Author Archives: Scott

Unknown's avatar

About Scott

A cultural thinker with a life long interest in the arts and humanities: theatre, music, architecture, photography, history, urban planning, etc.

2019 edition of Ballet Arkansas’ THE NUTCRACKER is this weekend!

Posted on by

Ballet Arkansas’ Nutcracker Spectacular is the largest holiday production in the State of Arkansas, and a beloved holiday classic that is perfect for all ages.

Featuring recently updated choreography, Ballet Arkansas’ production has been a holiday tradition for families across the state for 41 years. The production features the talents of the 15 professional dancers of Ballet Arkansas, and a community cast of more than 225 children and adults from every corner of the state.

The community cast rehearses for 11 weeks to prepare for the performances and consists of multiple generations of cast members – with many cast members participating in Ballet Arkansas’ productions for more than 20 years.

All public performances feature live music by the Arkansas Symphony Orchestra, conducted by Geoffrey Robson, and either The Mount Saint Mary Concert Belle’s, directed by Chelsea Frazier, or the Episcopal Collegiate Choirs, directed by Stephen Vano, who will sing during the infamous snow scene at the end of Act I.

Take a journey with Clara Stahlbaum to the “Land of the Sweets” this Holiday, and enjoy the magic of the Nutcracker Spectacular, set to Pyotry Illyich Tchaikovsky’s beautiful score.

The Nutcracker Spectacular takes the stage at the Robinson Performance Hall on December 13-15, 2019. Ballet Arkansas will present four public performances, Friday, December 13, 7:30 pm, Saturday, December 14, 2:30 pm and 7:30 pm, and Sunday December 15, 2:30pm. Purchase ‘sweet seats’ to sit in the best seats in the house, and receive a gift, for $99. Tickets range from $18-102 and are available here or by calling Celebrity Attractions Box Office at (501)-244-8800. Tickets on sale June 3, 2019.

Learn more about Ballet Arkansas’ 2019/20 Season at www.balletarkansas.org.

Ballet Arkansas, the foremost professional ballet company of the State of Arkansas, is a 501(c)(3) nonprofit organization. Through a roster of talented artists and dancers, Ballet Arkansas presents vibrant and diverse repertory featuring classical, neoclassical, and contemporary works by world renowned choreographers. A driving force in the State, Ballet Arkansas is committed to creative collaboration, community outreach, high quality dance education, the evolution of arts programming across the region, and is devoted to making high quality professional dance performance accessible to all. The productions of Ballet Arkansas promise to enrich the lives of all in attendance.

15th EVER Nog-Off takes place at Historic Arkansas Museum tonight!

Posted on by

Eggnog lovers everywhere, rejoice! It’s your favorite time of year!

The 15th Ever Nog-off, Historic Arkansas Museum’s friendly competition for the best eggnog in town, returns to bestow goodwill, joy, and a touch of whisky to all who gather.

Tonight, Friday the 13th!, from 5pm to 8pm at Historic Arkansas Museum.

Cleanse your palate and sharpen your pencil as you ready yourself to sample several festive eggnogs creatively prepared by local nog-ologists, and offer your critique and coveted vote. The nog with the most nods receives the People’s Choice Award.

Awards up for contention:

  • The Taster’s Choice Award – awarded by the celebrity panel of eggnog aficionados with this year’s judges being Ashlei King of Fox16, Rusty Mathis of Ben E. Keith Foods Mid-South and Kevin Shalin of The Mighty Rib
  • The People’s Choice Award – awarded to the eggnog as voted on by the evening’s attendees
  • The Not Your Great, Great, Great Grandfather’s Eggnog Award – awarded by attendees to the best “untraditional” eggnog
  • The Egg, No Nog Award – awarded to the best non-alcoholic eggnog as determined by a panel of “emerging tasters”

This year’s competitors include:

  • Allsopp & Chapple Restaurant + Bar
  • Arkansas Pioneers Association
  • The Capital Hotel
  • Little Rock Marriott
  • Loblolly Creamery
  • Mocktail Mo
  • The Root
  • Stone’s Throw Brewing and The Pizzeria
  • South on Main

This is a FREE event!

