Saturday night at the Buckman Center (Sept. 26), Voices of the South founders Alice Berry and Jenny Odle Madden will recreate their 20-year-old company’s earliest narrative theater performances.
Madden and Berry were an unlikely partnership. Both were University of Memphis theater students, but they couldn’t have been less alike. Madden did all the musicals while Berry was drawn to drama and more experimental work. But they were both inspired by the narrative theater pieces developed by professor Gloria Baxter who became mentor and creative partner.
Tonight’s program includes a performance of The Window, a story by Memphis author Eleanor Glaze, and Listening, from the first chapter of Eudora Welty’s autobiography, “One Writer’s Beginnings.”
The Window tells the story of Miss Manifest, an elderly woman who finds she has locked herself out of her house. Listening is a lyrical look at childhood, exploring Welty’s, “memory, family, and her life-long love of words.”
Also, if you’d like to learn more about Voices of the South’s origin story, here’s a short video of Madden, Berry, and Baxter, telling the story, along with some great photos from early productions.
Voices of the South Revives the Company’s Earliest Performances
