Author: Jon W. Sparks

Categories
Art Art Feature

Meet Kalena Bovell: New Assistant Conductor for MSO

It’s a wonder anyone makes a career conducting an orchestra. It’s competitive, requires musical skills and education beyond most mortals’ abilities, and doesn’t pay all that much until maybe you make the major leagues.

Tell none of this to Kalena Bovell. Recently named assistant conductor at the Memphis Symphony Orchestra (MSO), she knows the deal. But she’s bringing focus, confidence, musicianship, leadership, and her particular experience to the job. When she walks in a room (or an auditorium), she owns it. She’s doing that in MSO Salutes the Greatest Hits of Rock & Soul! on Friday night at the Cannon Center for the Performing Arts. The guest vocalist is Gavin Hope, and Bovell will be on the podium presenting Isaac Hayes, The Commodores, Outkast, Stevie Wonder, and more.

Jon W. Sparks

Kalena Bovell

Her symphony story is hardly that of the prodigy clearly destined for greatness. “Classical music was actually not supposed to be a part of my life,” Bovell says. Her parents moved to Los Angeles from Panama intent on realizing the American Dream: work hard, get a good education, provide for family. “Everything else was kind of extraneous,” she says, until age 9 when she discovered she could carry a tune.

“The choir teacher went to every classroom, pulled us out, and said, ‘Sing this note.'” Bovell did, and she did it really well. “Music was never a part of my childhood, and I was never curious about it,” she says, “but this was a cool thing.”

By middle school, she was ready to join the school choir, but it was full and, under protest, she went into beginning strings class. “I was like, I don’t want this. ‘You’ll get over it,’ they said. And the first time I held a violin it was, ‘This is what I want to do for the rest of my life.'”

At 11, she glommed onto classical music. She considers herself a “non-classical classical musician. I expose myself to as much classical music as possible, but I also find inspiration from different genres. Growing up, it was R&B, it was rap.”

She ticks off favorites: Anita Baker, Marvin Gaye, Stevie Wonder, Pat Benatar. “As an adult, I love death metal, which is so random, I know, but I love alternative, industrial, screamo, and so many different genres. I think they inspire my love for classical. In the end, it’s telling a story, and it’s up to you to come up with that story.”

Bovell grew up in L.A. and went to Chapman University’s College of the Performing Arts, where she found that conducting had truly taken her heart. Then it was to graduate school at The Hartt School in Connecticut (“I always knew that if I was going to be successful as a musician, I had to go to school on the East coast.”)

Now, leading the itinerant life of an aspiring conductor, she has conducted several youth orchestras in California and Connecticut, championed contemporary composers, and had fellowships with the Allentown Symphony and the Chicago Sinfonietta. The latter has been led since 2011 by music director Mei-Ann Chen, who also helmed MSO from 2010 to 2016 and retains the title here of Conductor Laureate.

The aspiring conductor’s work with Chen at the Sinfonietta became an opportunity to assist the former MSO maestro in her final Masterworks concert in Memphis. And then Bovell became the Sinfonietta’s assistant conductor for the 2016-2017 season when she made her professional debut.

In Memphis now for just a few weeks, she’s already adding to the full plate. “I want to be able to experience it all,” she says, “which has been the greatest thing about this job. It’s so much music I never was able to be exposed to as a kid.”

Bovell will lead the orchestra in the upcoming Ballet Memphis performance of Nutcracker. She and maestro Robert Moody will share the baton during the Christmas pops concert. The January pops will have her in front of the band with Amy Grant as guest performer. And she conducts the Memphis Youth Symphony.

“I don’t just want to study every day for four years. I’d rather be living as opposed to existing. I’m looking forward to really getting to know this organization, really getting to know the city.”

And the feeling is mutual.

Categories
Art Art Feature

With Great Art Comes POW! Great Responsibility

Chris Claremont will be at the Memphis Comic Expo.

The Memphis Comic Expo explodes on the scene with cosmic force this weekend with more than a hundred comic writers and artists in attendance. Special guests are Chris Claremont, who has done some of the best known tales in the X-Men canon, and Scott Snyder, who has earned praise and numerous awards for his Batman work.

Other comic creator celebrities include:
– David Finch, who has worked for Marvel and DC, and his wife Meredith Finch, known for her work on Xena: Warrior Princess and her own fantasy title, Rose
– Peter David, who has worked on Marvel’s Incredible Hulk
– Gene Ha, who collaborated with Alan Moore on Top 10 as well as his creator-owned book, Mae
– Robbi Rodriguez, co-creator of Spider-Gwen
– Mike McKone, who has done pencil work on the Punisher and the Justice League

– Scott Kolins, an artist known for the Flash and numerous other characters

Look for Scott Snyder at the Memphis Comic Expo.

