Gold In Our Bones: Orpheum Theatre Group Brings Memphis History and Community Stories to the Stage

At a Glance

• The Orpheum Theatre Group’s Neighborhood Play Program presents Gold In Our Bones: A Soulsville + South City Play, its second original community-created production.
• Written by Memphis playwright Ann C. Perry, the play is inspired by the stories, history, and experiences of the Soulsville and South City communities.
• The production explores Memphis Black history, cultural identity, generational legacy, and the influence of Black artistic genius.
• Community members helped shape, perform, and design the production following a year of collaborative storytelling and workshops.
• Free public performances take place November 6–8 at Centenary United Methodist Church in South Memphis.

• Free shuttle service is available from four neighborhood pickup locations through the Orpheum's partnership with Backbeat Tours.

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The Orpheum Theatre Group is excited to debut Gold In Our Bones: A Soulsville + South City Play written by local actor and writer Ann C. Perry and conceived by the Orpheum Theatre Group and the Soulsville and South City community. This performance is the culmination of the Orpheum Theatre Group’s community playmaking program called Neighborhood Play.  

Public performances will be held at Centenary United Methodist Church (584 E McLemore Ave) Friday, November 6 at 7pm, Saturday November 7 at 2pm, and Sunday November 8 at 2pm. Performances are free to attend.

“The goal of the Neighborhood Play Program is to amplify both what's beautiful and challenging about our communities,” said Taylor St. John, Orpheum Director of Education and Engagement. “In creating Gold In Our Bones, we wanted to create a fictional play that would also teach the real history of the place. From the Memphis Massacre in 1866 to Ida B. Wells and the People's Grocery Store to the music of Stax Records, the history runs deep.”

As one community member said during an interview, 

"If young people knew how this neighborhood was destroyed and rebuilt, they would believe they could do anything."

“I hope that this play can bring the community together to unbury some of that history and remind people that they come from greatness,” said St. John.

Over the past year, the Orpheum Theatre Group has been collaborating with the Soulsville and South City community to hear real stories of the people that live, work, worship, or go to school in the neighborhood. After meeting with hundreds of community members, a fictional play was created inspired by the stories they told. The play is inspired by Soulsville and South City and is performed and designed by community members.

Gold In Our Bones: A Soulsville + South City Play takes place in a Memphis neighborhood built over an underground river of history, Chaos is just trying to keep his head down. When a forgotten ancestor appears with a stolen song and a long‑buried curse, he is forced to confront his name and his truth: there is gold in his bones and somebody has been trying to steal it — from him and his neighborhood — for generations. Gold In Our Bones is a history‑haunted, music‑infused play that asks who gets to profit from Black genius.

The Neighborhood Play Program is a community play-making program that explores the stories of a neighborhood and collaboratively creates a play with and about the community. The Orpheum Theatre Group facilitates a series of free interactive story-based workshops between neighborhood residents and artists, creates a fictional play inspired by the stories, and invites community members to audition and participate in the production alongside professional Orpheum teaching artists. The program culminates in free public performances. Past plays include We All We Got: A Binghampton Play in 2024.

STAX Music Academy, The Soulsville Charter School

Cornelia Crenshaw Memorial Library