WTNZ Our Town • Cumberland County Playhouse • Cumberland County, Tennessee
n 1963, Crossville, Tennessee was a town you passed through on the way to other places. Located in Cumberland County, the town and surrounding Appalachian region was economically depressed. Resort and recreational development was in its infancy. High unemployment and poverty was normal.
In December of that year, Paul Crabtree's The Perils of Pinocchio was presented at the Crossville Junior High School with a cast, crew and orchestra of 200 youngsters. The performance electrified the community. to a community with no museums, college, university, live performance organizations, one movie theater and an hour-and-a-half drive to the nearest city, the idea was extremely compelling that Pinocchio might be the beginning of new educational horizons for their children.
Civic and cultural leaders asked Crabtree how they could keep things like Pinocchio happening in Crossville. He replied, Well, you'd have to build a theater. The old junior high auditorium isn't even safe. Remarkably, in a town of 5,000, in a county of 25,000, that's exactly what they did. The entire community got behind the idea of the Playhouse because people believed it could make a vital contribution to education and the local economy and help create some new jobs.
The Cumberland County Playhouse is now the only major non-profit professional performing arts resource in rural Tennessee, and one of the 10 largest professional theaters in rural America. It serves more than 145,000 visitors annually with two indoor and two outdoor states, young audience productions, a comprehensive dance program, a concert series and touring shows. The Cumberland County Playhouse is the only non-profit professional performing arts organization in Tennessee that wholly owns and operates its own major performance facility.
The Playhouse is committed to the arts as an indigenous, homegrown part of rural America - not a commodity imported from urban centers. The Playouse regularly produces new works based upon Tennessee and Southeastern history and culture, plus state and regional premieres and revivals of works with Appalachian themes. The Playhouse also strives to stretch its audiences with programming which includes major elements of opera, dance, and challenging dramatic works. The Playhouse features nearly 500 performances and 1600 classes in theatre, music and dance annually.
The Cumberland County Playhouse provides arts opportunities to a vast region underserved by other arts resources, including rural East and Middle Tennessee, North Georgia, Southern Kentucky, and Northern Alabama, as well as metropolitan Knoxville, Nashville and Chattanooga. In 1984, the Cumberland County Playhouse was the recipient of one of the Governor's Awards in the Arts for the state of Tennessee.
With an annual budget of over $1,800,000, the Playhouse is among Tennessee's most sufficient arts institutions. Since its opening in 1965, 78 - 85% of all revenues have been from earned income, including funding of the construction of the original facility. The Playhouse operates on a balanced budget and has no accumulated deficit. Construction of a 27,000 square foot expansion to the original facility has recently been completed, making the Playhouse a four-theater complex featuring proscenium, black box and outdoor arena spaces.
Episode 2320.2 | A Toast to Tennessee Wine Festival | Tennessee Crossroads
Tennessee Crossroads' Joe Elmore travels to Mt. Juliet, TN to toast Tennessee wine and the wineries that make it. Join Nashville Public Television's Tennessee Crossroads to find out more about A Toast to Tennessee Wine Festival.
Holiday Inn Express & Suites Crossvile- Crossville, Tennessee
Hotel and Resort photography & video by PhotoWeb (photowebusa.com)
Welcome to our Holiday Inn Express & Suites® Crossville, TN hotel. Situated in the heart of the Volunteer State, our accommodations provide convenient access to Highways 68, 70, 127, 101 and I-40, ideal for business and leisure travelers alike.
Outdoor enthusiasts lodging in Crossville, Tennessee are less than 10 miles from Cumberland State Park, which offers everything from canoeing and fishing to hiking, swimming and picnic facilities. Stonehaus and Chestnut Hill wineries offer a variety of activities for visitors from tastings to tours, and Cumberland Playhouse showcases local talent and color with original theatrical productions. Crossville Outlet Mall is a haven for shoppers and Fairfield Glade Resort is just six miles away. With more than 11 golf courses nearby, our Crossville, TN hotel also attracts skilled golfers.
Corporate travelers in Crossville, TN love our hotel's convenient business center and meeting space. We also offer free high-speed Internet access and in-room Wi-Fi access to keep guests connected. In addition, local companies like Colinx and Flowers Bakery are just minutes away.
Because we have contemporary, modern decor and quality amenities, including an indoor pool, spa, fitness center and a complimentary, hot breakfast bar, it's easy to see why those looking for lodging in Crossville, Tennessee opt for our Holiday Inn Express® hotel. Stay Smart and call us today!
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Video Journal - Day 12, Cumberland County
Day 12 of the Pickin' Up Tennessee tour takes place in Cumberland county, with a visit to the Cumberland County Playhouse, Cumberland Mountain Park and the World's Largest Tree House.
This video was produced by Mindflow Media for the Pickin' Up Tennessee project, a multi-platform litter awareness campaign conceived by Scenic Tennessee.
To find out more about this project and to see more videos, please check out pickinupTN.org and follow us on the following social media sites:
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