Events

Interactive, experiential theater performances. 

Where does voguing come from, and what, exactly, is throwing shade? This landmark documentary provides a vibrant snapshot of the 1980s through the eyes of New York City’s African American and Latinx Harlem drag ball scene.

In 2022, Anthony Q released his highly anticipated singles, “Cut Ties” and “No Handouts.” The singles showcased his growth as an artist and received widespread praise for his honesty, vulnerability, and artistic merit. With its soulful melodies, thought-provoking lyrics, and impeccable production, “Cut Ties” and “No Handouts” solidified Anthony Q’s position as a rising star in the R&B/hip-hop landscape as he became a viral sensation overnight.

Indie Memphis & Crosstown Arts are excited to present our next Shoot & Splice: Screen Acting hosted by Akono Dixon. Akono will lead a presentation and discussion on the craft of acting; from building a character and working with a director, to script analysis, auditioning technique, and more. A Memphis native, Akono is a rising filmmaker with credits including DOLEMITE IS MY NAME, EUPHORIA, and the lead role in the upcoming Hallmark film, SPRING BREAKTHROUGH directed by Mykelti Williamson. 

As she has so eloquently accomplished over the past 25 years, acclaimed singer-songwriter Mary Gauthier has used her art once again to traverse the uncharted waters of the past few years. Her eleventh album, the first record in over 8 years consisting of all her own songs, Dark Enough to See the Stars, follows the profound antidote to trauma, Rifles & Rosary Beads, her 2018 collaborative work with wounded Iraq war veterans. It garnered a Grammy nomination for Best Folk Album, as well as a nomination for Album of the Year by the Americana Music Association. Publication of her first book, the illuminating Saved by a Song: The Art and Healing Power of Songwriting, in 2021, amplified the specific yet relatable world view that makes her work beloved. 

Fassbinder’s biggest international box-office success and the first part of his “postwar trilogy,” The Marriage of Maria Braun is a heartbreaking study of a woman picking herself up from the ruins of her own life, as well as a pointed metaphorical attack on a society determined to forget its past.

The Ukuleles in the Heartland series visits the Crosstown Concourse, featuring the Nashville-based Webb-Tigert Ukulele duo, Ray Cygrymus (veteran of Pittsburgh bands Maxwell Switch, Tangent, and the Ukuholicks), and Huntsville, Alabama, ukulele performer and teacher Kirk Jones (also known by his adorable stage alias/YouTube handle, “Orangutan Or Lion”).

Join Grammy-winning saxophonist Kirk Whalum for Kafé Kirk, an ongoing jazz series in Crosstown Theater featuring musical and spiritual collaborations with special guest artists. This iteration’s performance will feature Keia Johnson and Kevin Whalum.

Crosstown Arts presents an Artist Trading Card Event in the Art Bar. Art Bar at Crosstown Arts Sunday, July 16,...

Experience a transformative selection of Black, Indigenous, and Queer voices from Bahia, Brazil, through this MicroCinema event curated by the Black Freedom Fellowship’s Odù Film Festival. These films intertwine the preservation of our planet, ancestral heritage, and queer identity to craft an action-inspiring path toward a future vital to our collective survival. This Indie Memphis x Black Freedom Fellowship MicroCinema event happens two days before the in-person “Odù Film Festival” takes place in Salvador, Bahia, Brazil, featuring two days of film screenings from all over the world as well as art exhibitions, art markets, and music concerts. 

Crosstown Arts presents the Resident Artist Talks in The Green Room. The Green Room at Crosstown Arts Thursday, July 20,...

Glamour has never been more grotesque than in Female Trouble, which injects the Hollywood melodrama with anarchic decadence. Divine, director John Waters’ larger-than-life muse, engulfs the screen with charisma as Dawn Davenport, the living embodiment of the film’s lurid mantra, “Crime is beauty,” who progresses from a teenage nightmare hell-bent on getting cha-cha heels for Christmas to a fame monster whose egomaniacal impulses land her in the electric chair.

Attend the very first Asian night market in Memphis! With delicious food and drinks, music, and more, this is an...

Winner of the Grand Jury Prize at the 1990 Sundance Film Festival — yet criminally under-seen for over three decades — Chameleon Street recounts the improbable but true story of Michigan con man Douglas Street, the titular “chameleon” who successfully impersonated his way up the socioeconomic ladder by posing as a magazine reporter, an Ivy League student, a respected surgeon, and a corporate lawyer.

Current exhibiting artists Khara Woods and Tangela Mathis will discuss their work, processes, and influences. It’s a chance to get a special glimpse behind the curtain and better understand the art and the artists.

Following Jack Nicholson’s breakout supporting turn in Easy Rider,director Bob Rafelson devised a powerful leading role for the new star in the searing character study Five Easy Pieces. Nicholson plays the now iconic cad Bobby Dupea, a shiftless thirtysomething oil rigger and former piano prodigy immune to any sense of responsibility, who returns to his upper-middle-class childhood home, blue-collar girlfriend (Karen Black, in an Oscar-nominated role) in tow, to see his estranged, ailing father. Moving in its simplicity and gritty in its textures, Five Easy Pieces is a lasting example of early 1970s American alienation.

Soulful singer/pianist Susan Marshall, along with Art Edmaiston (sax), Logan Hanna (guitar) and Peewee Jackson (drums/percussion), will perform stripped down versions of Susan’s original music as well as some of her favorite cover songs. Susan’s sound is an eclectic mix of bluesy jazz and pop; emotive, evocative, soft and sensual, sometimes loud and bawdy…yet always coming straight from the soul.