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Style Sessions We Recommend

Sneak Peek: Junior League of Memphis Repeat Boutique’s 70th Birthday Sidewalk Sale

This Saturday, August 29th, the Repeat Boutique will hold a special sale to celebrate its 70th birthday, bringing in many new items donated from local companies in addition to their large stock of gently used merchandise. The thrift shop has been operated since the early 1940s by the Junior League of Memphis (JLM), one of the largest volunteer groups in the Mid-South. Aligning with the mission of the JLM to improve the Memphis community, the Repeat Boutique offers affordable clothing and housewares and reinvests the proceeds from their sales into services, projects, and programs that impact the community.

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“I witnessed the dual mission of the Repeat Boutique firsthand during my first-ever volunteer shift at the store. As I was straightening up a clothes rack, a customer came up to me and shared that she was starting a brand new job at an office and needed help putting together some business professional outfits. What a fun time we had talking about her new job, how hard she had worked to get the opportunity, and we found some great bargains that made her feel like a million bucks and ready to take the professional world by storm! The funds the JLM raises through the Repeat Boutique are so critical to our work in the community, but the quality merchandise at affordable prices are also a great service to our customers and patrons. It’s truly a win-win.”

– Amy Stack, JLM President, about her experience with Repeat Boutique

The Repeat Boutique prides itself in this level of customer service. “It’s more than a thrift shop. It’s a place to enjoy shopping,” says Jackie Jefferson, the boutique assistant manager, who helps make sure customers enjoy their experience. She and Gracie Tuten, boutique manager, has been there for over 10 years. Whether it’s helping pull together special items or alerting customers on that one item they’ve been searching for has arrived. 

The regular stock includes gently used clothing, shoes and accessories for all ages; small home furnishings; housewares; and children’s items. Some of the women’s items vary from casual wear to formal wear including wedding dresses. For the sidewalk sale, IO Metro has donated new furniture including sectionals, occasional chairs and dressers. In the photos here, some of the new clothing pieces saved for tomorrow are fall jackets, sweaters, and jewelry.

Sale starts at 10 a.m. Find them at 3586 Summer Avenue.

Anniversary Sidewalk Sale: this Saturday 10 a.m. to 5 p.m.
Regular store hours: Tuesday – Saturday 10 a.m. to 5 p.m.

Special thanks to boutique assistant manager Jackie Jefferson for the product displays and regular customer Angela Davidson for modeling the pieces shown here.

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News News Blog

Wendi Thomas Chosen for Harvard Journalism Fellowship

Wendi Thomas

Memphis Flyer columnist Wendi C. Thomas will be spending the next 10 months as a fellow with the Nieman Foundation for Journalism at Harvard University.

Thomas joins 22 other U.S.-based and international journalists for the highly selective fellowship. She is the Louis Stark Nieman Fellow. The fellowship honors the memory of the New York Times reporter who was a pioneer in the field of labor reporting.

While at Harvard, Thomas plans to study economic justice and public policy and how to deepen the public conversation about the intersection of the two.

Her career spans 22 years and four newsrooms, including The Commercial Appeal, where she was the metro columnist and assistant managing editor for 11 years. Previously, she was an editor at The Charlotte Observer, a reporter and editor at The Tennessean in Nashville and a reporter at The Indianapolis Star. She is a graduate of Butler University.

The purpose of the Nieman Foundation is to educate leaders in journalism and elevate the standards of the profession through special programs that convene scholars and experts in all fields.

Since 1938, more than 1,400 journalists from 93 countries have been awarded Nieman Fellowships.

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News News Blog

Memphis Zoo Launches Naming Contest for Baby Red Panda

Karen Pulfer Focht

A red panda cub was born at the Memphis Zoo on June 3rd. He’s currently being reared on-site in the red panda night house, but the zoo hasn’t yet given him a name. 

