Monthly Archives: February 2015

Final Weekend for THE WHIPPING MAN at the Arkansas Rep

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THEREP_THE WHIPPINGMAN (no credits)-page-001There are only three chances remaining to see the riveting play on stage at the Arkansas Rep – Matthew Lopez’s award winning The Whipping Man.  

An extraordinary tale of loyalty, deceit and deliverance, The Whipping Man opened off-Broadway in 2011 to critical acclaim, winning the 2011 John Gassner New Play Award from the NY Outer Critics Circle and becoming one of the most produced plays in the country.

On Passover, 1865, the Civil War has just ended and the annual celebration of freedom from bondage is being observed in Jewish homes across the country. One of these homes sits in ruins. As Jewish confederate officer Caleb DeLeon returns from the war, badly wounded, to find his family missing and only two former slaves remaining, Simon and John, the two men are forced to care for him.

As Caleb, Simon and John wait for the family’s return, they wrestle with their shared past as master and slave, digging up long-buried family secrets as well as new ones. With Passover upon them, the three men unite to celebrate the holiday, even as they struggle to comprehend their new relationships at a crossroads of personal and national history and to come to terms with the sordid legacies of slavery and war that threaten each of their future freedoms.

Ryan Barry, who was featured in last season’s Clybourne Park returns to the Rep joined by Michael A. Shepperd and Damian Thompson.  The production is directed by Rep vet Gilbert McCauley (Gee’s Bend, Looking Over the President’s Shoulder, The Piano Lesson, A Soldier’s Play, Fences, Frost/Nixon).  Other members of the creative team are set designer Mike Nichols, costume designer Yslan Hicks, lighting designer Dan Kimble, sound designer Allan Branson and props designer Lynda J. Kwallek.

Performances are at 8pm tonight, 2pm tomorrow and 7pm tomorrow night.

“Speak Now or Forever Hold Your Piece” this evening at Mosaic Templars

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Speak Now Feb 2015 WebTonight a 7 pm the Mosaic Templars Cultural Center will be hosting “Speak Now or Forever Hold Your Piece,” a celebration of creativity and self-expression hosted by local poetry troupe the Foreign Tongues.

This free event features youth poets from central Arkansas and a performance by Foreign Tongues. Featured poet, Jon Goode, has made appearances on HBO’s “Def Poetry Jam,” “Verses and Flow” and was featured on CNN’s “Black in America.”

As a national award winning performance poet, Jon has been privileged to share the stage with Jamie Foxx, Mos Def, Kanye West, Tommy Davidson, Will Downing, Kindred, Ledisi, Roy Ayers, Common, Amiri Baraka, Malcolm Jamal Warner, Kim Fields, The Last Poets and many other talented poets, comedians and performers.

Tickets available starting January 20. Limit 2 per person. Email tameka@arkansasheritage.org or call 501.683.3593.

The MTCC is an agency of the Department of Arkansas Heritage.

Pretty Woman tonight at the CALS Ron Robinson Theatre

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Pretty_woman_movieTonight at 7pm is the next film at the CALS Ron Robinson Theatre.  It is 1990’s twist on the Cinderella story, PRETTY WOMAN.  Julia Roberts earned an Oscar nomination for her turn as a call-girl with a heart of gold and a spunky sense of adventure.  Richard Gere stars opposite her as a ruthless businessman who hires her for a week.

Others in the cast are Ralph Bellamy (in his final screen appearance), Jason Alexander, Laura San Giacomo, Alex Hyde-White, Amy Yasbeck, Elinor Donahue and Hector Elizondo.  It was directed by Garry Marshall from J. F. Lawton’s screenplay.

The price of admission is $5. Concessions will also be available for purchase.

 

 

Black History Month Spotlight – Lawrence Hamilton

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LawrenceHamiltonLawrence Hamilton, the son of the Dr. Oscar and Mae Dell Hamilton, was born in the small southwest Arkansas town of Foreman With an interest in music stemming from childhood, Hamilton earned a music scholarship to attend Henderson State University in Arkadelphia where he studied piano and voice He graduated in 1976 with a bachelor’s degree in music education.

From Arkansas, Hamilton traveled to Florida to work as a performer at Walt Disney World in Orlando, Florida where he would meet talent manager, Tommy Molinaro. This fateful meeting would prove to be a life-changing encounter, as Molinaro would invite Hamilton to come to New York to audition for the famed actor/director Geoffrey Holder. This marked the beginning of Hamilton’s bold and creative career in the performing arts, leading to performances on Broadway and on tours in Sophisticated Ladies, The Wiz, Uptown – Its Hot, Porgy and Bess, Big River, Play On!, and Jelly’s Last Jam among others. Perhaps his crowning achievement was starring in Ragtime.

Hamilton has been a member of the Southern Ballet Theater, Brooklyn Dance Theater, Ballet Tap USA, and the Arkansas Opera Theater He has performed in concert with the legendary Lena Horne at the White House for President and Mrs. Ronald Reagan, and at the Vatican for Pope John Paul II. Hamilton’s career also led to a stint as musical director for the renowned opera legend Jessye Norman, as well as vocal coach/arranger for the pop group New Kids on the Block

Upon his return to Arkansas, Hamilton served for several years as director of choral music at Philander Smith College. He also appeared in several plays at the Arkansas Repertory Theatre.  In addition, he performed at countless concerts, benefits and galas throughout Arkansas.  In 2003, he was inducted into the Arkansas Black Hall of Fame.  In 2008, he was appointed to the Little Rock Mayor’s Task Force on Tourism.

