Category: Intermission Impossible

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Intermission Impossible Theater

Playhouse Cancels Performances and Youth Conservatory Until Fall

Citing the mandates of city government and health officials, Playhouse on the Square will cancel the performances of Little Shop of Horrors, Mississippi Goddamn, and St. Paulie’s Delight, which had been scheduled to close the 2019-2020 season.

Circuit Playhouse, meanwhile, is replacing its scheduled season opener Catch Me If You Can with Little Shop of Horrors, which will run August 7-30, 2020.

The Department of Theatre Education will no longer host Summer Youth Conservatory on the Playhouse campus. Plans for an alternate version of the camp are being formulated. Questions in regards to registration can be addressed to conservatory director Jason Gerhard at jason@playhouseonthesquare.org.

The company is urging patrons with tickets remaining in their subscription to donate the ticket value back to Playhouse or take an account credit toward the 52nd season opening in August.

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Intermission Impossible Theater

Roving Singers Face Reality of Stay-Home Edict

CREDIT: Opera Memphis

Late last week, Opera Memphis sent a message to the public that offered to send singers around town for drive-by serenades. It encouraged people to send an email and it would dispatch a van and flatbed trailer to wherever music lovers were (sparsely) gathered, and belt out some arias.

Opera Memphis

Taking opera to the streets.


Ned Canty, general director of Opera Memphis, said at last count there were more than a hundred requests and they’d been busy taking music to the streets, rain or shine.

Until 6 p.m. today.

That’s when Mayor Jim Strickland’s edict to stay at home goes into effect. There’s a list of exceptions, but itinerant warblers don’t qualify.

“At 6 p.m., we’re not going to do any more of these,” Canty says. But he is going to request permission from the mayor for an exemption. “We’re very rigorous in terms of social distancing. Only one person touches the equipment. Nobody’s in the same car.

Nobody is within six feet. We want to abide by the rules, so what we are going to ask for is his permission to sing for first responders, folks in hospitals, trying to find some places where people are essential employees and we will come and thank you by giving you this weird spread-out show.”

Canty intends to honor all the requests, but circumstances have changed things. It might be digital, or it might have to wait until the stay-home order is lifted. Maybe it’s only by Skype or FaceTime.

Today, the rain notwithstanding, the traveling troupe sang at condos on Parkway, at a recovery center, and for a retired couple living in a cul-de-sac. And at 6 p.m., it’s the final bow.

“But hopefully,” Canty says, “this will be the fuel that gets us through isolation.”

Tennessee Shakespeare Company

TSC is launching its Decameron Project Wednesday, March 25th, at 10:15 a.m. on its Facebook page.

Company actors will be performing online inspired by Boccaccio’s fourteenth century book The Decameron. The author had fled Florence to survive the Black Death epidemic. The book’s short stories are told by women and men who self-quarantined for two weeks during the outbreak, giving them an opportunity to tell a story every night.

TSC will present its project Monday through Friday with the actors announcing the theme, taking note of literary and artistic events on that date in history, reading one or more pieces, and giving a Shakespeare speech that joins the theme.

Ballet Memphis

Dance aficionados can visit Ballet Memphis’ Facebook page that has the “Stay Inside” video by dancers Brandon Ramey and Virginia Pilgrim Ramey. The short meditation on the isolation we’re all having to endure is a reminder that performers have to perform, and no pandemic can stop them.

Also, the Pilates program at Ballet Memphis is now offering digital fitness classes through the Zoom platform. More information is here.

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Intermission Impossible Theater

Quark Theatre Provokes (Again) With New Production

Quark Theatre’s new show opening Friday, March 13th, continues its mission of staging “small plays with big ideas.”

The regional premiere of what happens to the hope at the end of the evening tells the tale of two friends who haven’t seen each other for years. The two — “Andy” and “Friend” — share some history but have taken divergent paths over time. Their sometimes rocky reunion, which works on different levels, reveals ideas about friendship and identity while in its way, shows the power of theater (one character reads from the script and addresses the audience).

British playwrights Tim Crouch and Andy Smith wrote the play that’s directed by Tony Isbell and packs a lot into the hour or so production. The performers are local stage veterans Marques Brown (pictured at left) and Brian Helm.

The production runs March 13-29 at TheatreSouth in the First Congregational Church in the Cooper-Young neighborhood. Showtimes are Friday and Saturday nights at 8 p.m. and Sunday afternoons at 2 p.m. Tickets are $20 at the door or in advance from quarktheatre.com. There is adult language. More info: 901-501-5921.

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Intermission Impossible Theater

Alvin Ailey Fires Memphis Up at the Orpheum

CREDIT: Photo by Andrew Eccles

Photo by Andrew Eccles

Alvin Ailey American Dance Theater

Last weekend’s string of performances by The Alvin Ailey American Dance Theater at the Orpheum Theater revealed a lot about this city’s enthusiasm for world-class modern dance. While the Orpheum regularly brings in high-caliber touring shows, it might be said that two hours of abstract movement could be a harder sell in cities away from the coasts. But that would be dead wrong. The chemistry between the audience and the dancers was palpable in these shows, lifting both to truly inspired heights.

From the beginning, the melding of music and pure movement revealed wide-reaching imaginations at work. As the strains of Bach’s Trio Sonata No. 6 in G major played, a solitary dancer peppered her balletic movements with echoes of African dance, a tendency that only grew more pronounced as she was joined by others and the music morphed first to some swinging Mary Lou Williams and then on to the actual African sounds of Yao Ababio and Kofi Osei Williams.

A brief pause, and suddenly we were riding, with two virtuostic, acrobatic dancers, on the roller coaster of an Ella Fitzgerald scat. Only in a moment when Ella went down for some guttural growls did other dancers appear, a line of veritable Oompa-Loompas marching through in a line as if to emphasize the singer’s stark melodic lines; and they never showed again: in that moment, the inspiration was pure, graphic whimsy.