Dozens of other creators at the national and local levels will be at the expo, which is in its sixth year. It was created by Donald Juengling, manager of Comics and Collectibles in Memphis, who says, “Our motto is ‘Creators Come First.’ Whereas many so-called ‘comic conventions’ are gravitating toward media guests and ignore the actual comic creators. We are the exact opposite.”

Spider-Gwen co-creator Robbi Rodriguez is coming to the Memphis Comic Expo.

The Expo will have a cosplay contest with cash prizes as well as video game tournaments with cash prizes for Smash Bros and Tekken.

The Expo will run at the Agricenter from 10 a.m.-6 p.m. Saturday, October 19th, and 10 a.m.-5 p.m. Sunday, Oct. 20th. Tickets are $25 for one day and $35 for both days. VIP passes are available for $85. Children 12 and under are free. Go to memphiscomicexpo.com for details.

Categories
Intermission Impossible Theater

Openings and a Closing On Stages This Weekend

CREDIT: Craig Lafferty

October is typically packed with stage delights and this weekend has terror, dance ‘n’ romance, felines, and social insights.
Craig Lafferty

Aliza Moran and Greg Boller torment David Hammons in New Moon Theatre’s production of The Pillowman. It opens October 11th at TheatreWorks.

Opening Friday is New Moon Theatre’s The Pillowman at TheatreWorks, a Kafkaesque and Halloween-appropriate look at a writer in a totalitarian state made to suffer for his art. New Moon always serves up something horrible for Halloween, and I mean that in a good way. Go, squirm, enjoy, and don’t take the kids for cryin’ out loud. Info is here.

Ballet Memphis opens its 33rd season in grand style with Romeo & Juliet as scored by Sergei Prokofiev and choreographed by the company’s artistic director Steven McMahon who knows a thing or two about the production. He first choreographed R&J in 2011 and then revamped it for a 2015 production with a bigger cast. It’s safe to say that you can’t go wrong taking in this experience opening October 12th at Playhouse on the Square and running two weekends. More info here.

Carla McDonald

Crystal Brothers and Travis Bradley in feline form in the musical Cats opening October 11th at Theatre Memphis.

If you’re hankering for even more balletic beauty, then get on over to Theatre Memphis which is staging the popular musical Cats from October 11th through November 3rd. It’s an all-out production directed and choreographed by Jordan Nichols and Travis Bradley. The catnip for lovers of ballet will be to see Bradley performing with Crystal Brothers, both of whom danced together for years at Ballet Memphis. It promises to be a remarkable memory. Here’s ticket info.

Closing October 13th at Hattiloo Theatre is a powerful production of Between Riverside and Crazy, the 2015 Pulitzer Prize-winner for drama by playwright Stephen Adly Guirgis. Hattiloo founder Ekundayo Bandele directed a cast led by veteran actor T.C. Sharpe as a sly, stubborn NYPD ex-cop who is desperate to hold onto his rent-stabilized apartment. He’s disabled, has a longtime lawsuit going on, feels the end is near, and is bitter. But he has family and friends that he loves even when they all get crosswise with his muleheadedness. It’s serious, hilarious, unpredictable, thoughtful, and thoroughly entertaining. Grab your tickets here.

Categories
Intermission Impossible Theater

On Stage This Weekend

Plenty to do and see this weekend, from openings to closings.

Opening Friday is Between Riverside and Crazy at Hattiloo Theatre. The 2015 Pulitzer Prize winning play throws the old against the new as a retired police officer is faced with eviction from his rent-controlled apartment in New York City. Directed by Ekundayo Bandele. For info, go here.

Lend us your ears: Tennessee Shakespeare is staging Julius Caesar. Directed by Dan McCleary, the classic about political dysfunction, pride, and consequences runs through October 6th. Grab your toga and go here for info.

Think you can handle the truth? This is the final week for Theatre Memphis’ production of A Few Good Men, the powerful Aaron Sorkin play about a court martial and a coverup. Seating is limited this weekend, but a performance has been added tonight, September 25th. Go here for ticket information.

It’s also the final weekend for Germantown Community Theatre’s Barefoot in the Park, the Neil Simon love letter to young lovers. Get tickets here.

Categories
Intermission Impossible Theater

Quark Theatre Gets Daring (Again) With ‘Wakey, Wakey,’ GCT goes ‘Barefoot,’ ‘Pond’ at POTS

Adam Remsen and Sarah Solarez in Wakey, Wakey.

Quark Theatre’s slogan is “small plays about big ideas,” to which fans will readily concur.   If you go and are not provoked in some way, if you don’t squirm, if you don’t talk about it afterward with your companion, then you probably weren’t there.

