All about the state of the arts within Memphis’ own Halloran Centre for Performing Arts & Education
This story was featured in our print and digital September/October issue.
In a modern many-windowed building next door to the historic Orpheum Theatre in downtown Memphis, the Halloran Centre for the Performing Arts & Education houses more than 39,000 square feet of performance and education space. Some pretty spectacular performances happen inside this space, both as part of Halloran Centre Presents events, and within the center’s education programs.
Halloran includes a 361-seat theater with high quality sound equipment, classrooms, a dance studio, rentable banquet hall, and boardroom. As the name suggests, and Pat Halloran—long-time Orpheum CEO and president who passed away in early 2024 intended—the Halloran Centre was designed to meet the community’s need for more, and varied performing arts and education spaces adjacent to the larger Orpheum Theatre that are distinctly different from the older building.
Jennifer McGrath moved from New York to Memphis in 2017 to become the Orpheum’s Vice President of Education, Community Engagement. In 2023, she also added Halloran Centre Programming to her responsibilities. McGrath describes the Halloran Centre as a beautiful, smaller venue that can host a broader diversity of artists, in addition to a space to grow their education programs.
McGrath said about the theater space, “There’s only 361 seats, so there’s not a bad seat in the house. It’s a really intimate experience, and we try to bring some of those names that you may know, while also simultaneously really lifting up local artists and communities.”
Although it has been open since 2015, the staff continues to work to expand the mission of education and to spread the word about the really exciting happenings at the Halloran Centre.
“The goal is to get more people to know about the Halloran Centre. I think sometimes people aren’t always aware of the scope, or the reach, or how thoughtful and intentional a lot of the programs are, both in terms of education and community programs, and what we’re putting on our stages,” said McGrath.
What can this arts experience and the Halloran Centre give to Memphis? McGrath says, “I really believe in my core that the arts have the power to change the world for the better.”
McGrath takes great pride in building community and providing creative expression outlets and quality arts experiences with her “incredible team” at the Halloran. She couldn’t be more thrilled to collaborate with the team to curate this season of events on the Halloran stage and in its education offerings.
McGrath explains that programming their event schedule is like piecing together a giant puzzle, juggling artists’ schedules and the Halloran calendar, trying to maximize the best of both worlds, and bringing national artists to Memphis combined with outstanding local talent from the Mid-South. Halloran’s fall lineup brings this philosophy to life, mixing the best local talent with national performers.
This season includes the 65th anniversary tour of renowned comedy ensemble Chicago’s Second City, whose alumni include Tina Fey and Amy Poehler, on October 19. On September 12, the songwriters’ series that has been ongoing for at least the past five years continues, showcasing Memphis’ own songwriters in a very intimate space in the Halloran, offering their writing experiences and sharing their songs.
The Halloran Centre has had a long relationship with Princeton James Productions and his ‘Soulful Murder Mystery’ series. For multiple dates in the fall, audiences can experience an interactive evening with food and drink where the audience has to work to help solve a mysterious “crime.” The Cazateatro Bilingual Theatre Group, which has partnered with the Centre for at least the past seven years, presents De Aquí y de Allá: The Adventure, for two nights (October 4 and 5).
McGrath also shared that along with the songwriter and murder mystery series continuing, the Memphis Symphony Orchestra ‘Unplugged’ series hosted by Maestro Robert Moody will return. This is an experience that provides a behind-the-scenes look at composers and more. McGrath is also excited about the return of their long-time series on magic and illusions, and coming later in the season there are a couple more soon-to-be-announced surprises in the music area.
The Halloran Centre serves an average of 35,000 students, teachers, and families each year through their education and community engagement programming. They offer year-round educational programs focusing on dance, acting, musical theater, and other performance arts for kids in the MidSouth from 3rd grade through high school.
Some of the camps have specific healing purposes such as Mending Hearts, focused on young people who have experienced the death of one or both of their parents. At Camp SAY, young people with a stutter work to create original artistic pieces. Halloran also works year-round on the Orpheum High School Musical Theatre Award show, which wows audiences every year with a culminating performance in May.
The Centre hosts interactive field trips for schools to work with teaching artists. McGrath noted that all of these experiences are so important to the center’s overall mission.
“The camp performances presented on the Halloran Centre stage send a message to the young people attending the camps and our other programs throughout the year that what they’re sharing and what they’re creating really matters, and we’re putting it on this beautiful stage and giving it the lighting and sound and support that it needs.” McGrath and the Halloran team have prioritized quality of programming over quantity to allow for deep, meaningful, and transformational experiences.
Because it isn’t easy or always possible to get downtown to Halloran, the center’s staff reach out both in schools and in communities to connect in a variety of different ways. The Neighborhood Play Program connects with neighborhoods to create a play with and about the community. This program began in Binghampton, and can move from neighborhood to neighborhood so that the Halloran Centre artists are out in community centers, schools, churches, and after school programs engaging in, uplifting, and amplifying the stories already being told in these places.
McGrath explains, “We love and we want to encourage people to come to the Halloran but we have to go where they are if we want to be providing access. The Neighborhood Play Program is one way we do that. Also, sometimes we’ll take our interactive field trips off site so that we can meet those students literally exactly where they are.”
McGrath reiterates the importance of what they do for the Memphis community: “I really believe that through our education programs and community programs, and through added opportunities to come and see performances, someone can be changed for the better, which has a ripple effect out into the world, which will make the world better. And so it’s really a pleasure and an honor to be here, and to be doing all these things, most importantly to be doing it with such a phenomenal team here at the Orpheum, with everybody really working together and collaborating. I’m very grateful that we have collaboration every day.” McGrath and her staff work toward these concentric waves of art flowing out to the Memphis community. Several of the series tickets sell out, so be sure to paddle over to the Orpheum box office or on line for Halloran Centre tickets.
