Author Archives: Scott

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About Scott

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

Tony Awards Week – History of theatre in Little Rock

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Joe E. Brown in HARVEY

Joe E. Brown in HARVEY

Little Rock existed as a theatre town for over 100 years prior to the Tony Awards.  But since this is Tony Awards week, “let’s start at the very beginning, a very good place to start” (words by my favorite lyricist Oscar Hammerstein II).

The first documented theatrical performance was on November 4, 1834, and in August 1838 the construction of the first theatre in Little Rock was announced.  Through Little Rock’s early years a variety of spaces were used for performances including the City Hall on Markham near Main Street which had been built in 1867.

The opening of the Capital Theatre in December 1885 would be Little Rock’s first large-scale, non-church space for performances and gatherings.  The Capital had a seating capacity of approximately 2,000 seats.  Designed to house theatrical productions, it also played host to civic events ranging from high school graduations (for both the white and African American high schools) to public memorials.  For instance, in 1901 it was the site of a public memorial for the recently assassinated President William McKinley.  In time, the Capital Theatre (which was situated on land that is now occupied by a portion of the Statehouse Convention Center) would be joined by a variety of other theatres, public houses, vaudeville houses and lodge halls.

The 1908 “temporary” City Auditorium probably played host to theatrical performances, but records do not exist for it.  The amphitheatre in Forest Park was home to many theatrical performances including appearances by Sarah Bernhardt.  Judy Baker Goss’s play Fond Farewell looked at one of Bernhardt’s visit to Little Rock.  (In the local production of that play, Bernhardt was played by Judy Trice, the mother of a three-time Tony winner Will Trice. His father, Bill Trice, played a Little Rock City Council member smitten with the actress.)

When Robinson Auditorium opened in 1940, it had space to host theatrical productions in the main music hall as well as in the lower level “little theatre.”  By that time, there were a variety of community theatre groups performing.  The first national tour to play in Robinson was Springtime for Henry starring Edward Everett Horton.

The first Tony winning production to play Robinson was the national tour of Harvey starring Joe E. Brown.  Brown, in fact, received a special Tony for starring in the national tour of the play.

Little Rock Look Back: Cornice placed on Robinson Auditorium

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JTR CorniceOn June 1, 1939, the cornice was installed on Robinson Auditorium.  This granite slab noted the name of the building as the Joseph Taylor Robinson Memorial Auditorium.  (It is interesting to note that it used the more modern “u” instead of the classical “v” which was often used in buildings during prior decades – as evidenced by the Pvlaski Covnty Covrt Hovse across the street.)

This was a milestone marking the completion of the front facade of the structure.  Much work would continue on the interior of the structure.  This step in the construction was considered major enough that the Arkansas Gazette mentioned it in a news article.

Today the cornice is again surrounded by construction materials and braces. The front lobby, the cornice and columns are pretty much the only parts of the building not currently under construction as Robinson Center is readied for its second act.  It is scheduled to open in November 2016.

Musicals and Plays on schedule for 23rd Season at Weekend Theater

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WeekendTheaterThe Weekend Theater has recently announced their 2015-2016 season.  The 23rd season for this volunteer theatre includes seven plays, three musicals and a one-man show.

The Addams Family
By Marshall Brickman, Rick Elice and Andrew Lippa.  Based on characters created by Charles Addams.
June 11, 12, 13, 14, 18, 19, 20, 21, 25, 26, 27, 28, 2015
Directed by Tom Crone; Music Direction by Lori Isner

Two families with vastly divergent cultures, mores, and expectations collide when the Addams hosts a dinner for Wednesday Addams’ “normal” boyfriend and his parents. Trust and fear, love and truth, acceptance and forgiveness are just a few things on the menu in this magnificently macabre new musical comedy created by Jersey Boys authors, Marshall Brickman & Rick Elice and Drama Desk Award winner, Andrew Lippa (The Wild Party).

 

American Idiot
By Billie Joe Armstrong, Green Day and Michael Mayer
July 17, 18, 19, 24, 25, 26, 31, August 1, 2, 7, 8, 9, 2015
Directed by Frank O. Butler; Music Direction by Lori Isner

The two-time Tony Award-winning hit musical — based on Green Day’s Grammy Award-winning, multi-platinum album – is an energy-fueled rock opera that brings us face-to-face with the perils of war, drug addiction, escapism, and the power of true friendship, as Will, Johnny, and Tunny struggle to find meaning in a post-9/11 world.

