Category Archives: Theatre

Have Fun and Learn as SCHOOLHOUSE ROCK LIVE! takes stage at Arkansas Arts Center Children’s Theatre

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AAC CT SchoolhouseThe Schoolhouse Rock cartoon may be decades old now, but this fresh, live-theatre adaptation will spark the wide-eyed wonder of new discovery in our youngest generation while inviting smiles of toe-tapping, lip-synching nostalgia from the rest of us. Get ready to relive those fun-filled afternoons in front of the TV; Schoolhouse Rock Live! is coming to the Arkansas Arts Center Children’s Theatre March 4-25.

From “Just a Bill,” “Conjunction Junction,”  “Interplanet Janet” and more, every song in this live musical performance of the classic, Emmy Award-winning cartoon series “Schoolhouse Rock” is sure to please.  With performances Fridays at 7 p.m., Saturdays and Sundays at 2 p.m., March 4-25, and 2 p.m. matinee performances March 22-25, there are plenty of opportunities to see this show which makes learning grammar, science, math and history a delight!

The Arkansas Arts Center Children’s Theatre performance of Schoolhouse Rock Live! is directed by Katie Campbell. Costumes are designed by Erin Larkin, lighting design by Mike Stacks, scenic design by Miranda Young, choreography by Erin Fowler and Rivka Kupperman is the stage manager. Nicole Jovanovic and Cathleen Gleason are part of the run crew.

The cast includes:

  • Nick Spencer of Nashville TN. as Tom;
  • Jeremy Matthey of North Little Rock as George;
  • Samantha Harrington of Little Rock as Shulie;
  • Aleigha Morton of Beebe as Dori;
  • Geoffrey Eggleston of Sioux Falls, SD as Joe and
  • Paige Carpenter of Little Rock as Dina.

Schoolhouse Rock Live! was originally adapted and produced for the stage by Theatre BAM, from the series created by George Newall and Tom Yohe, based on an idea by David McCall; book by Scott Ferguson, George Keating and Kyle Hall. Music and lyrics by Lynn Ahrens, Bob Dorough, Dave Frishberg, Kathy Mandry, George Newall and Tom Yohe.

Schoolhouse Rock and the accompany play have strong ties to Arkansas. Robert Dorough, born in Cherry Hill, Ark., wrote and performed many of the original songs for the cartoon and the play. Scott Ferguson is the original director and author of Schoolhouse Rock Live! Not only is he a native of Sherwood,, but he is also an alumnus of the Arkansas Arts Center Children’s Theatre.

Get ready for the ultimate Throwback Thursday event with Schoolhouse on the Rocks—an adults-only singalong performance of Schoolhouse Rock Live! on Thursday, March 10. Before the play, enjoy a reception at 6 p.m. featuring themed cocktails, a cereal and Hiland Dairy milk bar with some of your favorite breakfast treats and a grownup spin on other classic childhood snacks. Tickets are $10 for members, $20 for non-members and include the reception and ticket to the show.

The Arkansas Arts Center Children’s Theatre will once again offer “Pay What You Can” preview performances. “Pay What You Can” tickets are available for the 7 p.m. Thursday preview performance of each Main Stage production. Tickets for the Schoolhouse Rock Live! preview on Thursday, March 3 must be purchased in person at the Arkansas Arts Center (501 East 9th Street) from 10 a.m. – 5 p.m. at the Stephens Inc. Visitors Center, or from 6-6:45 p.m. at the Children’s Theatre Box Office, Lower Lobby Level. The maximum ticket purchase of six tickets per person. Additional tickets can always be purchased in person, online or by phone at regular ticket pricing.

Schoolhouse Rock Live!

March 4-25, 2016

Show times: Fridays at 7 p.m., Saturdays and Sundays at 2 p.m.

Spring Break Matinee Performances:  March 22-25, 2016 at 2 p.m.

Ticket prices: $12.50 General admission, $10 for Arkansas Arts Center members, $10 per person for groups of 10 or more

Best enjoyed by all ages.

For more information and to purchase tickets, visit ArkansasArtsCenter.org/theatre.

AN ILIAD takes stage at Arkansas Rep in Black Box

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Rep IliadAudience favorite Joe Graves returns to The Rep for Lisa Peterson and Denis O’Hare’s production, An Iliad. This one-man production adapts Homer’s Trojan War epic into a compelling monologue that captures both the heroism and horror of warfare, and answers the question: “What has really changed since the Trojan War?”

