- by Jon Devin
New Moon Theatre members rehearse The Empire Builders.
The name Boris Vian doesn’t ring many bells in the new millennium, but in 1950’s France, Vian had his day. Something of a Renaissance man, he wrote novels, plays, essays, translations and even jazz music making him one of the more prolific writers in wartime Paris. Sadly, many of his works sold poorly, discouraging publishers. He is best known for two novels, Heartsnatcher andFroth on the Daydream. He later invented an American persona and wrote under the pseudonym Vernon Sullivan.
One of Vian’s last works to be published in 1959 was the three act play, The Empire Builders.
“I describe it as a deeply disturbing essay on the culture of fear,” says Gene Elliott, who directs the play for New Moon Theatre Co. “It exposes how easily a society becomes the prisoner of its own paranoia.”
New Moon is one of six companies in residence at the unique, black-box facility, TheatreWorks, located at 2085 Monroe Avenue in Overton Square, immediately behind Playhouse on the Square.
Elliott went on to say that the eerie darkness of the play appealed to him and the company, which strives to produce strong pieces of theatrical history no longer appearing in commercial-oriented mainstream theaters.
The plot follows the efforts of an upstanding, middle-class, French family to escape an unexplainable Noise which terrorizes them. The DuPonts and their maid climb the stairs of their apartment building from level to level, finding each time that their living space has shrunk, and that they have lost many of their belongings in the move. Their preoccupation with their possessions and their ability to maintain normalcy clouds the disintegration of their familial relationships and leads them individually to ask themselves about the relevance of their own existences.
Also, they find an unexpected guest. A bandage-wrapped, mummy-like creature, called the schmurz in the script, joins them with every move, and falls victim to their escalating violent behavior as the Noise continues to pursue the family.
Elliott thinks that the technical aspects of the play will give audiences a unique experience. For example, the audience will be seated in a three-quarters round area which actually moves closer to the stage throughout the play. By the end, the audience will find itself practically on top of the stage floor. Due to a large amount of stage combat in the play, young children should not attend.
The cast includes New Moon Theatre members Don McCarens, Melissa Briggs, Natalie Higdon, Sylvia Wilson, Mark Rutledge, and Jonathan Devin.
“Vian, with ruthless precision, paints a vivid and strangely relevant portrait of what happens when we allow ourselves to be ruled by the terror of an unspecified, but always imminent, threat,” says Elliott. “When we give in to this culture of fear, when we allow ourselves to be persuaded that our enemies are everywhere—hidden, faceless, nameless, and always ready to strike—to whom do we give up power and at what price?”
Performed once again in wartime, The Empire Builders may be even more relevant today with society’s deep-seated fear of the unknown terror waiting to spring forth from every direction.
CultureGrits.com is proud to serve as Media Sponsor for The Empire Builders, performed April 18th, 19th, 25th, 26th and May 2nd, and 3rd at 8 p.m.; May 4th at 2 p.m. Tickets are $12.50 for adults, or 2 for $20.00 and may be purchased online at www.NewMoonTheatre.org. Call (901) 278-7025 for more information.
- by Peggy Rowland
Peria Gober in her boutique.
Immediately after graduate school, Peria Gober, at age 24, returned to the Midtown Memphis of her childhood to make a long-held dream of opening her namesake business a reality. Located at 1680 Union Avenue, Peria, an upscale shoe and accessory boutique, is situated just a few blocks from where Gober grew up.
While pronouncing the store’s name may be a little confusing to first-time customers, there’s no mistaking Peria’s allure once inside the doors. In Gober’s words, “It’s a very girly, inviting place to come and accessorize.” What ice cream shops are to children, Peria probably is to women who love shoes and accessories. The boutique owner says that the compliment she hears most frequently from customers is, “You have beautiful things.”
Gober adds, “I believe that accessories can change your wardrobe, your outfit, your mentality about yourself. So, I wanted to provide all the add-ons in a welcoming and fun environment.” She created Peria to be a laid back pink haven where everyone is treated the same and assisted in a timely manner. In other words, Gober wants Peria to be an upscale store without the upscale attitude.
Peria just celebrated its one-year anniversary. Gober says that many of her repeat customers tell her how excited they are that Peria is in Midtown. She says there was never a question in her mind that she wanted to open her boutique in Midtown, and she’s committed to bringing business back into the area. Gober also donates to and has events for the Memphis affiliate of Dress for Success, a group that provides disadvantaged women with professional attire and career development tools.
Gober, who holds a master’s degree in consumer services management from the University of Tennessee at Knoxville, says that there’s a science behind the way people shop and what they’re looking for in the modern-day economy. Gober’s long-standing fascination with retail and consumer behavior, plus her love for shoes, led her to create what would become the business plan of Peria for her graduate school project. Even before graduation, Gober did market research and actively took steps to make Peria a reality. She says Peria “became very real pretty quickly.”
Peria is a vibrant shopping stop with plush pink throw rugs, painted dressers full of shoes and purses, attractive displays of shoes with paired accessories and a splash of fun in each corner. Some of the more unusual items carried include gorgeous Pasotti Italian umbrellas that are unique to Memphis, pillows with sayings like “It’s not the men in my life, it’s the life in my men,” intricate crochet bracelets, and hand-carved and signed acacia collectible handbags from Timmy Woods. An Eiffel Tower Timmy Woods handbag, like those available at Peria, was carried by Sarah Jessica Parker in the filming of the “Sex and the City” movie to be released in May.
Some of the shoe brands carried at Peria include Poetic Licence, BCBGirls, Cocobelle, Hollywould and more. Gober says that she believes that Peria is the only place in Memphis selling shoes by Poetic Licence, a rather funky British company with unique shoes. While Gober carries formal shoes that can be worn for weddings or proms, she also has an array of more casual shoes as well.
Accessories found at Peria include handbags from Badgley Mischka, Fornash and Lulu Guinness, as well as others. Gober mentions that she tries “to have the majority of our things not be readily available in the city.” Peria also offers fun luggage tags from Fluff, a variety of jewelry, overnight duffels and all the rain gear customers may need, including ponchos and rain boots.
Peria’s owner says that one thing customers seem to enjoy most about the boutique is the way it looks – fun and girly, but still classy and tasteful. Gober also notes that customers seem really pleased with her range of products. Regarding the shoes customers choose, Gober notes, “It’s been really interesting to watch. Some [shoes] I wouldn’t personally wear, sell the quickest. That’s part of what I think is so fascinating, seeing what people are drawn to and what sits there.”
To give career women a non-Saturday shopping option, Peria is open until 7 p.m. on Thursdays, a day when special events are frequently held. Situated between Pei Wei Asian Diner and High Point Coffee, Peria also enjoys some lunchtime traffic from women taking a sneak peek on their lunch breaks.
Gober jokes that some males who come into the store with a girlfriend or wife seem to say, “I don’t know what to do in this really pink place,” and they sit by the door. However, she sees some boyfriends helping out in the shopping process and even suggesting that Peria should include a flat screen television, something that wouldn’t go with Peria’s decor. Gober says that she does sell many gift certificates to men.
In the future, Gober hopes to either expand her current shop or open more locations, but she adds that Peria has been a very personal project and she wouldn’t like to have many locations where she wouldn’t have a physical presence.
While Gober’s friends and family thought her shoe collection would triple after opening Peria, the owner has managed to avoid the impulse to collect one of each shoe she carries. However, when asked how many shoes she has, Gober replies with a laugh, “I honestly don’t know. Haven’t counted. I do have a lot, we’ll leave it at that.”
For more information about Peria, visit www.periashoes.com or call 901-274-8488.