Quark’s next show is Wakey, Wakey by Will Eno, an acclaimed playwright and Pulitzer Prize finalist. Tony Isbell, one of Quark’s founders, directs Adam Remsen (another Quark founder) and Sarah Solarez. Sound design is by Eric Sefton, with original music by Eileen Kuo, and lighting design by Louisa Koeppel (also a Quark founder).

The play runs 8 p.m. Fridays and Saturdays, and 2 p.m. Sundays through October 6th. It’s at TheatreSouth, 1000 Cooper St., southwest corner of the building. Tickets are $20. Here’s the website.

Isbell spoke to us about Quark’s philosophy and the production:

Quark’s plays aren’t particularly traditional. I suppose that’s true with Wakey, Wakey?

Sometimes I call it an experience because it’s not really a typical play in some ways. It’s kind of like an eccentric TED talk. It involves the use of quite a few projections and recorded sound while the protagonist talks directly to the audience. There is an aspect that’s more a traditional play with another character, but there’s a good bit of it that’s a direct address to the audience.

You’ve had the rare experience of talking with the playwright as you were putting this together, right?

When we applied for the rights to this show last year, we got an email from the company that handles the rights. It said that Will likes to be involved in local productions of his plays and here’s his email. So, when we started to work on it, we contacted him. I thought that was pretty cool since he’d been nominated for the Pulitzer Prize for drama for a previous work. He replied within 20 minutes and we’ve emailed back and forth a few times and each time, he answered right back.

He seems to be as super nice human. We talked about our approach and our limitations because we have basically zero budget for our show. He was fine with that and much of our approach. Sometimes he’d suggest we try something instead, but never been anything less than enthusiastic and supportive and friendly.

So that must have given you confidence going in?

Yeah, because this is different. All of his plays might be described as eccentric. He’s previously been described as the Samuel Beckett for the millennial generation or something like that. He’s really not, that’s really not quite accurate, but I can certainly see it in him and his writing. This play in particular is what you might call a miniature or a chamber piece.

There isn’t a whole lot of plot. There are two characters, one a man named Guy and a young woman named Lisa. Guy spends part of the show talking directly to the audience. He talks about matters of life and death, and how to deal with life when you are facing extreme situations and it’s very funny and kinda out of left field. But it’s also very moving.

I’ve seen it dozens of times and I still tear up at certain places because it just captures the humor and the joy and the sorrow of being alive. And it reminds me, in some ways, of Our Town though it’s not in any way similar to what’s happened in Grover’s Corners. You kind of get that we all just try to do the best we can and we’re all here together and shouldn’t we all be doing our best to make things easier for other people instead of more difficult? It’s a play that I think has kind of a therapeutic or healing dimension to it. I think people will come out of this show feeling very uplifted and very centered. It ranges from goofy to profound.

How do you choose the scripts that you produce?

Adam and I have tried to produce things that haven’t been done in Memphis, or that Memphis isn’t going to produce because they don’t really fit the mold of what other theaters might want to produce. We deliberately look for things that are challenging and thought provoking, whether that’s the intent of the script or the manner in which it’s produced. Secondary factors: that they are one-act shows that can be produced without big, detailed sets or costumes. This show is our biggest exception to that because it does require a great deal of video and still images and the sound and projection.

Barefoot in the Park at GCT

Neil Simon’s Barefoot in the Park is playing at Germantown Community Theatre (GCT) through September 29th. The rom-com has fun with newlyweds (he’s uptight, she’s a free spirit) in their 5th-floor walkup apartment as they deal with neighbors, relatives, stairs, and Manhattan. Get tickets here.

On Golden Pond at Playhouse on the Square

Opening Friday at Playhouse on the Square is On Golden Pond, which is kind of like a geriatric Barefoot in the Park: Couple in love working out their differences while family members and people from the neighborhood keep showing up. In this one, Norman and Ethel Thayer are at the family lake house instead of Manhattan. Through October 6th. (And there’s one more connection: Jane Fonda was in both movie versions). Score your tickets here. 

Categories
Intermission Impossible Theater

30 Days of Opera Popping Up for the Eighth Year

CREDIT: Jillian Barron

Jillian Barron

Jordan Wells lights up a camel at a past 30 Days of Opera event at the West Tennessee State Fair.

It’s safe to say now that 30 Days of Opera has become a tradition. The monthlong multi-event held by Opera Memphis has been around since 2012, put in place by the organization’s general director Ned Canty. The idea is to bring opera to the people with a series of appearances around the area, from concerts at the Levitt Shell to random pop-up performances at busy intersections, farmers markets, dog parks, or anywhere that people may gather.

