Category Archives: Theatre

Light Up the Night This Weekend with LANTERNS! at Wildwood

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Don’t miss THE MOON! at this year’s LANTERNS! Festival March 6 – 8. You can check out our giant moon balloon, delight in a moon-pie, and sip on a Blue Moon beer. Visit six locations spread throughout the park!

Located in Wildwood’s award-winning Asian Woodland Garden, the Asian Vista is a perennial highlight of LANTERNS! Don’t miss the wide variety of foods, including sushi, dumplings, egg rolls and fried rice. Sake and beer will be available as well as hot jasmine tea. Two bands, The Lemon Drops and The News Kids will perform in the garden’s Tea House while a Chinese harpist and a calligrapher will be on hand to showcase their art!

Wildwood is alive with the sound of music! Austria comes to Arkansas in the lobbies of Wildwood’s Cabe Theatre. Piping hot Viennese beef soup with crepe slivers will be served with apple strudel and delectable pastries. Be on the lookout for bands of gypsy vagabonds. The theatre’s south lobby has been transformed into a Alpine winter wonderland – complete with gourmet chocolate shoppe, mountain goats and polka band!

There is a literal pot of gold at the end of Wildwood’s Ireland rainbow, and a bit o’ gold for everyone who makes it through the leprechaun’s maze. Traditional Irish dancers entertain while festival goers dine on two Irish staples: beer and potatoes. For those looking to stay warm, there’s a steaming cup of Irish coffee waiting for you, and there’s Fizzy Leprechaun punch for the kids! Be careful where you step! Daffodils are a’bloom and William Wordsworth, one of Ireland’s greatest poets, will be on hand to tell you all about them!

Are you ready to live la vida LANTERNS!? All the tastes of Mexico can be found in Wildwood’s gazebo. Beer and tequila shots will be on hand, while a mariachi and DJ get the party started. The festival’s famed floating lanterns are launched from the gazebo, piñatas will be broken nightly!

It is England in 1600 in Wildwood’s Studios, and Shakespeare’s greatest works are being performed on the hour! Smoked turkey legs and brats are for sale and you’ll find a few lovely ladies hawking cherry tarts to passers by. Make your way down High Street and be on the lookout for carnival performers of all kinds. If you’re visiting with someone special, get them a fresh orange – these rare fruits are the ultimate symbol love!

Visit America in the 1950s as the Greatest Generation is home and ready to rock! Stop by your local soda shop to enjoy a Coke Float and snack on some classic American treats. Grab your poodle skirt and get on the dance floor where Elvis, Chuck Berry, and the Supremes are waiting for you. When you’re ready for a break, sit bit and enjoy a show by amazing performance artists!

Buy your tickets at http://bit.ly/1v4DDa4.

Mary Poppins Flies into Arkansas Rep

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When a mysterious young woman named Mary Poppins appears on their doorstep, the family finds that she’s the answer to all their prayers. While Mary Poppins takes the children on many fantastic adventures, Jane and Michael aren’t the only ones she changes.

With music and lyrics by the Academy Award-winning Sherman Brothers (Chitty Chitty Bang Bang, The Jungle Book, Charlotte’s Web, The Aristocats), with additional music and lyrics by George Stiles and Anthony Drewe (Peter Pan: A Musical Adventure) and a book by Julian Fellowes (Downton Abbey), Disney’s stage musical Mary Poppins is based on the similarly titled series of children’s books by P. L. Travers and the 1964 Disney film.

 

Including a score filled with timeless classics such as “Feed the Birds,” “Jolly Holiday,” “Step in Time,” “A Spoonful of Sugar,” “Supercalifragilisticexpialidocious” and the Academy Award-winning “Chim-Chim Cher-ee,” the Broadway production opened in November 2006 and received nominations for seven Tony Awards, including Best Musical, six Drama Desk Awards, including Outstanding Musical and nine Olivier Award nominations. 

 

The Banks family live in a big house in London on Cherry Lane, and things are not going well. The children, Jane and Michael, are out of control and in need of a new nanny. While the children have their own ideas about what sort of caretaker they should have, their parents—and in particular Mr. Banks—prefer someone strict for the job.

 

The production is directed by Donna Drake and choreographed by Rhonda Miller.  The cast is led by Elizabeth DeRosa, Brian LeTendre, Tom Souhrada and Karen Q. Clark. 

 

Mary Poppins opens tonight and runs through April 12.  

A Year Long Party for Arkansas Rep 40th Season

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The 2015-2016 season is the 40th one for the Arkansas Repertory Theatre. The audience gets the gifts.

The season kicks off with William Shakespeare’s Scottish play about the Thane of Cawdor and his wife Lady M. It will run September 11-27.

Next up is the Tony winning musical The 25th Annual Putnam County Spelling Bee. This tuneful, witty musical with book by Rachek Sheinkin and songs by William Finn, will play from October 16 to November 8.

