Curtains Up! Eleven Theatre and Art Experiences in Memphis this Month
In this monthly blog, Wesley Paraham immerses you in the diverse arts scene Memphis has to offer from theatre and dance productions to art shows and markets.
In this monthly blog, Wesley Paraham immerses you in the diverse arts scene Memphis has to offer from theatre and dance productions to art shows and markets.
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Theatre
STARTING NOV. 7
Junie B. Jones The Musical at The Circuit Playhouse
I was more of a Judy Blume kid, but I wish I had read more of Barbara Park’s tales of the first-grade hellion Junie B. Jones. During the peak of the books’ popularity, many school libraries across the country (or across the south and midwest, let’s be real) banned Junie B. Jones because they thought she was a bad role model for kids. Check out the stage musical adaptation at The Circuit Playhouse, and bring the whole family! Your children will most likely not be negatively influenced.
STARTING NOV. 14
The Wizard of Oz at Playhouse on the Square
You’re off to see the wizard! That is, if you have 25 dollars. Because that’s the price of admission.
STARTING NOV. 21
A Tuna Christmas at The Circuit Playhouse
With only a two-person cast to play over 20 different characters, “A Tuna Christmas” will be both a satirical romp through the Christmas holiday with fictional small-town Texans, and a brilliant showcase of two actors’ abilities.
SATURDAY, NOV. 22
Catapult at GPAC
You make rudimentary shadow puppets with your hands when you’re bored at work. Adam Battelstein and his dance company make entire shadow scenes with their whole bodies. You are not the same—but you could be!
NOV. 25-30
& Juliet at the Orpheum Theatre
“& Juliet” is jukebox musical and a pretty meta interpretation of ol’ Bill’s “Romeo & Juliet”. See, Anne Hathaway attends the first performance of her husband’s new play, but can’t help wondering how the story would’ve continued had Juliet not killed herself. Shakespeare is skeptical, but hears Hathaway out. What we see is her brand new vision of the story, from Juliet’s perspective. The Tony-nominated show’s been around the world since it premiered five years ago in London, and now you can see it in Memphis for five days.
Art
ALL MONTH
Judi Nocifora and the Hue Gurus Art Exhibit at the Memphis Botanic Garden
This is an exhibition of paintings from The Hue Gurus, a class of artists instructed by accomplished oil painter Judy Nocifora. It’s great that the botanic garden has an indoor exhibit this month, because it’s getting pretty cold outside.
Of Salt and Spirit: Black Quilters in the American South at the Brooks Museum
Quilting has been a long and enduring way for Black culture to preserve history and memories. Of Salt and Spirit: Black Quilters in the American South is an exhibition celebrating the artistic vision and quilting skills of Southern Black women, and the communities their work supported. Drawing from a collection that includes works documented by Black folklorist Roland L. Freeman, this show uses quilts to showcase the historically overlooked stories of their makers.
Michele Abramowitz presents Cognitive Dissonance or: How I Learned to Stop Worrying and Stop Worrying and Stop Worrying and Stop Worrying at Tops Gallery
As you may have already realized, the title of Brooklyn-based oil painter Michele Abramowitz’s Tops Gallery exhibition is a reference to Stanley Kubrick’s 1964 film “Dr. Strangelove or: How I Learned to Stop Worrying and Love the Bomb”. That movie was about the Cold War and the world’s anxieties about mutually-assured nuclear destruction. Abramowitz borrows these concepts to express her anxieties about the bottomless pit that is our modern-day political environment.
From Paris to the Prairie: The George H. Booth II Gift to the Dixon Gallery and Gardens
The Booth family seems to have a generous streak. On a winter day in 1945, according to regional legend, Gladys Presley visited the Tupelo Hardware Company, founded by George H.Booth I, to purchase her son a bike for his eleventh birthday. He pleaded for a rifle instead. A store employee, wisely thinking that a tween who really really wants a gun probably shouldn’t have one, decided to offer them a guitar instead. And thus, Memphis’ tourism industry was born.
Anyway, after George H. Booth gave the world the gift of Elvis, 80-or-so years later his great-grandson George H. Booth II would give The Dixon the gift of a collection of eleven prints, featuring work from Thomas Hart Benton, Rockwell Kent, Grant Wood, and even some Renoir.
L’Estampe originale: A Graphic Treasure at the Dixon Gallery & Gardens
L’Estampe originale is a truly rare portfolio of graphic arts from the mid-1890s and considered one of the greatest collaborations in printmaking history. This French publication, which celebrated the original print and color lithography, features 95 works from 74 influential artists across Europe and the United States. If you’re passionate about printmaking, or even just a print fan, don’t skip this one.
James Viste: Let Me Tell You a Story at the Metal Museum of Memphis
Master metalsmith James Viste believes that every material object holds secrets of the past, and has a story to tell. His intricately-textured metal vessels will conjure feelings of nostalgia, whimsy, and intrigue within viewers
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