It’s been growing in size and scope since its start, and Opera Memphis says that to date, almost 500,000 people have experienced opera in hundreds of performances in almost every ZIP code in Memphis. It’s gotten big boosts from the National Endowment for the Arts, which has given Opera Memphis annual grants for its programs the past five years. Opera Memphis has received 63 grants totaling $377,000 since FY2012.

Opera Memphis

Nikola Printz with 30 Days of Opera at Overton Square in 2017.

This year will again have music every day of September, including a return to the Levitt Shell where Opera Memphis will perform as part of the Orion Free Music Concert Series in Overton Park on September 13th.

Sandwiched between performances are a couple of related events. Representatives from opera companies nationwide will gather for OPERA America’s Civic Action Regional Meeting September 11th and 12th. OPERA America is an advocacy group, and the meeting and workshops in Memphis will look at how opera can serve as a tool for civic action, successful community engagement programs, and future programming and practices.

There will also be a symposium on opera and race hosted by Rhodes College and Opera Memphis. The academic and performance event — Opera & Race: Celebrating the Past, Building the Future — puts a spotlight on the role of race on and off the stage. The two-day series is September 12th and 13th and will include a concert by Opera Memphis on the 12th and lectures from guest speakers on the 13th. They are:

  • Naomi André, associate professor at the University of Michigan, Department of Afroamerican and African Studies, Women’s Studies, and author of Black Opera: History, Power, Engagement
  • Giovanna Joseph, mezzo-soprano and founder and director of the award-winning OperaCréole
  • Anh Le, director of marketing and public relations at Opera Theatre of Saint Louis.

The opening concert of the symposium on September 12th celebrates the music of lost or rarely performed composers of African descent. It will include excerpts of Jonestown, an opera by Dr. Evan Williams of Rhodes College, performed by Opera Memphis, a featured performance by Carami Hilaire, and a solo performance by Marcus King of Margaret Bond’s Three Dream Portraits. All symposium events are free and open to the public. A full schedule of events, lectures, and panels can be found here.

This year’s 30 Days of Opera will feature a photo contest open to the public for a chance to win prizes. Attendees to any of the 30 Days events can tag Opera Memphis using the #30daysofopera hashtag on their posted photos for a chance to win two tickets, a swag bag, and more.

For event locations and dates, and information about the photo contest, go here or follow Opera Memphis on Facebook @Operamemphis.

For more information about all Opera Memphis events go here or call 901-257-3100.

Categories
Intermission Impossible Theater

Dramatis Personae: Observations from the Ostranders

CREDIT: Jon W. Sparks

The 2019 Ostrander Awards ceremony held Sunday at the Orpheum was, as one has come to expect, packed with soigné theatre lovers in character and out, in their heads and out, cheering or consoling as needed.
Jon W. Sparks

Debbie Litch, executive producer at Theatre Memphis. TM won 10 of the Ostrander trophies this year.

The event alternated musical numbers and clusters of awards, keeping things going at a good clip. Among the highlights were Debbie Litch, executive producer at Theatre Memphis, giving the Behind the Scenes Award posthumously to Mike Lupfer. Lupfer died last year at age 81 and is remembered as a worldly man with diverse interests.

As described by Chris Davis recently in Memphis magazine, he was “a teacher, a world traveler, a family man, a theater lover, a friend to many, a past chair of the psychology department at the University of Memphis, a sometimes scoutmaster, and a paragon of local leadership and volunteerism.”

Jon W. Sparks

Kenneth Neill, publisher at Ostrander sponsor Contemporary Media, Inc., and Elizabeth Perkins, Ostrander director.

The estimable Chris Ellis transported himself from Hollywood to introduce Christina Wellford Scott, the recipient of this year’s Eugart Yerian Lifetime Achievement Award. Scott and Ellis are longtime friends from back in the Pleistocene era of Memphis theater. Ellis departed the local theater scene and ended up in Hollywood where he books films and television shows with some frequency. Among his credits: Armageddon, Apollo 13, My Cousin Vinny, The Dark Knight Rises, Godzilla, Catch Me If You Can … you get the idea. He is also an illustrator who does work for Memphis magazine as well as posting death anniversary drawings on his Facebook site, occasionally serious, frequently funny, and typically offensive.
Jon W. Sparks

From left: Chris Ellis, Kenneth Neill, and Christina Wellford Scott arguing over how to pronounce Ms. Scott’s first name.

Ellis’ intro of Scott was, by the way, occasionally serious, frequently funny, and typically offensive. He insisted on pronouncing the award winner’s first name as “ChrisTYNE-a,” causing occasional moments of apoplexy in the audience, members of which would holler “ChrisTEEN-a” to no avail.

Jon W. Sparks

Kell Christie directed the all-woman Lizzie: The Musical at New Moon Theatre, which won Best Ensemble in a Musical, and earned awards for Annie Freres as Best Supporting Actress, and for Gene Elliott for Best Sound Design for a Musical.