Disney’s The Little Mermaid will be the holiday show running from December 4 to January 3.  It will be a regional premiere of this musical featuring a book by Pulitzer and Tony winner Doug Wright and a score by the Oscar winning team of Alan Menken and Howard Ashman, with additional lyrics by Glenn Slater.

2016 will start off with another regional premiere–Peter and the Starcatcher.  This prequel to the Peter Pan stories is by Rick Elice. Though a play, it does have some songs by Wayne Barker and Elice.  This winner of  five Tony Awards will be on stage from January 15 to February 7.

The regional theatre premiere of The Bridges of Madison County will take place on the Arkansas Rep stage from April 8 to May 1.  This musical has a Tony winning score by Jason Robert Brown and a book by Pulitzer and Tony winner Marsha Norman.

The main stage season will conclude with a world premiere play Windfall.  Directed by Tony winner Jason Alexander, this comedy by Scooter Pietsch looks at greed among a group of office workers.  It will run from June 10 to 26.

The Rep also has three special offerings during the 2015-2016 year.

From February 11-14, Rebecca Wells, author of the “Ya-Ya Sisterhood” novels will present a one-woman show about the Ya-Ya Sisterhood.

The Summer Musical Theatre Intensive production will be called Broken Wings and will play from March 1-12 of 2016.

From May 3-15 the Second City will return to Little Rock for Second City: Hooking Up. 

The Rep’s 40th season features comedy, tragedy and musicals spanning from Elizabethan times to world premieres.  It truly is a showcase of the Rep’s mission and the breadth and depth of the Rep’s commitment to bringing great stories to life for Little Rock audiences.

Shakespeare Scene Festival at UALR today and Friday

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The 2015 Shakespeare Scene Festival will be held in UALR’s University Theater in the Center for Performing Arts on Thursday and Friday, Feb. 26 and 27.

shakespeare scene

The festival, held from 9:30 a.m. to 12:30 p.m. both days, is free and open to the public.

The Shakespeare Festival brings students from central Arkansas schools to campus to celebrate learning through the performance of Shakespeare.

Approximately 600 students are expected to visit UALR over the two-day the festival and about 300 are expected to perform, with players ranging from fifth graders to high school seniors.

Participating schools include Oak Grove Elementary, Warren Dupree Elementary, Henderson Middle School, Sheridan Middle, J.A. Fair High, Little Rock Central High, Clarendon High School, and Perryville High School.

Sponsored by the UALR Departments of English and Theater Arts and Dance, the festival was founded by Roslyn Knutson in 1998 and inspired by a workshop at the Folger Shakespeare Library in Washington, D.C.

To see a schedule of performances and to find out more about the festival, visit ualr.edu/shakespeare.

Questions should be directed to the festival’s director, Dr. Kris McAbee, at 501.569.8312.

Black History Month Spotlight: Phyllis Yvonne Stickney

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mtcc nps stickneyPhyllis Yvonne Stickney is a world-class artist, producer, director, author, motivational speaker, clothing designer, community activist, businesswoman and surrogate mother to many.

Born in Little Rock, Stickney was raised in the various US cities to which her father, a YMCA executive, was transferred. However, she settled in Harlem, where her theater work began at the Frank Silvers Workshop, and the New Heritage Theater, under the late playwright/director Robert Furman.

Her theatrical performances were before sell-out crowds in the 1998 National Black Arts Festival, where she also served as performing arts curator and starred in Nathan Ross Freeman’s The Contract. She  made her national television debut as single mother Cora Lee in the ABC miniseries The Women of Brewster Place, which also starred Oprah Winfrey and Cicely Tyson. Her subsequent television credits include sitcoms New Attitude, The Cosby Show and A Different World, PBS ‘ Great Performances production of The Colored Museum. Ms Stickney has also appeared on the silver screen in such notable movies as New Jack City Jungle Fever, Talkin’ Dirty, Malcolm X, The Inkwell; What’s Love Got To Do With It, Die Hard With A Vengeance and How Stella got Her Grove Back.

Ms Stickney’s Conscious Comedy Concerts have been featured in a number of venues across the country, including Harlem’s Apollo Theater, Concert show titles include, Live and in Chocolate, All That and Brains Too, and An Evening, With An Endangered Species. Her written work appears in an anthology of nine black comedy plays, edited by Pamela Faith Jackson. She also created The Crystal Pyramid, a chorepoem for children.

In addition, she served as the first solo female host for Essence’s 1997 Music Festival and was a speaker for the 1998 African American Women on the Tour.In 1983 she won the Audelco Award for her performance in Furman’s adaptation of Moliere’s Tartuffe, and later won a second Audelco for her original on-woman show, Big Mama an Nem. 

Though she has had success worldwide, she often returns to Little Rock to share her talents. She also played Lena in Lorraine Hansberry’s award-winning play A Raisin in the Sun at the Arkansas Repertory Theatre. The play was produced in January 2011 and received great reviews and exceeded box office expectations. Earlier this month, she headlined an event at the Mosaic Templars Cultural Center highlighting the works of Nikki Giovanni, Maya Angelou, Ruby Dee and Beah Richards.

