Category Archives: History

REEL CLASSICS WITH THE REP: HENRY V

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On the heels of the opening of Henry V, the Reel Classics with the Rep series returns tonight.

The monthly series showcases films which share connections with productions currently on stage at the Arkansas Repertory Theatre. Tonight’s film is the 1989 version of Henry V.  Directed by and starring Kenneth Branagh, the movie also boasts an acclaimed cast of British stage actors including Sir Derek Jacobi, Alec McCowen, Ian Holm, Richard Briers, Robert Stephens, Robbie Coltrane, Christian Bale, Geraldine McEwan, Judi Dench, Paul Scofield, Michael Maloney, Richard Easton and Emma Thompson.

The program begins tonight at 6pm with a discussion of the Rep’s production led by members of the Rep’s staff.  Following that, at 6:30, the film will be screened.  It takes place at Laman Library.

The Rep’s production, directed by Robert Hupp and starring Avery Clark in the title role, continues through Sunday, September 23.

The Band of Brothers: HENRY V at Arkansas Rep

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The Arkansas Repertory Theatre kicks off its 37th season with William Shakespeare’s Henry V.  Directed by Producing Artistic Director Robert Hupp, this production is the first of Shakespeare’s History plays to be produced at the Rep.

The production reunites Hupp with actors Avery Clark and Nikki Coble from the Rep’s widely acclaimed production of Hamlet in 2010.  The cast is an amalgam of seasoned Rep veterans and newcomers.  It includes Jason Collins, Jason Guy, Peter Leake, Joe Menino, Irungu Mutu, Richard Prioleau, Paul Romero, Mitch Tebo, Ed Lowry, DC Wright, Bill Jones, Sheila Glasscock, Fang Du, Ashton Crosby, Michael Bartholmey, Nate Washburn and Andrew Curzon.

Other members of the creative team include scenic designer Mike Nichols (beginning his 30th season at the Rep), costume designer Marianne Custer, lighting designer Michael J. Eddy, props by Lynda J. Kwallek and sound designer Jim Spencer.  Ellen Mandel returns to the Rep as composer of the show’s original score.

Henry V runs through September 23.

On September 10, the “Reel Classics with the Rep” series at Laman Library will feature the Kenneth Branagh film version of Henry V at 6pm.

The Rep will also host a Student Actor Workshop with the cast from 1pm to 4pm on September 15.  This workshop for high school and college students ages 15-22. The Student Actor Workshop will cover on-stage combat, blocking and dissecting the language of Shakespeare’s Henry V for a modern audience. The workshop will be led by professional actors Avery Clark and Nikki Coble who play the roles of Henry the Fifth and Katherine in The Rep’s production of Henry V.The workshop is free and space is limited. 

Culture Vulture tending the nest

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The Little Rock Culture Vulture is on vacation until Labor Day.

Cool Culture — Beat the Heat at LR Museums

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Seeking a daytime escape from the heat of the day, most of Little Rock’s museums offer wonderful climate controlled environments at no charge.

Among those museums in LR which offer escapes to galleries at no charge are the Arkansas Arts Center, MacArthur Museum of Arkansas Military History, Historic Arkansas Museum (fees do apply for tours of historic structures), Mosaic Templars Cultural Center, Old State House Museum, Butler Center Galleries  at the Arkansas Studies Institute, Witt Stephens Jr. Central Arkansas Nature Center and the Little Rock Central High National Historic Site.  In addition, members to the Museum of Discovery can visit it for free.

Legacies and Lunch tomorrow

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The Butler Center’s monthly “Legacies and Lunch” series continues tomorrow.

Wednesday, August 1, 2012, noon to 1 p.m.
Darragh Center, Main Library
100 Rock St.
The Civil War in Arkansas

In conjunction with the Butler Center exhibition Invasion or Liberation? The Civil War in Arkansas, Dr. Carl Moneyhon will discuss opposition to the Civil War in Arkansas. Moneyhon, a faculty member in the University of Arkansas at Little Rock history department, is a specialist in the history of the American Civil War and the South and is widely published in the field.

Invasion or Liberation? will be on view on Concordia Hall (401 President Clinton Ave.) through October 27, 2012. Legacies & Lunch is sponsored in part by the Arkansas Humanities Council. Bring a sack lunch; drinks and dessert are provided.

Dr. Moneyhon joined the faculty in 1973 and holds a Ph.D. from the University of Chicago. He is faculty liaison with the University History Institute, an organization that develops closer ties between the department and the community. He also serves on the editorial boards of the Arkansas Historical Quarterly and the Encyclopedia of Arkansas History and Culture. He was won the UALR Faculty Excellent Award for Research and the UALR Faculty Excellence Award for Teaching.

Dr. Moneyhon is a specialist in the history of the American Civil War and the South and is widely published in the field. His work has been supported by the National Endowment for the Humanities, and he recently received one of the first College of Arts, Humanities, and Social Sciences Summer Fellowships for Research. He is a Fellow of the Texas Historical Association. He is working on a book on the connection of war-time experience and developed identity among Confederate soldiers.

Ben Piazza’s THE EXACT AND VERY STRANGE TRUTH

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Seventy-nine years ago today, actor and author Ben Piazza was born in Little Rock.  This is a good opportunity to discuss his 1964 novel The Exact and Very Strange Truth.  Published in 1964, it is a fictional memoir of a young man growing up in Little Rock during the 1940s.

Readers of the book will see references to once-familiar names of stores along Main Street and other Little Rock landmarks of the time.  Though the book is a work of fiction, Piazza based many of the young hero’s sites on his own.  Sadly many of the buildings which play important roles in the novel are no longer extant including the hero’s rock house on 14th Street, Centennial Elementary, Immanuel Baptist Church on Bishop Street, and the family’s shoe repair store at 8th and Main Street .  Little Rock Central High School (then Little Rock High School) is one of the few structures mentioned in the book which is still standing.

Following the success of To Kill a Mockingbird, publishers were looking for the next novel of fictional memoirs set in the American South.  Piazza finished the novel in early 1963 and it was published the next year.  It was met with nice reviews and was later published in paperback.  He dedicated the novel to his good friend Edward Albee; at the time the novel was released he was starring on Broadway in Albee’s Who’s Afraid of Virginia Woolf?

Though it was Piazza’s only novel, he did later write the plays The Sunday Agreement and Lime Green/Khaki Blue.

The Central Arkansas Library System has a copy of The Exact and Very Strange Truth available for checking out.  Copies are also usually available on eBay and other web-based purchase sites.

QQA Preservation Conversation in July

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The Quapaw Quarter Association’s monthly Preservation Conversation continues tonight.

This month’s topic is “How to Find the History of your House or Building.” The discussion will offer participants the opportunity to learn about what the QQA Research Files have to offer and other ways to find the history of a house.

The program takes place this evening at Curran Hall, 615 East Capitol Avenue. From 5 to 5:30 a reception will take place. The program will run from 5:30 to 6:30. At 6:30 participants are encouraged to keep the conversation going at Lulav Eatery, which will offer a 25% discount to those who attend Preservation Conversations.

The Quapaw Quarter Association’s mission is to promote the preservation of Little Rock’s architectural heritage through advocacy, marketing and education. Incorporated in 1968, the QQA grew out of an effort to identify and protect significant historic structures in Little Rock during the urban renewal projects of the early 1960s. Throughout its existence, the QQA has been a driving force behind historic preservation in Greater Little Rock.