Music City is famous for its writers’ rounds — intimate acoustic showcases, where a handful of songwriters take turns playing their original songs and sharing the stories behind them.
But as Douglas Waterbury-Tieman can attest, Nashville is also home to a burgeoning new musical theater scene. And over the last several years, he’s been working closely with other artists to support the creation of new work through New Musical Theater Nashville.
“After graduating from Belmont University, we spent about seven years in New York City, where there were so many opportunities for musical theater writers,” says Waterbury-Tieman, a busy actor, musician and writer, who currently lives in Franklin with his wife (and fellow theater artist) Annabelle Fox, and their two young children. “Writers could get together — whether they were actually collaborating on a specific project, or just sharing ideas and encouraging each other. I had so many opportunities as a musical theater writer: the Johnny Mercer Writers Grove at Goodspeed Musicals, the [National Alliance for Musical Theatre’s] Festival of New Musicals, the Rhinebeck Writers Retreat. But when we moved back to the area in 2020, I didn’t see that same sort of thing happening anywhere. I mean, of course, no one was able to gather at that time due to the pandemic. But knowing how many writers and creators of new musicals were based here in town, I was surprised that we didn’t see the same kind of opportunities for development.”
Determined to rectify that situation, Waterbury-Tieman soon established New Musical Theater Nashville — a creative collective that enables composers and writers to connect and share their work. With support from the Johnny Mercer Foundation, he started putting together regular meetups for songwriters and playwrights interested in creating new musicals.
“That’s how it all started,” he says. “It was just about bringing writers of new musicals together. But I was so amazed — not only by the number of new musical writers living and working here in Middle Tennessee — but also by the quality of the work. We quickly realized that we needed to find a way to start getting this work in front of an audience.”
NMTN held its inaugural writers’ round-style performance in 2024, and never looked back. Now known as SongShare, the popular series takes place twice a year and features music and storytelling from some of the area’s best musical theater writers.
“SongShare has been such a blast,” Waterbury-Tieman says. “It’s a real grab-bag of different sounds and musical stylings. We usually have about a dozen writers, all presenting a single song from a new musical that they’ve written, or are currently writing. We perform at Anzie Blue in Hillsboro Village, and our next show is Oct. 18. People love it. We’ve been packing the house every single time, and it’s exciting to see so many different types of storytelling.”
Building on the success of SongShare, NMTN introduced The First Stage at the cozy Analog at Hutton Hotel in March 2026. Presented in partnership with Analog and the American Society of Composers, Authors and Publishers (ASCAP), this dynamic concert series highlights two new works each quarter, with writers offering 45-minute excerpts from original musicals in development.
“Where SongShare highlights a big mix of individual songs, The First Stage is more of a concert-level presentation,” Waterbury-Tieman explains. “It’s a great opportunity for writers to present a portion of a new musical that is pretty fully formed, although certainly still in process. The audience gets two 45-minute concerts – and a first look at some really cool new works. There’s nothing in town quite like it. We just started the series earlier this year, but the response has already been so amazing, and we’re really excited for our next show.”
That show happens this weekend, as The First Stage returns to Analog on Sept. 12.
The evening’s lineup includes two whimsical new works — Fetching Water (with book and lyrics by Leslie Becker and music by Michael Hunsaker) and Yeti or Not: A Bigfoot Musical (with book, music and lyrics by Brandon Marks, Sean Richards and Derek Hughes, plus additional material by Abby Nelson).
“These are both such fun, fanciful works, that invite audiences into a space of play and imagination,” Waterbury-Tieman says. “They’re both really approachable and entertaining. I think audiences are going to get totally caught up in both the music and the storytelling. And you’ll definitely recognize a lot of the performers on stage. NMTN doesn’t handle any of the casting for these shows, but there’s a lot of connectivity between the writers and creators, and local musical theater performers.
“When I think about where we started, and how far it’s all come, I’m just incredibly proud,” he adds. “To be able to support these new musicals, to be a real force in that development process – that’s our goal. That’s the dream. There’s so much talent here. I feel like we’re poised to create a real pipeline, connecting writers with performers, musicians and audiences – and reimagining this unique American art form.”
To learn more about NMTN and its upcoming performances, visit https://www.newmusicaltheaternashville.org/ or https://www.instagram.com/new_musical_theater_nashville/.