That mood shifted yet again in the powerful “Ode,” which just debuted last October, and was described as “a flower on the graves of the innocent victims of gun violence and a meditation on the beauty and fragility of life.” To music (jazz great Don Pullen’s “Suite (Sweet) Malcolm (Part 1, Memories and Gunshots)”) alternately tortured and angular, then full of flowing chords reminiscent of Debussy, six men twisted through a painful journey, only to end as it began, with one of them lying prone, the others bent over him in a tableau.

Throughout, the sets were sparse, yet effective: a splash of light suggesting noirish Venetian blinds, a simple illuminated circle and subtle shades of color, a river suggested by two narrow sheets of fabric, stretched taut across the stage. Using the simplest effects, and uncomplicated costumes, a universe was suggested for each piece. Inevitably, the finales brought a roar of applause and appreciative hoots of enthusiasm from the nearly full house. “Yes!” Memphis seemed to be saying, “Yes to these meditations embodied by some of the world’s strongest and most expressive dancers.”

The grand finale, of course, was the latest iteration of the Ailey classic, “Revelations.” First performed in 1960, the piece has lost none of its power, especially in a city like Memphis, so steeped in the ecstatic services of African-American churches. And though the piece has been centered on the same collection of African-American spirituals, song-sermons, gospel songs, and holy blues as ever, the versions used today create a perfect musical balance between pristine recordings of voices and drums alike, and the inherent grit and groove of songs created before recordings were even possible.

By the end, the dancers could barely rest from the audience’s demand for encore bows, ultimately reprising a bit of the last piece in exultant joy. It was a passionate reminder of the aesthetic heights that can be reached by this most visionary and venturesome of American dance institutions.

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Intermission Impossible Theater

Yule/Not Yule: Something to Bless Us Every One

The holidays are on stage, either ongoing or coming soon. We’ve got your long runs, your weekenders, your kiddie delights, your grown-up fare with snark, sweetness, and terror, along with traditional old tales and the contemporary angsty pursuit of joy. So come around the wassail bowl and let’s plan a way to see them all …

Here We Come A Caroling

This weekend only is Cabaret Noel Five: Here We Come A Caroling, the annual cabaret by Emerald Theatre Company. The elven hosts Topsy and Turvey promise twists, laughs, and fabulousness. And ample quantities of live music. Three performances only at TheaterWorks. Go here for more.

The 12 Dates of Christmas

Kim Sanders

On now through December 22nd is The 12 Dates of Christmas, a one-woman comedy with the glorious Kim Sanders, a resident company member at Playhouse on the Square. Sanders performs in the Memphian Room at Circuit Playhouse as single Mary and her cast of family, friends, and suitors as she recovers from finding out that her fiancé is a cad. Can she survive a year of holidays being sour on love? Directed by the splendid Kell Christie, you can find out more here.

Urban Nativity


Hattiloo Theatre founder Ekundayo Bandele has written Urban Nativity, a contemporary take on the Biblical story of the birth of Jesus. It premiered at the theater six years ago and tells the tale of Mary and Joe, an expectant couple going to Chicago to participate in a census. There are breakdowns, criminals, and a murderous governor after them. And yet, there is, as there must be, hope. Showing through December 15th. Get tickets here.

Miss Bennet: Christmas at Pemberley

Lydia Barnett-Mulligan


Miss Bennet: Christmas at Pemberley is set two years after Jane Austen’s novel ends, telling the tale of bookish middle sister, Mary as Christmas 1815 approaches at the Darcy estate. Tennessee Shakespeare Company presents the regional premiere of the merry tale of a new tree, new hope, and maybe even a new love. Directed by Stephanie Shine. Opens this weekend. Secure your place at Pemberley here.

A Christmas Carol


Theatre Memphis is embarking on its 42nd annual production of A Christmas Carol starting Friday and going through December 23rd. Directed by the estimable Jason Spitzer, it maintains tradition while getting better each year. David Shipley is the redeemable Scrooge. Go see it, every one. Tickets and info here.

Two Rooms

And if you just want to detach from the warmth of human kindness, if you’re feeling more worldly and less spiritual, then consider the case of Michael Wells, an American held hostage in a windowless cell in the Middle East and his wife, Lainie, who can’t do a thing about it, not even get the government to act. With a strong cast, Two Rooms by Lee Blessing was heralded in the 1980s as a story of solitude and devotion in the middle of headlines. Just like today, here is love and loss, foreign policy and journalism, terrorism, and people caught up in the vortex. It’s a Cloud9 production at TheatreWorks running from December 13th to 21st. Info and tickets here.

Junie B. Jones, The Musical

Here’s something for the youngsters that’s not holiday themed: Junie B. Jones, The Musical follows our heroine on her first day of first grade as she navigates friends, teachers, the blackboard, kickball, and life itself. The talent, so you know, is first-rate with Breyannah Tillman (Dreamgirls) — last year’s Rising Star Ostrander Award winner — warbling on stage. Runs at Circuit Playhouse through December 22nd. Go here for more.

Peter Pan

Of course, there’s Peter Pan. The 28th annual moneymaker is at Playhouse on the Square through December 29th, directed by Warner Crocker, and with some tech improvements that will make you ooooh and ahhhh even more than usual at the flying delights. Here’s the info.

The Nutcracker

Ballet Memphis would hardly be doing its job without a sumptuous production of The Nutcracker at the Orpheum. It’s got the Memphis Symphony Orchestra, more than 100 dancers, a live choir, and a sugar plum fairy. Runs December 12th to 15th and info is here.

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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.

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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.

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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. 

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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.

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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.