Curtain Call: The 2017 Ostrander Awards

As always, there were lots of winners at this year’s Ostrander Awards presentation at The Orpheum, the Memphis magazine and ArtsMemphis-hosted party honoring the past season’s best actors, designers, directors, dancers, and vocalists. In a crowded and spectacular field, three honorees really stood out.

It’s not easy to hush the rowdy Ostranders crowd. Accustomed to being on stage, rather than in the audience, the actors, dancers, singers, and musicians who gather for Memphis’ annual theater awards barely know how to act when the spotlight’s on somebody else. But on Sunday, August 27th, the night of the 34th Ossies, Ruby O’Gray brought the whole house — irrepressible drag queens and all — to total pin-drop silence when she came forward to receive the Janie McCrary Putting it Together Award. O’Gray has been a fixture on the local theatre scene for several decades, and determination spread across her face when she rose from her wheelchair in the middle of the Orpheum stage.

“I think everybody thought I was going to go back to the microphone and say something,” O’Gray says, recalling the moment when things got quiet. Instead of taking a bow or speaking her mind, O’Gray defiantly yanked a bit of her gown from under the front wheel of the chair where it had gotten stuck, and sat back down again to be taken off stage. To nobody’s surprise, it was the evening’s most compelling performance.

O’Gray is an actor with an enviable resume, as well as a resourceful director, and a playwright with more than 70 scripts under her belt. She’s also an independent producer who’s seen to it that most of those scripts have been given the chance to get up on their feet and walk around.

She saw her first show at Memphis’ storied Front St. Theatre when she was only 7 years old and has worked with Beale Street Repertory Theatre, Playhouse on the Square, and other regional institutions. But O’Gray has always taken less-traveled roads, making a home just outside Memphis’ mainstream, bridging gaps, and building community. For her work as an independent producer with Bluff City Tri-Art Theatre Company and the bi-annual Women’s Theatre Festival, O’Gray was honored with the Janie McCrary Putting it Together Award — one of the night’s top honors, and an award that might as well have been created with Ruby O’Gray in mind. As Memphis theater stalwart Pat Bogan made clear in her Ostrander night introduction, putting it together is exactly what O’Gray is known for. “This woman knows how to get something done,” Bogan announced, encouraging the audience at The Orpheum to Google her name and be amazed. “I can only skim the surface,” she said.

“I never did this for money,” O’Gray says of her life in show business, recalling hard-won success and fairytale opportunities that didn’t end happily ever after. “I did it for respect.”

In 1977, O’Gray received an offer to work on Norman Lear’s hit TV series Good Times, but with a husband, three daughters to raise, and triplet sons who were born oxygen-deprived and in need of special attention, she chose instead to stay in Memphis, take care of her family, write her own plays, and create unique performance opportunities for underserved communities of performers, designers, and directors.

“When the Beale Street Repertory Theatre shut down, I realized there were very few places producing shows that had people of color in them,” O’Gray says. The Putting It Together Award she received isn’t presented every year. It’s a special honor for members of the Memphis theater community who’ve shown exemplary leadership, tenacity, and the vision to create something out of nothing. This year’s honor came as a complete surprise to O’Gray who, in addition to her work as a playwright and producer, launched the Women’s Theatre Festival of Memphis in 2012, and the Gyneka Awards for women of achievement in Memphis theater.

“I wasn’t even going to the Ostranders this year,” O’Gray says, citing issues with her chair. Tricked into believing she was a presenter, the honor was kept secret until it was announced. “It’s my favorite award,” she says. 

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Hamlet may have wrestled with some tough questions, but Memphis actor, director, and all-around theater enthusiast Jerry Chipman isn’t easily outdone. “How do you introduce an icon?” he asked before bringing the 2017 Eugart Yerian Lifetime Achievement Award Winner Irene Crist to the Ostranders’ stage.