Contains adult language and situations.

 

Two Trains Running
By August Wilson
August 21, 22, 28, 29, September 4, 5, 2015
Directed by Jamie Scott Blakey and Margaret Parker

This is the 1960s chapter of the Pulitzer Prize winning playwright’s decade-by-decade saga of ordinary African Americans in this turbulent century. In Memphis Lee’s Coffee Shop we meet a local sage, an ex con, a numbers runner, a laconic waitress, and a mentally handicapped man through which, with Chekhovian obliqueness, Wilson reveals simple truths, hopes and dreams, creating a microcosm of an era and a community on the brink of change.

 

The Shape of Things
By Neil LaBute
September 25, 26, October 2, 3, 9, 10, 2015
Directed by Byron Taylor

This modern day retelling of the fall of man challenges our most deeply entrenched ideas about art and love. In The Shape of Things, Evelyn, a sexy, aggressive artist, and Adam, a shy, insecure student, become embroiled in an affair after meeting in a museum. Before long, Adam, under Evelyn’s steady influence, goes to unimaginable lengths to meet her approval, and the show veers into the kind of dangerous, seductive territory that LaBute does best.

 

God’s Man in Texas
By David Rambo
November 6, 7, 8, 13, 14, 15, 20, 21, 22, 2015
Directed by Allison Pace

Faith and egos collide in the age of mass-market religion at Houston’s Rock Baptist Church. A search committee has been secretly formed to find a successor to Rock’s legendary pastor, and a young up-and-comer is asked to audition for the job. The Biblical struggle climaxes during Rock’s spectacular annual electrical Christmas parade.

 

The Foreigner
By Larry Shue
December 4, 5, 6, 11, 12, 13, 18, 19, 20, 2014
Directed by Matthew Mentgen
Winner of two Obie Awards and two Outer Critics Circle Awards as Best New American Play and Best Off- Broadway Production, this off-beat comedy demonstrates what can happen when a group of devious and bigoted characters, including a two-faced minister and his bigoted associate, must deal with a stranger who (they think) knows no English but who has heard more than he should of their unscrupulous plans.

 

Standing on Ceremony: The Gay Marriage Plays
By Mo Gaffney, Jordan Harrison, Moisés Kaufman, Neil LaBute, Wendy MacLeod, José Rivera, Paul Rudnick, and Doug Wright; Conceived by Brian Shnipper
January 15, 16, 22, 23, 29, 30, 2016
Directed by Duane Jackson

This collection of monologues and short stories celebrates the recent advances in winning marital rights for gay and lesbian couples, and how the changing laws are changing lives. This mostly genial and often funny omnibus holds a magnifying glass to the highs and lows, joys and fears, courage and silliness, of people bucking trends and making history.

 

Once on This Island: A Musical
By Lynn Ahrens and Stephen Flaherty
February 12, 13, 14, 19, 20, 21, 26 , 27, 28, 2016
Directed by Monica Clark-Robinson; Music Direction by Greg Robinson

From the Tony Award-winning songwriting team that brought you Ragtime, comes this Tony nominated, Olivier Award-winning musical set in the Caribbean Sea concerning a peasant girl on a tropical island, who uses the power of love to bring together people of different social classes. From the first song you will be enthralled by the music and engaging lyrics of this magical story which includees hints of Romeo and Juliet and the Hans Christian Andersen fairy tale, The Little Mermaid.

 

Vincent
By Leonard Nimoy; Based on the play “Van Gogh” by Phillip Stephens
March 18 and 19, 2016
Directed by Alan Douglas

In van Gogh’s lifetime, he sold only one painting and critics labeled his work madness. His story, however, is so much more than that of the misunderstood genius who cut off his own ear. In this play, Vincent’s brother, Theo, movingly reveals Vincent as few knew him, arguing the bigger meaning and significance of his brother’s life to all humankind. As seen through the eyes of Theo, Vincent van Gogh lives on as a symbol of inspiration, courage, passion, and the lust for life that art kindles in all of us.

This is a special presentation, not part of the regular season.