1917 Female Telephone Operators’ strike in Fort Smith is topic of Old State House Museum Brown Bag lunch

Posted on by

Today (December 13) at noon at the Old State House Museum, Kyra Schmidt, a graduate student at the University of Arkansas, will present her research about the female telephone operators’ strike in 1917 in Fort Smith.

Schmidt earned two bachelor’s degrees (one in history education and one in Spanish) from Southwestern Oklahoma State University and is currently working on her Master of Arts in History.

She specializes in minority politics with a focus on women’s labor movements in the 20th century and children in the Civil Rights Movement. Her presentation is entitled “Hello Girls on Strike: The Federal Government, Southwestern Bell Co., and the Strike That Turned Fort Smith Upside Done.”

Admission is free. Guests are welcome to bring their lunch, and the Old State House Museum provides drinks.

Pagans on Bobsleds XXVII: Manger Zone presented by Red Octopus

Posted on by

Image may contain: 2 people, people standing and outdoorRed Octopus Theater’s Pagans on Bobsleds XXVII: Manger Zone! will run December 13, 14, 19, 20, 21 at The PUBLIC Theatre, located at 616 Center Street in downtown Little Rock. 

Doors will open at 7:15 PM and the show will start at 8:00 PM. Tickets are $10 for adults and $8 for senior citizens, military and students.  There are no reservations, tickets may only be purchased at the door before each show. The show is recommended for mature audiences, children under 18 will be charged $327. Cash, Credit and NFC payments accepted.

Red Octopus celebrates twenty-eight years of holiday fun and foolishness on stage this year with its newest sketch comedy show, Pagans on Bobsleds XXVIII: Manger Zone!  Santa’s elite school of reindeer pilots must duke it out to see who is “TOP BUCK”. Meanwhile, some old-time favorite sketches will be on display as well as some brand new holiday sketches that are sure to become audience favorites.  

The cast will showcase Courtney Beard, Alli Clark Howland, Josh Doering, Scott Dombroski, Sarena Dombroski, Drew Ellis, Anderson Penix, and Jason Willey with special guest, Luke “Ramthor” Rowlan.  

The show is recommended for adults and includes bawdy talk, adult deer situations and brief reindeer nudity.

Red Octopus Theater has been performing original, live sketch comedy for almost 30 years in Central Arkansas and beyond.  For more information please contact Red Octopus Theater at (501) 291-3896 or RedOctopusTheater@gmail.com. Red Octopus is also online at www.redoctopustheater.com.

First Beaux Arts Bal raised money for fine art acquisition in Little Rock on December 12, 1958

Posted on by

Snow covered highways throughout the state on Friday, December 12, 1958.  However, the 400 guests at the Fine Arts Club’s first Beaux Arts Bal braved the roads and made their way to the blue drape bedecked ballroom of the Country Club of Little Rock. (Note, the event used the French spelling of Ball using only one “l.”)

Proceeds from the evening would be used by the Fine Arts Club to build up an acquisition fund for the Museum of Fine Arts. At the time, the club was in the process of launching an effort which would lead to the creation of the Arkansas Arts Center.

With the theme “bal de tete” (or “Head Ball”) guests were encouraged to come in their finest evening wear while sporting elegant and/or creative chapeaus atop their crowns.

Gege Darragh

Among the revelers were:

  • Elsie Stebbins, president of the Fine Arts Club, wearing a papier-mache silhouette of Arkansas adorned with the five flags which had flown over it
  • Howard Stebbins, president of Ducks Unlimited, wearing a replica of a duck blind complete with Mallard ducks
  • Daisy Jacoway, beneath a white Christmas wreath
  • Cooper Jacoway, clad in a black and white bear’s head with eyes flashing on and off
  • Carrie Dickinson, wearing a hat made of pink and red roses
  • Mayriann Hurst, bedecked in an epergne holding Christmas ornaments and fresh white orchids (as befitting the owner of Tipton Hurst florist)

Gege Darragh won a prize as “Most Artistic” hat which included lighted candles on a styrofoam base intermingled with white glitter oak leaves and silver balls. Her prize was a portrait by noted Arkansas artist Edwin Brewer.