In 1998, she was inducted into the Arkansas Black Hall of Fame.  For more on Phyllis Yvonne Stickney and other inductees into the Arkansas Black Hall of Fame, visit the permanent exhibit at the Mosaic Templars Cultural Center. That museum is an agency of the Department of Arkansas Heritage.

Black History Month Spotlight: Henry Shead

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bhm shedHenry Wallace Shead, Sr., better known as “Shed” was born in Fordyce, Arkansas, on March 31, 1941.  He was raised in Little Rock, the son of a reverend, Henry Arthur Shead.  At the tender age of six, Henry was introduced to the keyboards by his mother, Willie LeBethel, who immediately recognized his natural talent. Henry’s mother saw to it that her son had piano lessons, while his father’s church provided the place for his early public performances.

At the start of his career, he performed regularly on a local American Bandstand-type TV show called Center Stage. He also became a fixture at the Little Rock Country Club. He made his mark playing in intimate settings as a solo artist, dazzling listeners with his absolute mastery of the piano, singing in that slightly raspy, yet smooth sounding baritone voice. Shead was awarded a scholarship to the University of Arkansas at Pine Bluff, and majored in music while entertaining around the area. Henry met his wife, Jeanette Mazique, while attending college in Pine Bluff. They married in January of 1964 and had four children.

He became a high school choral director and music teacher, all the while continuing to work in local nightspots like the Drummer‘s Club in Little Rock. In 1971, he moved to Los Angeles where he made his acting debut appearing with Henry Fonda, Richard Dreyfuss and Jane Alexander in William Saroyan’s The Time of Your Life. He wrote and arranged music for stage plays and television, sang the title song for a United Artist film, did studio work on a Johnny Mathis album, and recorded for the Liberty/United Artists and Cream labels.

Shed created national radio jingles and appeared on network television with Dinah Shore, Johnny Carson and Jerry Lewis. He has also performed at parties for the Rockefellers, Pearl Bailey, The Carpenters, President Lyndon Johnson, President Bill Clinton, Henry Mancini, Sergio Mendes, hotelier Peter Morton, Ed McMahon and Barbra Streisand.

In Las Vegas, the city where he lived since 1974, Shed entertained at most of the major hotels, with long engagements at the Aladdin, Stardust, Hacienda, MGM Grand, Caesar’s Palace and Sahara. In 1977, the Henry Shead Band with Denise Clemente was voted Las Vegas’ Best Lounge Act of the Year. His last long-term run was at AJ’s Steakhouse at the Hard Rock Hotel & Casino, retiring in 2007. In October 2006, he was inducted into the Arkansas Black Hall of Fame.

He died on October 5, 2012 in Las Vegas and is buried in Forest Lawn Cemetery in Hollywood CA.

For more on Henry Shead and other inductees into the Arkansas Black Hall of Fame, visit the permanent exhibit at the Mosaic Templars Cultural Center. That museum is an agency of the Department of Arkansas Heritage.

 

Laughter and Lyrics tonight featuring Phyllis Yvonne Stickney

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mtcc nps stickneyThe Central High School National Historic Site and Mosaic Templars Cultural Center present a special program tonight.  The program is “Laughter & Lyrics” and stars acclaimed actress, comedienne and author Phyllis Yvonne Stickney.  The event starts at 6:30 pm tonight at the Mosaic Templars Cultural Center.

Drawing from the words of some of the leading African American female writers and thinkers in the second half of the 20th Century, Stickney has created an evening of thought provoking spoken word, social commentary, live music, and Conscious Comedy. This 90 minute theatrical presentation will draw on the body works of Nikki Giovanni, Maya Angelou, Ruby Dee and feature excerpts from Beah Richards’ “A Black Woman Speaks.”

Phyllis Yvonne Stickney is a world-class artist, producer, director, author, motivational speaker, clothing designer, community activist, businesswoman and surrogate mother to many. Ms. Stickney is best known and respected for her work in film, stage, television and comedy. Her portrayals range from articulate attorney to feisty comedy club diva, to a Jamaican mother of class. She is regarded as one of the most intelligently hilarious comic talents and was recognized by HBO in THE HISTORY OF BLACKS IN COMEDY. Her film credits include NEW JACK CITY, DIE HARD WITH A VENGEANCE, HOW STELLA GOT HER GROOVE BACK, THE INKWELL, WHAT’S LOVE GOT TO DO WITH IT?, MALCOLM X, and the “ABC Afterschool Special,” DADDY’S GIRL. She made television history by portraying an Afrocentric character on THE COSBY SHOW spinoff, A DIFFERENT WORLD.

She also played Lena in Lorraine Hansberry’s award-winning play A RAISIN IN THE SUN at the Arkansas Repertory Theatre. The play was produced in January 2011 and received great reviews and exceeded box office expectations.