Friends For All headquarters (Photo: Courtesy Friends For All)
This Saturday, the nonprofit Friends For All will celebrate its 40th Birthday Bash at its headquarters. The family-friendly event will include free community resources, CEO panel with Q&A, activities, food from Memphis-based food trucks, and a birthday cake.
“It’ll be an opportunity for us to not only show off our new building [completed in October 2023], but also show off the activities that we do inside this building,” says Friends For All CEO Diane Duke. That means cooking demonstrations with a registered dietitian, dance classes, art classes, and more. “We’ll have tours of the building, talking about what we do here, so kind of an open house, get to know us, celebrate 40 years.”
Friends For All started as Friends for Life in 1985 at the height of the AIDS epidemic in Memphis. “It was literally a group of friends who came together to help their friends and their family members die with dignity,” Duke says, “because it was a death sentence back then. Now, because of medical advances that we’ve had, it’s not a death sentence anymore, and people can live long, happy, and healthy lives and be HIV-positive.”
Even with all these advances, Friends For All’s work continues to be relevant as ever, especially since Memphis is second in the nation for new transmissions of HIV. For that reason, the nonprofit works “at the outlying factors that keep HIV high,” Duke says, “and that’s the social drivers of health: poverty, housing insecurity, food insecurity, and stigma.”
So now, Friends For All has evolved to offer early intervention services, medical case management, rental and mortgage assistance, emergency financial assistance, group and individual mental health counseling services, rapid HIV and STI testing and treatment services, digital health literacy courses, and food pantry, and food delivery, and nutrition services — all at a low or no cost. The nonprofit also has a full service mobile care unit and a dedicated outreach team, which was able to conduct more than 3,500 HIV tests throughout the region this past year.
“Friends For All’s now a one-stop shop to really help those outlying issues and keep people from contracting it, or if you have it, getting that viral load down,” Duke says.
These days, though, as the Trump administration threatens cuts to funding for the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), which includes the HIV prevention budget, Friends For All’s future could be bleak. “Within the administration, we’re facing some real challenges that would devastate us and the community,” Duke says. “So we would see HIV rates soar, and we would again see people die. We don’t want that. We’re really hoping that the administration rethinks their stance on where it looks like they’re going on funding for this.”
But, with this weekend being a celebration, Duke doesn’t want to lose sight of the 40 years of progress Friends For All has made. “Joy is important,” she says. “So that we don’t lose hope. We are celebrating how far we’ve come, and we’re also making sure that we’re determined to continue and encourage people to speak to their elected officials to make sure that this funding continues.”
Reserve a spot for the Friends For All 40th Birthday Bash here.
Darts Productions’ Puerto Rican Night will feature performances, food, and more. (Photo: ricardo dominguez | unsplash)
Get a taste of Puerto Rico this Saturday as Darts Productions puts on Memphis’ first-ever Puerto Rican Night, complete with music, dance, and authentic cuisine.
“We’re trying to bring awareness of all the communities in the area,” says Nilka Quiros with the event production company Darts Productions. “This is the second type of festival that we’ve done. The first one was a Colombian Night [in October 2024]. … The response was phenomenal in the Memphis area. We really weren’t exactly sure what to expect, but the community responded very well. It was just a great opportunity for everybody to get together and just have fun and educate.”
Quiros hopes Puerto Rican Night will bring the same response. Darts Productions also plans to put on more festivals like these in honor of other Spanish-speaking countries.
For Puerto Rican Night, Sari, a Memphis-based singer from Puerto Rico, will perform, as will the Richmond, Virginia-based Tradición Cultural Dance Company, who will present a traditional Puerto Rican dance. The theater collective Agua, Sol y Sereno is also traveling from Puerto Rico to bring an “unforgettable performance,” including a mask parade. Earlier this week, they hosted community workshops making vejigante masks, used during the island’s local festivities.
Plus, there will be food from Puerto Rican vendors and merchandise available for purchase. “For us Puerto Ricans, because I’m Puerto Rican, we don’t have really a whole lot of Puerto Rican restaurants here [in Memphis],” Quiros says, “and we don’t have a lot of Puerto Rican performances here, so to get somebody from Puerto Rico and food and things like that, that’s pretty cool.”
Puerto Rican Night is free to attend. “Anybody that wants to come can come,” Quiros says. “It’s just been a night to have fun.”
Puerto Rican Night, Overton Square Trimble Courtyard, 2092 Trimble Place, Saturday, March 22nd, 6-9 p.m., free.
Calida Rawles,
Hallowed Be Her Name, 2024 (Photo: Courtesy the artist and Lehmann Maupin, New York, Seoul, and London)
Water ripples throughout Memphis history. The flooding waters of the Mississippi River drove those first Memphians to settle atop the Fourth Chickasaw Bluff. Stagnant water from rain cisterns and shallow wells bred mosquitos that brought about the yellow fever epidemic, costing the city its charter in 1878. The epidemic, in turn, led Memphians, searching for a reliable water source in the name of sanitation and health, to discover the Memphis aquifer, the sole source of Memphis’ water today. In this century, residents in South Memphis have to fight to protect our aquifer — against the proposed construction of the Byhalia crude oil pipeline and against the continued threats of contamination from Tennessee Valley Authority’s Allen Fossil Plant.
With all its complexities, water is now at the forefront of the Memphis Brooks Museum of Art’s upcoming exhibition, “Calida Rawles: Away with the Tides,” on display March 19th through September 7th. Indeed, the California-based artist’s exhibit of 10 paintings and a three-channel video explores water’s dualities, specifically as a space for Black healing, resilience, and joy.
