性视界APP

The drama, written by 性视界APPn playwright Samuel D. Hunter, opens Friday, March 21 with performances continuing through Sunday, April 6.

Friday and Saturday performances are at 7:30 p.m., Sunday matinees at 2:30 p.m. Tickets are $20 for adults and $17 for seniors and available through the theatre’s website, .

鈥淭he Whale鈥� is about a reclusive professor, played by Meriwether, who hides away in his apartment in Moscow, Idaho, and slowly eats himself to death. Desperate to reconnect with his estranged daughter, Ellie, played by Weinman, he reaches out to find a wildly unhappy teenager.

Playhouse615 says due to the intense nature of the themes explored in the performances, the play is not suitable for anyone under the age of 17.

Nathan Basner, resident of Lebanon and a graduate of Cumberland University, has been acting on stage for nearly eight years. For 鈥淭he Whale,鈥� he is playing Elder Thomas.

鈥淚 started quite a bit late, senior year of high school. I guess it was a confidence thing, more than anything, but once I got into college, I started going out of my way to audition for shows, and I fell more and more in love with it,鈥� Basner said. 鈥淲ithin a month of being an English major, I switched to Theatre, and I will never regret it. Now, it's been about three years since I graduated, and I'm making my rounds to any and every community theatre around Nashville that will take me.鈥�

鈥淭he one thing I hope audiences will get when they walk out of this show is a new sense of beauty, the ability to see it everyday, in places they wouldn't have expected. Whether it's in a piece of writing, a knit sweater, a garishly painted house, the way a crooked tree bends in the wind or just an entire person,鈥� he added. 鈥淭here's too much of this world that is built on distrust and hatred today, and I can only hope that a show like this, however fictional it may or may not be, can open some eyes to the power in love, trust, joy and peace.鈥�

Mt. Juliet actor Joel Meriwether, the co-founder and Artistic Director for Playhouse 615, has been acting since high school. After graduating from Mt. Juliet Senior High School, he continued acting throughout college. Meriwether is playing Charley in 鈥淭he Whale.鈥�

He graduated from Lipscomb University in 1989 and received a graduate degree in Theatre from the University of Delaware. According to Meriwether, he has performed in more than 100 plays in Tennessee, Michigan, Delaware and New Hampshire. Meriwether also directed close to 50 productions in Middle Tennessee.

鈥淎bout 10 years ago, a theatre company in Nashville was producing 鈥楾he Whale鈥� and I had been asked to audition, but I wasn鈥檛 quite ready to be that vulnerable on stage,鈥� Meriwether said. 鈥淲hen the film starring Brenda Frazier came out in 2022, the idea came back around that it was something I might be interested in doing. We put it in the season at Playhouse 615, found a director, and here we are in rehearsals two weeks from opening.

鈥淭he biggest challenge in doing the role of Charlie is to present him as a fallible human and not a caricature, to present Charlie in a way that helps people to empathize with him,鈥� he added. 鈥淭he play is not about a 鈥榝at man.鈥� That is incidental. The play is universal. It鈥檚 about a man who wishes to reconnect with his daughter before he dies. Everyone can relate to that.鈥�

For more information, contact the theatre at 615-319-7031 or email playhouse615@yahoo.com.