On Friday at noon, the Memphis Zoo launched a naming contest. They’re calling on the public to submit names on the Memphis Zoo Facebook page between August 28th and September 8th. And then, between September 10th and 18th, the public will vote on their favorite name. The winning name will be revealed on September 19th, which also happens to be International Red Panda Day.

The baby was born to parents Justin and Lucille, and Director of Animal Programs Matt Thompson said Lucille has been a great mother so far.

“Lucille is turning out to be quite an excellent the mother. Especially for a first-time mother, Lucille’s instincts have been impeccable,” Thompson said.

“Red pandas are a lessor-known and endangered species, so we wanted to hold this naming contest to help bring awareness about these cute little guys,” said Laura Doty, marketing and communications manager for the Memphis Zoo. “It’s also a fun way to name animals, and we hope to get children and adults of all ages involved. This will be a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity for someone to forever be a part of the Memphis Zoo’s history.”

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News News Blog

Tour of Church Health Center’s New Space in Crosstown Building

The Church Health Center (CHC), one of the main tenants to be located in the Crosstown Concourse building, gave a hard hat tour on Thursday afternoon of what will be their new space when construction on the million-square-foot former Sears Crosstown building wraps up in early 2017.

The CHC is consolidating their entire operation, including their Church Health Center Wellness facility on Union, into the Crosstown building. Currently, the CHC operates out of 13 buildings. Their main space will occupy all of the second floor of the Crosstown building, but they’ll also inhabit some of the first floor and have some office spaces on the third floor.

The move will allow the CHC to increase their square footage from 120,600 feet to 149,000 feet. The building will also house Memphis Teacher Residency, Gestalt Community Schools, St. Jude Children’s Research Hospital, Christian Brothers University, A Step Ahead Foundation, Crosstown Arts, and several other health and education institutions and foundations.

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Food & Drink Hungry Memphis

A Sneak Peek at the Cheesecake Factory

The buzz around town is all about The Cheesecake Factory that opens on Tuesday, September 1st. I got to attend a soft opening and let me tell you, they don’t mess around!

To start off, I had the guacamole made-to-order ($11.95). It had ripe avocado, onion, tomato, chiles, cilantro and fresh lime. The guacamole was served with tortilla chips, salsa, and sour cream. You can really taste the lime. The guacamole is chunky, lightly salted, has a hint of spiciness to it, and there’s a nice amount of cilantro. You can tell that everything was made fresh. The chips are thin and crunchy, just how I like it. To be honest, I didn’t even need the chips. That’s how good the guacamole was. I appreciated the side servings of salsa and sour cream. You normally don’t see that and the sour cream just made my guacamole creamier.

For my entrée I went with the Americana Cheeseburger ($13.50). The burger has American and cheddar cheese, crunchy potato crisps, lettuce, tomato, grilled onions, pickles, and secret sauce. There’s a creamy vibe going on with the two cheeses blending together. It’s literally melting in my mouth. The burger is juicy and meaty. The ground beef patty is perfectly cooked. By the way, the portion is HUGE and messy. It’s a delicious and fun messy, though. I had to fight to get the whole thing into my mouth. Challenge accepted. However, I failed. I wound up packing half of it to go and got two meals out of it. The secret sauce tastes very similar to ranch dressing and the potato crisps are pretty much thin, straw-like fries. 

Last but not least, dessert. How could I go to The Cheesecake Factory and not have any cheesecake?

I went with the Oreo Dream Extreme Cheesecake ($7.95). With a name like that I should have just quit while I was ahead, but go big or go home! I wanted to do this right! Oreo cookies are baked into this cheesecake with layers of fudge cake and Oreo cookie mouse. Then it’s topped with a milk chocolate icing and a piece of an Oreo cookie! The cheesecake is rich, creamy, sweet chocolatey goodness. That’s all I’ve got for you. Really, you have to try it for yourself. It’s to die for! I will say that the Oreos on the inside of the cheesecake are soft and there appeared to be chocolate chips on the side of the cheesecake that were nice and crunchy. It made for a great texture change. The whipped cream served on the side with Oreo crumbles freshened everything up. I ate that separately! YUMMY!

