Dystopian Studios announces the filming of a new limited series in the Nashville and rural Tennessee area including the Paris area titled “Sitting Room Only” from writer/director Noah Way of Paris.
The “mockumentary” comedy centers around a fictional community theater company set in a small, Southern town as the eccentric staff navigate their upcoming season with little funding, all while a local third-rate documentary crew captures the antics.
The series boasts an eclectic cast of seasoned and up-and-coming actors, featuring William Guynn (Until Hollywood Calls) as the iconoclastic artistic director Archie Thompson, Noah Reilly (Babylon, Animal Kingdom) as the precocious big-city transplant Benji Locklear, Victoria Moore as the washed-up Marfa “Texas” McFadden, Hailey Prince as the mousy assistant Marcy Donahue, Vivian Gornik (Rose Colored Glasses) as the militant producer Sally Rowlands, with Noah Way (Chicago Fire, Captive State) as the ambitious film-bro director Tyler Wentz, and Rebecca Lines (Cobra Kai, House of Cards) as the town’s only screwball attorney and publicist.
The show is created and written by Noah Way of Paris whose previous work includes writing, directing, and producing feature films (Rink, Ekstasis) and will be co-produced by Memphis-based artist Anna Hefner, associate producer Bailey McSwain, and consulting producer Ava Leigh Stewart (South of Southern, Finster).
The six-episode limited series will be filmed on location in several areas of Nashville and rural Tennessee, to bring the Southern-set theatrical setting to life. Production begins filming in January 2025 and wraps by the end of winter. Independently produced by Dystopian Studios, “Sitting Room Only” is slated to release in late 2025 on Amazon, Tubi, and VOD platforms unless picked up by a mainstream distribution company.
“Sitting Room Only” is set to be a unique experience for viewers, with the original premise of a nearly-defunct community theater and the colorful characters of staff who often unintentionally do more harm than good to their own artistic mission. The show pokes fun and provides commentary to the cultural differences between large cities and small town lifestyles, people, and the art that brings them together. Another concept, not often seen for mockumentaries, is the film crew will not stay behind-the-scenes, but play an active role in the show’s auxiliary plot.
Dystopian Studios is a production company based in Chicago, Illinois and Nashville, Tennessee that commits to bringing innovative stories and thought-provoking content to audiences since its inception in 2016.