 

Driving Miss Daisy
By Alfred Uhrey
April 1, 2, 3, 8, 9, 10 15, 16, 17, 2016
Directed by Andy Hall

The place is the Deep South, 1948, just prior to the civil rights movement, where Daisy Werthan, a rich, sharp- tongued Jewish widow of seventy-two learns that she must rely on the services of a chauffeur, a thoughtful, unemployed black man. In a series of absorbing scenes spanning twenty-five years, the two, despite their mutual differences, grow ever closer, realizing they have more in common than they ever believed possible.

 

A Piece of My Heart
By Shirley Lauro
May 6, 7, 13, 14, 20, 21, 2016
Directed by Betty Fernau

This is a powerful, true drama of six women who went to Vietnam: five nurses and a country western singer booked by an unscrupulous agent to entertain the troops. The play which was recently been named “The most enduring play on Vietnam in the nation,” by The Vietnam Vets Association, portrays each young woman before, during, and after her tour in the war-torn nation, drawing attention to the largely unsung American women who served in Vietnam.

Heritage Month – Federal Building

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Federal BuildingThe newest property to be added to the National Register of Historic Places closes out the month.  The Federal Building’s inclusion on this list was announced earlier this month.

The seven-story Federal Building at 700 West Capitol Avenue  was constructed in 1959-61.  It was designed in a modern style, featuring a uniform exterior grid of spandrel and plate glass framed by rows of aluminum bands and columns of white stone.

“The Little Rock Federal Building is a good example of the commercial work of two noted Arkansas architecture firms, Swaim & Allen & Associates and Ginocchio, Cromwell & Associates,” according to the National Register nomination. “The building’s design is consistent with modern high-rise office facilities in the late 1950s and early 1960s. Its uniformly packaged facades, defined by a grid of glass, aluminum, and stone, reflected a growing trend in which Federal buildings began to more closely resemble their commercial counterparts.”

The vertical bands mimic the neoclassical columns of the adjacent 1930s Federal Courthouse. While both structures are unique and representative of their architectural styles, a harmony exists based on the strong vertical lines and the use of the white and grey based primary color scheme.

 

Heritage Month – Paul Laurence Dunbar High School

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dunbarNow known as Dunbar Middle School, this building originally house students from junior high to junior college.  For years the Paul Laurence Dunbar High School was known throughout Arkansas and the south as an outstanding school for African American students.

From 1929 until 1955, Dunbar High School provided a high-quality education for African American students, not only within Little Rock but also from far-reaching corners of the state.   Today the National Dunbar Alumni Association is a well-organized network of former students with active chapters throughout the United States. 

The school is located in a residential area south of downtown Little Rock. George H. Wittenburg and Lawson L. Delony designed the edifice, built on a southeast-northwest axis. Both architects contributed to the design of Little Rock Central High School (1927; listed on the National Register in 1977), which is nine blocks west of Dunbar.

Dunbar was designed to accommodate an academic curriculum as well as the more traditional vocational programs often considered the limit of education for blacks. In 1980, Dunbar Junior and Senior High School and Junior College was listed on the National Register.

The significance of Dunbar Junior High School derives both from the unique place it occupies in the history of education in Arkansas and from the modern architectural concepts with which it was designed. Dunbar was a center of quality education for black Arkansans in the state’s segregated public school system, functioning as a junior high school, high school, and junior college until its last high-school and junior-college classes graduated in 1955.

It had further distinction as one of only two industrial arts schools in the south to attain junior college rating, also in 1931-1932, as well as the recognition and acceptance of the Dunbar curriculum as the basis for admission to colleges and universities throughout the United States. In 1943 the school was involved in a controversy concerning equal pay for black and white teachers in the Little Rock School System, which was resolved in Morris v. Williams, 149 F. 2d 703, heard before the 8th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals. This was a landmark case in establishing the principle of “equal pay based on professional qualifications and services rendered.”

The architects’ achievement in designing an architecturally eminent setting for this progressive passage in Arkansas history is also noteworthy. With an eye toward form following function, the plan of the building promotes maximum use of space and expedient circulation. Aesthetically, the building is decidedly modern, with decorative brick and stone work and striking towers reflecting an interest in the Art Deco style of the period.

