"For many years merely to talk of angels invited scorn. Belief bespoke of craziness, even schizophrenia, and certainly denoted a pitiful lack of intellect. But after eight decades of personal observation, I fearlessly assert that angels are real. We swim like fish in spiritual waters, and like fish we know nothing of water until we’re yanked out flopping and gasping on the grass. We’re tossed back and swim away, confused—“Was that real? Did I really see what I think I saw?” We live in a universe of goodness, one that wants more and better for us than we can possibly imagine, and, when our spiritual eyes open, we find beauty, hope and courage, even in our suffering. Angels form only one small part of it."
That's Sophy Burnham, from her forward to Susan Cushman's book All Night, All Day, life, death & angels, introducing readers to a subject that touches all of us. For this episode of StoryBoard 30, host Mark Fleischer sits down with author Susan Cushman for a personal, candid talk about losing friends or family members and the profound events, unexplainable connections, deep reflections, and spiritual awakenings that can accompany their deaths.
Recorded on June 12, 2023, at Playhouse on the Square in Midtown, Memphis, Tennessee.
“To champion a cause, you have to reboot your fundamental belief in the goodness of people, and that goodness will win out. Because all of a sudden, out of nowhere, resources, people show up that you could not have imagined in a million years. There is power in beginning. The minute you decide to commit, all make and manner of support materializes out the ether that you could not have predicted. To me, that’s a marvel.”
That’s Marvin Stockwell, discussing his own passions and how forces come together once someone or a group takes on new causes. This June and into early July, Marvin is taking his Champions of the Lost Causes podcast on the road with his son and daughter, through the Southwest, the Pacific Coast, the northern Rockies and the Great Plains, to explore and discover people and their passions for taking on causes around the country.
SB 30 host Mark Fleischer sat down with Marvin on Friday, June 2nd, just a couple of days before the trio’s road trip was set to begin, to talk about how it came about and how he hopes it plays out, and what he hopes to discover along the way. Recorded on the 7th floor of Crosstown Concourse in Memphis, Tennessee.
“We’ve seen Bridge Builders transform young people in countless ways, and the result is a growing community of young leaders poised to reach across, lead the way, and build our community. Bridge Builders are not just the future leaders of tomorrow; youth today want to make a real difference. We are here to support them on that journey. And now more than ever, Memphis needs more Bridge Builders.” ~BRIDGES CEO Dana Wilson
"It was really a breath of fresh air. I didn't know what to expect. At first my mom told me to do it, and when I actually got there it was something completely different than what I had expected, and it ended up being one of the best things I've done in my life." ~Student and Youth Advisory Board Co-Chair Emmanuel Mosley
BRIDGES CEO Dana Wilson and student Emmanuel Mosley, speaking candidly about the importance of the BRIDGES program and its impact on Memphis's youth, are this episode's guests. Join host Mark Fleischer as he talks with both Dana and Emmanuel about how this program fosters collaborations and connections between Memphis teens and the community, and how it builds future leaders.
Recorded at BRIDGES main facility near the historic Pinch District on 5th Street and A.W. Willis Avenue, across from St. Jude, on March 20, 2023.
"We’ve been working with the consultants that helped reimagine Crosstown Concourse. We had some of the same braintrust working with us. It wasn’t too long ago that people said ‘that will never happen,’ and I hear some of the same voices saying this (the Coliseum) will never happen – I’ve heard it for eight years. Honestly, the Crosstown project was a much much heavier lift than this would be comparatively.”
That's Coliseum Coalition co-founder Marvin Stockwell, during the March 15 press conference to rally support to save the historic Mid-South Coliseum in Memphis, Tennessee.
The Coalition also made public a detailed development plan for its revitalization, a plan that included Coliseum structural data compiled based on the results of two separate assessments, “including the city’s own assessment,” Stockwell said.
“Now that we know all that we know – culminated in this plan – now we know conclusively that this building is in excellent shape. One of the summary conclusions of this plan is that the Mid-South Coliseum is restorable,” Stockwell said. “These are the same people that said Crosstown Concourse was restorable and it turns out they were right. I trust that summary in intel.”
Join host Mark Fleischer for this exclusive, on-location StoryBoard 30 episode that includes the full press conference held on the north steps of the Mid-South Coliseum.
Read the full story in StoryBoard Memphis here, Community leaders rally support and call on city council to review revitalization plans.