The director Dennis Whitehead Darling got the gold of the evening, winning Best Direction of a Drama in the community and professional division for The Parchman Hour: Songs and Stories of the ‘61 Freedom Riders at Hattiloo Theatre, and Best Direction in the collegiate division for Intimate Apparel at the University of Memphis. Parchman also won Best Production of a Drama and Intimate Apparel won Best Overall Production. Yes, but what has he done lately you ask? Go to Hattiloo this weekend and see Jelly’s Last Jam through September 1st.

Jon W. Sparks

Veteran actor Curtis C. Jackson (left) with Karl Robinson, winner of this year’s Larry Riley Rising Star Award.

It was also a splendid evening for Jason Spitzer who picked up two awards for Little Women: Best Original Script and Best Production of an Original Script. Spitzer is somewhat of a fearless genius who adapts and directs stories that he loves. A few years ago he revamped a turgid version of A Christmas Carol at TM and, well, God bless us every one for that improvement.
Jon W. Sparks

Jason Spitzer (left) nabbed two awards for Little Women at Theatre Memphis’ Next Stage: Best Original Script and Best Production of an Original Script. The play also got a Best Costume Design for a Drama award for Heather Steward. At right is Jim Palmer, who won the Eugart Yerian Lifetime Achievement Award in 2016 along with his wife, Jo Lynne Palmer.

Jason Gerhard was on both sides of the awards ceremonies, first getting his own plaque as Best Featured Performer in a Drama for his work in Junk at Circuit Playhouse, and then introducing the winner of the Larry Riley Rising Star Award, Karl Robinson.
Jon W. Sparks

Jason Gerhard, winner of Best Featured Performer in a Drama for his work in Junk at Circuit Playhouse.

First time winners are predictably excited, but few were as over the moon as Ariona Campbell, who won Best Supporting Actress in a Drama in the collegiate division for Crumbs from the Table of Joy at Southwest Tennessee Community College. She attended the ceremonies with daughter London.
Jon W. Sparks

Ariona Campbell won Best Supporting Actress in a Drama in the collegiate division for Crumbs from the Table of Joy at Southwest Tennessee Community College. With her at the Orpheum ceremonies is her daughter London.

After the ceremonies, attendees adjourned to the Halloran Center next door to further schmooze, emote, pose, crack wise, and try to impress potential directors. After all, these are theater people, people.

Jon W. Sparks

John Maness was one of two winners for Best Leading Actor in a Musical for his work in TM’s 1776. The other awardee was Michael ‘Quick Change Artist’ Gravois in A Gentleman’s Guide to Love and Murder at Playhouse on the Square.

Categories
Intermission Impossible Theater

Theater Honors Its Own at the Annual Ostrander Awards

CREDIT: New Moon

Jon W. Sparks

A stellar Ostranders: Dennis Whitehead Darling won two awards for best direction.

It was a brilliant evening at the Ostranders for busy director Dennis Whitehead Darling. The annual theater award event sponsored by Memphis magazine and ArtsMemphis was held at the Orpheum Sunday honoring people and productions around the city, and he earned two nods for best direction, one for The Parchman Hour: Songs and Stories of the ‘61 Freedom Riders at Hattiloo Theatre and the other for Intimate Apparel at the University of Memphis.

The former was in the community and professional category and the latter in the collegiate division. Transcending categories is what Whitehead Darling does — he was the first Opera Memphis McCleave Fellow in Directing, named a year ago, and will be directing at Opera Birmingham next year. And for good measure, he directed Jelly’s Last Jam now showing at Hattiloo.

The Parchman Hour racked up five Ossies for Hattiloo, for Best Production of a Drama, Sound Design for a Drama, Choreography/Fight Choreography for a Drama, Ensemble in a Drama, as well as for Whitehead Darling’s direction.

Awards.

In the College category, Intimate Apparel took 12 of the awards. U of M’s Be More Chill won 6.

The community/professional side was dominated by Theatre Memphis with awards for Hairspray, 1776, Little Women, and Newsies.

The Ostranders ceremonies often include special awards, the most distinguished of which is the Eugart Yerian Lifetime Achievement honor that went to stage veteran Christina Wellford Scott. Other distinctions included the Larry Riley Rising Star Award to Karl Robinson, the Gypsy Award to Brittany Church, and the Behind the Scenes Award given posthumously to Michael Lupfer.

As in the past, financial support for the awards event was provided by Michael McLaren and Judge Diane Vescovo.

If you’re keeping score of multiple winners in the community/professional division, Theatre Memphis walked away with 10 awards, Playhouse on the Square 6, Next Theatre at TM 5, Hattiloo Theatre 5, New Moon Theatre 5, and Circuit Playhouse 3.

