Tennessee Shakespeare Company Presents Annual Southern Literary Salon

Tennessee Shakespeare Company presents its annual Southern Literary Salon featuring two celebrated female authors reflecting America at the same time in stark contrasts: Margaret Mitchell (Georgia) and Zora Neale Hurston (Alabama). The event is Sunday, Feb. 23 on TSC's Owen and Margaret Wellford Tabor Stage, located at 7950 Trinity Road in Memphis.

The intimate Salon, sponsored by Greta McCormick Coger, Ph.D., begins at 2:30 pm with cocktails of the authors' preferences. The hour-long performance with readings begins at 3:00 pm, followed by audience discussion.

TSC's Stephanie Shine (director of this season's Miss Bennet: Christmas at Pemberley and Romeo and Juliet) is the curator and director of the Salon. She will be joined on stage by Memphis actor Ann Perry Wallace (To Kill a Mockingbird) and TSC's company of professional actors.

The readings will feature novel, story, and correspondence excerpts from the authors, with a focus on Mitchell's "Gone With the Wind" and Hurston's "Their Eyes Were Watching God."

Though a study in contrasts in their vision, the authors share a strong sense of original narrative, searing humor, and a genuine reflection of regional vernacular in their novels.

"Written within one year of each other, their celebrated novels represent two very different perspectives of American life," says Dan McCleary, TSC founder and Producing Artistic Director. "The subject matter of the two works remain central to our cultural understanding of generative periods in American life, with Mitchell telling the story of a Southern plantation owner during the Civil War and Reconstruction, and Hurston (an innovator of the Harlem Renaissance) chronicling a lineage of African-American women in the same era."

Tiered seating tickets range from $15-27 and include cocktails and snacks. Tickets are available by visiting www.tnshakespeare.org or by calling the TSC box office at (901) 759-0604. Seating is limited.

About Tennessee Shakespeare Company:

Tennessee Shakespeare Company is a professional, not-for-profit theatre and education organization in Memphis dedicated to live, diverse performances of William Shakespeare's plays, as well as works of social significance by classical, Southern, and modern writers/composers; and to providing innovative educational and training programming.

Founded in 2008 by Producing Artistic Director Dan McCleary, Tennessee Shakespeare Company is Memphis' first and only professional, classical theatre. In 2017, TSC purchased its first performing arts facility, which is being renovated into the state's only permanent home for professional, year-round Shakespeare performance, education, and training. The company is in the midst of its $6.5 million Brave New World capital campaign.

TSC has engaged its community with 49 site-specific plays and events for over 50,000 patrons. Its ground-breaking Education program has reached 120 schools across nine states, totaling over 250,000 student interactions.

The Education Program has achieved a high regional and national profile, partners annually with all local school systems, and this year is a recipient of two National Endowment for the Arts/Arts Midwest's Shakespeare in American Communities grants: one for The Romeo and Juliet Project in underserved local schools, and the other for expanded residencies with local incarcerated youth (TSC is one of just seven U.S. theatres to be awarded).

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