Water is a central motif in Rawles’ works. Through it, Rawles asks questions about Black people’s relationships with water. She probes the stereotype about Black people not knowing how to swim. “Where’d it come from? Oh, because you couldn’t have pools; there was segregation at the pool. This is a place you don’t see us, and I don’t see myself, and you think we don’t belong.”
This history and these stereotypes have rippling effects. According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, drowning death rates for Black people under 30 are 1.5 times higher than for white people, and 70 percent of Black Americans cannot swim, compared to 31 percent for white Americans, according to a study by USA Swimming and the University of Memphis.
“And so, I thought that could be like an undercurrent to all of the work,” Rawles says. “When you put a Black body in that water, you’re dispelling something — without even talking about a subject. And then if I paint the figures comfortably and with agency, if people think, ‘I could feel comfortable like that,’ ‘I don’t have to be afraid of the water,’ or maybe ‘I should learn to swim,’ I thought I could do that, too.”
In turn, her paintings allow Black bodies to take up space, her canvases large in size, but more importantly they allow them to take up space in water, as historically charged as it is. For this exhibit, Rawles focuses on the bodies of water of Overtown, Miami, a historically Black neighborhood, which Rawles says was once like “a second Harlem.”
Founded in 1896 for and by African Americans, the neighborhood thrived as an entertainment district during the early- to mid-20th century in the Jim Crow era. “It had a thriving community of 300 businesses, and everyone used to go there, and everyone used to do shows and go to all the stuff,” Rawles says.
But in the late 1950s, with the passage of Eisenhower’s Federal-Aid Highway Act, the construction of two major freeways displaced thousands of Overtown residents, or “Towners,” through eminent domain. In the aftermath, Rawles says, “They lost their homes, and they lost their businesses, and they had no way to [recover]. The job market just fell.”
The highways essentially decimated the neighborhood, the population dropping and blight taking over what once was a desirable and vibrant community of Black Miami’s professional class in the name of “progress.” Today, though, many say Overtown is experiencing a renaissance, as advocates and community members try to rebuild and reinvigorate what once was, but its scars are not forgotten even as hope endures.
And so, Rawles dedicated her first solo museum exhibit to painting the people of Overtown in her signature way — in bodies of water. She’s taken her subjects, young and old, to Gibson Pool, a product of segregation, and Virginia Key Beach, once designated as a Black beach. In this way, she’s also able to probe the Transatlantic slave trade. Her subjects float, their bodies bending the will of the water, balanced and relaxed in waters haunted by the past.
“I wanted to make Overtown proud,” she says. “That’s not how I usually work; it’d be a subject or how I feel or a response to news or just what I want to paint. You want to paint from your heart and hope [viewers] get it because you don’t want the viewer to influence what you create.”
Through all her portraits of Overtowners, Rawles adds, “I’m really talking about various communities around. I want to inspire people to learn more about communities and not feel like if you look at them right now you know the whole history.”
While “Away with the Tides” is in Memphis, Rose Smith, the Brooks’ assistant curator of photography, hopes viewers can connect Miami’s Overtown with Memphis’ Orange Mound. “Miami’s Overtown community neighborhood mirrors Memphis’ Orange Mound community,” they say, pointing out how both neighborhoods were founded for and by African Americans in similar time periods. “We want to talk about the ways in which these communities reflect each other, although the Black community in Memphis didn’t experience a highway obstruction. But certainly, there are other things that we can glean and show parallels between these two communities.”
The exhibit will even lead into an interactive gallery wherein the Brooks will highlight Memphis’ own Black swim history, for which Smith dug into the archives, searching through photos and newspaper clippings at the Benjamin L. Hooks Central Library.
“We want this exhibition to engender joy, rest, meditation and healing within our Memphis community,” Smith says. “We also want to advocate for water accessibility, equity, and safety for our community.”
“Calida Rawles: Away with the Tides” is on display at the Memphis Brooks Museum of Art through September 7th. For more information, visit brooksmuseum.org/exhibitions/calida-rawles-away-with-the-tides.
Learn about recycling.(Photo: Nick Fewings | Unsplash)
At the height of the pandemic, Memphis did stop recycling. “Two months into it, the city of Memphis had manpower issues, just like everybody else. And there was a time that they announced that they did have to send everything [to the landfill] just to make sure that people’s trash got picked up,” says Jason West, general manager for Republic Services, which sorts and processes the city of Memphis’ recycling. That was five years ago, but Memphis has not stopped recycling since.
Even so, West says, some people still believe that their recycling goes to the landfill, in part because of this Covid-related decision. “That kind of damage to the public perception, we will never do that again,” he says. “Two years ago, we had a big issue out here on the floor. We were working with the city. If we hadn’t gotten it fixed within the next 12 hours, we were already in contact with our Dallas plant. We were going to send the recycling down there so they could process it, just because of that public perception from that two months.”
Currently, West estimates that “about 10 to 12 percent of what can be recycled is [recycled in Memphis]. … Twenty-five percent is the goal where you want to be, and then 50 percent would be considered world-class.”
Another issue is that some of the recycling that Republic Services receives is contaminated. “You’d be surprised to see the stuff people put in recycling,” says Josh Kirkpatrick, Republic Services supervisor. “Car batteries, knives, bowling balls. Stuff like that tears our systems up, and we have a front line set up with people presorting.”