Trust me, you’ll want to be the first in line when The Cheesecake Factory opens Tuesday. Especially if you’ve never been!

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Categories
Film/TV Film/TV/Etc. Blog

Throwback August: Brokeback Mountain

To talk about Brokeback Mountain today is to bring up two separate things: Ang Lee’s Oscar-winning epic about forbidden love in the American West, and “gay cowboy movie” memes. It is unfortunate but not surprising that Brokeback Mountain is more memorable for its sound clips (who hasn’t said “I wish I knew how to quit you” to a slice of pizza?) than for its cinematic achievement.

Brokeback Mountain is a movie about gay cowboys, but that’s sort of like saying Titanic is a movie about boating hazards. Brokeback is a love story, told with the simultaneous drama and reserve of Annie Proulx’s original short story. Proulx describes the mountain where Jack and Ennis meet as “boiled with demonic energy, glazed with flickering broken-cloud light, the wind combed the grass and drew from the damaged krummholz and slit rock a bestial drone.” Lee’s cinematography likewise describes the men’s love through focus on the natural; their entanglement as uncontrollable and unpredictable as a summer hail storm.

Heath Leger as Ennis Del Mar

Heath Ledger, Jake Gyllenhall, Michelle Williams and Anne Hathaway all brought incredible performances. This is a big reason that Brokeback stands out from the crowd of mid-2000s movies with gay storylines: Transamerica (2005), My Summer of Love (2004), Far From Heaven (2002), and Wild Tigers I Have Known (2006.) All good films with good actors, but none that carried the emotional heat of Ledger’s “Jack, I swear” or Gyllenhall yelling, “This is a goddamn bitch of an unsatisfactory situation.”

Politically speaking, we can see that Brokeback unquestionably presaged the current visibility and successes of the gay rights movement. But with visibility and political actualization, there is a loss of some specialness, the “otherwise” character of gay life. It is possible to read Brokeback Mountain simultaneously as a break-out moment for gay rights and a movie that said gayness was most palatable from straight-passing, white cowboys.

Jack Gyllenhaal as Jack Twist

Regardless, Brokeback is an incredible film, work of art deserving of the accolades it received. It did something important to undermine Ennis tragic mantra: “If you can’t fix it; you’ve got to stand it.” 10 years on we can say with more honesty than ever before: you do have to stand it, unless you don’t. 

Throwback August: Brokeback Mountain

Categories
Intermission Impossible Theater

Ostrander Awards Update: Who Else Got Robbed?

I just realized that I left a fairly significant performance off of my “who got robbed” list. That means poor John Hemphill was double robbed. So much about The Addams Family was recognized, I didn’t really start noticing the omissions until I was in the thick of it.

This one may actually be the most glaring. 

This is the face of a man who has been ROBBED!

So, instead of updating my last post, I’m giving Hemphill a post of his very own. As I wrote in my original review of the show, “It’s a joy to see Wednesday torturing Pugsley, but nothing in this world is better than watching John Hemphill’s Uncle Fester professing his love to the moon.”

And that’s the truth.  

Categories
News The Fly-By

TEDxMemphis Launches This Weekend

TEDx will be arriving in Memphis this weekend, and it’s all thanks to a high school senior.

Patton Orr, a senior at Memphis University School, has been interested in TED Talks — which stands for Technology, Entertainment, and Design — since he was a freshman. And now Orr is the brain behind launching a Memphis version, which will feature multiple monologues of 18-minutes or less on one particular topic, on Saturday, August 29th.

