Late Night at Arkansas Arts Center features Art of Motion and Music: Movement and Frida

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Art of Motion and Music: Movement and Frida

Artifact Dance Project Artistic Director Ashley Bowman will discuss her quest to portray Frida Kahlo through movement. The program will begin at 6pm tonight (February 21) at the Arkansas Arts Center Lecture Hall.  A wine reception at 5:30 precedes it.  As part of the Late Night at the Arkansas Arts Center, all galleries, the museum shop, and Watercolor restaurant are open until 9:00 p.m.

Frida Kahlo suffered great physical and emotional pain throughout her life that manifested through her art. Because of her many surgeries, she was often committed to long periods of bed rest and healing time. Portraying Frida through movement is a challenging task because the artist was bound by her body and made that clear throughout her journal and self-portraits. Bowman will discuss how dance became the perfect artform to communicate the inner-workings of an artist who could barely move at times.

Following the lecture, guests are invited to view the galleries, shop in the Museum Shop or enjoy dinner at Watercolor in the Park.

SELMA on CALS Ron Robinson Theatre screen tonight as part of “Movies of a Movement” series

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Selma PosterTonight (February 21) at the CALS Ron Robinson Theater, there is the chance to view SELMA, the 2014 movie about Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr.’s campaign to secure equal voting rights via an epic march from Selma to Montgomery, Alabama, in 1965.. The screening starts at 6:30.  Admission is $5.00

This movie is a part of the CALS Movies of a Movement: the Civil Rights & Social Change Collection.

The unforgettable true story chronicles the tumultuous three-month period in 1965, when Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. led a dangerous campaign to secure equal voting rights in the face of violent opposition. The epic march from Selma to Montgomery culminated in President Johnson signing the Voting Rights Act of 1965, one of the most significant victories for the civil rights movement.

Direced by Ava DuVernay, it stars David Oyelowo as Dr. King and Carmen Ejogo as Coretta Scott King. Others in the cast include Tom Wilkinson, Giovanni Ribisi, Andre Holland, Ruben Santiago-Hudson, Colman Domingo, Common, Lorraine Toussaint, Dylan Baker, Niecy Nash, Tim Roth, and Stephen Root.  John Lavelle plays former Arkansas Gazette reporter Roy Reed who covered Selma for The New York Times.

Rock the Oscars 2019: Roy Reed

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It is possible that journalist extraordinaire Roy Reed appears in archival footage of the Oscar winning documentary “Nine from Little Rock” (Documentary, Short-1964) and Oscar nominated Eyes on the Prize: Bridge to Freedom 1965 (Documentary, Feature-1988).  First for the Arkansas Gazette and then for The New York Times, Reed was an eyewitness to history being made.  What is not in doubt is that he is a character in the Oscar winning film Selma.  In that movie, he was played by actor John Lavelle.

Roy Reed was born on February 14, 1930, in Hot Springs and grew up in Garland County. After attending Ouachita Baptist College and the University of Missouri (from which he would receive a Bachelor’s and a Master’s in Journalism), Reed worked for a newspaper in Joplin and served in the US Army.  In 1956, he returned to Arkansas to work for the Arkansas Gazette.

While he did not specifically cover the integration of Little Rock Central High in 1957, he was part of the paper’s coverage of civil rights. He later was assigned to cover the Faubus administration.  In 1965, he was hired by The New York Times and covered the South. He covered the historic Freedom March to the state Capitol in Montgomery in March 1965.  After spending 1965 and 1966 in the South, he was assigned to the Times’ Washington DC bureau.  In 1969, he moved to New Orleans to open a Southern bureau for the paper.  He remained in the Crescent City until 1976, when he was transferred to the London bureau.

After retiring in 1978, he moved to Northwest Arkansas and taught journalism at the University of Arkansas until 1995.  Reed continued to write essays and books including Faubus: The Life and Times of an American Prodigal (1997),  Looking Back at the Arkansas Gazette: An Oral History (2009) and Beware of Limbo Dancers: A Correspondent’s Adventures with the New York Times (2012).  Reed died in December 2017.

“An American In….” is theme of LR Winds Concert tonight

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Izzy in ParisFor this late winter concert, Little Rock Winds presents “An American In …”, a program that paints musical visits to fun places. The concert begins at 7:30 pm at Second Presbyterian Church.

The LR Winds are under the direction of Israel Getzov, Music Director.

