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.

Last Chance for 80s Blast

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The 80s come to an end tonight with the final performance of That ‘80s Show.  The Arkansas Repertory Theatre’s Summer Musical Theatre Intensive (SMTI) has been affectionately nicknamed “Smitty.”  Since 2005, SMTI has been offering Arkansas youths the opportunity to experience a two week summer conservatory which culminates in a staged performance.  Many of the SMTI youth then return for the production during the school year.

This fall, The Rep’s Young Artists are performing That ‘80s Show” which they have subtitled “We Built this “SMITTY” on Rock and Roll!” (Some might argue that not only is the pun a groaner, but the song title it references is one of the 1980’s nadirs.) Though none of the performers were even born in the 1980s (some probably weren’t even born in the 1990s), these scores of kids will sing, dance and charm the audiences.  Nicole Capri, who recently received the Governor’s Arts Award for Arts Education, has again devised and directed this musical, which features musical direction by Karen Q. Clark.

Performances are NOT on stage at the Rep this year.  Instead they are at Wildwood Park for the Arts in the Lucy Lockett Cabe Theatre.

So hop in your DeLorean or Chrysler K-Car, flip up the Izod collar, slip into the vans, put the Ray-Ban Wayfarers on and relive the decade of New Coke, cassette tapes, TRS-80 computers, Reaganomics, This Can’t Be Yogurt, Dynasty, The Preppy Handbook, Yuppies and MTV actually playing music.

Flashback Friday: Arkansas Symphony Orchestra Opus Ball

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The Arkansas Symphony Orchestra’s annual Opus Ball was last weekend.  The 27th edition took place at the Capital Hotel. 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Quapaw Quarter Association Annual Meeting

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Little Rock’s Quapaw Quarter Association will host its Annual Membership Meeting tonight.  A highlight of the evening will be the presentation of the Greater Little Rock Preservation Awards.  Preceding the awards presentation will be remarks by Kirk Huffaker, Executive Director of the Utah Heritage Foundation.

The meeting takes place at the Historic Arkansas Museum in the Ottenheimer Theatre.  Following a 5:30 reception, the business meeting will take place.  Ron Maxwell and Kathy Webb have been chosen to be new members of the QQA board.  Other new members are Gabe Holmstrom, Greg Nabholz, Shana Woodard and Ron Woods.

The Quapaw Quarter Association is a non-profit historic preservation advocacy organization whose mission is to promote the preservation of the historic buildings and neighborhoods of Greater Little Rock.

The QQA grew out of an effort to identify and protect significant historic structures in Little Rock during the “urban renewal” days of the early 1960s, making it one of the oldest preservation organizations in the nation.

Throughout its existence, the QQA has been a driving force behind historic preservation in Greater Little Rock, which now boasts over 250 individually-listed National Register properties as well as 15 National Register Historic Districts.

In addition to advocacy on local preservation issues, the QQA’s programs include its online newsletter, the Chronicle; an annual Spring Tour of Historic Homes; public workshops; and an historic house marker program.  Rhea Roberts is the executive director.

In 2007, the QQA entered into a contract with the City of Little Rock to manage the city’s Visitor Information Center at Historic Curran Hall.  The ca. 1842-43 Greek Revival-style house also serves as the Mayor’s Reception Hall and is available for rental for private receptions and events.

Butler Center’s Legacies & Lunch: The Thousand-Year Flood

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The Central Arkansas Library System’s Butler Center for Arkansas Studies sponsors the “Legacies & Lunch” conversation each month.  November’s program features David Welky discussing his new book, The Thousand-Year Flood: The Ohio-Mississippi Disaster of 1937.

In this book, Dr. Welky, an associate professor of history at the University of Central Arkansas, discusses the 1937 deluge which was one of the biggest natural disasters in American history.

Welky

David Welky, associate professor of history at the University of Central Arkansas, specializes in 1930s America and has written several other books, including Everything Was Better in America: Print Culture in the Great Depression and The Moguls and the Dictators: Hollywood and the Coming of World War II.

Legacies & Lunch is sponsored in part by the Arkansas Humanities Council. Bring a sack lunch; drinks and dessert are provided. This event is free and open to the public

UALR History Institute Continues Evenings with History

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The 21st year of the UALR History Institutes’ Evenings with History continues on November 1.