The introduction to StoryBoard's multi-year project to bring the basement archives and collections of Beale Street's iconic and historic A. Schwab Dry Goods & General Store to the public and the collection scanned and added to DIG Memphis, the digital archive of the Memphis Public Library. Listen in as host Mark Fleischer joins original project administrator Caroline Carrico as they discuss the origins of the project and the outlines as to how this massive project will move forward.
Recorded upstairs in the events space at A. Schwab, at 163 Beale Street, Memphis, Tennessee, in December of 2021.
“At Playhouse, we have the honor of producing a number of shows each season. Some are just fun and easy and ‘let’s go take a break and have fun and sing along,’ and then we’ll do shows where we need to talk about that subject matter.
“These are issues that are not new. And they won’t easily be resolved, so they’re going to be around for a while. And it’s going to be a messy thing, whether we’re talking about race or abortion rights or political leanings or journalism or anything like. . . there’s a discussion to be had that’s not going to go away any time soon. As theater, it’s our job at times to make sure that an important discussion is being had. (These upcoming shows) deal with timely issues.”
That’s Michael Detroit, Executive Producer of Playhouse on the Square, discussing the late-winter to early-spring slate of shows coming up at Playhouse on both the main Playhouse stage and across the street at Circuit Playhouse. Join Mr. Detroit with SB 30 host Mark Fleischer as they discuss this season’s upcoming shows, the hot subjects they happen to cover, and the job of theater to give patrons a chance to learn while being entertained.
Recorded on the Playhouse stage at Playhouse on the Square in Memphis, Tennessee, January 23rd, 2023. Visit PlayhouseontheSquare.org for tickets and more information.
“For me, the experience was daunting, certainly in the beginning. To be the leader of a production, and have all these folk who I know are very talented and extremely skilled and have more information and have the words . . . they’re all looking at me as the leader of this production, to guide it. So that was daunting, and I was slightly intimidated. But knowing I had the support of our team and most importantly, our star, Courtney Oliver . . . the fact that I had her stamp of approval made the process a lot easier.”
That’s Playhouse on the Square’s Marcus Cox, making his directorial debut leading Playhouse’s holiday production of Who’s Holiday, on working for the first time with the talented crew and design teams that collaborate on putting on a show for live theater.
Join host Mark Fleischer for SB 30 Episode 79 as he talks with Who’s Holiday Director Marcus Cox – also the Director of Community Relations for Playhouse on the Square – about live theater, about the current slate of Playhouse shows, about the state of post-pandemic theater-going, and about his work in his directorial debut.
Recorded December 8, 2022 in the Playhouse café at Playhouse on the Square, in Memphis, Tennessee.
“For me, the experience was daunting, certainly in the beginning. To be the leader of a production, and have all these folk who I know are very talented and extremely skilled and have more information and have the words . . . they’re all looking at me as the leader of this production, to guide it. So that was daunting, and I was slightly intimidated. But knowing I had the support of our team and most importantly, our star, Courtney Oliver . . . the fact that I had her stamp of approval made the process a lot easier.”
That’s Playhouse on the Square’s Marcus Cox, making his directorial debut leading Playhouse’s holiday production of Who’s Holiday, on working for the first time with the talented crew and design teams that collaborate on putting on a show for live theater.
Join host Mark Fleischer for SB 30 Episode 79 as he talks with Who’s Holiday Director Marcus Cox – also the Director of Community Relations for Playhouse on the Square – about live theater, about the current slate of Playhouse shows, about the state of post-pandemic theater-going, and about his work in his directorial debut.
Recorded December 8, 2022 in the Playhouse café at Playhouse on the Square, in Memphis, Tennessee.
"When you start really thinking about what (Rust Hall) can be... when I look at what our current exhibitions could look like here, having the space where you could actually walk around each of the objects instead of having things against the wall where you can't fully appreciate the work... that's a moment that's exciting to me. It's also our educational programming. I get so excited thinking about what we could do here. If we can do (all that we do now) ... imagine all that in this space. The classes we could teach, the people we could engage, the lives we could change... it's exciting."
That's Carissa Hussong, Executive Director of the Metal Museum, talking about the future of the Metal Museum's exhibits, projects and programs, and how they will have the chances for greater impacts and engagements in a restored and reimagined Rust Hall, overlooking Overton Park. Recorded in Rust Hall, the circa 1959 former home of the Memphis College of Art, in July of 2022, after the City of Memphis finalized a 100-year lease of the building to the Metal Museum.
Join host Mark Fleischer as he talks with Carissa about the legacy and magic that is the Metal Museum, the restorations and renovations going into historic Rust Hall, and the efforts to expand the museum's works and programs into the iconic spot in the middle of Overton Park.