Kimbal Musk

The one-day TEDx event will feature entrepreneur Kimbal Musk, hip-hop artist Marco Pavé, Memphis Grizzlies President of Business Operations Jason Wexler, Church Health Center CEO Dr. Scott Morris, New Ballet Ensemble founder Katie Smythe and 12 others, ranging from backgrounds of education and art to business and nonprofit. TEDxMemphis is sold out, but the event will be available to watch online around September 7th.

Marco Pave

Orr’s sister, who attends the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, attended a TED conference and eventually went on to work in their TEDx program, which helps independent organizers create a TED-like speaker event in their own cities.

Orr became curious about the organization and its events. He found himself looking at a map of TEDx offerings and saw a hole.

“To me, it looked like Memphis was really the largest market in the United States still remaining without a TEDx event,” he said. “So instead of waiting around for someone to organize that, I decided to do it myself.”

After Orr got into the process, he realized he couldn’t do TEDx justice if he continued alone.

“I’m only 18 years old,” he said. “I soon realized if I tried to control this conference myself or be the sole person trying to organize it, it was just not going to be the kind of large event that could really impact the city the way I wanted it to.”

Ownership over the event wasn’t important to him, Orr said. Anna Mullins, the director of marketing and communications from the New Memphis Institute, attended the early committee meetings and stepped in at the request of Orr. The New Memphis Institute focuses on attracting and retaining local talent.

TEDx events usually have an overarching theme. TEDxMemphis’ theme this year is “What’s Next?”

“The ideas are typically thought-provoking, innovative, provocative in some way,” Mullins said. “They’ve become very diverse in their topics. There are really popular talks that are three minutes long that talk about tying your shoes, and there are talks that are 18 minutes long that talk about food scarcity globally.”

“We really see this as an opportunity for ideas to converge and challenge one another,” Mullins said. “Hopefully, it’ll spark discussion.”

“So many people, and teenagers especially, are always saying, ‘Get me out of Memphis,'” Orr said. “It just makes me sad. I love to see when people take pride in our city, when people share ideas with each other, when people showcase the positives in Memphis, because there are so many. There are so many great things happening here, especially within the last couple of years.”

Categories
Politics Politics Beat Blog

Throwback Thursday — Hillary Clinton at the Hotel Peabody, 1992

JB

Just a reminder. This was in the pre-First Lady days — the pre-pantsuit days, if you will. She was taking a breather during a campaign stop on Bill’s behalf. David Cocke, John Freeman, and I shared some down time with her.

The original photo was actually much clearer. This is just how the scan came through.

Categories
Intermission Impossible Theater

Intermission Impossible’s 2015 Ostrander Predictions — And WHO GOT ROBBED?

Who do I think will win this year’s play prizes? And who got a raw deal? I’ve got some pretty strong feelings. I’ve also got some real blind spots. This year more than most. 

ROXY!

This is where I was hanging when you were doing the best work of your career.

See, I went out of town in March to direct a production of Measure for Measure at The Roxy Regional Theatre in Clarksville, TN. While the rehearsal process was only ten terrifying days long I was effectively out of town for four weekends. That was enough time to miss All My Sons, Assassins, Boy from Oz, Vanya and Sonia and Masha, and Spike, and Good Woman of Setzuan. I’m sure I’m leaving something out.

Measure for Measure

This is probably why I missed your show.

While I hate to have missed that much, it was really nice to get away and make some theater for a change. And the amount I missed in that short time really says something about just how much we’ve got going on locally these days.

Now that apologies (or something like them) have been made, here are my predictions for the outcome of this year’s Ostrander Awards. And, more importantly I will attempt to answer the question, “WHO GOT ROBBED?” 

Theatre Memphis

These guys did not get robbed. Well, most of them didn’t.


Set Design

Kiss Me Kate was clever, The Heiress was pretty, and The Addams Family will most likely win the prize due to epic ookieness. But these were all enormous undertakings. I tend to value simple gestures, economy, and effectiveness. So, I’m calling this one for Ekundayo Bandele. His ruined streetscape was the best thing about a strong production of August Wilson’s King Hedley II.