The Hamiltons (as Marie Antoinette and her executioner) and the Kreths (as Siamese dancers)

Dr. and Mrs. K. M. Kreth won the prize for “Best Hats” which were a matching pair of elaborate gold peaked headdresses in the style of Siamese dancers. Their prize was a trip to Nassau.

The “Most Creative” prize went to Jeane and Jim Hamilton who wore hats depicting Marie Antoinette and her executioner.  They received a Swedish crystal masque.

The headgear was judged by a triumvirate of notables: Little Rock hotelier, restaurateur, and raconteur Sam Peck; future Arkansas First Lady Jeannette Rockefeller, and architect Edward Durrell Stone.

Among the many women serving with Elsie Stebbins on the planning committee were Jane McGehee, Daisy Jacoway, Raida Pfeifer, Buff Blass, and Kula Kumpuris.

Just as the Museum of Fine Arts made way for the Arkansas Arts Center, so too did this event change.  In 1971, the annual Beaux Arts Bal was replaced by Tabriz. In 1976, it became a two night event which took place every other year.

Peck, Rockefeller, and Stone judging the head wear

Dr. John Kirk discusses impact of Urban Renewal efforts on race and housing in LR at tonight’s QQA Preservation Conversation

Posted on by

The latest Quapaw Quarter Association’s Preservation Conversations will take place tonight, December 12, at 6:00pm, with a 5:30pm reception.  Dr. John Kirk will discuss “Race and Housing: How Urban Renewal Changed the Landscapes of Little Rock.”

Join the QQA to hear Dr. John Kirk, George W. Donaghey Distinguished Professor of History and director of the Anderson Institute on Race and Ethnicity at the University of Arkansas at Little Rock share findings of his research on the impact of Urban Renewal policies on Little Rock’s built environment.

Dr. John A. Kirk is the George W. Donaghey Distinguished Professor of History at the University of Arkansas at Little Rock. His research focuses primarily on the history of the civil rights movement. He has published eight books and his ninth, an edited and annotated collection of primary documents titled The Civil Rights Movement: A Documentary Reader (New York: Wiley) will be published in early 2020.

Kirk has also published in a wide variety of journals, edited book collections, newspapers, and magazines, and he has held a number of grants and fellowships in both Europe and the United States, including at the Roosevelt Study Centre (Middleburg, The Netherlands), the John F. Kennedy Presidential Library (Boston), and the Rockefeller Archive Center (New York).

The event is free and open to the public, but space is limited. It will be in the Mixing Room at the Old Paint Factory in the East Village, 1306 East 6th Street. Please RSVP here:.

Parking: There is parking directly in front of the doors that are marked “live”, “print”, “meet.” If those spots are taken. park in the parking lot to the right. There is also street parking in front of the building.

Entrance: Enter the event space through the door facing 6th Street marked “Meet.”

Yippee-ki-yay – DIE HARD is being shown at the CALS Ron Robinson Theater tonight

Posted on by

Die Hard PosterThe Nakatomi Plaza Christmas Party of 1988 was one to remember!

Relive it all as the CALS Ron Robinson Theater shows Die Hard tonight at 7pm for only $5.

Facing Christmas 3,000 miles from his estranged wife and two children, New York policeman John McClane flies to Los Angeles bearing presents and hoping to patch up his marriage. He then becomes the only hope for a small group of hostages, one of whom is his estranged wife, trapped in a Los Angeles high-rise building when it is seized by terrorists on Christmas Eve.

The film stars Bruce Willis, Bonnie Bedelia, Reginald VelJohnson, Paul Gleason, William Atherteon, Hart Bochner, James Shigeta, Alexander Godunov, De’voreaux White, and multiple Tony nominee Alan Rickman.  Directed by John McTiernan, it was was written by Jeb Stuart and  Steven E. de Souza based on a novel by Roderick Thorp (which was originally intended to be for Frank Sinatra.)  It was nominated for four Oscars: Sound, Film Editing, Sound Effects and Visual Effects.

Doors open at 6:00 p.m. Film starts at 7:00 p.m. Beer, wine, and concessions will be available!