Memphis – Life on the Wicked Stage: Act 3

The Lehman Trilogy Diaries: Showered with Nominations In Awards Season

Great recognition for a wonderful team of theatre artists for a special production.

Well this is exciting news. Our production of The Lehman Trilogy at Playhouse on the Square in Memphis was nominated in seven categories for The Ostrander Awards. As always any recognition is more than appreciated, but when you have a special production with a special team it is even more special.

Nominated from our team include:

Iza Bateman for Props

J. David Galloway for Scenic Design

Rachel Lauren for Lighting Design

Joshua Crawford for Sound Design

Myself for Direction

Myself and our Stage Manager Emma White for Production

And in a terrific nod to the three amazing actors who carried the load, John Maness, Michael Gravois and Kevar Maffitt were nominated not as an ensemble but together as one Leading Actor in a play. That may not make much sense if you don’t know the show, but these three amazing talents literally became inseparable as one in creating the hundreds of characters that fill this challenging piece of theatre. I can’t think of a finer way to honor the incredible performances they gave and the amazing work it took to get there.

Kudos to all involved as well as all of the other nominees. Thanks to the Ostrander folks for the recognition and thanks to the great folks at Playhouse on the Square for the opportunity for us to tell this amazing story. We’ll find out if we won anything on August 26th.

Photo above by Sean Moore.

You can find more of my writings on a variety of topics on Medium at this link, including in the publications Ellemeno and Rome. I can also be found on social media under my name as above.

The Lehman Trilogy Diaries: Jacks of All Trade

When you’re in school (which was ages ago for me) learning your craft and finding out if you have a voice worth sharing as a theatre director, no one teaches you many of the lessons you will one day need to apply in doing what you love. I’m guessing that applies to most pursuits in life. There are times though that can try your patience unless you were brought up with a father like mine who taught you how to deal with the crazy curve balls that get thrown at you from plumbing to staying warm to how to navigate unexpected weather disruptions.

As I sit here this morning in this lovely Southern town beset by the vagaries of winter, compounded with the already slower rhythms native to the region, we’re having lots of fun trying to keep The Lehman Trilogy ship sailing along. Winter weather is playing havoc with all the usual fun things that come with it: icy conditions, burst pipes, power outages, travel and delivery woes, and a pulled groin from bailing water from one of those burst pipes. I’m not blaming anyone for the choices they are making. Life sucks here for most right now and folks have to make their own choices.

Fortunately, we’re reasonably self-contained as an ensemble and have kept our work on course as we head into technical rehearsals this weekend. I’m sure (hope?) we’ll find our footing and head into next weekend’s opening in good shape. Things usually work out that way in this game.

Onward

You can find more of my writings on a variety of topics on Medium at this link, including in the publications Ellemeno and Rome and check out The Lehman Trilogy Diaries here.

Let’s Get This Show on the Road

Finally.

I was first offered the opportunity to direct James Graham’s play, Ink at Playhouse on the Square in Memphis in 2020. Right before this thing called COVID descended. It’s been on again off again since and I’ll admit I thought we might never get to tell this story.

Well we’re telling it in 2023. We kick off rehearsals on February 20 and open on March 24. And I’ll tell you I’m excited. It’s a rich, complex story about Rupert Murdoch’s taking over of London’s the Sun newspaper in 1969/70. Since I got the word that we’re moving ahead it’s been an exciting rush so far as we pull the pre-production plans together and finalize casting.

Back when I previously blogged regularly I kept diaries of shows I directed on the 2nd Act of Life on the Wicked Stage and the plan here is to renew that tradition. So we’ll see how that goes.

Meanwhile, stay tuned. It should be quite a ride.