Who got robbed? I’m shaking my damn head over this one. Yes, The Heiress was nice, but those Home Depot wall sconces just about made me faint. This year’s nominees are (almost) all about ostentation and verisimilitude. Where’s the subtlety? Where’s the poetry? Where’s The Seagull? Where’s Mountain View? Where’s Gospel at Colonus?

The swing on Terry Twyman’s Mountain View set allowed the play’s action to mimic its soaring, fanciful language. Jack Yates has already been recognized for his more ostentatious work on The Addams Family, but his design for Rapture, Blister, Burn used Theatre Memphis’ Next Stage in a way it’s never been used before and transformed Middle-class anxiety into comfort. Kathy Haaga’s Gospel at Colonus set stopped time in its tracks, dropping audiences in the middle of a classical ruin that seemed to be both ancient and post-apocalyptic. It was a space built for poetry and magic, and brilliantly incomplete. Sets that aren’t finished until the actors are on stage are the best kinds of sets. That wonderful wanting is what separates good design from greatness. The Seagull/Vanya and Sonia… had it too.

Gospel truth.

Costumes

It’s possible and even likely that this could tip toward The Addams Family, which requires lots of weirdness and whimsy. And, as someone who really thinks we’d all be better off if every copy of this lackluster script and score fell into the ocean, I’ve got to admit, the creative team knocked it out of the park. I’m erring on the side of elegance and calling it for Andre Bruce Ward and The Heiress.

Lighting

I’m thinking Jeremy Allen Fisher may win this year for Of Mice and Men at Theatre Memphis. It was a misguided design created to illuminate an overdone set, rather than to frame actors and the action. Still, it was all awfully pretty, and this is Of Mice and Men’s only nomination. That feels significant.

Who got robbed? Daniel Kopera, come on down!  Kopera was both scenic and lighting designer for Copenhagen. He imagined a space that expressed space— and time. Three unremarkable black chairs sat in a pitch black environment. Formulas and wave signs were scribbled in white on the floor. The next dimension was made apparent when similar formulas were projected across actors inhabiting the void. 

Bad means good.

Music Direction

Yeah, I’ve got some issues with Kiss Me Kate, but they’ve got nothing to do with that wonderful Cole Porter score. Adam Laird and Co. got every bit of it just right.

Sound Design

Gene Elliott built a textured soundscape for New Moon’s, The Woman In Black. Let’s go with that one. And while I’m thinking about it, The Woman in Black ‘s set probably deserved a nod too. The design wasn’t spectacular, but it transformed TheatreWorks spectacularly. Maybe you need to have visited some out of the way European playhouse to appreciate just how spectacularly.

Choreography

I’m a little bit in awe of Emma Crystal. Once on This Island was a fantastic showcase for what she does.

Who got robbed? Emma Crystal, duh. Her Once on this Island work was showy. But her minimal choreography for Gospel at Colonus was powerful glue holding a difficult show together.

Supporting Actress in a Musical

This is a shot in the dark. I’m picking Renee Davis Brame though, because A) I saw her, B) She was excellent, and C) In a show as mismanaged as Company was, standouts really stand out.

Who got robbed? Pretty much everybody in Simply Simone not named Keia Johnson. Also, two of the best things about The Addams Family: Brie Leazer (Wednesday) and Loraine Cotton (Alice). 
Mandatory Cure Reference

Kiss me, kiss me, kiss me!


Supporting Actor in a Musical

Justin Asher was a lurching joy as Lurch in The Addams Family, and Barry Fuller was easily the best thing about Anything Goes. But Marc Gill’s dance moves burned a hole in the Hattiloo’s brand new stage, and he was positively sinister in Once on this Island. He should win.

Who got robbed? I dunno. 