New Moon

New Moon’s Lizzie: The Musical won three Ostranders.

Hattiloo’s The Parchman Hour earned 5 and TM’s Hairspray 4. Winning 3 each were POTS’ The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-time, New Moon’s Lizzie: The Musical, TM’s Little Women, Newsies, and 1776. TM’s Clean House and POTS’ Tuck Everlasting got two apiece.

In the college division, U of M ran away with 19, 12 of which were for Intimate Apparel and 6 for Be More Chill.
Theatre Memphis

Timothy Marsh and Erica Peninger in the Theatre Memphis production of Hairspray, which won four Ossies, including one for Peninger as Best Leading Actress in a Musical.

Here is the complete list of winners:

COMMUNITY AND PROFESSIONAL

Best Set Design of a Drama: Bryce Cutler, The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-time, POTS
Best Set Design of a Musical: Jack Yates, Hairspray, TM
Best Costume Design for a Drama: Heather Steward, Little Women, Next Stage, TM
Best Costume Design for a Musical: Amie Eoff, 1776, TM
Best Hair/Wig/Makeup for a Drama: Lindsay Schmeling, The Legend of Georgia McBride, CP
Best Hair/Wig/Makeup for a Musical: Barbara Sanders, 1776, TM
Best Props Design for a Drama: Jack Yates, The Clean House, Next Stage, TM
Best Props Design for a Musical: Brandyn Nordlof, Tuck Everlasting, POTS
Best Lighting Design for a Drama: Justin Gibson, The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-time, POTS
Best Lighting Design for a Musical: Justin Gibson, Tuck Everlasting, POTS
Best Sound Design for a Drama: Ashley Davis, The Parchman Hour: Songs and Stories of the ‘61 Freedom Riders, Hattiloo
Best Sound Design for a Musical: Gene Elliott, Lizzie: The Musical, New Moon
Best Music Direction: Jeff Brewer, Newsies, TM
Best Choreography/Fight Choreography for a Drama: Naivell Steib, The Parchman Hour: Songs and Stories of the ‘61 Freedom Riders, Hattiloo
Best Choreography for a Musical: Jordan Nichols & Travis Bradley, Newsies, TM
Best Supporting Actress in a Drama: Aliza Moran, The Clean House, Next Stage, TM
Best Supporting Actress in a Musical: Annie Freres, Lizzie: The Musical, New Moon
Best Leading Actress in a Drama: Kim Sanders, Sweat, CP
Best Leading Actress in a Musical: Erica Peninger, Hairspray, TM
Best Supporting Actor in a Drama: Oliver Jacob Pierce, Twelfth Night, New Moon
Best Supporting Actor in a Musical: Luke Conner, Newsies, TM
Best Leading Actor in a Drama: Ryan Duda, The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-time, POTS
Best Leading Actor in a Musical (2 winners): John Maness, 1776, TM and Michael Gravois, A Gentleman’s Guide to Love and Murder, POTS
Best Featured Performer in a Drama: Jason Gerhard, Junk, CP
Best Featured Performer in a Musical: Daniel Kopera, Jesus Christ Superstar, Harrell
Best Ensemble in a Drama: The Parchman Hour: Songs and Stories of the ‘61 Freedom Riders, Hattiloo
Best Ensemble in a Musical: Lizzie: The Musical, New Moon
Best Direction of a Drama: Dennis Whitehead Darling, The Parchman Hour: Songs and Stories of the ‘61 Freedom Riders, Hattiloo
Best Direction of a Musical: Jordan Nichols & Travis Bradley, Hairspray, TM
Best Production of a Drama: The Parchman Hour: Songs and Stories of the ‘61 Freedom Riders, Hattiloo
Best Production of a Musical: Hairspray, TM
Carla McDonald

Playhouse on the Square’s Tuck Everlasting won two Ostrander Awards.