CALS-Con 2015 today

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cals_conFans of superheroes, Game of Thrones, Doctor Who, Harry Potter, comics, and gaming will converge on the Central Arkansas Library System’s (CALS) 2nd Annual CALS Con on Saturday, May 30, from 9 a.m.-5 p.m on the Main Library campus, 100 Rock Street. All CALS Con events are free and open to the public.

CALS Con is a family-friendly celebration of all things fandom. The event kicks off the library’s 2015 superhero-themed Summer Reading Club, Every Hero Has a Story. Fans of all ages may come dressed as their favorite character. The day will include six panels, a social media scavenger hunt, table top gaming, LEGO display and open building, drop-in gaming area, and a meet up area. The first 700 people to register for the event will receive a special CALS Con swag bag.

CALS Con will conclude with a cosplay contest at the CALS Ron Robinson Theater, 100 River Market Avenue. Attendees are encouraged to post about their CALS Con experience on social media using #CALScon2015.

Main Library 1st Floor Events

Event Description Time
Registration 9 am – 4 pm
Cosplay Contest Registration 9 am – 3 pm
SRC Registration 9 am – 3 pm

Darragh Center Lobby

CALS Con Meetup/Photo Op Area 9 am – 4 pm
Social Media Scavenger Hunt Participate in CALS Con on a whole different dimension. Seek fun items all over the library campus and digitally document the finds on Facebook, Instagram, and Twitter with the hashtag #CALScon2015 to be entered in a prize drawing. 9 am – 4 pm

Darragh Center

Table Top Saturday Check out games of all sorts from our collection or bring personal copies to play. Light snacks provided. 10 am – 3 pm

Youth Services

Open LEGO® Build Members of the Arkansas LEGO Users Group will present a giant LEGO display. Plenty of bricks are available for building. 10 pm – 12 pm
& 1:30 pm – 3:30 pm
Color-Your-Own Super Hero Mask 2:00 pm – 3:30 pm

Level 4

Drop-In Gaming 10:30 am – 3:30 pm

Ron Robinson Theater

Frozen Panel Can’t get enough of Elsa, Anna, and Olaf? Panelists and attendees will be discussing favorite characters and what’s next for them. 9:30 am
Game of Thrones Panel Winter is coming! Join us for a fan discussion of the George R.R. Martin novels and the popular HBO television show. Topics include the divergence of the television adaptation from the novels and the role of prophecy in the story. Bring your own pet theory! 10:30 am
Harry Potter Panel Bending All the Rules. Panelists will discuss various controversies, issues, and even conspiracy theories that have come to light since the last book was published. 11:30 am
Lego Panel LEGO has produced more than 500 billion pieces and inspired generations of builders and makers. Discuss the past, present, and future of this powerful brand. 12:30 pm
Doctor Who Panel Doctor Who has a fandom that spans generations and decades. The panel will discuss what is loved about Classic Who as well as New Who, and talk about how the Doctor helps people understand their own place in the universe. 1:30 pm
Star Wars Panel Episode VII – The Force Awakens heralds a new era in the Star Wars saga. The panel weighs in on the original series, the prequels, and the highly anticipated sequels. Scoundrels, princesses, and Jedi of all ages are welcome. 2:30 pm
Cosplay Contest The CALS Con finale event. Register to participate by 3 p.m. or attend to cheer on favorite costumes and characters. 4:00 pm

Heritage Month – White-Baucum House

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ahpp_nom_whitebaucumhouse_largeThe White-Baucum House is an architecturally significant structure with important historical. associations. The building, with its strong principal entrance, dominant porches and careful detailing, is one of the earliest and best examples of Italianate architecture in the state.

The home was constructed in 1869-1870 for Robert J. T. White, who was then Arkansas Secretary of State. In 1876 the building was sold to George F. Baucum, who entered business in Little Rock after distinguished service in the Civil War. Baucum operated a wholesale grocery business, was a cotton broker, was president of the Bank of Little Rock for a time and was one of the founders of the Board of Trade of the city. The Baucum family lived in the how until the mid-1920s. Lora B. Busick occupied the place from 1935 to 1957.

After being left vacant for four years, the house was adapted to new uses, It served as the home of two restaurants, an interior design studio, a nightclub, an advertising agency, and later an engineering firm.  For several years it sat vacant and fell into disrepair.  It has since been restored.

It was added to the National Register of Historic Places on Leap Day (February 29) in 1980.