Performances are February 24 through March 5. Showtimes are 7pm Wednesdays through Sundays with 2pm matinees on Sundays.

This production makes the western world’s oldest extant work of literature not only intelligible, but immediate, relevant and eerily fascinating—as if a storyteller were telling the oldest story in the book and making you believe it is being told for the very first time. Gods and goddesses, weak-tendoned heroes and the face that launched a thousand ships…it’s all just another (incredibly engrossing) yarn in O’Hare* and Peterson’s one-man adaptation, developed at the Sundance Theatre Institute.

Willamette Week calls Graves’ performance one “that can honestly be described as spellbinding.”

Sponsored by the National Endowment for the Arts, An Iliad will include Arkansas Stories of War, a series of six talkbacks featuring local service members and their families who will share their personal stories of war.

Today at noon at the Clinton School – A conversation about the upcoming Ark Rep productionof AN ILIAD

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Arkansas Repertory Theatre producing artistic director, Bob Hupp, will host a conversation with Joe Graves, star of the upcoming one-man show, “An Iliad.” This production adapts Homer’s Trojan War epic into a compelling monologue that captures both the heroism and horror of warfare, and answers the question: “What has really changed since the Trojan War?”

This production makes the western world’s oldest extant work of literature not only intelligible, but immediate, relevant and eerily fascinating—as if a storyteller were telling the oldest story in the book and making you believe it is being told for the very first time. Gods and goddesses, weak-tendoned heroes and the face that launched a thousand ships…it’s all just another (incredibly engrossing) yarn in this one-man adaptation, developed at the Sundance Theatre Institute.

Graves has appeared at Arkansas Rep in many productions including RED, OF MICE AND MEN, ALL MY SONS and MY FAIR LADY.

Explore THE ODYSSEY for two weekends at the Arkansas Arts Center Children’s Theatre

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The Odyssey

For two weekends only, the Arkansas Arts Center Children’s Theatre will bring Homer’s epic poem, The Odyssey, vibrantly alive in a fusion of music, dance, mime, masks and choral effects as part of the theatre’s Studio Show series. Running February 19-28, The Odyssey tells the story of King Odysseus who enduring Poseidon’s wrath, faces witches, sirens and a cyclops as he wends his way—literally through Hell and high water—to his home and the long-suffering love of his Queen Penelope.

The Odyssey will run February 19-28; Fridays at 7 p.m., Saturdays at 2 p.m. and 7 p.m., Sundays at 2 p.m.

John Isner directed The Odyssey. It was adapted for the stage by Keith Smith who also designed the set. Costumes are designed by Erin Larkin, lighting design by Mike Stacks, properties design by Miranda Young, music composed by Lori Isner, choreography by Erin Fowler and Nicole Jovanovic is the stage manager.

The cast includes:

  • Paige Carpenter of Lonsdale as Penelope;
  • Aleigha Morton of Beebe as Calliope;
  • Margaret Lowry of Little Rock as Erato;
  • Samantha L. Harrington of Little Rock as Athena;
  • Mark Hansen of Little Rock as Odysseus;
  • Nick Spencer of Nashville, TN, as Poseidon;
  • Richard Nelson of Little Rock as Elpenor;
  • Geoffrey Eggleston of Sioux Falls, SD, as Telemachus and
  • Jeremy Matthey of North Little Rock as Eurylochus.

Show times: February 19-28; Fridays at 7 p.m., Saturdays at 2 p.m. and 7 p.m., Sundays at 2 p.m.

Ticket prices: $10 General admission, $8 for Arkansas Arts Center members

Best enjoyed by children in third grade and up.

For more information and to purchase tickets, visit ArkansasArtsCenter.org/theatre

 

This weekend the Rep presents An Evening with Rebecca Wells and the Ya-Ya Sisterhood

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resized_99263-wells_2_90-20728_t300This weekend, February 19 to 21, join actor and author Rebecca Wells for the debut performance of a new solo work for theater based on her #1 New York Times bestseller Divine Secrets of the Ya-Ya Sisterhood.

Wells looks back at her beloved tale of lifelong friendship in the Deep South, and sees it anew. Rebecca brings the sassy, touching girls of the Ya-Ya Sisterhood into vivid view, then with humor and unflinching honesty chats about how she sees her own work twenty years later, sharing her changing views on racism, feminism and life. An utterly original storyteller, Rebecca will fold you into her inner circle, share the secrets behind the Divine Secrets, make you laugh, invite you to feel, and leave you talking. Intimate, hilarious, and unforgettable, this show has its fingers on the pulse.