COLLEGE

Best Set Design: Kenton Jones, Intimate Apparel, U of M
Best Costume Design: Jen Gillette, Intimate Apparel, U of M
Best Hair/Wig/Makeup: Jen Gilette, Intimate Apparel, U of M
Best Props Design: Karen Arredondo, Intimate Apparel, U of M
Best Lighting Design: Zoey Smith, Intimate Apparel, U of M
Best Sound Design: Anthony Pellecchia, Intimate Apparel, U of M
Best Music Direction: Jacob Allen, Be More Chill, U of M
Best Choreography: Jill Guyton Nee, Be More Chill, U of M
Special Award: Intimacy Choreography: Roberta Inscho-Cox, Intimate Apparel, U of M
Best Supporting Actress in a Drama: Ariona Campbell, Crumbs from the Table of Joy, Southwest Tennessee Community College
Best Supporting Actress in a Musical: Lea Mae Aldridge, Be More Chill, U of M
Best Leading Actress in a Drama: Simmery Branch, Intimate Apparel, U of M
Best Leading Actress in a Musical: Aly Milan, Be More Chill, U of M
Best Supporting Actor in a Drama: Toby Davis, Intimate Apparel, U of M
Best Supporting Actor in a Musical – College: Landon Ricker, Be More Chill, U of M
Best Leading Actor in a Drama: Christian Hinton, Shaming JANE DOE, U of M
Best Leading Actor in a Musical: Toby Davis, Be More Chill, U of M
Best Featured Performer: Jasmine Roberts, Intimate Apparel, U of M
Best Ensemble: I Love You, You’re Perfect, Now Change (2018 version), Rhodes College
Best Direction: Dennis Whitehead Darling, Intimate Apparel, U of M
Best Overall Production: Intimate Apparel, U of M

OTHER AWARDS

Best Original Script: Little Women, Next Stage, TM
Best Production of an Original Script: Little Women, Next Stage, TM
Larry Riley Rising Star: Karl Robinson
Gypsy: Brittany Church
Behind the Scenes: Mike Lupfer (posthumously)
Eugart Yerian Lifetime Achievement: Christina Wellford Scott

Categories
Intermission Impossible Theater

Tony Isbell: Discovering The Humans

CREDIT: Jon W. Sparks

Jon W. Sparks

Tony Isbell, director of The Humans at Circuit Playhouse.

Tony Isbell is drawn to certain kinds of plays, those, he says, with natural, honest, and truthful dialogue — and relationships that are “juicy.” So when Michael Detroit, executive producer at Playhouse on the Square, asked him to direct The Humans, Isbell said he’d give it a read. “I immediately fell in love with it. Playwright Stephen Karam has a way with dialogue that is maybe the most naturalistic that I’ve ever read or dealt with.”

The play runs at Circuit Playhouse through September 8th and has lured a remarkable cast.
Jo Lynne Palmer, Christina Wellford Scott, Barclay Roberts, Lena Wallace Black, Brooke Papritz, and Steven Burk tell the story of a family that has gathered for Thanksgiving. It’s a common storytelling device, but the execution of it is far from typical, Isbell says.

“On the surface it seems maybe familiar, like something we’ve seen before,” he says. “It’s like one of those slice of life dramas where we see a family get together and spend time together. There’s a grandmother, parents, grown daughters, and one of the daughter’s new boyfriend. But this is not one of those plays where there’s a big astounding revelation that people then spend the next hour fighting over. There are a lot of smaller revelations that people deal with, like people do in real life.”

For Isbell, this is the heart of the production, the relationships among characters. “I am less interested as a director in a spectacle and you know, cool sets and costumes. I mean, yeah, I like all those things, but I try to provide the best possible ground for actors to really shine and really dig their teeth into something. And these people do.”

They’re a blue collar, lower middle class family, recognizably Irish American Catholic hard-working stock. And there are pressures: an ailing parent, financial stresses, children who have strayed a bit from the church. “The most important thing about this play in one way is the fact that these characters all love each other,” Isbell says. “They have some conflicts, they resolve them, they love each other, they make fun of each other, they laugh with each other, they occasionally cry with each other.”

To know Isbell is to appreciate his passion for theater. He is a co-founder of Quark Theatre (its slogan is “Small Plays About Big Ideas”) and as it embarks on its fourth year, it continues with its mission to get under the skin and make viewers feel and think and react. So while The Humans is not Quark fare, it is very much in that spirit. And you won’t have to wait long for Quark’s first show of the season. The Memphis premiere of Wakey Wakey by Will Eno opens September 20th at TheatreSouth.

For Isbell, having shows bunching up like this is next to normal. “I’ve averaged about three shows a year over the last 40 years,” he says, “which seems unbelievable, but that’s kind of what I’ve done.” That’s a long commitment to directing and acting at venues all around the area, and his devotion was noted last year when he was honored with the Eugart Yerian Lifetime Achievement Award at the Ostrander ceremonies. He is quick to point out that he’s not the only lifetime achiever in The Humans. Jo Lynne Palmer received the award a few years ago and Christina Wellford Scott will take it home this Sunday from this year’s Ostrander ceremonies.

So Isbell is confident that audiences will be drawn in to the play and will take something home. “It will probably leave you questioning some things and will probably have you discussing it with your companion saying, ‘I think this was like this’ and then ‘No, I think it was like this.’ It’ll be that kind of thing.”

The Humans
8 p.m. Thursdays through Saturdays, 2 p.m. Sundays. The Circuit Playhouse, 51 South Cooper Street. Call 901 726-4656 or visit the website.

