Local News
in Memphis, TN

Plainview, Texas and Hart area continue to be hot spot for sugarcane aphid.

Catch a preview of the Farm Progress Show, learn about hemp farming in Minnesota and see how farmers can help veterans.

Dr. Brent Bean addresses all things sorghum. Watch and see

A Georgia-based developer is partnering with locals to develop 64 housing units just north of Le Bonheur Childrens Hospital.Will Burgin, co-owner of Artifex DBD and Jackson-Burgin Inc., will work on the project with the Memphis Medical District Collaborative MMDC and numerous Memphians who are learning to develop property.The 64 units will be located on 24 lots scattered between five blocks. These are gap-tooth spaces in what is otherwise a residential neighborhood, Burgin said. The

A property was recently sold next to Nicholas Vrettos The Port restaurant, a Presidents Island anchor since the 1960s that has delicious diner fare at old-school prices.

The number of people boarding aircraft at Memphis International Airport has continue to rise.Enplanements at MEM increased by 14,901, or 7.5 percent, in July year-over-year from 198,889 to 213,790, according to the latest figures released by the Memphis-Shelby County Airport Authority. Additionally, the airport has seen year-over-year passenger growth in recent months, including 9.1 percent in March 2 percent in April 8 percent in May and 4.1 percent in June.Glen Thomas, director of strategic

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 Jellys 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 Darlings direction. In the College category, Intimate Apparel took 12 of the awards. U of Ms 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 youre 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. Hattiloos The Parchman Hour earned 5 and TMs Hairspray 4. Winning 3 each were POTS The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-time, New Moons Lizzie: The Musical, TMs Little Women, Newsies, and 1776. TMs 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. 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 Gentlemans 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 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, Youre 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

The Continuum Music Festival has come and gone once again, leaving many reeling from over two solid days of innovative sounds. Here, we present a slideshow of some highlights, by photographers Jamie Harmon and Jillian Baron. Your faithful correspondent was able to witness one highlight of the weekend, Opera Memphis staging of the modern opera As One, bycomposer Laura Kaminsky and librettists Kimberly Reed and Mark Campbell. Since its premier in 2014, this has become the most produced new opera in North America, and upon seeing the performance at Continuum, it was easy to see why. FeaturingBlythe Gaissert, mezzo-soprano, and Michael Kelly, baritone, singing with the Blueshift Ensemble String Quartet Marisa Polesky, Jessie Munson, Beth Luscombe, Alisa Horn, the piece tells a heart-wrenching saga of a transgender person grappling with her identity. The two singers orbit around each other throughout, each furthering the tale of a young boys struggle with, and gradual acceptance of, his often secret female identity. The effect of the two singers inhabiting different aspects of one life is indescribably captivating coupled with the string quartet, it is gripping. The music ranges from the hypnotic or pastoral pulses of childhood, to ever more strident and dissonant harmonies as the dual protagonist,Hannah after and Hannah before, confronts misunderstanding and threats from the world at large. For impressions of the remainder of the festival, I asked Paul Taylor, aka New Memphis Colorways, to describe his impressions of the festivals second day. Paul Taylor: There was a restorative yoga thing led by Sean Murphy and Anne Froning. That was a nice addition to both days. Sean does a really interesting looping with a bunch of wind instruments and delay pedals. Pretty cool. The Theremin-Lap Steel duo was super beautiful and tranquil. It was really refreshing and surprising. They took it in a direction that was totally not directly linked to the expected sounds of those instruments. Then I played my set, which was a re-imagining of my New Memphis Colorways Vignettes. Thats a project Im doing on social media this year, releasing little 60-second video clips that are intended to exist only on social media. Theyre not advertisements for anything else. Theyve just reached their destination and Im done with it when they wind up on social media, as art intended to live there. But I decided, for this show, to reanimate them into longer versions by mapping out sections of each of the videos to a MIDI controller, so I could trigger start points in the video and audio in each of them, and spontaneously improvise longer compositions. And that sort of created new chord changes and beats by utilizing different start points as they were not originally intended to be. And I think I survived relatively unscathed. Directly after me it was the Blueshift Ensemble playing music by ICEBERG. And the pieces they played were just astonishing. I was absolutely blown away at the breadth and scope of those tunes. Theyre really challenging, theyre really enlightening. And after that was Project Logic. That was a really interesting show, in that I think a lot of people expected Vernon Reid to just be a shredder, which he is, but man, he was playing the holy hell out of funky neo-soul repetitive groove guitar, and those guys were in a trance for, like, two hours straight. They had the audience completely entranced. And the venue and lights were fantastic. And it was pretty mind-blowing that, after the show, I saw some of my friends from the Unapologetic crew hanging out with MonoNeon, and I invited them over to see Crosstown Sound, the studio I run for Crosstown Arts, and we had a fun jam for about an hour. IMAKEMADBEATS, A Weirdo From Memphis, C Major, and Kid Maestro were there, and their young protege Eiloo was playing drums, sounding absolutely fantastic. I think the whole thing was a harbinger of shows to come, in terms of the level of musicianship. Thats of critical importance at the moment, because what Crosstown Arts and Continuum are doing is very much the hot, happening, hippest thing that could be done right now. Theyre doing it, and the fact that we were able to sync up with this moment was crucial.

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 hed 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 Ive 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. Its a common storytelling device, but the execution of it is far from typical, Isbell says. On the surface it seems maybe familiar, like something weve seen before, he says. Its like one of those slice of life dramas where we see a family get together and spend time together. Theres a grandmother, parents, grown daughters, and one of the daughters new boyfriend. But this is not one of those plays where theres 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. Theyre 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 Humansis not Quark fare, it is very much in that spirit. And you wont have to wait long for Quarks first show of the season. The Memphis premiere of Wakey Wakeyby Will Eno opens September 20th at TheatreSouth. For Isbell, having shows bunching up like this is next to normal. Ive averaged about three shows a year over the last 40 years, he says, which seems unbelievable, but thats kind of what Ive done. Thats 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 hes 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 years 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. Itll 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.

Old ads for Memphis coal companies were sometimes downright bizarre.

The Arcade Restaurant celebrates 100 years of operation this Saturday with a block party.

Leslie Odom Jr. wowed audiences at The Orpheum Gala: A Revolutionary Event.

National Muslim Voter Registration Day is happening across the United States, including in Memphis. Its part of the MyMemphisVote campaign.

Its Memphis-Ole Miss week for the 61st time, and the stakes feel a lot higher as its the 2019 football season opener. Especially for the Tigers.

Tami Sawyer, the Shelby County Commissioner running for Memphis mayor, criticized Jim Strickland and Willie Herenton for attending a GOP event Friday.

Law enforcement officers began investigating after a rumor spread on social media about a possible school shooting in Arkansas.

SOUTHAVEN, Miss. Dozens of Mid-South couples want answers after they say they paid for engagement, wedding and family photos they never got. One newlywed tells WREG she doesnt even care about the money anymore she just wants the lost memories from what should have been the best day of her life. The majority of those that have their weddings, they have an album to look back on. I dont have that. Mines nothing but a memory now, unfortunately,

A Los Angeles County deputy lied when he said he was shot in the shoulder while standing in a sheriffs station parking lot last week and will face a criminal investigation, authorities said.