Tonight’s presenter is Dr. Story Matkin-Rawn, a special guest from the University of Central Arkansas.  Her talk is entitled “From Land Ownership to Legal Defense: The World War I Watershed in Black Arkansan Organizing.”  The session takes place at the Ottenheimer Auditorium of Historic Arkansas Museum. Refreshments are served at 7 with the program beginning at 7:30 pm. The cost is $50 for admission to all six programs.

Dr. Matkin-Rawn examines the time period around The Great War and how that affected blacks in the South, especially Arkansas.  A rise in farm commodity prices during World War I should have helped many black farm families break the cycle of sharecropping.  But due to fraud and exploitation, it did not.  This caused hundreds of black farmers to organize Progressive Farmers and Householders Union.  The Elaine Massacre destroyed their movement and claimed scores of black Arkansan lives. Though the organization was ended, the movement and quest for economic stability was far from over.

Matkin-Rawn

Matkin-Rawn

This talk traces how a rising generation of activists regrouped from broken wartime promises and white terrorism to create new strategies, new networks, a new vision, and indeed, a new generation who would confront white supremacy through a constellation of statewide political, civic, and legal justice campaigns.

Dr. Matkin-Rawn is an Assistant Professor in the History Department at UCA.  She received her Ph D from the University of Wisconsin-Madison.  Her specialty fields are Southern and African American History, 20th Century US History and the history of Education.

The corporate sponsors for the 2011-2012 season are Delta Trust, Union Pacific Railroad, the Little Rock School District—Teaching American History Program; the law firms of  Friday, Eldredge & Clark and Wright, Lindsey & Jennings. Support and gifts in kind have been provided by the UALR Ottenheimer Library; Historic Arkansas Museum, a museum of the Department of Arkansas Heritage; UALR Public Radio–KLRE-KUAR; and Grapevine Spirits.

Arts & Humanities Month: Boo at the Zoo!

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Boo at the Zoo is the largest family Halloween festival in Arkansas.  Now in its 20th year, Boo at the Zoo has become a family tradition.  Boo at the Zoo features trick-or-treating in a safe environment along with several amenities and attractions including: a hay maze, carnival rides, fair-style food & other concessions, the haunted train, a haunted house for older kids, a costume contest, magic show, Ghost Roast s’mores area, Frankenstein’s Dance Party, and much, much more.

Boo opened this year on October 20 and continues through Halloween night from 6pm to 9pm.

The Little Rock Zoo began modestly in 1926, with just two animals — an abandoned timber wolf and a circus-trained brown bear. Today, under the leadership of Mike Blakely, the Zoo includes more than 725 animals representing 200+ species, many on the endangered list. A recent addition is the Laura P. Nichols Penguin Pointe exhibit.

In addition to the many animals, there is the opportunity to eat at Café Africa and ride on the Arkansas Carousel, a one-of-a-kind Over-the-Jumps antique carousel that is the only fully operational carousel of its kind in the world.

Arts & Humanities Month: UALR Music presents HANSEL AND GRETEL

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The UALR Music Department presents the Englebert Humperdinck opera Hansel and Gretel today at 3:00pm.  Based on the Brothers Grimm folk tale, this production has been transported to Arkansas in the 1920s. The opera tells the story of a brother and sister who set out to find strawberries in the woods, but encounter much more. Their musical journey through the woods comes alive with all sorts of magical creatures, including an encounter with a horrible witch. This witch is not your everyday witch, for she is more clever and charming than most.  This production is one of more than 40 performances which the UALR Music Department presents throughout the year.

The UALR Music Department offers emphasis in conducting, guitar, instrumental, MIDI, music history, music theory, piano, songwriting and vocal music.  Among the various ensembles are the Chamber Choir, Community Chorus, Community Orchestra, Concert Choir, Gospel Chorale, Guitar Ensemble, Opera Theatre, Percussion Ensemble, Trombone Choir, Wind Ensemble and Women’s Chorus.

Music majors may take courses in performance study of classical music and jazz, audio recording techniques, computer music MIDI techniques, music history, theory, and composition. Stella Boyle Smith Concert Hall, a 304-seat facility equipped with a Steinway concert grand piano and a Bösendorfer Imperial grand, is the setting for the many concerts hosted by the music department each year.