A classic Southern tale of hilarity set in a sleepy Louisiana parish, Divine Secrets of the Ya-Ya Sisterhood follows a group of lifelong friends who stage a rather unorthodox intervention to help a young playwright unravel the truth about her complicated, eccentric mother. Along her journey, she finds forgiveness and acceptance, and learns to let go of her painful past.

Performances are at 7pm on Friday, Saturday and Sunday.

This weekend – Lanterns festival at Wildwood Park

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Lanterns_07-1500x630Wildwood’s annual deep-winter festival celebrates the first full moon of the lunar new year. Held over three magical evenings – February 19 – 21, 2016 – guests are transported to far away lands and times as they stroll through the beautifully lit pathways of Wildwood’s gardens.

Cultural vistas feature live entertainment, food, drink, games and more throughout the Park’s Butler Arboretum and inside the Lucy Lockett Cabe Festival Theatre. This year’s featured locations are Australia, Brazil, China, Greece, Hawaii and the UK.

Shuttles run from the Kroger on Chenal Parkway beginning at 6 pm nightly until 30 minutes past the Festival’s closing. Limited parking is also available at Wildwood.

Tickets are $8 for adults online and $10 at the gate. For children ages 6-12 tickets are $4 online and $5 at the gate, and children 5 and under attend FREE!

Arf – Celebrity Attractions brings ANNIE here this weekend

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AnnieCelebrity Attractions is proud to present the new U.S. National Tour of ANNIE February 19-21 at the Maumelle Performing Arts Center.   Directed by original lyricist and director Martin Charnin for the 19th time, this production of ANNIE is a brand new physical incarnation of the iconic Tony Award®-winning original.

ANNIE has a book by Thomas Meehan, music by Charles Strouse and lyrics by Martin Charnin. All three authors received 1977 Tony Awards® for their work.   Choreography is by Liza Gennaro, who will incorporate selections from her father Peter Gennaro’s 1977 Tony Award®-winning choreography.

The production features a 25 member company: in the title role of Annie is Heidi Gray, an 11-year-old actress from the Augusta, GA area, making her tour debut. Gilgamesh Taggett stars as Oliver Warbucks.  In the role of Miss Hannigan is Lynn Andrews.  Also starring in the tour are Chloe Tiso as Grace, Garrett Deagon as Rooster, Lucy Werner as Lily and Jeffrey B. Duncan as FDR.  Macy and Sunny, rescue terriers, star as Sandy.

The orphans are Sage Bentley as Tessie, Bridget Carly Marsh as July, Molly Rose Meredith as Pepper, Emily Moreland as Kate, Annabelle Wachtel as Molly and Casey Watkins as Duffy.

The original production of ANNIE opened April 21, 1977 at the Alvin Theatre and went on to win the New York Drama Critics Circle Award for Best Musical, seven Drama Desk Awards including Best Musical, the Grammy for Best Cast Show Album and seven Tony Awards®, including Best Musical, Best Book (Thomas Meehan) and Best Score (Charles Strouse, Martin Charnin).  The show remains one of the biggest Broadway musical hits ever.  It ran for 2,377 performances after it first opened, and has been performed in 28 languages and has been running somewhere around the world for 37 years.

The beloved score for ANNIE includes “Maybe,” “It’s the Hard Knock Life,” “You’re Never Fully Dressed Without a Smile,” “Easy Street,” “I Don’t Need Anything But You” and the eternal anthem of optimism, “Tomorrow.”

Welcomed by the Little Rock Convention and Visitors Bureau, ANNIE takes the stage February 19-21 at the Maumelle Performing Arts Center, located on the campus of Maumelle High School.  The performance schedule is Friday at 8 pm, Saturday at 2 pm and 8 pm, and Sunday at 2 pm. Tickets are now on sale and are priced $32, $52, and $67.  Tickets are available by phone at (501) 244-8800 or (800) 982-ARTS (2787) or online at www.ticketmaster.com.  Discounts are available for groups of 10 or more by calling (501) 492-3312.

Get social with Celebrity Attractions by becoming a fan on Facebook.com/BWayLR.  Follow the Little Rock engagement of ANNIE on Twitter.com/BwayLittleRock or join the conversation using #AnnieLR.  ANNIE is a part of the 2015-2016 Broadway Season which concludes with RAGTIME.   Celebrity Attractions is proud to have KATV and the Maumelle Area Chamber of Commerce as sponsors for this spectacular season.  For more information, visit www.CelebrityAttractions.com.