Author: Sarai Bennett

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Celebrate Lunar New Year at the Agricenter

The Memphis Lunar New Year Fair will have performances and authentic cuisine. (Photos: Courtesy Memphis Chinese Community Center)

The Chinese lunar calendar attributes each year to an animal. This year’s is the wood snake, representing wisdom, renewal, and a time for transformation. And the Memphis Lunar New Year Fair is occurring jusssst in time for those ringing in the Lunar New Year.

Hosted by the Greater Memphis United Chinese Association and sponsored by the popular Chinese restaurant, Dim Sum King, the fair was created to give participants and their families a day full of fun festivities. “We want all the Memphis community to really get a feel of Lunar New Year because Lunar New Year is not just about the lunar calendar; it’s also about other traditions — the food, culture, and the people, like family getting together and interacting with each other,” says Effie Du, co-chair of the Memphis Lunar New Year Fair. 

This event was also intended to help people understand more about Asian culture. “It’s all about the people and the diversity, and seeing the culture and getting a feel of the Asian culture. That’s what we want to bring. It’s not just one thing. It’s a whole package of Lunar New Year, and the diversity and culture that comes with it,” says Du. If you plan on attending, be prepared to be amazed by many cultural performances, such as martial arts demonstrations and the dragon dance, which is a traditional dance said to bless the new year with good fortune and to ward off bad spirits. And feel free to indulge in a variety of Asian-inspired dishes from local food vendors, mahjong lessons, hands-on experience practicing calligraphy, and so much more.

The Memphis Lunar New Year Fair will only be here this Saturday from 10 a.m. to 9 p.m. with a general admission fee of $15 and free admission for children 10 years old and under. To learn more information about the upcoming fair and where to purchase tickets, visit memphislunarnewyear.com.  

Memphis Lunar New Year Fair, Agricenter International, 7777 Walnut Grove Road, Saturday, February 8, 10 a.m.-9 p.m., $15/general admission, free/children (10 and under). 

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Collage Dance Hosts Two Ballets at the Cannon Center 

Collage Dance celebrates Black History Month. (Photo: Tre’bor R. Jones | courtesy of Collage Dance)

Are you looking for a celebratory way to kick off Black History Month? Well, here’s one way you can start the month off right. Collage Dance’s ballet performances of Their Eyes Were Watching God and Rise were originated with one thing in mind: to honor Black culture and to spotlight pivotal moments the Black community endured in the past. 

“I wanted to create works, or ballets, about our community. Because in this art form, classical ballet, there really are hardly any stories about us,” says Kevin Thomas, artistic director at Collage Dance, co-choreographer with Amy Hall Garner of Their Eyes Were Watching God, and choreographer of Rise. Based on Zora Neale Hurston’s 1937 novel of the same name, Their Eyes Were Watching God follows the timeless story of Janie Crawford’s life and her journey of self-discovery that many fans love, incorporating it into ballet. Thomas says, “This is the first time a story by Zora Neale Hurston has been turned into an actual ballet and a ballet about our history.” 

Rise, on the other hand, is Collage Dance’s decade-old ballet that portrays the era surrounding Martin Luther King Jr.’s final speech before his assassination, evoking what Black people have overcome and the uncertainty about what lies ahead for them. If you have seen Rise before, expect a few changes as dancers will now be wearing period-inspired costumes instead of the classic abstract attire that they have previously worn. “This was inspired by Abeo Brown, who’s our wardrobe designer, and she came up with this look. She was actually inspired by a picture of the balcony scene of Martin Luther King. There’s a little girl on that balcony and that’s where the inspiration came from. Abeo was honoring that little girl there,” says Thomas. King’s final speech will be presented live during the performance and voiced by the award-winning voice actor known for portraying Pua in The Lion Guard, Gerald C. Rivers. 

The production, which also features the dance Trilogy, runs from January 31st through February 2nd, and tickets are on sale now. For more information regarding all three ballet performances and where to purchase tickets, visit collagedance.org/rise/.  

Their Eyes Were Watching God and Rise, Cannon Center for the Performing Arts, Friday, January 31, 11 a.m. (Student Matinee) | Saturday, February 2, 2:30 p.m. | Sunday, February 3, 2:30 p.m., $22-$62.

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Six Men Dressed Like Joseph Stalin Has Its World Premiere at Playhouse

(Photo: itsjusthalo)

Surely, you’ve heard of Joseph Stalin, the controversial leader of the Soviet Union, but have you ever heard of Alexei Dikiy or Felix Dadaev? These are the two characters, based on real people, in Six Men Dressed Like Joseph Stalin, a play following the lives of the two actors who are preparing for the riskiest roles of their careers: Stalin’s body doubles. 

“Dianne Nora, who’s the playwright, has taken very interesting historical facts, which is the fact of Joseph Stalin’s body doubles during World War II, and created this entire world of what could have been — the training that one of those body doubles ended up experiencing,” says Savannah Miller, director of Playhouse on the Square’s NewWorks@TheWorks Playwriting Competition that Six Men Dressed Like Joseph Stalin won. The NewWorks competition allows six plays to be entered and examined by judges, but only two can be selected as the winners. (The other winner of this season was Coco Queens, which was performed last summer.)

Of Six Men Dressed Like Joseph Stalin, Miller says, “It speaks to our current moment, with a new and old president coming into office. It speaks to critically evaluating our world leaders and what they are asking you to do. In this case, in Six Men Dressed Like Joseph Stalin, they’re asking you to put your life on the line and you need to know exactly what you’re standing up for.” 

The play, directed by Tony Isbell, encourages audiences to be more aware of what occurred in the past and how it affected people — not to mention how the past can easily become the present. “I hope that it makes them question a little bit more the world around them. And I hope ultimately that it just starts a dialogue. I think it’s a very, very timely piece,” says Miller. 

The production is 90 minutes with no intermission, and it will run from this week until the week of the 26th. For more information about this newest production and Playhouse’s upcoming season as well as where to purchase tickets, visit playhouseonthesquare.org/season-2024—2025.  

Six Men Dressed Like Stalin, TheatreWorks@TheSQuare, 2085 Monroe, through January 26th, Thursdays-Saturdays at 8 p.m., Sundays at 2 p.m., $25/general admissions, $20/senior citizens, military, and first responders, $15/children under 18.