Category Archives: Literature

Tales from the South makes “A Lasting Impression” at Arkansas Arts Center tonight

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talesfromsouthEach Tuesday, Tales from the South features stories about life in the South told by the people who experienced them.  Tonight’s theme is “A Lasting Impression.”  It is an apt theme since the location will be the Arkansas Arts Center’s Best Impressions restaurant.

Tonight’s featured guests are Rich Shumate, Alice Vantrease, and Mickey Jordan.

Music is by Brad Williams and blues guitarist Mark Simpson.

“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.

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 31.

HARRY POTTER AND THE SORCERER’S STONE tonight at Movies in the Park

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MitP10 HarryPotterA magical summer evening is certainly in store with Harry Potter and the Sorcerer’s Stone. 

Chris Columbus directed this 2001 movie, which kicked off what proved to be a successful film franchise, replicating the success of the books.

Daniel Radcliffe, Rupert Grint, and Emma Watson play the central trio of youngsters. Richard Harris, Maggie Smith, Alan Rickman, Robbie Coltrane, Fiona Shaw, Richard Griffiths, John Hurt and Julie Walters are some of the esteemed British actors who play adult roles in the movie.

Now in its 10th season, Movies in the Park is a free outdoor film series at the First Security Amphitheater in Riverfront Park.  The move starts at dark (around 8:30).

Movies in the Park has grown to a season of eight films per year, on average, reaching audiences of up to 4,000 people. It’s a staple event in Central Arkansas. Communities from across the state, and the country, have reached out for guidance as they have tried to implement similar programs in the own communities.

Since 2008, the Little Rock Convention & Visitors Bureau has been managing Movies in the Park.

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.

The Music of Texas will be focus of 2014 Oxford American Music Issue

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oa texasRecently, Academy Award-winner Matthew McConaughey, Oxford American editor Roger D. Hodge, and the Texas Music Office will announce that the state of Texas will be the focus of the OA‘s 16th annual music issue. The announcement is at 4 PM at Austin’s iconic Continental Club.

“The Oxford American is thrilled to showcase the music of Texas, home of many of the world’s most influential artists and recordings,” says Rick Clark, the OA‘s music editor. “In addition to delving into the state’s noteworthy historic recordings and figures, we will put emphasis on Texas’s current vibrant, creative artistic culture.”

The issue will be published and available on newsstands nationwide in December 2014. It will be packaged with a compilation CD dedicated to the music of Texas. The magazine will include a special editorial section comprised of essays and features about the artists and songs on the CD.

“The Texas Music Office in the Governor’s Office is working closely with the Oxford American to help produce the Music of Texas issue,” says Casey Monahan, Director of the Texas Music Office. “We’re looking forward to this exciting and high visibility edition.”

The Oxford American‘s annual Southern Music Issue has won two National Magazine Awards and other high honors since it was first introduced in 1996. It is considered by many readers and listeners to be among the best music packages in the country. In 2012, Dwight Garner of the New York Times wrote, “The Oxford American may be the liveliest literary magazine in America….The CDs are so smart and eclectic they probably belong in the Smithsonian.”

Over the years, NPR has featured many of the OA‘s music issues on its broadcasts. Over the past twenty years, the Southern music issue has showcased an incredible range of talents spanning many genres and decades, including R.E.M., Sister Rosetta Tharpe, Isaac Hayes, Lucinda Williams, Willie Nelson, Elvis Presley, Charlie Rich, and more. Music-writing legends-such as Greil Marcus, William Gay, Stanley Crouch, Peter Guralnick, John Jeremiah Sullivan, and Rosanne Cash-have contributed memorable writing to the issues. Past OA music issues have featured the states of Arkansas, Mississippi, Alabama, Louisiana and, last year, Tennessee.

What Dreams Are Made Of – COMPLEAT WRKS OF WLLM SHKSPR ends run at Ark Rep today

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WllmShksprToday is the final chance to experience what Shakespeare has in common with football, cooking shows, rap and psychology.  The Arkansas Repertory Theatre production of The Compleat Wrks of Wllm Shkspr (Abridged) plays at 2pm and 7pm today.

Life is short. The complete works of Shakespeare are long. Now all of the bard’s most familiar pieces are condensed into one hilarious rollercoaster spoof! Ending The Rep’s season is an entertaining romp where audiences will see all of Shakespeare’s plays, reduced in madcap fashion, in less than two hours.