“About 32 percent of what we’re getting here ends up at the landfill because it’s trash,” West adds.
“If we get the contamination down, I think that’ll help a lot, and then get more participation and let people know we actually do recycle, that’ll help, too,” says Kirkpatrick. “Memphis recycles. It doesn’t recycle well.”
To combat this, Republic Services has engaged in several educational initiatives, working with schools and presenting to organizations. Within the past year or so, Republic Services has also partnered with Clean Memphis to offer free tours of its recycling facility to the general public, complete with a presentation on recycling and waste management. “It’s a lot more complex than you would think,” West says. “Usually people leave with some kind of bewilderment.”
To sign up for one of these tours, offered monthly and sometimes twice-monthly, visit tinyurl.com/2rz6vx75.
See how the Earth’s annual average temperature has changed — and much more. (Photo: Abigail Morici)
Earlier this year, the Pink Palace Museum & Mansion opened its “Earth Matters: Rethink the Future” exhibit, created by Scitech in Perth, Australia, and produced by Imagine Exhibitions.
“This is a way to introduce kids to the idea of ‘we live on this one planet, how do we take care of it?’” says Sheila Noone, the Pink Palace’s marketing and communications manager. “‘Earth Matters’ is about how we interact with our planet.”
Full of interactive elements, the exhibit engages the whole family in learning more about the connections between humans and the natural elements. Visitors can step into an immersive room that shows how weather patterns have changed over time; they can solve puzzles to learn about insects and their habitats. They can even visualize how much energy it takes to power a town by pedaling stationary bikes. Guests can also come up with their own ideas for sustainability and hear other opinions from people around the world by (literally) putting their heads in sculptural clouds.
“It’s very kid-friendly, it’s very adult-friendly, and it talks about environmental sustainability but doesn’t beat you over the head with it, like ‘you’re doing this wrong or you’re doing that wrong,’” says Raka Nandi, director of exhibits and collections.
Admission to “Earth Matters” is included in general admission to the museum.
“Earth Matters: Rethink the Future,” Pink Palace Museum & Mansion, 3050 Central Avenue, Through May 18th.
Calida Rawles, Towner For Life, from “Away with the Tides” (Photo: Courtesy Brooks Museum of Art)
When Groundhog Day came, I never bothered to find out if he saw his shadow. Even now, I still haven’t bothered. All I know is that it’s time for me to write the Spring Arts Guide, and that is enough for me to know that spring is here — and so are the arts: visual, theater, dance, and otherwise.
ON DISPLAY
“Regenesis” Johnathan Payne works at the intersection of drawing, collage, embroidery, beadwork, and painting. Clough Hanson Gallery, through March 27
“Accessories” Althea Murphy-Price presents arrangements of armatures and accessories inspired by beauty tools and everyday objects. Sheet Cake Gallery, through March 29
“Tales from the Journeys” Nelson Gutierrez’s work examines the psychological and social consequences of conflict. Sheet Cake Gallery, through March 29
“Beyond the Surface: The Art of Handmade Paper” Explore the shape-shifting quality of paper. Memphis Brooks Museum of Art, through April 6
“An Occasional Craving” Chris Antemann cheekily re-envisions the concept of porcelain figurines. Dixon Gallery & Gardens, through April 6
“House of Grace” The Memphis debut of Floyd Newsum’s large paintings on paper and maquettes for public sculptures. Dixon Gallery & Gardens, through April 6
“Who Is That Artist?” Interact with Jorden Miernik-Walker’s photography-based work. Dixon Gallery & Gardens, through April 6
“Small Spaces” Jennifer Watson’s jewel-like paintings. The Dixon Gallery & Gardens, through April 13
“A Journey into the Shadows” Nelson Gutierrez’s three-dimensional cutout drawings. Crosstown Arts, through May 11
“Engorging Eden” Rachel David transforms everyday furniture into fragmented expressions of life’s chaos, joy, and loss. Metal Museum, through May 11
“From the Ashes” Maritza Dávila-Irizarry integrates printmaking, mixed media, photography, and video to confront a studio fire. Crosstown Arts, through May 11
“Supernatural Telescope” Danielle Sierra’s deeply poetic reflection on memory, love, and spirituality. Crosstown Arts, through May 11
“The Colors of the Caribbean” Juan Roberto Murat Salas’ works of bold colors and dynamic compositions. Crosstown Arts, through May 11
“Trolls: Save the Humans” Thomas Dambo’s larger-than-life fairy tale, in which art and nature intertwine. Memphis Botanic Garden, through May 21
“Light As Air” Explore the beauty in tension. Metal Museum, through September 7
“Calida Rawles: Away with the Tides” Picturing water as space for Black healing. Memphis Brooks Museum of Art, March 19-September 7