Icon is the right word, too. As a performer Crist, who was profiled in last February’s issue of this magazine, has taken starring roles in epics like The Lion in Winter at Theatre Memphis and in smoldering dramas like Burn This at the Circuit Playhouse. She’s made quirky turns in musicals like Pippin and The Full Monty. As a teacher for Playhouse on the Square’s conservatory, she’s shared her gift across generations.

Crist is also known for her work as a director. In this past season she helmed Ostrander-winning productions of Disgraced and Hand to God. She’s previously won an Ostrander for her simultaneous staging of Tony Kushner’s Angels in America (parts one and two), and Christopher Durang’s Chekhovian romp, Vanya and Sonia and Masha and Spike. 

Although she plans to continue teaching and directing, Crist retired from performing live onstage in June of this year after a typically top-shelf appearance in David Lindsay-Abaire’s screwball comedy, Ripcord.

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It’s probably safe to say that the Ostrander night’s biggest individual winner wasn’t nominated for anything this season. Memphis actor, singer, dancer, wit, wag, and fashionista Lindsey Roberts announced — after 10 years of service as executive director of the Ostrander Awards — that she’d be stepping down and moving on.

While Roberts was honored with a keepsake and some inspiring words, her real prize was the spectacular maturation of the awards show itself. A decade ago, the Ostranders were a fun annual reunion for theater folk, but closed to the public and pretty basic. Roberts took the event to a whole new level, moving it from cramped quarters at Memphis Botanic Garden to The Orpheum, a natural home where the Ostranders could grow from a simple party into an exciting annual event seasoned with music and comedy. Her excellent replacement, Elizabeth Perkins, has some awfully fabulous shoes to fill.  

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Theatre Memphis’ Side Show took home more gold than any other play or musical with technical wins for lighting, costume, and wigs. It’s only appropriate that Dani Chaum and Gia Welch (who played the freakshow musical’s conjoined twins) shared the award for best leading actress in a musical. Circuit Playhouse’s intense production of Disgraced also took top honors, winning for best dramatic production, netting another best director award for Lifetime Achievement honoree Irene Crist.

Playhouse on the Square’s lively take on Million Dollar Quartet won this year’s best musical prize, while best director went to Playhouse veteran Dave Landis for his stylish and endlessly appealing staging of Priscilla, Queen of the Desert. The remaining awards were shared between a number of productions, including Beauty and the Beast at Theatre Memphis, Hand to God at Circuit Playhouse, Haint at Germantown Community Theatre, the New Moon Company’s Hamlet, and others. Give a round of applause to the complete list of winners below.

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Every year since 1983, Memphis magazine and ArtsMemphis (formerly the Memphis Arts Council) have celebrated the Memphis theater world’s biggest shows and brightest stars, and 2017 was perhaps the best-attended such event in the community’s history. Now held in The Orpheum Theatre (also a co-sponsor) every August, the Ostranders are named in honor of the late, great Jim Ostrander, a legendary Memphis actor. The awards honor top productions, designers, and performers from the previous theater season, in this case, 2016-17. Take a look through the list of our local theater community’s best and brightest, and make sure you get your tickets now for this year’s terrific offerings. 

COMMUNITY & PROFESSIONAL DIVISION

Set Design: Jack Yates – Beauty and the Beast, Theatre Memphis

Props: Betty Dilley – The Odd Couple, Germantown Community Theatre

Lighting Design: Jeremy Allen Fisher – Side Show, Theatre Memphis

Hair/Wig/Make-Up Design: Buddy Hart, Rence Phillips, Ellen Inghram – Side Show, Theatre Memphis

Costume Design: Amie Eoff – Side Show, Theatre Memphis

Music Direction: Thomas Bergstig and Nathan McHenry – Sisters of Swing, The Circuit Playhouse

Sound Design: Carter McHann – Victory Blues, POTS@TheWorks

Choreography/Fight Choreography: Daniel Stuart Nelson and Courtney Oliver – Priscilla, Queen of the Desert, Playhouse on the Square