Leading Actress in a Musical

Emily F. Chateau was a deliciously morbid Morticia in The Addams Family, but Nina Simone has been getting long overdue attention this year, and I’m calling this one for Keia Johnson who raised the roof in the Hattiloo’s production of Simply Simone.

Leading Actor in a Musical

Look. This award has to belong to Jerre Dye. It has to, right? His Frank N. Furter was a hot mess of a house on fire. Rocky Horror was an enormous success for Playhouse. Audiences adored it. The Ostrander judges practically ignored it. With some exceptions, I think I agree with the judges. But only because it was the Jerre Dye show, and not much else. If you like the volume turned up to 11 (and never turned down), holy shit!

Direction of a Musical

When you want to go big, Cecelia Wingate’s the director to call. That makes me sad a little because I love it so much when she does little shows with big dynamics. But no matter how you slice it, the woman’s a damn miracle worker.  The Addams Family isn’t a masterpiece. That’s a true fact that people who’ve only seen her production probably don’t know.

Who Got Robbed? Gospel at Colonus is a difficult prospect. It may not have been perfect. It may not be a winner. But Tony Horne pulled the threads together, and kept them together in the face of adversity. A nomination seems in order.

Best Musical Production

I love Assassins. Great book, great music, bold ideas. Didn’t see it at Circuit. Oops. Kiss Me Kate has a charming score, and a handful of funny bits but it wasn’t special in any way.  I’ve never been a fan of Once on This Island and regard Mary Poppins as more of a tourist destination than a piece of theater. I’ve already said my piece about The Addams Family, which I suspect will win.
Caskey

‘Nominate me! Wooooosh!’

Supporting Actress in a Drama

JoLynne Palmer (Vanya and Sonia and Masha and Spike) has been having a great year. So has Ann Sharp (The Heiress) and Cecelia Wingate (Distance). I’m happy to see Madeline Glenn Thomas (Bad Jews) on this list because she was so good in a role that’s not especially showy. Now, if you’ll pardon me, I’m gonna go off the rails a  bit.

Anne Marie Caskey is a wonderful artist but her inclusion in this category is  baffling. Voices of the South had a really tough year and The Awakening was a disaster. It’s probably safe to say that the play’s shortcomings helped motivate VOTS’s founding members to step back into leadership roles. Was Caskey the best thing about that misguided outing? Probably. And in the midst of the awfulness, she even pulled off an exceptional bit of pantomime. But her character, like everything else in the show, was vague and somnambulant. I mention all of this because…

Who got robbed? A lot of people. I’m still trying to figure out how Rapture, Blister, Burn wasn’t nominated for anything this year. Nothing. Zip. Squat. Diddly. Bupkus. Zilch. I haven’t seen a comedy done that well at Theatre Memphis in years. Ann Sharp and Tracie Hansom both merit supporting nominations. But Jillian Barron, hilarious as the play’s lone millennial, was straight judge mugged.

Also robbed? Jenny Odle Madden. Steve Swift and Cecelia Wingate were both very good in Distance. JoLynne Palmer was often amazing. But Madden was something else. I could feel the physical and mental exhaustion she projected through the back wall of TheatreSouth. She nailed every aspect of a daughter dutifully caring for a mother who was difficult even before she started losing her mind. If not a nomination, will somebody please at least give this extraordinary performer a hug? Damn.

(robbed)

Rapture, Blister, Burn… ROBBED!

Supporting Actor in a Drama

I hate that I didn’t see Marques Brown in All My Sons, Germantown Community Theatre. It’s one of my favorite plays, and he’s one of my favorite actors. Matt Nelson was good in Bad Jews, Cameron Reeves was responsible for many of Tribes, best moments. Steve Swift was born to play the hairdresser with a heart of gold in Distance. But I was especially smitten by Jonathan Williams, who played the sooth/truth-sayer character in the Hattiloo’s King Hedley II. It’s hard to make that role convincing, but nobody bothered to tell WIlliams. If Brown doesn’t win— and it makes sense to me that he could—it’s Hattiloo time. .