“Summer Art Garden: A Flash of Sun” Khara Woods’ sun-drenched shades, dazzling patterns, and geometric sculptures. Memphis Brooks Museum of Art, April 17-October 20
“Colleen Couch and Dolph Smith: Walk in the Light” Showcasing the arc of Smith’s oeuvre, new works by Couch inspired by him, and recent collaborations by the two artists. Dixon Gallery & Gardens, April 20-June 20
“with abundance we meet” Suchitra Mattai’s installation is made of “fruit” sculptures, ripe with possibilities, conjuring wombs and fertility spirits. Memphis Brooks Museum of Art, May 22
ON STAGE
A Body of Water This darkly comic, existential mystery play will leave you laughing, guessing, and gasping until the very last second. TheatreSouth, through March 9
12 Angry Jurors Tempers get short, arguments grow heated as jurors convene during a murder trial. Germantown Community Theatre, through March 16
Beauty and the Beast Based on Disney’s film, the classic story of Belle and her beastly bestie. Theatre Memphis, through March 30
Orchestra Unplugged: Beethoven’s Fifth Symphony Robert Moody explores the mind of Beethoven and his most celebrated work. Halloran Centre, March 6
Children of Eden Follow Adam and Eve’s descendants through storms and strife. Bartlett Performing Arts & Conference Center, March 7-9
Elena Urioste to play Piazzolla, Shostakovich, and Richter’s Recomposed (Photo: Courtesy Iris Collective)
Recomposed: Elena Urioste The celebrated London violinist performs Recomposed by Max Richter, an interpretation of Vivaldi’s Four Seasons. Crosstown Theater, March 8
Dance Nation A group of girls fight to find themselves in the preteen competitive dance world. TheatreWorks at The Evergreen, March 14-23
Thoughts of a Colored Man The first Broadway play written, directed, produced by, and starring Black men. Hattiloo Theatre, March 14-April 6
Shakespeare in the Cemetery Tennessee Shakespeare Company actors perform one hour of Shakespeare’s best death scenes. Elmwood Cemetery, March 15
Variations on a Theme Opera Memphis’ curated evenings span opera, musical theater, and vocal music. Opera Memphis, March 15-16| April 26-27
Scheherazade and Butterfly Lovers Concerto Robert Moody leads the Memphis Symphony Orchestra (MSO). Cannon Center for the Performing Arts, March 15 | Scheidt Family Performing Arts Center, March 16
Celtic Concert: A Celebration of the Emerald Isle The Slainte Singers bring the Irish magic. Germantown Community Theatre, March 16-17
The Great Gatsby World Ballet Company takes you back to the Roaring Twenties. Cannon Center for the Performing Arts, March 2
Punk Rock Girl! Rough and unapologetically authentic. Playhouse on the Square, March 21-April 13
Tick Tick BOOM! The story of the composer of Rent. TheatreWorks @ The Square, March 21-30
Dance, Girl! Celebrating Black girlhood through poetry, dance, and music. The Green Room at Crosstown Arts, March 22
Bartlett Community Concert Band Offering both classical masterpieces and modern movie soundtracks. Bartlett Performing Arts & Conference Center, March 28
Chloé Arnold’s Syncopated Ladies A renowned touring female tap group. Germantown Performing Arts Center, March 28
R.E.S.P.E.C.T., a tribute to Aretha Franklin at the Orpheum Theatre (Photo: Jeremy Daniel)
R.E.S.P.E.C.T. An electrifying tribute to Aretha Franklin. Orpheum Theatre, March 30
The British Isles – Mendelssohn’s “Scottish” and Grainger’s “Danny Boy” A sweeping musical adventure. Crosstown Theater, March 28 | Scheidt Family Performing Arts Center, March 30
Black Violin: Full Circle Tour Mixing classical depth and hip-hop’s pulse. Orpheum Theatre, April 1
Dragged Thru Time: Goldie & BeBe’s Extravagant Adventure Two drag queens accidentally warp through time and must navigate history’s most iconic moments. TheatreWorks @ The Evergreen, April 4-12
Lessons Learned: A Tap Concert Hot Foot Honeys probe the human condition through dance. Germantown Community Theatre, April 4-5
Saint Joan George Bernard Shaw’s chronicle of the heroism of French army leader Joan of Arc. Tennessee Shakespeare Company, April 4-19
The ICON, Babbie Lovett, Fashion Legend Tennessee Ballet Theater’s homage to the life and legacy of one of Memphis’ most influential leaders. McCoy Theatre at Rhodes College, April 4-12
The River Bride Cazateatro Bilingual Theatre Group’s charming story of mystery, love, and family. TheatreWorks @ The Square, April 4-20
Some Like It Hot Two musicians flee mobsters after witnessing a hit in Prohibition-era Chicago. Orpheum Theatre, April 8-13
Silent Sky The story of 19th century astronomer Henrietta Leavitt. Theatre Memphis, April 9-19
Homecoming Brothers Randall and Miles Goosby return to their hometown, playing chamber music with friend and pianist Zhu Wang. Highland Capital Performance Hall at GPAC, April 10
Memphis Symphony Big Band ft. Joyce Cobb & Patrice Williamson A mix of timeless classics and exciting new arrangements. Crosstown Theater, April 12
The O’Kays Three young men chase fame and fortune in Memphis’ 1970s R&B music scene. Halloran Centre, April 19, 2 p.m.