PROGRAM

•  David Maslanka:  On This Bright Morning
•  Ralph Ford:  Go West!
•  Michael Daugherty:  Brooklyn Bridge Clarinet Concerto, mvt. 3 & 4
•  Alfred Reed:  Alleluia! Laudamus Te   (In memory of Elizabeth Plowman)
•  Chris Sharp: An American Spectacular 
•  George Gershwin: An American in Paris
•  Henry Fillmore: Americans We

LETTER SWEATER NIGHT!
Hunt down your high school band letter sweater or jacket and wear (or bring) to the concert for a fun photo op and story session!

GET TICKETS

Tonight’s OXFORD AMERICAN “Americana” concert features Dom Flemons

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Image may contain: 1 person, playing a musical instrument and guitarThe Oxford American is excited to welcome Dom Flemons to Little Rock tonight (February 21).

Dom Flemons is originally from Phoenix, Arizona and currently lives in the Washington, D.C. area. He is known as “The American Songster” since his repertoire of music covers nearly 100 years of American folklore, ballads, and tunes. Flemons is a music scholar, historian, record collector and a multi-instrumentalist.

This is the third show in their 2018-19 Americana Series. Doors open at 6:00 PM, with dinner and drinks available for purchase at that time. The series is made possible in part by presenting sponsor Stella Boyle Smith Trust.

Additional season partners include Chris & Jo Harkins, J. Mark & Christy Davis, UCA College of Fine Arts & Communication, EVO Business Environments, Downtown Little Rock Partnership, Stacy Hamilton of Pulaski Heights Realty, Margaret Ferguson Pope, Arkansas Arts Council, Department of Arkansas Heritage, Mosaic Templars Cultural Center, Capital Hotel, Arkansas Symphony Orchestra, Rosen Music Company, and Steinway Piano Gallery of Little Rock.

Tickets are $25 (General Admission), $32 (Reserved), and $34 (Premium Reserved). Please take a look at this very important ticketing and seating information before purchasing your tickets (view reserved seating chart)

Today at Clinton School – the Arkansas Rep production of CHICAGO

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Image may contain: indoorThe 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.  Now that the Rep is back in production (!), this partnership is back in full force.

The latest in these takes place today, Thursday, February 21 at 12 noon at Sturgis Hall in Clinton Presidential Park.  It focuses on the Rep’s upcoming production of the Kander and Ebb musical Chicago.

Originally a play in the 1920s, it was adapted as a musical in 1974 and 1975 by John Kander, Fred Ebb, and Bob Fosse.  Opportunity knocks when a crime of passion earns Roxie Hart the kind of notoriety that slick-talking attorney Billy Flynn can exploit for her dreams of fame and his hunger for fortune. Roxie’s story captures the imaginations of newspaper readers and reporters who fall hook, line and sinker for Billy’s clever manipulation. Roxie quickly overshadows previous murderess, media darling, and fellow Cook County inmate – vaudevillian Velma Kelly.

Set in the Jazz Age, Kander and Ebb’s legendary, Tony Award-winning musical takes a tantalizing look at how the times may change, but the allure of fame remains a fundamental motivation for those willing to sacrifice their scruples for the spotlight.

The original Broadway production was nominated for 11 Tony Awards and ran for 936 performances. The 1996 Broadway revival is still running (9,251 performances as of this past Sunday) and won 6 Tony Awards.  The 2002 movie won 6 Oscars including Best Picture.

Join the Clinton School for a panel discussion about this production with Ron Hutchins, who is directing the production, and members of the cast and creative team.

The play opens officially on Friday evening and runs through Sunday, March 24.

Rock the Oscars 2019: Julie Andrews

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Photo by Peter Kramer/ Getty Images Entertainment

In April 2002, Oscar winning actress Julie Andrews appeared at the Arkansas Repertory Theatre.  The purpose was a fundraiser for a program the Rep had at the time.

The evening consisted of reminiscences from her as well as a conversation with Anne Jansen.  It included discussions of her Oscar winning role in Mary Poppins as well as her Oscar nominated turns in The Sound of Music and Victor/Victoria.

Following the performance, there was a dinner on the Rep’s Second Stage.  Though she no longer sings due to vocal chord damage following a late 1990s surgery, she did sing a childhood Cockney song about Henry VIII after Rollie Remmel sang to her a childhood song about Charles Lindbergh.

While in Little Rock, she toured the Clinton Materials Project which was processing the papers and items from the Clinton White House in advance of the 2004 opening of the Clinton Presidential Center.  She also toured Heifer International.