Eudora Welty- Mississippi Stories performed by Voices of the South Theatre Company from Memphis, Tennessee featuring Welty's short story "Why I Live at the P. O." and her memoir "One Writer's Beginnings".
“Why I Live at the P.O.” is among the best loved of Eudora Welty’s acclaimed short stories. Welty’s wit, whimsy, and extraordinary ear for southern banter are the centerpiece of this Voices of the South classic. Peppered with wonderfully eccentric characters this comic short story follows the trials and tribulations of Sister as she recounts her mad-capped quest for liberation from her family. “One Writer’s Beginnings” is Eudora Welty's much praised memoir which she wrote later in life. The first chapter entitled Listening takes a lyrical look into the author's childhood, exploring memory, family, and how a life-long love of words led her towards a writer's life. Adapted by Voices of the South with Gloria Baxter Directed by Gloria Baxter Performed by Jenny Madden & Alice Rainey Berry July 28 - August 7, 2016 The Studio Theatre at Theatre Row 410 W 42nd Street New York NY 10036 
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On this production: Stage Manager: Hollybeth Gourlay Press: Michelle Farabaugh Graphic and production photos: Joey Stocks 
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President and CEO of the Mississippi Center for Justice, Reilly Morse, addressed the audience Friday and Saturday, July 29 and 30 after the performances, about MCJ’s ongoing work against the anti LGBT HB 1523. 10% of our proceeds were donated to MCJ in honor of Eudora Welty's home state.
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Zachary Stewart, lead critic and feature writer of Theatermania.com, moderated this talk back with the creative team behind Mississippi Stories on Sunday, July 31 after the performance.
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Jenny Madden
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Alice Rainey Berry
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Gloria Baxter
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BIOGRAPHIES
VOICES OF THE SOUTH creates, produces, and performs theatre from diverse southern perspectives. Founded in 1995, Voices of the South is a non-profit theatre company of actors, directors, writers, musicians and visual artists based out of Memphis Tennessee. For over two decades they have toured both original work and narrative adaptations of short stories, novels, poetry and creative non-fiction nationally and internationally.
EUDORA WELTY (1909 - 2001) was one of the most important and beloved American writers of the twentieth century. A master of the short story form, Welty also wrote novels, novellas, and essays, and by the time of her death in 2001 she had received nearly every literary award possible, including the Pulitzer Prize, the National Book Award, the Presidential Medal of Freedom, the Gold Medal for Fiction from the National Institute of Arts and Letters, and the French Legion of Honor medal which honored her international level of recognition. Born in Jackson, Mississippi, her writers sensibility was formed and informed by a sense of place. Her earliest short stories were first published when she was in her early 30's. Why I Live at the P.O. is one of the most enduring and popular of those. She wrote her memoir One Writer's Beginnings, when she was at the age of seventy-five. Some have called it more than a memoir - rather, "a gentle reflective book, full of insights into the nature of memories."
JENNY MADDEN, co-Founder and Executive Advisor of Voices of the South, is a graduate of The University of Memphis Department of Theatre & Dance with a BFA in Theatre Performance. She also serves as the Director of Drama for St. Mary's Episcopal School in Memphis, TN. As a professional actress, Madden has appeared on stages across the United States. Her favorite roles are Janet in The Rocky Horror Show, Emilia in Othello, William Faulkner in Twenty Will Not Come Again and Mo in Parallel Lives. Other Voices of the South tours include The Ugly Duckling at the McCallum Theatre in Palm Desert, California, and Place of Enchantment at the Murie Center in Grand Teton National Park, Wyoming. At the Edinburgh Festival Fringe, she performed with Voices of the South in Voices of the South, Beginnings, and Sister Myotis: Southern Fried & Sanctified. New York credits include a month long engagement of Sister Myotis's Bible Camp at the Abingdon Theatre.
ALICE RAINEY BERRY, co-founder and Artistic Advisory of Voices of the South, is a graduate from the University of Memphis, Department of Theatre & Dance with a BFA in Theatre Performance and an MFA in Directing. Among the many original productions she has been a part of are: the role of Lily in Cicada, the role of Dewey Dell in As I Lay Dying which was invited to the International Faulkner Conference in Oxford, Mississippi; the role of the Mother in the world premiere of Terry Tempest Williams' Refuge; An Unnatural History of Family and Place for which she received a Memphis Theatre Award; the role of Mardy Murie in both Place of Enchantment which was invited to Jackson Hole, Wyoming and Wild Legacy which was invited to tour throughout Alaska. Together with Jenny she co-created the adapted scripts and staging for the four short stories they performed at the International Fringe Festival in Edinburgh, Scotland. Some of her favorite directing projects include It's All Greek to Me, Old Forest Fairy Tales, The Arabian Nights, Fences and River City.
