Five Things To Do This Weekend in Memphis: August 20th-22nd

Drift into a Memphis weekend offering art, hypnosis, tailgating, theater, and more.

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Days of Rage

Playhouse on the Square, 66 S. Cooper

Opens Friday, August 20, 8 p.m.; continues through September 19, Thursday-Saturday, 8 p.m.; and Sunday, 2 p.m.

This performance gives meaning to the words that the more things change, the more they stay the same. As we move forward in today’s political climate, Days of Rage reaches into our country’s not too distant past.

It's October 1969 and five 20-something idealists find themselves in the middle of a country divided. Living together in a house in Upstate New York and confident in the knowledge that they are the only generation to ever take up the resistance, they retaliate against society by denouncing monogamy and other capitalist notions. But when they admit a mysterious newcomer to their collective, the delicate balance they've achieved begins to topple. It'll be six and a half years until the Vietnam War ends but their fight is just beginning.

Multiple Ostrander Award winner Courtney Oliver directs an all-star cast in this poignant play that, although set in the late 1960s, gives an eerie commentary to this nation’s current socio-political climate. Playhouse on the Square Resident Company members Brooke Papritz and Nathan McHenry play the roles of protesters Quinn and Spence. Memphis theatre favorite Caroline Simpson plays the role of Peggy. Haley Wilson returns to the Playhouse on the Square stage as Jenny.  Making his Playhouse on the Square stage debut as Hal is Darious Robertson.

Beale Street Artcrawl Festival

Beale Street, Downtown Memphis

Saturday, August 21, 1-7 p.m.

This cozy, independent artist pop-up fair works symbiotically with local businesses.

Organized four years ago by the founder of Dear Music Nonprofit, an organization that supports artists and creators with the creation and public performance of their work, Vicky Love is also an avid art collector.

In 2018 and 2019, the Beale Street Artcrawl Festival was amazing, according to Love. Beale was packed with people. The crawl went online last year due to Covid. This year, the event is a hybrid with an online presence and a live event on Saturday.

Walk Beale street, enjoy an ice cream from A. Schwab’s soda fountain, and buy some Memphis art from Memphis artists.

Artist reception for “Drift”

David Lusk Gallery, 97 Tillman

Saturday, August 21, 12:30 p.m.

Artist Tim Crowder raises questions about the mysterious nature of objects and the function of art itself, challenging fixed perceptions of reality. Ever-conscious of showing work without using white walls, Crowder reorients the gallery with his own installation: a wall running diagonally through the gallery space. While reminding us of our adulthood, and the ever-present conversation surrounding building walls, Crowder still leaves plenty of room to walk around his wall. Rather than keeping us out, he invites us to engage from all sides. 

His imaginative paintings and sculptures evoke a youthful quality while displaying technique and skill in both composition and engineering. Combining minimalism and abstraction, he transforms commonplace imagery into objects that are simultaneously strange and comforting with this exhibition of two-dimensional paper pieces and sculptures.

College Football Kickoff Party

Junior League of Memphis, 3475 Central

Saturday, August 21, 2-6 p.m.

It might still feel like summer, but nothing signals the beginning of fall like football and tailgating. The Junior League of Memphis has both to get you in the game. After an interrupted season last year, celebrating the comeback of sporting events is certainly worth tackling. 

Bring your favorite tailgate games and celebrate the football season with other fans. Pitch a tent for $50, or get two drink tickets for $10 (21 and over). Extra drink tickets will be available for purchase. Bring the whole family. Kids under 13 get in free.

Enjoy music, food trucks, and more at this annual event benefiting Junior League of Memphis community programs that serve the Berclair, Highland Heights, and Binghampton neighborhoods.

If you want to help and be part of something greater than yourself, become a Junior League of Memphis member. Visit jlmemphis.org to apply during this membership drive.

Application deadline is August 22.

Anthony Cools

Horseshoe Casino Tunica, 1021 Casino Center

Tunica, MS, Saturday, August 21, 8 p.m.

Anthony Cools hails from Canada and has performed the longest-running hypnotist show in Las Vegas — for 15 years. This weekend, Cools visits Horseshoe Casino in Tunica, bringing his entertaining razor-sharp humor with him. Guests are promised laughs from before Cools enters the stage to the close of the show. 

He not only uses comedy in his show, but he also uses his skills for sinful purposes, tapping into the deepest desires of his audience and stunning the audience with his unique, twisted comedy. For this reason, the show is 21 and over.

If you have been feeling the heat this summer, meander down to Mississippi for some Cools.

— BONUS EVENT —

Online Paw Prints House PAWty

Online from Humane Society of Memphis and Shelby County, memphishumane.org

Saturday, August 21, 3-5 p.m.

If you are just now realizing that this weekend is the Humane Society’s Paw Prints House PAWty, you've missed the deadline for ordering a meal from Pete and Sam’s, Ecco, or Restaurant Iris. But you are in luck. There are still a lot of fun auction items you can bid on in the online auction. They've even got a Buddy Dog on the auction block.

Every bid helps an animal in need. The Humane Society of Memphis and Shelby County relies on your generous support to help save a life. Help a cat, dog, or another critter by bidding on some paw-some House PAWty auction items.

For a full list of what’s happening this weekend in and around Memphis, check out our calendar of events. Also, be sure to tag your favorite Instagram photos of Memphis while you are out and about with the #memphismagazine hashtag. I hope you have a great weekend.