Who got robbed? Steven Burk keeps getting better and better. Solid evidence: Rapture, Blister, Burn. Also robbed? The esteemed Michael Gravois, most famous for being Michael Gravois. In this case, for his top drawer work in The Seagull.


Leading Actress in a Drama

This is a tough one. Laura Stracko Franks was fantastic in Bad Jews, and her hair probably deserves its own separate nomination. JoLynne Palmer’s depiction of a woman slipping into dementia transformed Distance from a work in progress into a must-see theatrical event. If Pamela Poletti doesn’t win for All My Sons — which could certainly happen — I think Palmer takes the prize.

Who got Robbed? Call the police and your insurance company Erin Shelton of Rapture, Blister, Burn. You’ve been burgled. Also robbed? Dear Morgan Howard, poor wounded creature. The Seagull was yours. You owned it. But wait, there’s more!  Copenhagen boasted a tight ensemble. Mary Buchignani kept all the boys in line. She was 100% ripped off!

Leading Actor in a Drama

Michael Detroit’s work in Seminar was asshole-and-shoulders above the formidable competition. He owns “overbearing/good-intentioned sleeze-bucket.” 

Who got robbed? Ekundayo Bandele, King Hedley II. And probably Michael Ewing in The Seagull.

Intermission Impossible’s 2015 Ostrander Predictions — And WHO GOT ROBBED? (2)

Direction of a Drama

Rapture, Blister, Burn and Attorney/Joker Part Sign aren’t even nominated, so I don’t much care. I suspect Irene Crist will win for Seminar, which is fine. It was good. But she’s  done better work this year.

Who got robbed? In addition to Tony Isbell (RBB) and Alex Skitolsky (A/JPS)? Copenhagen is an incredibly difficult play to stage. Stephen Huff made it sing. 

Best Production of a Drama

This one is hard. I didn’t see All My Sons. Sigh. And given the choice between Vanya and Sonia and Masha and Spike or The Seagull (both at Playhouse on the Square), I picked The Seagull, which was fantastic, but isn’t nominated. Distance had moments, but it just isn’t done yet and The Heiress had some discernible imperfections. I think this one probably belongs to Seminar.

Who got robbed? For the love of God, somebody call an ambulance because Rapture, Blister, Burn is bleeding here. Also robbed and bleeding? The Seagull. The Seagull is bleeding. {pathetic squawking noise here} 

ROBBED!

Copenhagen was up to snuff.

Best Original Script/Production

Voices of the South’s Distance will probably win both categories even though it was lean on production values compared to Mountain View and We Live Here. JoLynne Palmer’s performance was so strong, and even though he’s a Chicago homeowner these days, playwright Jerre Dye remains a local institution.

Who got robbed? The most interesting piece of original theater on any stage this season was Attorney/Joker Part Sign. For most of its 25-years Our Own Voice Theater Troupe has collaborated with Randy Wayne Youngblood, a schizophrenic playwright with a gift for startling imagery. When Youngblood died last year OOVC alum Alex Skitolsky got busy adapting his last completed work, Attorney/Joker Part Sign. A/J was a weird riff on pop culture and identity patched together from pieces of 70’s and 80’s-era song lyrics, parts of John Steinbeck’s Of Mice and Men, and bits of the old vampire soap opera Dark Shadows. There was meta-story there too about a community of artists celebrating a special person they loved very much.

But was A/J the best? I don’t know if I always know what “best” means. But it was as ambitious as anything else listed here,  more satisfying than most of the nominees, and unlike any other piece of theater nominated in any other category, it was of, by, and for an identifiable community of artists and consumers. 

And that’s about all I’ve got to say about that. See you all at the Ostranders!

Intermission Impossible’s 2015 Ostrander Predictions — And WHO GOT ROBBED?

(Brought to you by the good folks at Memphis and ArtsMemphis)