Angels in the Architecture With Balanchine’s Donizetti Variations, a grand season’s end from Ballet Memphis. Germantown Performing Arts Center, April 25-27
Caroline, or Change A Black maid for a Jewish family is trying to take care of her own kin at the dawn of the Civil Rights movement. Playhouse on the Square, April 25-May 18
Cougars A play set in the high-octane world of a Memphis car dealership. TheatreWorks @ The Square, April 25-May 4
Rumors A wedding celebration turns chaotic. Theatre Memphis, April 25-May 11
Orchestra Unplugged: Peter and the Wolf – More Than a Children’s Story A whimsical setting for Prokofiev. Halloran Centre, May 1
The Drop That Contained the Sea The MSO with Memphis Symphony Chorus and guests perform Tin’s gem. Scheidt Family Performing Arts Center, May 4
Cabaret The great musical of decadence and Nazis. Germantown Community Theatre, May 9-25
Chicken & Biscuits Can two sisters at odds set aside their differences to honor their father? Playhouse on the Square, May 9-June 1
Buckman Dance Conservatory’s Spring Celebration of Dance A blend of ballet and contemporary dance. Buckman Performing Arts Center, May 10-11
Symphony in the Gardens A Mother’s Day tradition with the MSO Big Band. Dixon Gallery & Gardens, May 11
The Boy Who Kissed the Sky A musical inspired by the early life and influences of musical icon Jimi Hendrix. Hattiloo Theatre, May 16-June 8
Romantic Masterworks by Rachmaninoff and Saint-Saëns The MSO’s take on the “Egyptian” Piano Concerto and other works. Cannon Center for the Performing Arts, May 17 | Scheidt Family Performing Arts Center, May 18
La Calisto A jewel from the golden age of Venetian opera. Playhouse on the Square, May 21-23
A Particle of Dread: Oedipus Variations A reimagination of the ancient Greek tale as a modern thriller. TheatreWorks @ The Square, May 23-June 8
AROUND TOWN
SneakFest Sneaker Expo For fans of sneakers and urban fashion. Agricenter International, March 22, 1-11 p.m.
Metal Petals + Healing Roots Art from disassembled gun parts collected during the Guns to Gardens initiative. Metal Museum, March 29
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The Dixon and Theatre Memphis present Women in the Arts. (Photos: Courtesy Dixon Gallery & Gardens)
Women in the Arts
On Saturday, March 8th, Dixon Gallery & Gardens and Theatre Memphis will co-host their fourth Women in the Arts event, a day celebrating the women shaping the arts in Memphis. As in years past, the event will have performances, demonstrations, classes, panels, and an artist market.
When the event kicked off in 2021, Kristen Rambo, the Dixon’s communications manager, says, “It was like, why is there not an event like this happening in Memphis? … Once it started, we didn’t want to stop.”
The day’s full schedule will be posted to the Dixon’s website on Friday, March 7th, with programming planned for both the Dixon and Theatre Memphis campuses. Guests can take a free shuttle to and from both locations throughout the event.
“There’s something for everyone to do, whether you’re an extrovert or an introvert,” Rambo says, adding that the event is family-friendly. “We also have some of our community partners that are going to represent themselves and maybe have an activity, like the Memphis Public Libraries, the Metal Museum, Women in Memphis Music, Girl Scouts of [the United States of] America, and Cazateatro [Bilingual Theatre Group]. … So that’s something we always like to highlight as well — supporting all the arts communities in Memphis so we can all improve the arts.”
“Memphis is so full of amazing women, artists, and arts administrators, people who might not be artists themselves but work and thrive in the arts,” Rambo adds. “And whether that artist is a performer or visual or anything in between — we have some comedians coming — it’s just an exciting way to highlight these artists on one fun, special day. And of course, we should be celebrating women artists all throughout the year, but you can be really embedded in the Memphis art scene and still meet and see people you’ve never met or heard of before at this event, which is so exciting.”
Women in the Arts, Dixon Gallery & Gardens | Theatre Memphis, Saturday, March 8, 11 a.m.-3 p.m.
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Luminarus’ cavern wall in progress (Photo: Courtesy Alison Heverly)
Luminarus
Yvonne Bobo and a collective of artists, students, and astronomers are building a planet at Off the Walls Arts (OTWA). The planet will have crochet pods, a cavern wall, and sculptural flora and fauna. “It’s a performing arts place, so we’re gonna have all kinds of events in it — music, dance, just a place for the community to explore,” Bobo says.
The project began from conversations about the extraterrestrial unknown. “We started to think about it in a social situation: What would we do if we ran into aliens? What would we share with them? And if we don’t have the same language or culture, we can share through art, through music, through dance. They’re sort of like our mediums that we can try to express who we are.”
As such, this new planet, created through these media and host to these media, is called Luminarus, Bobo says, because “we’re gonna illuminate people, shine a light on people’s talents.”
Since the first Saturday of February, OTWA has hosted Community Build Days, inviting anyone, regardless of skill, to help construct the multimedia installation inspired by the cosmos. “We built it around an idea of community, and it’s nice to see a community forming,” Bobo says. “People seem to be really energized by the project and what they could bring or how it could kind of feed their creativity.”
People are trying their hand at carpentry, seeing their progress come to fruition at the end of the day; they’ll get a chance to learn large-scale crochet later on as the building progresses. In the meantime, 3D artists can submit their work to make up the flora and fauna in the installation. “We’re just doing a massive call,” Bobo says. “Let them be weird; let them do their thing; let’s just tell stories.”
Students from Bellevue Middle School and Crosstown High School are also participating, with some of them creating sculptures for the group exhibit and others taking part in an alien fashion show. “Everyone knows that art departments are often not well-funded,” Bobo says. “So we like to bring in artists in the community to help to enrich their art programs.”
Also in collaboration members of the Memphis Astronomical Society will provide their photography of galaxies and constellations. The group is also hosting an Evening Astro-Watch on March 7th at 5 p.m. at OTWA to capture the imaginations of Luminarus builders.
So far, with all these partnerships (and more), Bobo says, “I feel like I made the infrastructure, and now it’s just taking off, getting its own life. That’s what’s valuable with a collaboration. Maybe one person starts the sentence, but it keeps evolving, and then it’s way more interesting than I could have just imagined on my own.”
