The 38th annual Ostrander Awards ceremony, celebrating the best in local theater, returns Sunday, Aug. 28, at the Halloran Centre following a two-year pause due to the COVID-19 pandemic.

First held at the Old Daisy in 1984 as the Memphis Theatre Awards, the event was renamed “The Ostrander Awards” in 2001 as tribute to Memphis actor Jim Ostrander.

Halloran Centre to host Royal Studios retrospective

Ostrander, who died in 2002, was a fixture of Memphis theater who worked as a bookkeeper by day and in various local productions for Theatre Memphis and Playhouse on the Square by night.

Elizabeth Perkins has been program director for The Ostranders since 2017. Perkins said that while Memphis is known as the birthplace of rock n’ roll, Memphis talent in the arts extends far beyond music.

“For a city our size, we have an incredible landscape of theater. When people move here, they’re blown away with the caliber and the quality and quantity of theater here,” Perkins said. “You don’t find this in other communities and we need to celebrate it, uncover it and show people what we have.”

‘To Kill a Mockingbird’ is a classic reborn in stage adaptation

The awards ceremony is sponsored by the Orpheum and various private donors. The event is open to the public and tickets are $15 when purchased in advance on the Orpheum website or $20 at the door.

The Ostrander Awards has 100 nominees in more than 40 award categories for 46 onstage plays and musicals, all judged by a 24-member committee that attended the theater productions during the July 1, 2021, to June 30, 2022, season.

There are two divisions of nominees, the first dedicated to local collegiate theater and the second dedicated to local theater production houses including Hattiloo Theatre, New Moon Theatre, Playhouse on the Square, Theatre Memphis and Circuit Playhouse. 

“For a city our size, we have an incredible landscape of theater. When people move here, they’re blown away with the caliber and the quality and quantity of theater here. You don’t find this in other communities and we need to celebrate it, uncover it and show people what we have.”

Elizabeth Perkins,
program director for The Ostranders

Nominees include Haley Wilson for her portrayal of Patsy Cline in Playhouse on the Square’s “A Closer Walk with Patsy Cline” in the Leading Actress in a Musical Category and Cecelia Wingate for Direction of a Musical of “La Cage aux Folles” at Theatre Memphis. 

Other awards include the Behind the Scenes Award, Larry Riley Rising Star Award and Otis Smith Legacy Dance Award.

Memphis native Wendy Moten returns to the Orpheum

“What’s really cool about this year is we’re celebrating so many people who are in theater education, like Lena Wallace Black, our recipient of the Behind the Scenes Award,” Perkins said. “The education community really kept theater going during the pandemic.

“They’re reaching into these communities and really are affecting kids lives for the better, and we don’t talk enough about it.”

The ceremony will also honor the recipient of the 2021 Eugart Yerian Lifetime Achievement Award, named after the first director of Memphis Little Theatre, now known as Theatre Memphis, Eugart Yerian.

Yerian kept the theater doors open from 1929 to 1961 through The Great Depression and World War II.

The 2021 Eugart Yerian Lifetime Achievement Award recipient, Andy Saunders, produced more than 135 theater productions at Memphis University School during his 38-year teaching career before retiring in 2010.

Former University of Memphis theater professor Stephen Hancock will receive the 2022 Eugart Yerian Award. 

Orpheum Theatre ownership transferred after $1 sale

Perkins added that while it wasn’t the intention of The Ostranders to only include the University of Memphis in the collegiate category for 2022, COVID hit local college theater programs hard. 

“Southwest Tennessee Community College stopped producing shows about four years ago and Rhodes ended their theater major, so it came down to the college division was just University of Memphis,” Perkins said. “We don’t want to have a division with just one school in it. However, the university does actually use these awards. They’re proud to earn them and their students deserve to be seen.”

Perkins noted next year’s Ostrander Awards divisions will likely expand to include productions done by other local theater troupes such as Rhodes Theatre Guild (RTG) and other local startup troupes.

Rhodes students continue passion for theater, despite school dropping major

“Theater is so important for young people but as we grow older, we need to stay in that world of learning more and using theater, using the dramatic arts,” Perkins said. “We should celebrate that, and I think it’s going to be a lot of fun.”

For more information on the 2022 Ostrander Awards, click here.