Things to Do in Smyrna

While bringing your own paint to one of Art by the Glass's classes is as pointless and unnecessary as male nipples, bringing your own wine or beer to an Art by the Glass class is as liberating as it is legal. Pair your storebought chardonnay with an evening of brush-stroking contemporary paisley trees on Friday, May 14, or get painted away again in margaritaville during the beach-inspired class on Thursday, June 10.

The Belcourt Theatre has served up piping hot, crunchy pop culture under various monikers since its days as a silent movie house in 1925. A not-for-profit independent movie theater dedicated to preserving its precious plot of history and revitalizing Nashville culture through film, the Belcourt hosts movies, music, and live theater fresh from society's collective unconscious. With the Screenwriter Membership, you and one other person can take advantage of a year's worth of $5.75 tickets to all movies (excluding special events). The Belcourt's screenings run the artistic gamut, featuring both repertory films such as Flash Gordon and Hitchcock's classic North by Northwest, and first-run films such as The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo and Harmony Korine's Trash Humpers. Also featured are programs such as Weekend Classics, which highlights actors and directors like Cary Grant and Akira Kurosawa, or the Midnight Movies series—screenings of cult-leaning movies from the likes of David Lynch, John Hughes, and others.

Revisit E. B. White's classic tale of Charlotte's Web, where Wilbur the runt piglet is saved from becoming his farmer's dinner by a lovable spider named Charlotte. With help from the other barn animals, Wilbur becomes a pig savant instead of a pig savory in this poignant children's story. Charlotte's Web is playing on June 5 at 2 p.m., June 11 at 6:30 p.m., June 19 at 2 p.m., and June 25 at 6:30 p.m.

Throughout the eight-week summer session, the School of Nashville Ballet offers a variety of dance classes for people of all skill levels. Experience is not necessary for the classes, which are all taught by professional instructors. Dance styles covered in classes include jazz dance, hip-hop, contemporary, or tap. The modern and fusion Pilates fitness-dance classes are open for all who wish to get in shape and groove at the same time, while ballet-minded individuals can choose from several options. The intro-to-ballet class teaches the basics, and intermediate and advanced ballet classes help students hone their skills and master tricky maneuvers. Beginners are encouraged to attend classes early in the session, as instruction will progress throughout the season. Check the schedule and call the School of Nashville Ballet for specific information on class availability.

Walking through Belmont Mansion's Victorian-era plantation is like exploring an alternate history. The stories presented by the 2,000 artifacts that fill the 18 rooms are all true, but in place of the 19th-century South's traditionally male-dominated household, tour takers witness evidence of a plantation controlled, enlivened, and energized by a woman. After inheriting a fortune from her first husband, Adelicia Hayes Franklin Acklen Cheatham oversaw the construction of the mansion with her second husband, basing the style off an Italian villa and completing the project's first phase in 1853. Over the years it would change appearances as dramatically as a caterpillar on Halloween—sometimes by her hand and sometimes not. She commissioned a Prussian-born architect to expand and embellish the house six years after completion, and fled as the Civil War's Battle of Nashville destroyed most of the plantation's outbuildings, including the greenhouse, bear house, and zoo. After Adelicia sold her home in 1887, it transformed into a girl's school, then a girl's academy and junior college, and, in 1952, became part of the Belmont University campus.

Today, Belmont Mansion is the largest house museum in Tennessee, inviting visitors to wander past cast-iron neoclassical statues in the gardens, to cross the fountain courtyard, and to study the original water tower and few remaining gazebos. Stoic marble busts, decorative boxes, and a four-post bed fill the interior's 10,000 square feet, alongside more than 120 works of art. During a themed art tour, which is not included with this Groupon, expert docent Mancil Ezell introduces visitors to these masterpieces, including two 400-year-old Flemish paintings. And for those bright-eyed visitors captivated by the surroundings, the staff also coordinates weddings, building on a tradition established when Adelicia married her third husband on the grounds in 1867.