Luminarus will open Saturday, May 10th, 6 to 8 p.m. The first major event following will be a free family-friendly community day on May 17th that will include the student-led alien fashion show. Other events, both family-friendly and adult-only, are on the horizon. To participate in the Community Build Days or to submit work, visit offthewallsarts.org.
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10-Minute Play Festival
This April, Hattiloo Theatre will host its inaugural 10-Minute Black Theatre Festival. “Part of putting it on is to explore the hidden talent we have here in Memphis,” says Jarrod Walker, Hattiloo’s theater manager. “We’re very intentional about cultural storytelling and giving voices to those people who may need an outlet to express their voice.”
In the fall of 2024, Hattiloo opened submissions for the festival, accepting works only from Shelby County residents. “The pieces had to amplify the Black cultural experience in some way,” Walker says. “We wanted to talk about the diaspora because a lot of times, once people think about Black experience, it’s very unilateral. So we want to show the diversity in these stories. … We’re a free-standing Black theater, one of four in the nation, and part of our mission and vision is to amplify these stories.”
The chosen plays are Lele Uku by Levi Frazier Jr., Peekin’ by Velvet Gunn, Dr. Buzzard’s Original Savannah Band Saved This Jewish Lesbian by Sarah Ellin Siegel, Vindication by Dabrell Thompson, Cutting Corners by Danica Wilks, and honorable mention Elderberry by Najwa Watson.
Walker hopes that the play festival will “give someone their big break. Some of these, they may workshop and go back and do some rewrites, and who knows, they may end up being developed into a full-length piece.”
Not only that but the 10-minute plays may see some directorial debuts or even acting debuts for others in the theater community. “We just did Black Odyssey, and we had an actor and it was on her bucket list. So she was like, you know, ‘I’m a seasoned woman. I’ve always wanted to try and audition.’ And she got cast in the show and did a phenomenal job on stage. So, hopefully, this may be someone else’s story with this festival.”
Auditions for the 10-Minute Black Theatre Festival will be held on March 22nd at 10 a.m. at Hattiloo Theatre. The festival will take place April 24th to 27th.
A sculpture and a fountain, River Man by the local artist John McIntire stands in the contrapposto pose simultaneously drinking a beer and peeing, the 2022 piece depicting a friend’s party-trick from the 1960s — that of the “human fountain.” The sculpture has been shown in Matt Ducklo’s Tops Gallery, a cheeky little thing, but even he didn’t know the source of McIntire’s inspiration at first. “He didn’t want to say it at the time,” Ducklo says. “But it’s based on [Kenneth Lawrence] Beaudoin.”
Ducklo has been interested in Beaudoin for a decade or so, the poet who’s been called “Forgotten ‘Poet-Laureate of the Mid-South.’” “ I started to think about him more after McIntire made that sculpture,” he says. And, now, as of December 2024, Beaudoin’s work — his poetry combining the visual with the literary — is on display in Tops’ “In the Hands of a Poet,” co-curated with artist Dale McNeil.
Like McIntire, Beaudoin was big in the counterculture scene in Memphis during the mid-20th century. He hosted literary salons out of his own home, created the Gem Stone Awards for poetry, and was one of the founders of the Poetry Society of Tennessee. He knew writers like Tennessee Williams, Jonathan Williams, William Carlos Williams, e.e. cummings, Randall Jarrell, and Ezra Pound. By day, Beaudoin was a clerk for the Memphis Police Department for nearly three decades. “My police job kept me close to human beings in tense situations,” he once told The Commercial Appeal. “From a poet’s point of view, it was perhaps the most important job I could have had.”
It was at his clerk’s desk — and his home — that he worked on his “eye poems,” collages of words and images from magazine cut-outs. “He would just sit in the middle of piles of magazines and books, cutting, gluing, and smoking,” McIntire said in a press release.
The result is something, as Ducklo says, “meant for the eye as much as they’re meant for the head.” The poems themselves are succinct, their visual pleasure subverting the capitalist and consumerist trends promoted in these magazines — magazines Beaudoin sliced and rearranged for his own purposes, an act itself another subversion.
Beaudoin created thousands of these eye poems and frequently gave them to friends and peers. Many of them — and other forms of his poetry — were widely published in small journals in his lifetime. Today, though, his poetry is out of print, including even his most comprehensive work, Selected Poems and Eye Poems 1940-1970.
This exhibit, in a way, serves as a reintroduction to the largely forgotten poet. After 10 years wanting to show Beaudoin’s work, Ducklo found someone wanting to sell their Beaudoin collection and, with his co-curator Dale McNeil’s Beaudoin poems, had enough for this show. Together, they also created a book that is currently available for purchase at the gallery. (You can also purchase it here.)
Beaudoin stopped creating his eye poems after going blind in the 1980s. He died in 1995.
Tops Gallery is located in the basement of 400 South Front St. The entrance is on Huling. The gallery’s hours are noon to 4 p.m. on Saturdays and by appointment.
Lena Wallace Black and Anne Marie Caskey (Photo: Tony Isbell)
Tonight, Quark Theatre will open its production of Lee Blessing’s A Body of Water in First Congo’s theater space. The play has not been performed before in Memphis, as far as director and Quark co-founder Tony Isbell is aware.
“This is a play where I really don’t want to give away too much of what happens,” Isbell says. “The less you know about it going in, the better.”
The playwright himself has even said, “While it’s hard to talk about the play before seeing it, it’s hard not to talk about the play after seeing it.”