He said “I want my work to stand the test of time, and be shared.” What reminds me of this is the Till story, where he says he was writing the publication so that it would be something that we had evidence of… so that “it need not occur again.” And here we are today working on the Till story.
That’s Rosalind Withers, Executive Director of the Withers Collection Museum & Gallery, talking about her dad - the late Ernest Withers - the famed photographer and chronicler of the Civil Rights era and the Black experience in the 20th century.
Join host Mark Fleischer for this candid interview with Ms. Withers, where the two discuss her dad's historic legacy, the new documentary THE PICTURE TAKER, the new feature film TILL, a new art project from the 1687Club featuring her dad’s work, and her dad's complicated history with the FBI. Recorded in late September 2022 at the photography studio of Ernest Withers at 333 Beale Street, Memphis.
"The album is very much about my recovery process. I started writing the songs before, and continued writings afterwards, and I think there's ... it wasn't intentional, but do I think there's a bit of a story arch there."
That's musician, record producer and Memphian J.D. Reager - and creator of the podcast and record label Back to the Light - talking about his how journey through sobriety has driven his work in the local music and podcast scenes, and how his work has grown and deepened in his recovery from traumas and alcohol. Listen in as host Mark Fleischer and J.D. discuss their own shared experiences dealing with sobriety and recovery here in Memphis, and how their journeys and discoveries have informed and inspired their work.
Recorded Thursday, September 22, 2022 in the main SoundRoom of the Memphis Listening Lab at Crosstown Concourse, Memphis, Tennessee.
“Our approach to housing homeless families is very different from other shelters in the city. Dorothy Day herself really believed in personalism in reaching people where they were. And she always saw the poor with great dignity, and took care of them with great care, and sacrificed herself in order to take care of people who didn’t have much. So when we began talking about opening the Dorothy Day House, we said it’s going to be just a regular house where we invite homeless families to come live while they get back on their feet.”
That’s Sister Maureen Griner, Executive Director of Dorothy Day House, a group comprised of the three local homes providing temporary housing and support services for homeless families in Memphis.
Join host Mark Fleischer as he sits with Sister Maureen at the dining room table of Loretta’s House, on the three houses of Dorothy Day House, as the two discuss the challenges faced by Memphis homeless families, how the House provides temporary relief, and their upcoming fundraiser that inspires local families to gather around their own dining room tables in support of the group’s efforts.
"All the possibilities are right there in front of you and you have no idea what's going to happen next. And it's live." That's Playhouse's executive producer Michael Detroit, talking with host Mark Fleischer about the power and the magic that is live theater. "That's the unknown. You plan, you practice, you rehearse, but life happens in live theater."
Join host Mark Fleischer and Playhouse's Michael Detroit for their August 2022 conversation, recorded on the Playhouse on the Square stage in Midtown, Memphis, as they talk about the importance of live theater and the 2022-23 fall and winter lineup of Playhouse's 54th season.
Presented as part of StoryBoard's media partnership with Playhouse on the Square.
“After the trial though, that photo makes a difference… And that photo circulates. Just the act of standing up and testifying as a witness is a big deal - you’ve got a Black man standing up to white power and saying, ‘These men did this thing.’ And yet Friday afternoon the 12 white jurors come in and find the defendants not guilty. From that perspective, what Mose Wright does affects nothing. But it’s a big deal anyway because the photo circulates and embeds that moment in the public consciousness forever after.”
That's writer David Mason, speaking about THE photo, of THE moment of the 1955 Emmett Till murder trial, of Uncle Mose Wright standing up from the witness box and identifying his great nephew's killers. But exactly how 'That Memphis Photographer,' Ernest C. Withers, made that historic photo has been an overlooked topic for generations. Until now. David Mason's article for Issue III of StoryBoard Memphis Quarterly adds yet another new chapter to the Emmett Till saga, and here host Mark Fleischer talks with Mr. Mason, discusses how the writer arrived at a new perspective of how Withers must have made the photo in a crowded, hostile courtroom, in the face of life-threatening circumstances, and how it speaks to the skill and courage Withers needed to make the photo.
Recorded on location in March of 2022 in Sumner, Mississippi, at the site of the trial itself, in the historic Tallahatchie County Courthouse.
“Like the endurance of the metal itself, contemporary Black artists sustain the historic and symbolic significance of working with iron that began with ancient practices of blacksmithing in Africa,” Dr. Earnestine Jenkins.
Dr. Earnestine Jenkins, visual culture historian and professor at the University of Memphis, and host Mark Fleischer discuss From Artisans to Artists: African American Metal Workers in Memphis, a new exhibit curated by Dr. Jenkins at the Metal Museum.
