Dramatic Duo

They were buddies as fellow English majors at Lipscomb in the 1990s, and now 15 years later they are buddies at Lipscomb once again, but this time running their own award-winning theater company based on campus.

Alumni Wes Driver (’96) and Greg Greene (’93) are making a foray into the burgeoning Nashville theater scene through their own nonprofit company called the Blackbird Theater. To date, Driver and Greene have opened two outstanding shows to rave reviews – one of them an original play co-written by the duo.

Driver and Greene met at Lipscomb where both young men majored in English with a minor in philosophy. Their shared affinity and talent for writing and theater drew them together.  Driver and Greene’s first collaboration was writing and filming a sitcom about a serial killer. Noting their potential, Larry Brown, Lipscomb theatre department chair in the 1990s and now a professor of theatre, commissioned them to write a murder mystery. They exceeded the challenge by creating a murder mystery trilogy called the “Murder at Avalon” series.

Experimenting with a phenomenon called the “24-hour play,” Driver and Greene wrote, produced and directed a play – all within the span of a day. From this initial experiment, they have produced five additional one-act plays to add to their repertoire. Greene noted that the “24 hour play” has now become a popular exercise for writers and actors in New York.

Their next major project was the creation of a musical about the gods of ancient Greece entitled Myth. While searching for a theater interested in putting on this show, they returned to Lipscomb and met with Mike Fernandez, current Lipscomb theatre department chair, who thought their work was great and encouraged them to start their own theater company. So they did, in partnership with Lipscomb’s theatre department.

“It’s to Lipscomb’s credit that we have a place to produce our own work. It is also thanks to the theatre department’s faculty, students and their talent that we have been able to elevate Lipscomb’s and Blackbird’s theater reputation,” Greene said.

By day, Driver and Greene work in the communication and design department of HCA’s information technology division; by night, they work on the production of shows for Blackbird. Both take on many roles in order to make this theater company a viable business venture.

Driver is the artistic director. He guides the actors, encouraging them to explore their characters and to understand what motivates them. Additionally, Driver is responsible for ensuring that the Blackbird Theater’s play selection stays true to the mission of the company, namely:  to showcase intelligent, little-known plays which generate an emotional and communal experience for the audience, ultimately eliciting greater appreciation for the theatrical medium of storytelling.

For the 2010-11 theater season, Blackbird produced their original work “Twilight of the Gods,” which was named the best new work of 2010 by the Nashville Scene, and Tom Stoppard’s “Arcadia,” both performed in Shamblin Theatre. For the 2011-12 season, they will produce G. K. Chesterton’s “Magic” and Stephen Sondheim’s “Pacific Overtures.”

Greene is the managing director at Blackbird. He organizes the legal and financial aspects of the company and focuses on their marketing strategy.  Greene also serves as producer for many of Blackbird’s shows. He strives to make the shows affordable in order to make theater accessible to the Nashville community. Additionally, he co-writes plays with Driver.

Driver and Greene hope to continue producing great work and growing their audience so that, as Driver puts it, “people will have their eyes opened to the artistic world, for there are so many discoveries to be made by experiencing plays.”