Without giving too much away, Blessing’s play opens with a man and woman waking up one morning in an isolated house with no memories — not knowing who they are, how they got there, or how they know each other. Then another woman arrives. “She seems to have some answers for them,” Isbell says, “but the question is, are they the right answers, and do they want to believe what she’s telling them?”
For the show, Quark’s programs won’t even list the names of these characters, played by Anne Marie Caskey, Barclay Roberts, and Lena Wallace Black, all of whom are Ostrander-winning actors.
Barclay Roberts and Lena Wallace Black (Photo: Tony Isbell)
The play, originally published in 2005, is “a great piece for actors,” Isbell adds. “In a review I read, the reviewer said the play is like if Neil Simon and Franz Kafka had collaborated. And that’s accurate. Some of it is silly, funny, and some of it is strange and mystifying. It’s full of twists and turns. I’ve been describing it as a darkly comic, existential thriller, existential mystery, because you will keep guessing about what’s going on until the very — I mean, the very — last seconds of the play.”
Interestingly, A Body of Water’s ending has changed a few times since its debut. “[Blessing’s] now settled on the ending that we’re using, which, as far as I know, is going to be his final ending. And it’s really the best,” Isbell says. “It’s very intriguing and there’s a mystery to be solved, and whether or not it’s ever solved will be up to each person who is seeing it.”
At about 90 minutes and with no intermission, A Body of Water will run on select dates through March 9th. “If you’re a fan of the work of David Lynch or the plays of Harold Pinter or The Twilight Zone, you would probably like this show.”
A Body of Water, TheatreSouth at First Congo, 1000 South Cooper, Friday-Saturday, February 21-22, 8 p.m. | Sunday, February 23, 2 p.m. | Friday-Saturday, February 28-March 1, 8 p.m. | Sunday, March 2, 7 p.m. | Friday-Saturday, March 7-8, 8 p.m. | Sunday, March 9, 2 p.m., $20.
Molded from mud, the golem is brought to life with ritual incantations of the Hebrew alphabet, its purpose to protect, but even with instructions placed on its tongue, the golem inevitably goes amok, twisting those intentions and bringing disaster upon those who called for it. From this Jewish parable, Rachel David gathers, “You can only rely on your community. You can’t offset your responsibilities.”
David, an Asheville-based blacksmith, turned to this story for inspiration in conceptualizing her exhibition, “Engorging Eden,” on display at the Metal Museum. “I started thinking about different parables that could be translated to working with what I’m worried about in this country and in this world,” she said in her artist talk at the opening reception for the show on February 16th. “I think that’s a really pertinent thing to remember as we are experiencing really scary things — that we are each other’s saviors. That’s something that I want to be very explicit about in all of my work.”
David primarily works in furniture, a familiar form that in itself evokes community. “We live with furniture,” David said. “And it’s conversational. … These are forms that tell stories and hold their own narratives but also are part of our narrative.”
For David, her pieces reflect our relationship with the Earth and with one another. The furniture seems to bubble with pustules and pits, a mix of metals melting off the surfaces in slivers. Each bulbous facet David shaped using a different support system. “Really all of this is planned,” David said. “Like, it has to fit; it has to work. But part of my interest is in the distortion that you can achieve in hot forming metal.”
The distortion, David said, reminds her of natural erosion formations. In her Savage Horizon Jewelry Cabinet, she pointed out, “They also look like cobblestones, which also are like city-building blocks, and I think with these really aggressive clawing shapes and then these phallic drippings, this is climate change, and this is what extractive capitalism has done to this world. Where we are in the mountains, there was a hurricane, and everything is insane.”
Indeed, many of the pieces in this show were created in the aftermath of Hurricane Helene. “This piece is very much responsive to the hurricane and all of the landslides,” she said of the jewelry cabinet. “There’s 500-plus hours in this piece.”
“When we’re talking about erosion, there are a lot of implications in that word: erosion of trust, erosion of the Earth, erosion of values, and then where does that leave us?”
That’s where David expects viewers to involve themselves — literally — through reflections and refractions of the metals and selenites brought about in their shine. Mirrors, too, offer this reminder. In Family Tree, where representational ancestors and the suns and moons fill a gallery wall with circular shapes, a central mirror piece reminds us that “we are responsible for what we put in[to the world].”
Abstract tongues also roll out of these ancestral creatures, and many of David’s other pieces. “The tongue is like the idea of communication [which] has always been a big part of my work [as an activist and artist],” she said. “That’s part of my responsibility as a member of this community: to be responsible to my ancestors and to the future.”
In keeping with this responsibility, as part of her practice, David sources more than 85 percent of her metal from Asheville scrapyards. Further, she, along with Lisa Geertsen and Anne Bujold, co-founded the Society of Inclusive Blacksmiths. “We foster having diversity in blacksmithing.”
David’s commitment to community is furthered in swallowed ice (table lamp), which was part of her “Pollination” series — “like a pollination of ideas when we come together and we inspire each other.” The lamp features a light bulb in the center with candles affixed to a suspending bridge-like form. “They’re reflecting each other, and they’re also holding each other … always bringing in the light.”
The symbolism in the lamp is apparent: “I’m cynical and I’m dark, but I also feel a lot of obligations to my community to be proactive and contributive. I make work sometimes [because] I have to remind myself to get out. Get out!”
“Engorging Eden” will be on display at the Metal Museum through May 11th. The exhibit is a part of the museum’s Tributaries series.