Through its celebration of artisans and artists from West and Central African through to modern-day Memphis, this exhibit examines the role of the blacksmith in diverse African contexts and how that artisan identity and associated blacksmithing practices changed in America due to slavery.
Among those metal workers featured are the enslaved blacksmiths of two local plantation sites, the Hunt Phelan House and the Hilderbrand Plantation; blacksmiths and entrepreneurs Blair Hunt and David Carnes; and contemporary artists Richard Hunt, Lorenzo Scruggs, Hawkins Bolden, and Desmond Lewis. From Artisans to Artists draws on the knowledge and research of guest curator Dr. Earnestine Jenkins, who utilizes surviving artifacts and primary source documents from both sides of the Atlantic Ocean to bring to the forefront a crucial part of Memphis’s artistic history.
From Artisans to Artists: African American Metal Workers in Memphis is open now through September 11, 2022, at the Metal Museum.
Shelley Moore and Mark Fleischer sat down in the Memphis Room at the Memphis Public Library to talk about Shelley's first book Through a Blue-Eyed Lens: Reflections - Snapshots - Pinholes.
When Shelley arrives from the outer reaches of Wyoming, her new stage is Memphis, a segregated city increasingly steeped in conflict and turmoil. By recounting the ways in which she navigated both social and historical constructs, Shelley unearths a storehouse of deeply personal memories. Through these selective reflections, she reveals the wildly unpopular decisions and consequential choices that found her estranged from one community and embraced by another.
To order a copy, visit Shelley's website.
“It’s a gift from Memphians to Memphis, in the belief that free concerts bring people together and build community. There’s nothing like it. Food and music. 19 months of being in the pandemic, and being dark, people realize truly how important this place is. It is the heartbeat of our city, and it is something that we need. We all need it. We need the joy that comes from the Shell.“
That’s Natalie Wilson, Executive Director of the Overton Park Shell, who recently announced a brand new chapter in the Shell’s 86-year history with a rebranding that returns the historic park band shell to its roots with a restored name: The Overton Park Shell.
Recorded in the Shell’s historic Green Room, join SB 30 host Mark Fleischer as he sits down with Natalie Wilson to talk about the Shell’s history in Memphis, its upcoming programs and sustainability, and the gift to Memphis that is the Overton Park Shell.
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“We’re fifty years later now (since the tipping point of the Civil Rights era and the King assassination), and once again, young activists in America are making Americans take a look in the mirror in terms of our true history of race and racial prejudice. Once again the young activists are calling us to account. Once again America is having to look at issues of race dead in the eye. And once again, we are at a tipping point. And the question for all of us is, What are we going to do about it?”
That’s civil rights lawyer Jeffrey Robinson, speaking to a packed audience in 2018 in New York City’s Town Hall Theatre and for the cameras in the award-winning documentary Who We Are: A Chronicle of Racism in America. The film interweaves moments from Mr. Robinson’s lecture series with personal anecdotes, location interviews, and shocking revelations. Here criminal defense and civil rights lawyer Jeffery Robinson draws a stark timeline of anti-Black racism in the United States, from slavery to the modern myth of a post-racial America.
Benefitting The Who We Are Project, the film was completed in 2021, is being distributed by Sony Pictures Classics, and arrives here in Memphis for a special screening and Q&A on Thursday February 24, 2022, at the Crosstown Theatre. It began a local run February 25, 2022, at Malco’s Studio on the Square.
Listen as Jeffrey Robinson and the film’s co-director Emily Kunstler sit down in conversation with StoryBoard 30 host Mark Fleischer to discuss the film and the issues of racism in America.
Join host Mark Fleischer as he talks with historian and Tennessee History For Kids executive director Bill Carey, as the two discuss the importance of learning history, about the controversies around ‘critical race theory,’ and about the 2021 in-person TN History for Kids Summer Road Shows in West Tennessee.
“My characters meet at Ole Miss, when there were very few Black students on the campus, in 1966. In February of 1970, on campus, a group called Up With People gave a concert. And there was this huge protest where 60 Black kids were arrested. Eight of the those students came to be known as the Ole Miss Eight. (The character) John is a composite of two of the men who were part of the Ole Miss Eight.”
That’s author Susan Cushman, talking about writing her book John and Mary Margaret, and how she weaved her fictional characters into the very real and historical civil rights events in Mississippi and Memphis during a fifty-year span. Join host Mark Fleischer as he talks to Ms. Cushman about her new novel and the practice and teaching of writing.