About the Book
Gold Medalist - Readers' Favorite 2023
Most start-ups struggle to thrive.
But here's how one small theater company turned obstacles into a rousing success.
A dilapidated boiler room filled with debris. Four friends looking for a home for their newly created theater company. What could go wrong? Better still, what could go
right?
An all-in-one entertainment archive, inspirational how-to guide, and heartwarming memoir spanning the birth, climax, and final curtain call of the award-winning Boiler Room Theatre in Franklin, Tennessee.
120 Seats in a Boiler Room: The Creation of a Courageous Professional Theater delivers the fascinating story of Nashville's "scrappy little theater that could" with sincerity, affection, and soul-stirring inspiration. Written by seven-time award-winning author and co-founder Lewis Kempfer, this blended account retells the story of the visionary quartet of theater colleagues who transformed a near-century-old boiler room building at The Factory at Franklin minutes south of Nashville into a highly successful and beloved professional theater. This hybrid memoir takes readers through the Boiler Room Theatre's first five-plus years and beckons their heartstrings to feel nothing but love and admiration for the theater's inspiring story.
Readers get to enjoy, show by show, the theater's burgeoning years as well as valuable "Hot Tips" for upcoming and seasoned theater owners and managers alike. Critical topics such as:
- Casting and staffing
- The importance of understudies
- Audience demographics and tolerance for show content
- Dealing with show licensing companies
- Navigating media relations
And much more are discussed and packaged into a helpful guide.
The story of a theater that stumbled, strived, and against all odds, triumphed on the shoulders of visionaries. Kempfer details some of the theater's boldest undertakings, from
A Chorus Line to
Chicago, from
The Rocky Horror Show to
Cabaret, and from
Sweeney Todd to
Sunday in the Park with George, and compiles accounts from multiple guest authors, furnishing readers with an enriched and vibrant portrait of the local treasure the Boiler Room Theatre evolved to be.
120 Seats in a Boiler Room: The Creation of a Courageous Professional Theater keeps the Boiler Room Theatre alive years after its final curtain call and inspires readers who, like its pioneers, have also been smitten with love for theater. Buy this book today for an entertaining and informative behind-the-scenes journey of one theater's years and triumphs.
Recipient of 7 Awards including:
* 2023 Gold Medalist Category Award from eLit Book Awards (Nonfiction->Fine Arts/Performing Arts)
* 2023 Gold Award from Literary Titan
* 2023 Silver Category Award from The BookFest (Nonfiction->Business->Entrepreneurship)
* 2023 Silver Category Award from The BookFest (Nonfiction->Business->Memoirs)
* 2022 Second Place Best Books Awards
WRITER'S DIGEST: "Great testimonials in the book...The cover design is attractive and does a great job of marketing the book to your audience. The 'What If?' chapter effectively shows readers the genre and purpose of your book and draws us into your life story. The book is very well organized: I enjoyed the interludes of Boiler [Room] Voices and Hot Tips among the narrative of each season. You share many entertaining anecdotes that theatre folks are certain to get a kick out of, while still keeping the book accessible to a non-theatre readership, who will learn a great deal about all of the unseen labor that goes into putting on shows and running a company. I enjoyed your vivid, engaging voice. The formatting of the text and layout of the pages are clean and reader-friendly. Great job with grammar, mechanics and proofreading."
