Local Theatre Company Continues With New Name

A local theatre company is moving into 2023 under a new name.

Kathy Gilpatrick is the president of Cookeville Theatre Company, formerly known as Storyteller Theatre Company. She said the decision was made for clarification purposes.

“We decided at that time,” Gilpatrick said. “We decided when we would do the residency at Storyteller House for the Arts that having the name, Storyteller Theatre Company which is a non-profit, was too similar to Storyteller House for the Arts, which is a for-profit facility really.”

Gilpatrick said going into the new year, the non-profit also has new goals. Not only do they plan on continuing efforts to provide more theatre opportunities, Gilpatrick said they also have a renewed emphasis on education.

Gilpatrick said they have already held a workshop for stage managing in theatre with Cumberland Playhouse Director Bryce McDonald. She said in 2023, they would like to host an acting workshop for beginners as well as audition classes.

“Right now we are working really hard on our next two shows coming up, one of them is ‘I Am My Ancestor’s Wildest Dream,’ and the other will be a series of monologues called ‘Women-Centric,'” Gilpatrick said. “But we see a lot of education in our future. We want to educate so our theatre productions can grow and you know even people who think they might want to go into theatre professionally, we can give them tools to help them start out.”

For more information on Cookeville Theatre Company and their upcoming productions, you can visit their website at https://cookevilletheatreco.org/