the actors were still able to give an enjoyable performance to the audience, and the audience got to experience some very raw, intimate theater that was almost pure performance. If you wanted a lavish or elaborate production, you'll be very disappointed. But if you go in with the right set of expectations and can appreciate a minimalist production that's carried almost entirely by the acting, you'll probably have a...

my first visit to the dark horse theater, it was great ! enjoyed a well produced play, actors were on point, beautiful singing . it is a great date night, the price is very reasonable. watch for their schedule to see what coming up...

Interesting performance space, very intimate seats maybe 100 with comfortable seating going up stadium style. Have seen lots of interesting plays here some actors are more professional than others. It's a cross between community and...