Volunteers sought for 2019 Boo at the Zoo

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Volunteers are needed to assist with Arkansas’s largest Halloween festival – Boo at the Zoo!

Boo kicks-off Oct. 18 with our Adult Night (must be at least 21 years old to volunteer for this night) and picks up Oct. 20 for a special night for McLarty Auto Group and then continues with their VIP/Members Night on Oct. 24 and the general event Oct. 25 – Nov. 1.

The event is 6 – 9 p.m. each night and there are a variety of volunteer opportunities available.

Volunteers must be at least 16 years of age or older for regular Boo nights.

Click here to learn more or to register! If you have questions or want more information please contact Kaylah Jackson at 661-7212 or kjackson@littlerock.gov.

The ASO is hiring a new Music Director and needs Little Rock’s music lovers to help!

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This weekend starts ASO’s first year of guest conductors as they see and hear which ones might be the best fit for ASO, the orchestra and our audience.

As they begin their search, they do want audience involvement. Please let them know what you think of the concert experience. This search will be a little different than last time. They want only the best candidates on their podium, and they want to honor their desire for confidentiality.

This means, some of the conductors audiences will see and hear will be candidates for the Music Director position and some will not. All conductors will bring their unique strengths, gifts and experience to our concert stage. The orchestra will likely sound different with each conductor. Please let them know what you think of the sound of the orchestra with each conductor. They want to know if you liked it and if you would like to see this conductor again.

This is a unique opportunity for all of us. Once the ASO hires a Music Director, that person will craft the sound we hear each concert.

Please take time to visit the street level Box Office before concert, at intermission, or after the concert to pick up a survey.

You can return the survey to the same location or mail it in to P.O. Box 7328, Little Rock, AR 72217.

New Arkansas Cinema Society Dreamland Film Series launches tonight with screening of episodes of HBO’s Insecure

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Come see the HBO hit series INSECURE screened with the producer Deniese Davis, and hear a conversation about the making of the show with producer Jayme Lemons, Mayor Frank Scott, Jr. and columnist Philip Martin!

This is the LAUNCH EVENT for the ACS’s new Dreamland Film Series – a celebration of black voices in cinema. The screening, conversation and after-party are all FREE and open to the public!

It’s a unique, not-to-be-missed experience to get to see our favorite shows projected BIG with a live audience and hear the makers talk about the behind the scenes. See you there!

The fun starts at 6:00 p.m.
Philander Smith M.L. Harris Auditorium
Doors open at 5:30 pm

TICKETS ARE FREE!
(Includes screening, Q&A and after party cover) but RSVP is encouraged.  RSVP HERE

The after-party is at 109 & Co.

2019-2020 ASO season kicks off this weekend

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The Arkansas Symphony Orchestra presents the first concert of the 2019-2020 Stella Boyle Smith Masterworks season: Scheherazade, Saturday, September 28th at 7:30 p.m. and Sunday, September 29th at 3:00 p.m. at the Robinson Center.

The ASO collaborates with ACANSA Arts Festival of the South to present American trio, Time for Three, an ensemble that “defies any traditional genre classification,” and prestigious conductor, JoAnn Falletta. The concert will also feature Ravel’s La Valse, Higdon’s Concerto 4-3 and will conclude with Rimsky-Korsakov’s colorful musical telling of the Arabian Nights legends, Scheherazade. The Masterworks Series is sponsored by the Stella Boyle Smith Trust.

Interim Artistic Director, Geoffrey Robson gives these notes: “This program, led by distinguished conductor Joann Falletta, is vivid, lively, and bursting with character. Ravel’s La Valse was conceived as a ballet and a tribute to the Viennese waltz. Its relentless, adrenaline-soaked rhythmic drive pushes the orchestra to its limits and by design almost breaks apart at the finish. American composing phenom Jennifer Higdon wrote her Concerto 4-3 for the group performing it, Time for Three. The music is steeped in bluegrass, reflecting the eclectic tastes of the performers, who perform with an edgy and multicultural style. Last on the program is the great symphonic favorite Scheherazade, based on the Arabian Nights folk tales. Four movements of colorful music tell four stories, connected by themes for the dangerous king and the brilliant storyteller Scheherazade herself.”

Tickets are $16, $36, $57, and $70; active duty military and student tickets are $10 and can be purchased online at www.ArkansasSymphony.org; at the Robinson Center street-level box office beginning 90 minutes prior to a concert; or by phone at 501-666-1761, ext. 1. All Arkansas students grades K-12 are admitted to Sunday’s matinee free of charge with the purchase of an adult ticket using the Entergy Kids’ Ticket, downloadable at https://www.arkansassymphony.org/freekids.

2002 ADAPTATION screened tonight at CALS Ron Robinson Theater

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Adaptation (2002, R)

In conjunction with Susan Orlean’s personal visit to CALS on September 28, CALS presents this stunning original comedy based on her work that seamlessly blends fictional characters and situations with the lives of real people.

It is a meta-film experience as Adaptation centers around obsessive orchid hunter John Laroche (played by Chris Cooper), New Yorker journalist Susan Orlean (played by Meryl Streep), Hollywood screenwriter Charlie Kaufman (played by Nicolas Cage), and his twin brother, Donald (also Cage).

As Charlie struggles to adapt Orlean’s best-selling book The Orchid Thief, he writes himself into his own movie. The various stories crash into one another exploding into a wildly imaginative film. Adaptation is at once a hilarious drama and a moving comedy.  The film was nominated for four Oscars (including an Adapted Screenplay nomination for real-life Charlie Kaufman and his fictional twin Donald Kaufman).  Cooper won the Supporting Actor Oscar.

Admission is free! Doors to the CALS Ron Robinson Theater open at 6:00 p.m. Film starts at 7:00 p.m. Beer, wine, and concessions will be available!

Bach Meets Bon Jovi as the Dallas String Quartet performs tonight as part of ACANSA Arts Festival of the South

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Dallas String Quartet

As the  ACANSA Arts Festival of the South winds down this weekend, the music is ramping up!  Tonight (September 27), the Dallas String Quartet performs at 8pm at the UA Pulaski Tech CHARTS Center.

The Dallas String Quartet (DSQ) provides a unique fusion of classical and contemporary music on both traditional and electric strings. In addition to four studio albums and international performances, DSQ has played “at home” for Presidents Obama and Bush, the College Football Playoff, NBA, and NFL organizations.

DSQ has sold out concert venues like the House of Blues and symphony halls alike, and has also played alongside such musicians and groups as Josh Groban, Chicago, and the Trans-Siberian Orchestra. www.dallasstringquartet.com