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The Arts Beat is a weekly deep dive into Memphis arts, music, dance, theater, fashion, film and events. Keep scrolling for a roundup of the best arts and culture stories from the week. Have a story idea? Send it to eperry@dailymemphian.com.
Quark Theatre continues its dedication to thoughtful, challenging theater with “Thom Pain (based on nothing),” opening Friday at TheatreWorks at the Evergreen.
Will Eno’s one-man play was a 2005 Pulitzer Prize for Drama finalist. The New York Times called Eno “a Samuel Beckett for the Jon Stewart generation.”
Tony Isbell, an Ostrander Lifetime Achievement Award winner, tackles the role and also directs. He said the biggest challenge of the production was learning about 75 minutes of dialogue.
But it’s a challenge he enjoys.
Through a rambling, darkly funny monologue, Thom Pain talks to the audience, telling the story of a boy whose dog died, a bee sting and a failed relationship with a woman.
“This is probably the best representation in a play I’ve ever seen of how the human mind works,” Isbell said.
Isbell described the play as part traditional theater, part stand-up, part performance art. He said it’s the kind of show that will make audiences “feel things and think things” long after it ends.
According to Isbell, Thom Pain’s monologue isn’t as random as it might first seem. The character goes off on tangents whenever something he says reminds him of something else, but he always comes back to his main point.
“Over the course of the play, all these different threads tie together and they make one story,” Isbell said, adding that he thinks audiences will have “no trouble following” it.
“Thom Pain (based on nothing)” runs through Oct. 25. Tickets are $20, or $10 for students and seniors. More information here.
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‘Little Women: The Broadway Musical’ at Germantown Community Theatre
 "Little Women: The Broadway Musical" at Germantown Community Theatre. (Courtesy Germantown Community Theatre)
Germantown Community Theatre opens Friday, Oct. 9, with “Little Women: The Broadway Musical.”
The musical is based on Louisa May Alcott’s novel. It follows the four March sisters, Jo, Meg, Beth and Amy, as they deal with family, love, loss, ambition and growing up.
Director Daniel Stuart Nelson said, in a press release, that he wanted to approach the familiar story “in a way that felt intimate and a little unexpected.”
The whole production takes place in Jo’s attic, where the objects around her become the places, memories and moments of her life.
”It gives us a chance to tell this familiar story in a simple, theatrical way while keeping the focus on the March family and their relationships,” Nelson said.
In rehearsals, the cast spent a lot of time on table work, digging into the characters' relationships. Nelson said that gave the actors room to find their own versions of the characters.
”I think audiences will recognize the Little Women they know and love, but I also hope they see it a little differently,” he said.
“Little Women: The Broadway Musical” runs through Oct. 25. Tickets are $27.50, $22.50 for seniors and $18.50 for students, teachers and military. More information here.
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