Category Archives: Lecture

Graham Gordy discusses the film and TV industry at Old State House Brown Bag lecture today at 12 noon

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Photo by Nancy Nolan

Photo by Nancy Nolan

The Old State House offers regular noontime lectures on a variety of topics.  These “Brown Bag Lectures” take place at 12 noon.  The next one is today.

Graham Gordy, the award-winning Arkansan writer, will discuss how the film and television industry have changed after the Recession.

Gordy’s discussion is in conjunction with the Old State House’s “Lights! Camera! Arkansas!” exhibit which is currently on display.  It focuses on connections between Arkansas and Hollywood.

Gordy’s credits include include the current series “Rectify” the upcoming movie Quarry as well as the films War Eagle, Arkansas and The Love Guru.  As an actor, he has appeared in “Rectify,” My Dog Skip and The Last Ride.  As a youth, he also appeared on various stages in Central Arkansas.

Photographer Adam Smith featured on Tales from the South’s Tin Roof Project for July

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talesfromthesouthThe first Tuesday of each month, Tales from the South features one person sharing their life story. They call it Tin Roof Project.  The July featuree is artist Adam Smith.  The program will be Tuesday, July 1.

Music is by Brad and Amy Williams and blues guitarist Mark Simpson.  It will take place at the Argenta branch of the Laman Library.

Adam graduated from the University of Mississippi 1999 with a degree in business and a love of photography. Time spent in Mississippi provided Smith with unique opportunities to document the landscape and music of the state, especially the blues and the indelible culture which surrounds it. In this fertile environment, Smith photographed several blues legends, and his photographs captured the interest of world acclaimed photographer Annie Leibovitz, who needed assistance on a shoot in the Mississippi Delta, Smith was personally requested for his knowledge of the region and his relationships with the blues artists. Adam was again asked to assist for Leibovitz in 2010, which featured Gabourey Sidibe for a promotional “Precious” spread in Vanity Fair Magazine.

“Tales From the South” is a radio show created and produced by Paula Martin Morell, who is also the show’s host. The show is taped live on Tuesday. The night is a cross between a house concert and a reading/show, with incredible food and great company. Tickets must be purchased before the show, as shows are usually standing-room only.

“Tales from the South” is a showcase of writers reading their own true stories. While the show itself is unrehearsed, the literary memoirs have been worked on for weeks leading up to the readings. Stories range from funny to touching, from everyday occurrences to life-altering tragedies.

Dinner is served from 5pm to 6:30pm, the show starts at 7pm.  Admission is $10 for just the show and $25 for show and dinner.

You MUST purchase your ticket before the show.

Previous episodes of “Tales from the South” air on KUAR Public Radio on Thursdays at 7pm.  This program will air on July 17.

Pulitzer Prize winning historian Joseph J. Ellis at Clinton Presidential Center tonight

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JJEPortThe Clinton Presidential Center will host a public program at 6 p.m. Tuesday, June 10, featuring Pulitzer Prize-winning historian Joseph J. Ellis, author of “Revolutionary Summer,” which he will be signing copies of afterward.

Joseph Ellis Lecture & Book-Signing
Tuesday, June 10
Great Hall
Program: 6-7 p.m. (Doors open at 5:30 p.m.)
Book-signing: 7-8 p.m.

Joseph J. Ellis is one of the nation’s leading scholars of American history. The author of eight books, Ellis was awarded the Pulitzer Prize for Founding Brothers: the Revolutionary Generation and won the National Book Award for American Sphinx, a biography of Thomas Jefferson. His in-depth chronicle of the life of our first President, His Excellency: George Washington, was a New York Times bestseller.

Ellis’ newest book, Revolutionary Summer: The Birth of American Independence was released by Random House in June 2013.

Ellis’ essays and book reviews appear regularly in national publications, such as The New York Times, The Los Angeles Times, The Wall Street Journal, The Chicago Tribune, The New Republic, and The New Yorker. Ellis’s commentaries have been featured on CBS, CSPAN, CNN, and the PBS’s The News Hour with Jim Lehrer, and he has appeared in several PBS documentaries on early America, including “John and Abigail [Adams]” for PBS’s The American Experience and a History Channel documentary on George Washington

Ellis currently teaches at the Commonwealth Honors College at the University of Massachusetts at Amherst. He previously taught at Mount Holyoke College and at the United States Military Academy at West Point.

He lives in Amherst, Massachusetts with his wife, Ellen Wilkins Ellis, two dogs and a stray cat. He is father of three sons. The youngest, Alex is a student at the University of Mississippi.

To pre-order “Revolutionary Summer,” contact Michelle Ross at the Clinton Museum Store by emailing mross@clintonfoundation.org or calling (501) 748-0400.

The program is FREE and open to the public; however, reservations are required. To RSVP, please email operationslr@clintonfoundationn.org  or call (501) 748-0425.