Catch Alexis Grace’s Valentine’s Day concert, featuring Raneem Imam and MROSE, at Bar DKDC this Friday. (Photo: Courtesy Alexis Grace)
Valentine’s Day Shenanigans Happy Valentine’s Day from us at the Flyer — most of us, I guess — well, me. I suppose I can’t speak on behalf of my coworkers. I’d assume they’d want to wish you a happy Valentine’s Day, but who knows? Then again, why give them the credit? Their byline isn’t up there at the top of this. They’re not about to come in clutch with these Valentine’s events right here because you’re a last-minute planner and are in need of something to do this weekend. I am. So here:
An Introduction to Fencing: Valentine’s Day Couples Edition: Nothing says I love you more than swordplay, so grab your Valentine for a special couples-only introductory presentation about the history, culture, techniques, and sport of fencing. $20. | First Congo, Friday, February 14, 6 p.m.
Valentine’s Day with Kortland Whalum: Join the Memphis Symphony Orchestra with special guest Kortland Whalum for a night of music and romance. Tickets include a post-concert reception with champagne and desserts. | Scheidt Family Performing Arts Center, Friday, February 14, 8 p.m., $40-$100.
Electric Canvas Valentines: DJs LyeLack, Steele, KymaFaux, and Lost Cypher will wow you and your Valentine with a showcase of EDM. | Canvas, Friday, February 14, 10 p.m.-2 a.m., $5, 21+.
Valentine’s Day Dance Classes: With six classes to choose from, you’ll find the perfect way to spice up your holiday plans. Classes are beginner-friendly, couples only. | Blue Suede Ballroom Dance Studio, Friday-Sunday, February 14-16, $42/couple.
Flowers & Chocolate Pairing: Take a tour of Wiseacre’s facility and learn about hops and malt, the flowers and chocolate of the beer world. The class includes samples of Wiseacre beer paired with the best chocolate from Dinstuhl’s. | Wiseacre Brewing Company, Saturday, February 15, 1 p.m., $25.
Variations on a Theme: Love, Longing, and Lederhosen: A curating evening of music and one-act operas from Heggie, Bizet, Mozart, and more. Somehow, lederhosen will come into play. | Opera Memphis, Saturday, February 15, 7:30 p.m.; Sunday February 16, 3 p.m., $25.
Emo Nite (Valentine’s Edition): Embrace the emo and the lover sides of you. $1 per ticket sponsors Emo Nite Gives a F*ck. | Growlers, Saturday, February 15, 9 p.m., $20/advance, $25/day of show, 18+.
Drip Edges EP Release Show Lamplighter Lounge Saturday, February 15, 3 p.m. Alex Greene wrote about the Drip Edges this week and their new EP, Kicking the Tires on the Clown Car. They’ll be doing a release show with DJ Bloody Elle and Joecephus & the George Jonestown Massacre at the Lamp this Saturday. $10 cover. Read that article here.
DDP Presents: The Wicked Xperience Dru’s Place Saturday, February 15, 6:30 p.m. This wicked drag show will have you spellbound with glamour, giveaways, and performances by Devon Davenport Phillips, Crystal Beth, Tova Uravitch, Ariel Monroe, and Betty Swallows Alnite. Dress to impress in your most Wicked look for the costume contest. Doors open at 6:30 p.m. RSVP here. $10/general admission; $10/showside table; $15/at the door/. 21+.
Read Silently with People I said what I said. Bring a friend or go solo. All you need is a book for these two events:
It’s a Bestie Silent Book Club: Wear your Valentine’s best and BYO drinks and snacks to cozy up with a good book at this FREE event! No registration required. | Novel, Sunday, February 16, 2-4 p.m.
Loflin Loves Readers Night: Bring your favorite book or current read, settle down in the Coachhouse or patio, then enjoy lo-fi music and the fireplace on the big screen while you read! Happy hour goes from 4 to 7 p.m. with discounts on drinks and snacks, too, so be sure to take advantage of that while you enjoy your book! | Loflin Yard, Thursday, February 20, 4-7 p.m.
Soulful Murder Mystery: A Locomotive Themed Murder Mystery Halloran Centre Sunday, February 16, 7 p.m. Get a clue — in general, but more specifically this Sunday at the Soulful Murder Mystery part, where you’ll be transported into a world of rhythm, deception, and hidden motives. Guests will indulge in appetizers and smooth music as suspicious characters weave through the train station. Will you discover the truth before the train pulls into the final station? I don’t know, but I know you can find out more and get your tickets ($82) here.
Sam Morril Minglewood Hall Sunday, February 16, 7 p.m. According to our intern Jake Sanders, last time comedian Sam Morril was in town, he forgot his pants. I mean, the man had sweatpants, which to me are pants — it’s in the name — but I guess they’re not “stand-up” pants. So, who knows what he’ll wear this go-around, but he’ll be at Minglewood. Tickets ($34-$61) can be purchased here. Oh, and read Jake’s article about Morril here.
Lunch & Listen: Vox’s Rachel Cohen & Oscar-winner Coach Bill Courtney Memphis Listening Lab Tuesday, February 18, 11:30 a.m.-1:30 p.m. As part of the newly launched Lunch & Listen series, the Memphis Listen Lab hosts Vox writer Rachel Cohen, author of “Why I Changed My Mind About Volunteering” that’ll be the focus of the lunchtime interview with Oscar-winner coach Bill Courtney. For background, she had disregarded individual action as an unhelpful distraction to the more important systemic change that was needed to solve our problems, but then she had a change of heart and mind. Find more information on the talk here.
There’s always something happening in Memphis. See a full calendar of events here.