Hamilton died in New York in April 2014 due to complications from surgery.  Just weeks prior to the surgery, he had appeared in August Wilson’s The Piano Lesson in Cape Fear, North Carolina.  He had also starred in that play at Arkansas Rep a few years earlier.

For more on Lawrence Hamilton and other inductees into the Arkansas Black Hall of Fame, visit the permanent exhibit at the Mosaic Templars Cultural Center. That museum is an agency of the Department of Arkansas Heritage.

 

Maya Angelou celebrated at Mosaic Templars this morning

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mosaictemplarsToday at 10am, the Mosaic Templars Cultural Center celebrates the life of poet, author, entertainer and civil rights activist, Dr. Maya Angelou.

The former Arkansan’s inspirational story will be brought to life by Dr. Gwendolyn Twillie, former chairwoman of the Theatre and Dance Department at UALR.

Registration is required. Contact Elvon Reed at 501.683.3592.

The Mosaic Templars Cultural Center is an agency of the Department of Arkansas Heritage.

Violin and Organ recital tonight at 8

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Tonight the Central Arkansas Chapter of the American Guild of Organists will present a recital featuring Lisa Shihoten, violin and Ken Cowan, organ.  It will take place at 8pm at First Presbyterian Church in downtown Little Rock. This evening is a special recital benefiting the Arkansas Children’s Hospital Injury Prevention Center.

Lisa Shihoten, Violin

Violinist Lisa Shihoten enjoys an active career as a chamber musician, recitalist and teacher. She made her New York solo debut at Avery Fisher Hall with the Juilliard Orchestra under the direction of Kurt Masur and has received top prizes and awards from the National Foundation for Advancement in the Arts, the Marcia Polayes National Competition, and the Seventeen Magazine/General Motors National Competition. She has appeared with the ensemble Concertante, the American Chamber Players, the Jupiter Symphony Chamber Players, and has performed at numerous summer festivals including the Caramoor Music Festival, the Ravinia Festival, the Verbier Music Festival, the Aspen Music Festival, and the Norfolk Chamber Music Festival. She has also toured throughout Israel, Greece, and Turkey, and regularly tours this country in duo recital with organist Ken Cowan. Ms. Shihoten received her Bachelor’s degree from the Juilliard School and her Master’s degree from the Yale School of Music.

Ken Cowan, Organ

A native of Thorold, Ontario, Canada, Ken Cowan received his Master’s degree and Artist Diploma from the Yale Institute of Sacred Music, studying organ with Thomas Murray. Previous positions have included Associate Professor of Organ at Westminster Choir College of Rider University in Princeton, Associate Organist and Artist in Residence at Saint Bartholomew’s NYC, and Assistant Organist posts at St. James Episcopal Church, Saint Mary the Virgin in NYC, and Saint Clement’s Church in Philadelphia. In 2012 Mr. Cowan joined the faculty of the Shepherd School of Music at Rice University as Associate Professor and head of the organ program.

Mr. Cowan maintains a full studio of organ students and is one of the most sought-after concert organists in North America. He has won numerous awards in the United States and Canada; he has been a featured artist at regional and national conventions of the American Guild of Organists, the Organ Historical Society and the Royal Canadian College of Organists; and he has been on the roster of Associate Organists for the famous Wanamaker Grand Court organ in Philadelphia. Mr. Cowan has also recorded several critically acclaimed CDs on the JAV label, and many of his recordings and live performances are regularly featured on the nationally distributed radio show PIPEDREAMS from American Public Media.

Little Rock Look Back: President Ronald W. Reagan

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RWR 40On February 6, 1911, future U.S. President Ronald Wilson Reagan was born. His life took him from small town Illinois, to Hollywood in the last days of the Golden Age of the studio system, to politics, to the California State House, to the White House.

On November 3, 1984, he became the first sitting U.S. President to spend a night in Little Rock. He stayed at the Excelsior Hotel (now Marriott Downtown) before making a campaign speech on November 4.  His only special requests for the room were jelly beans and ginger ale.  His speech was in the Statehouse Convention Center, which had opened less than two years earlier.

In 1980, Reagan had become only the third Republican to win Arkansas’ electoral votes (after Grant in 1868 and 1872 and Nixon in 1972). He was expected to easily win them again in 1984.  The main purpose of his speech on the Saturday before election Day was to drum up support for other GOP candidates in the state.  While he carried the state and the electoral votes, none of his preferred candidates won their races in 1984.

Four years later, on October 27, 1988, he flew in to Little Rock to make remarks at Central Flying Service. The purpose this time was to campaign on behalf of GOP nominee George H. W. Bush. As Reagan had done in 1980 and 1984, Bush carried the state and won the Presidency.

In 1992, after native son Bill Clinton defeated Bush in his bid for re-election, Reagan welcomed Clinton to his office in Los Angeles.  Having served as Governor of California, he was able to relate to Clinton’s impending transition from Governor to President.

In 2004, months before the Clinton Library opened, Reagan succumbed to the ravages of Alzheimer’s Disease.  He had publicly disclosed he had the illness in 1994 during the second year of Clinton’s first term.  Though the Clinton Library was not open yet, the Clinton Foundation set up a memorial book at Curran Hall for people to stop by and sign. The book was then sent to the Reagan Presidential Library.