Much Ado about Shakespeare tonight at Arkansas Rep

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william-shakespeare Much Ado about Shakespeare

5:30 p.m. | Meet & Greet

6:00 p.m. | Discussion Begins

Join Producing Artistic Director Bob Hupp as he presents an interesting and humorous abridged history about Shakespeare, his life and his works.

The event is free to Members and $10 for non-members. RSVP to cbays@therep.org.

This is one of a series of events for members of the Arkansas Repertory Theatre that are connected to productions on the Rep’s MainStage.  This is in conjunction with The Compleat Wrks of Wllm Shkspr (Abridged) which opened on Friday and runs through June 29.

COMPLEAT WRKS OF WLLM SHKSPR (ABRIDGED) by Ark Rep is focus at Clinton School today at noon

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WllmShksprThe Arkansas Repertory Theatre works in partnership with the Clinton School of Public Service to participate in the UACS’s Distinguished Speaker Series, hosting educational panel discussions on various Rep productions. The latest in these takes place today, Thursday, June 5 at 12 noon at Sturgis Hall in Clinton Presidential Park.

Join Rep Producing Artistic Director Bob Hupp as he hosts the cast from The Rep’s production of  The Compleat Wrks of Wllm Shkspr Abridged for a panel discussion on this hilarious roller-coaster spoof of a play!

The Compleat Wrks of Willm Shkspr Abridged opens officially on Friday evening and runs through Sunday, June 29.

Architects of Little Rock the focus of June’s Legacies & Lunch

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Architects of LR bookCharles Witsell and Gordon Wittenberg, retired principals of Little Rock architecture firms and co-authors of the newly released Architects of Little Rock: 1833-1950, will discuss Little Rock’s architectural history at Legacies & Lunch on Wednesday, June 4, noon-1 p.m. in the CALS Main Library’s Darragh Center, 100 Rock Street.

Witsell and Wittenberg are retired principals of WER Architects/Planners (Witsell, Evans and Rasco) and WD&D (Wittenberg, Delony and Davidson). Architects of Little Rock: 1833-1950 profiles thirty-five architects, including George R. Mann, Thomas Harding, Charles L. Thompson, and more. Famous buildings such as the Arkansas State Capitol, St. Andrews Cathedral, the Pulaski County Court House, Central High School, and Robinson Auditorium are showcased as well. Copies of the book will be available for purchase; Wittenberg and Witsell will sign copies after their talk.

Legacies & Lunch, the Butler Center’s monthly lecture series, is free, open to the public, and supported in part by the Arkansas Humanities Council. Programs are held from noon-1 p.m. on the first Wednesday of each month. Attendees are invited to bring a sack lunch; drinks and dessert are provided. For more information, contact 918-3033.

Book on LR Architects celebrated tonight

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Architects of LR bookTonight, the Historic Arkansas Museum will be hosting a lecture and book signing for the recently released Architects of Little Rock: 1833–1950, penned by Little Rock architects, Charles Witsell and Gordon Wittenberg.

The evening will begin at 5:30 with a special presentation and lecture discussing the book. Speakers will include Bill Worthen, Historic Arkansas Museum; Tom Adams, WD&D; John Greer, WER Architects/Planners; Bobby Roberts, Central Arkansas Library and a special presentation will be given by Wesley Walls, President AIA Arkansas.

A reception and book signing will begin immediately following the lecture. All are invited to attend this special evening. “There are many ways of knowing the built environment. In their Architects of Little Rock, Mr. Witsell and Mr. Wittenberg explore the always complex relationship between buildings and the visionary thinkers—sometimes ordinary craftsman— who produced them. In so doing, they not only have uncovered the design rationales and circumstances of production that influenced a wide spectrum of Little Rock architecture but moreover have written a significant work of architectural scholarship that addresses the history of the architect’s profession,” Ethel Goodstein-Murphree, architectural historian and professor of architecture, University of Arkansas.

Architects of Little Rock: 1833–1950, is being released this month. The book is co-written by Little Rock architects, Charles Witsell and Gordon Wittenberg and edited by Marylyn Jackson Parins. Architects of Little Rock provides biographical and historical sketches of the architects at work in Little Rock from 1833 to 1950. It is the story of the people behind the city’s most important buildings. Thirty-five architects are profiled, including George R. Mann, Thomas Harding, Charles L. Thompson, Max F. Mayer, Edwin B. Cromwell, George H. Wittenberg, Lawson L. Delony, and others. Famous buildings, including the Historic Arkansas Museum, the Old State House, the Arkansas State Capitol, St. Andrews Cathedral, Little Rock City Hall, the Pulaski County Court House, Little Rock Central High School and Robinson Auditorium are showcased, bringing attention to and encouraging appreciation of the city’s historic buildings.

Charles Witsell and Gordon Wittenberg are retired principals of the Little Rock architecture firms WER Architects/Planners (Witsell, Evans and Rasco) and WD&D (Wittenberg, Delony and Davidson), respectively.