Supporting Actress in a Drama: Jo Lynne Palmer – Haint, Germantown Community Theatre

Supporting Actor in a Drama: Gabe Beutel-Gunn – The 39 Steps, Theatre Memphis 

Leading Actress in a Drama: Michele Somers Cullen – Haint, Germantown Community Theatre

Leading Actor in a Drama: Jordan Nichols – Hand to God, The Circuit Playhouse

Supporting Actress in a Musical: Claire D. Kolheim – Mamma Mia!, Playhouse on the Square

Supporting Actor in a Musical: Nathan McHenry – Million Dollar Quartet, Playhouse on the Square

Leading Actress in A Musical: Dani Chaum and Gia Welch – Side Show, Theatre Memphis

Leading Actor in a Musical: David Foster – Priscilla, Queen of the Desert, Playhouse on the Square

Large Ensemble: Million Dollar Quartet, Playhouse on the Square

Small Ensemble: Sisters of Swing, Circuit Playhouse

Cameo/Featured Role: Ron Gordon – Hamlet, New Moon Theatre Company 

Best Production of an Original Script: Victory Blues, POTS@TheWorks

Excellence in Direction of a Drama: Irene Crist – Disgraced, The Circuit Playhouse

Excellence in Direction of a Musical: Dave Landis – Priscilla, Queen of the Desert, Playhouse on the Square

Best Dramatic Production: Disgraced, Circuit Playhouse

Best Musical Production: Million Dollar Quartet, Playhouse on the Square

Behind the Scenes Award: Katharine Hughen

Gypsy Award: Noelia Warnette-Jones

Janie McCrary Putting It Together Award: Ruby O’Gray

Larry Riley Rising Star Award: Austin Blake Conlee

Eugart Yerian Award for Lifetime Achievement: Irene Crist

COLLEGE & UNIVERSITY DIVISION

Set Design: Jesse White – Spring Awakening, University of Memphis

Props: Danica Horton – Little Shop of Horrors, University of Memphis

Lighting Design: Anthony Pellecchia – Spring Awakening, University of Memphis

Hair/Wig/Make-Up Design: Austin Blake Conlee – Little Shop of Horrors, University of Memphis

Costume Design: Austin Blake Conlee – Little Shop of Horrors, University of Memphis

Music Direction: Jacob Allen – Spring Awakening, University of Memphis

Sound Design: Jo Sanburg – Anon(ymous), University of Memphis

Choreography: Jill Guyton Nee – Spring Awakening, University of Memphis

Supporting Actress in a Drama: Marian Anderson – A Hero Ain’t Nothin’ But A Sandwich, Southwest Tennessee Community College

Supporting Actor in a Drama: Blake Currie – Anon(ymous), University of Memphis

Leading Actress in a Drama: Vermico Smith – The Amen Corner, Southwest Tennessee Community College

Leading Actor in a Drama: Jorge Guaman – Anon(ymous), University of Memphis

Supporting Actress in a Musical: Erica Peninger – Spring Awakening, University of Memphis

Supporting Actor in a Musical: Cody Rutledge – Little Shop of Horrors, University of Memphis

Leading Actress in A Musical: Brittni Taylor Rhodes – Little Shop of Horrors, University of Memphis

Leading Actor in a Musical: Jacob Clanton – Little Shop of Horrors, University of Memphis

Large Ensemble: Spring Awakening, University of Memphis

Cameo/Featured Role: Naivell Steib – Anon(ymous), University of Memphis

Best Original Script: When It Rains, Southwest Tennessee Community College

Excellence in Direction: Stephen Hancock – Spring Awakening, University of Memphis

Best Production: Spring Awakening, University of Memphis

Special Award: MJ Evans and Jenny Wilson – Video Production, The Unencumbered, McCoy Theatre at Rhodes College; Kennon Cliche & John Phillians – Puppeteer and Voice of Audrey II, Little Shop of Horrors, University of Memphis