Written by Adam Long, Daniel Singer, and Jess Winfield (former founding members of the Reduced Shakespeare Company) and first performed at the Edinburgh Festival Fringe in 1987, The Compleat Wrks of Wllm Shkspr (Abridged) later played at the Criterion Theatre in London, where it ran for nine record-breaking years.

The cast includes Rep favorites Avery Clark (Hamlet, Henry V, Death of a Salesman, The 39 Steps) and Ethan Paulini (The Full Monty, Avenue Q, White Christmas, Tommy) and Rep newcomer Patrick Halley.  The show is directed by Resident Director Nicole Capri. The design team includes Costume Designer: Shelly Hall, Set Designer: Chris Pickart, Lighting Designer: Dan Kimble, Sound Designer: Allan Branson and Properties Designer: Lynda J. Kwallek.

The Compleat Wrks of Wllm Shkspr (Abridged) is a parody of the plays of William Shakespeare, with all of them being performed in shortened and sidesplitting form.

It has become one of the world’s most popular shows, playing frequently in a variety of languages, and is most notable for holding the (self-proclaimed) world record for the shortest-ever performance of Hamlet, clocking in at just 43 seconds. You don’t have to be a fan of Shakespeare, or even familiar with his plays, to enjoy this inventive, fast-paced comedy!

 

 Avery Clark, Patrick Halley and Ethan Paulini. Photography by John David Pittman.

HAMLET takes stage at Arkansas Shakespeare Theatre

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PrintMurder, grief, love, betrayal, humor, madness, and revenge–this renowned story of mystery and intrigue has it all!  Prince Hamlet, haunted by his father’s suspicious death and his mother’s hasty marriage to his uncle, seeks truth and justice in a fallen world.  In the process, he learns not only what it means to be a man, but what it means to be human.

This production welcomes back Robert Quinlan (director of AST’s acclaimed Richard III, 2012), whose stunning vision of Shakespeare’s most celebrated tragedy gives you a glimpse of the backstage drama of Denmark that will leave you breathless.

This production is mounted in a three-quarter setting on the stage of Reynolds Center. Seating is limited so be sure tickets are purchased in advance.  It opens tonight at 7:30 at the Reynolds Center on the UCA campus and continues at 2pm Saturday the 21st, 7:30pm on Tuesday the 24th, 7:30pm on Thursday the 26th and 7:30pm on Saturday the 28th.  The final performance is at 2pm on Sunday the 29th.

Jordan Coughtry essays the title role with Paige Reynolds as his mother Gertrude, Dan Matisa as Claudius and the Ghost, Robert Gerard Anderson as Polonius and the Gravedigger, Kelly Karche ans Ophelia, and Brendan Marshall-Rashid as Laertes.  Others in the cast are Benjamin Stidha, Garrett Whitehead, Matthew Schmidli, Jonathan Altman, Keving Browne, Holly Ruth Gale, Chris Fritzges, Andrew Martin, Jordan Breckenridge, Evan Tyrone Martin, Sarah Guinee, Elena Wiltgen, Aaron Eley and Joey Whisenhunt.

 

TWO GENTLEMEN OF VERONA continues at Arkansas Shakespeare Theatre

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PrintSet in Italy in the early 1960s, this lively production will bring music and romance to one of Shakespeare’s rarely-produced comedies. Two Gents has all the familiar Shakespearean surprises we love:  a crossdressing heroine, fickle young lovers, and a dangerous escape into the forest.  Add to that hilarious comedy from two clownish servants, along with Shakespeare’s most famous dog, and you know this is a must see! AST Artistic Director Rebekah Scallet directs this delightful exploration of lasting love and true friendship.

The cast includes Jordan Coughtry, Brendan Marshall-Rashid, Caroline Brooks, Paige Martin Reynolds, Jordy Neill, Andrew Martin, Laurie Pascale, Jesica Dean Turner, Robert Gerard Anderson, Kevin Browne, Christ Fritzges, Jordan N. Breckenridge, Salem Anderson, Zeke Whisenhunt, Anna Caroline Gregg, Mary Dean Johnston and Olivia Marotte.

The production has played several performances at the Hendrix Village.  Starting tonight, it is performed by the Argenta Library. Performances are tonight, Saturday and Sunday at 7:30 p.m.  Admission is “pay what you can.”