The Woolworth Theatre was the scene of protests and sit-ins in the 1960s. Starting in September, the Woolworth Theatre will host an Australian dance show called Thunder From Down Under
Back in February In 1960, in Nashville, a group of mostly black college students sat down at a lunch counter at a Woolworth’s store downtown to stage a peaceful protest against segregation. Next month, the historic building would become home to bare-chested men wearing underwear.
according to TennesseeThe male troupe Thunder From Down Under will begin a residency at what is now the Woolworth Theatre from September 26. This is said to be the Australian dancers' second permanent home; their first in Las Vegas.
The announcement is the latest stunning news to come out of the Woolworth, which after serving as a restaurant in 2010 was transformed into a theatre in 2022. It has since hosted a Cirque du Soleil-style show. Shinerwhich Nashville scene Described as “Pigeon Forge” [Tennessee] Dinner Theater – If Pigeon Forge allows more sexual innuendo, what's more offensive is the October 2022 premiere of “Black Lives Matter” by far-right actress Candace Owens The Greatest Lie Ever Sold: George Floyd and the Rise of Black Lives MatterThe show has featured guests such as Kanye West, Kid Rock, and Jason Aldean.
Thunder From Down Under looks set to shine and spin alongside ShinerAccording to a Woolworth's Theatre spokesperson, Shiner It has had its best year since opening in the fall of 2022. They wrote in an email to RS“There is no plan to close Shiner.”
While the male dancers are nowhere near the wreckage Nashville has attracted this summer — like the neo-Nazis who protested outside a chicken finger shop — it’s still hard to reconcile the raunchy, topless entertainment in such a revered space. Part of the lunch counter is still on display in one of the Woolworth’s front windows overlooking 5th Avenue North, which was renamed John Lewis Way by the Metro Nashville Council in 2021 in honor of the late U.S. congressman. Lewis was among the Woolworth’s protesters in 1960 and received his first arrest for civil disobedience after customers assaulted him.
Nashville has become more like “Nash Vegas” than “Music City” in recent years, gaining a reputation among tourists as a place for heavy drinking. In a new story by Nashville sign In a report looking at the dynamics of the city's Lower Broadway entertainment district — a few blocks south of Woolworth's — one former security guard describes the environment as a “drunken rodeo.”
Meanwhile, the city continues to grapple with the fallout from the lunch counter protests, including a series of unsolved bombings in 1960 that are the focus of author Betsy Phillips' new book. Nashville Dynamite: Exposing the Ku Klux Klan, the FBI, and Out-of-Control Bombers.