Categories
Art Art Feature

Horn Island: The Last Show

CREDIT: Jon W. Sparks

Bill Nelson’s Walking Back to Waters Crossing With Cordie, oil on canvas, at the Horn Island exhibition at Memphis College of Art

There will be a lot of “lasts” at Memphis College of Art this coming year. The school closes for good after the next spring commencement with the remaining students graduating and going on their way, alumni to a memory.



As fall gets underway, the first of the year’s lasts begins with the 35th Horn Island Exhibition, one of MCA’s most distinctive endeavors. In the early 1980s, professor Bob Riseling liked the idea of students going on an excursion to the uninhabited barrier island off the Gulf Coast near Ocean Springs, Mississippi. There was a fitting historic resonance: Noted artist Walter Inglis Anderson (1903-1965) spent a good deal of the last 20 years of his life going to and from Horn Island, portraying the animals and landscapes. The Walter Anderson Museum of Art in Ocean Springs keeps his memory alive and his art protected.



Riseling imagined students, faculty, and alumni going for several days to the island where they would observe and absorb the environment while roughing it the whole way. To this day there are no amenities on the island, so everyone  camps and creates with the idea of coming back to complete artworks inspired by the experience. Riseling led the expeditions for years and then handed off the direction to MCA faculty member Don DuMont, who remembers well how it changed him.



“The first year I was adjunct here at MCA, well in my forties,” DuMont says. “That experience on Horn Island took me all the way back to when I was really young, to all the islands I had been on throughout my service years. Things just flooded back into me. And I started looking at my life and it just took a big 180.”



Jon W. Sparks

Don DuMont’s Horn Memories Spirit Box. Walnut, cedar, pewter, found objects, at the Horn Island exhibition at Memphis College of Art

For many of those who have trekked to Horn Island over the years, it is revelatory in its own way. “Some of them have never camped before,” DuMont says. “Some of them had never even been to the coast. Some of them never even been on a boat.”



DuMont went to Horn Island three times when Riseling was running the show, and the senior professor saw the effect. “He told me, ‘I think you’re the one to take this over,'” DuMont says. “And I’ve done it 14 years. It’s been just a tremendous opportunity and something that’s changed my life greatly, and then to be able to see all of this wonderful work all these years. All of these people that have participated feel that it really had big significance in their lives, too. So it’s pretty damn sweet.”



This year’s show runs through October 4th, with the reception this Saturday from 5:30 p.m. to 8:30 p.m. at MCA. As in the past, there will be refreshments in the form of barbecued Spam and Gatorade, the essential sustenance of the art adventurers.



Students are required to do four to six pieces for the show. They have sponsors, and the idea is to give the benefactors choices in selecting a work for themselves. The sponsors are typically art collectors and understand the value of a visit to Horn Island. Sometimes they’re happy to forego having a piece — they’d rather the student have the experience on the island and then have a chance to sell their work.



Jon W. Sparks

Scottie Wyatt’s gyotaku print Pompano, at the Horn Island exhibition at MCA

That experience, DuMont says, is different every time, whether veteran or newbie. “We step on a different island every year,” he says. “As a matter of fact, every morning when you step out of your tent, it’s a different island.” Nature does what it pleases and it presents the artists with fresh visions and not just a few lessons. He mentions Hurricane Katrina that blew through the region in 2005. “Pre-Katrina, the island was very lush. After Katrina, we witnessed a significant die-off.” The devastation came, he says, because there wasn’t significant rain for several months after the hurricane. “So that island just sat there and had salt water that killed off a lot of those trees. Over the years, we watched the island come back, and this year in particular, it seemed really, really lush. I think it had a lot to do with our wet fall and winter.”



Each artist takes away whatever they will from the excursion and then spends the summer working on their art. There is certainly no theme imposed on them, although DuMont says, “I think people really were reflecting a lot, maybe thinking about the past, and thinking about what they’ll do now.” And then when the pieces started coming in to MCA to be hung or placed, DuMont noticed a thread that ran through many of them. “Reflection literally shows up a lot in work,” he says. He points to a symmetrical work made of cut paper. “It’s almost like a mirror,” he says, speculating that perhaps it being the last show spurred thoughts about past, present, and future, which then emerged as balance, reflection, and symmetry in the artworks.



Peyton LaBauve’s porcelain Don DuMonster (Smoking Pipe) at this year’s Horn Island exhibition

There is also much diversity in the show, DuMont says. “It’s all like-minded people there, so you would think they’re all going to be doing the same thing. But that’s so far from the truth. We have beautiful jewelry, we have ceramic work that’s phenomenal. The other thing is that it’s not just traditional style work, but there are all kinds of mediums here.” Painting, drawing, photography, printmaking, animation, fabric. “New technologies, old methods, just a wonderful blend,” he says.