GLORIA BAXTER is a Professor Emeritus in the Department of Theatre & Dance at the University of Memphis. Among her many original stage productions are her narrative theatre adaptations of Something Wicked This Way Comes by Ray Bradbury, Le Grand Meaulnes by Alain-Fournier, As I Lay Dying by William Faulkner, One Writer's Beginnings by Eudora Welty, Einstein's Dreams by Alan Lightman, Wapiti Wilderness by Margaret Murie and Refuge: An Unnatural History of Family and Place by Terry Tempest Williams. Recognition for her work in scrip adaptation and stage direction includes a first place award at the Edinburgh International Theatre Festival, an Ostrander's Eugart Yerian Lifetime Achievement Award, invited guest artist residencies in France, Ohio, and Wyoming, and invited presentations of her work in Buffalo, New York; Paris, Dijon, and Strasbourg in France; Edinburgh and Glasgow in Scotland; London, England; Anchorage, Fairbanks and Home in Alaska; Madison, Wisconsin; Shepherdstown, West Virginia; and Jackson Hole, Wyoming.
VOICES OF THE SOUTH creates, produces, and performs theatre from diverse southern perspectives. Founded in 1995, Voices of the South is a non-profit theatre company of actors, directors, writers, musicians and visual artists based out of Memphis Tennessee. For over two decades they have toured both original work and narrative adaptations of short stories, novels, poetry and creative non-fiction nationally and internationally.
EUDORA WELTY (1909 - 2001) was one of the most important and beloved American writers of the twentieth century. A master of the short story form, Welty also wrote novels, novellas, and essays, and by the time of her death in 2001 she had received nearly every literary award possible, including the Pulitzer Prize, the National Book Award, the Presidential Medal of Freedom, the Gold Medal for Fiction from the National Institute of Arts and Letters, and the French Legion of Honor medal which honored her international level of recognition. Born in Jackson, Mississippi, her writers sensibility was formed and informed by a sense of place. Her earliest short stories were first published when she was in her early 30's. Why I Live at the P.O. is one of the most enduring and popular of those. She wrote her memoir One Writer's Beginnings, when she was at the age of seventy-five. Some have called it more than a memoir - rather, "a gentle reflective book, full of insights into the nature of memories."
JENNY MADDEN, co-Founder and Executive Advisor of Voices of the South, is a graduate of The University of Memphis Department of Theatre & Dance with a BFA in Theatre Performance. She also serves as the Director of Drama for St. Mary's Episcopal School in Memphis, TN. As a professional actress, Madden has appeared on stages across the United States. Her favorite roles are Janet in The Rocky Horror Show, Emilia in Othello, William Faulkner in Twenty Will Not Come Again and Mo in Parallel Lives. Other Voices of the South tours include The Ugly Duckling at the McCallum Theatre in Palm Desert, California, and Place of Enchantment at the Murie Center in Grand Teton National Park, Wyoming. At the Edinburgh Festival Fringe, she performed with Voices of the South in Voices of the South, Beginnings, and Sister Myotis: Southern Fried & Sanctified. New York credits include a month long engagement of Sister Myotis's Bible Camp at the Abingdon Theatre.
ALICE RAINEY BERRY, co-founder and Artistic Advisory of Voices of the South, is a graduate from the University of Memphis, Department of Theatre & Dance with a BFA in Theatre Performance and an MFA in Directing. Among the many original productions she has been a part of are: the role of Lily in Cicada, the role of Dewey Dell in As I Lay Dying which was invited to the International Faulkner Conference in Oxford, Mississippi; the role of the Mother in the world premiere of Terry Tempest Williams' Refuge; An Unnatural History of Family and Place for which she received a Memphis Theatre Award; the role of Mardy Murie in both Place of Enchantment which was invited to Jackson Hole, Wyoming and Wild Legacy which was invited to tour throughout Alaska. Together with Jenny she co-created the adapted scripts and staging for the four short stories they performed at the International Fringe Festival in Edinburgh, Scotland. Some of her favorite directing projects include It's All Greek to Me, Old Forest Fairy Tales, The Arabian Nights, Fences and River City.
GLORIA BAXTER is a Professor Emeritus in the Department of Theatre & Dance at the University of Memphis. Among her many original stage productions are her narrative theatre adaptations of Something Wicked This Way Comes by Ray Bradbury, Le Grand Meaulnes by Alain-Fournier, As I Lay Dying by William Faulkner, One Writer's Beginnings by Eudora Welty, Einstein's Dreams by Alan Lightman, Wapiti Wilderness by Margaret Murie and Refuge: An Unnatural History of Family and Place by Terry Tempest Williams. Recognition for her work in scrip adaptation and stage direction includes a first place award at the Edinburgh International Theatre Festival, an Ostrander's Eugart Yerian Lifetime Achievement Award, invited guest artist residencies in France, Ohio, and Wyoming, and invited presentations of her work in Buffalo, New York; Paris, Dijon, and Strasbourg in France; Edinburgh and Glasgow in Scotland; London, England; Anchorage, Fairbanks and Home in Alaska; Madison, Wisconsin; Shepherdstown, West Virginia; and Jackson Hole, Wyoming.
