Tag Archives: Arkansas Arts Center

Tony Awards Week – Will Trice

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Trice at the 2014 Tony Awards

Trice at the 2014 Tony Awards

Though he has been referenced in every Tony Awards Week story this week, today’s entry is devoted to three time Tony winning producer Will Trice.

It is fitting he is a young, Tony winning Broadway producer.  When his mother, Little Rock actress and teacher Judy Trice, was pregnant with him, she was directing the Hall High production of The Pajama Game.  The original Broadway production of that title was produced by another young, Tony winner – Hal Prince.

Will Trice literally grew up on stage and backstage. In addition to his mother, his late father Bill Trice and his sister Kathryn Pryor have graced every conceivable stage in Central Arkansas.  Will, himself, has been an actor and entertainer.  Most recently, he and Kathryn performed their cabaret act for patrons at the Arkansas Arts Center’s Tabriz earlier this year.

Trice’s Tony Awards came for the 2014 Best Play All the Way, 2013 Best Play Revival Who’s Afraid of Virginia Woolf? and the 2012 Best Musical Revival Porgy and Bess.  He also received a nomination for 2012 Best Play Revival for The Best Man.  At the 2014 Tonys, of the 26 awards presented, seven went to shows produced by Trice and his producing partner Jeffrey Richards.

This year Trice is nominated for producing Best Play nominee: Wolf Hall Parts One and Two and Best Play Revival nominee: You Can’t Take It with You.  Between those two productions and a revival of The Heidi Chronicles, Trice-produced projects earned fourteen Tony nominations this season.

Not ones to rest on their laurels, Richards and Trice have already announced revivals of Fiddler on the Roof and Sylvia for the 2015-2016 season.

It was fitting that Trice, a 1997 graduate of Central High, was a producer of the Tony-winning 50th anniversary revival of Who’s Afraid of Virginia Woolf? in 2012/2013.  Ben Piazza, a 1951 graduate of then-Little Rock High School, was involved in the development of the play in 1962 and performed in the original Broadway production over 500 performances.

Brian Whelan headlines a special singer-songwriter edition of Tales from the South tonight at Best Impressions

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talesfromthesouthA very special Tales from the South will take place tonight.

Dwight Yoakam’s MVP sideman, Brian Whelan plays the pedal steel, electric guitar, the occasional mandolin (primarily when Dwight wanted to change an arrangement into a bluegrass tune), keys/piano and spot-on harmonies. Brian was both in Dwight’s touring and recording band, and played on the critically acclaimed, 3 Pears (#1 on the Americana charts), and is also currently featured on Dwight’s current release, Second Hand Heart (debuting #2 on the Billboard charts).

Brian recently left Dwight’s band to focus on his own music. With instrumental abilities that made him a key member of Dwight Yoakam’s band, a voice reminiscent of Jackson Brown, and a lyrical streak that makes him seem like he’s been writing hook-laden hits for years, Brian Whelan is poised for a much wider attention with the release of his second album. Produced by fellow Yoakamite drummer Mitch Marien, the new record throws Whelan’s hat into the a ring crowded with the likes of John Fullbright, Sturgill Simpson, Mike Stinson, and Jason Isbell. When Brian Whelan is not touring, he can be found in a Los Angeles studio playing on someone’s album or even producing.

Tonight’s program will take place at Best Impressions restaurant at the Arkansas Arts Center.  Music will be provided by The Salty Dogs and bluesman 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.

Dinner is served from 5pm to 6:30pm, the show starts at 7pm.  Admission is $15.  Dinner can be purchased separately.

You MUST purchase your ticket before the show.  Any tickets still available at the door can be purchased for $20.

Previous episodes of “Tales from the South” air on KUAR Public Radio on Thursdays at 7pm.  This program will air on June 25.

Legacy of LR architect Ed Cromwell to be discussed tonight

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CromwellTonight the Architecture and Design Network will host a panel discussion on the legacy of longtime Little Rock architect Ed Cromwell.
The panelists are:
  • Charles Penix, Chief Operating Officer, Cromwell Architects and Engineers
  • Bill Worthen, Director, Historic Arkansas Museum
  • Don Evans, architect and associate of the late Ed Cromwell

Chris East is the program’s moderator.  It will take place at 6pm at the Arkansas Arts Center, following a reception at 5:30pm.

After working at various jobs during the early years of the Depression, Ed Cromwell, who graduated from Princeton in 1931 with a degree in architecture, moved to Little Rock in 1935 to take a position with the  Resettlement Administration. After a year with the agency, he left to devote full time to the practice of architecture, a career which spanned forty-eight years, from 1936 to1984. Cromwell, who remained active in the community after his retirement, died in 2001, leaving a legacy that continues to impact people’s lives.

There would be no Maumelle if it hadn’t been for Cromwell’s vision of a planned community on the 5,000 acres of land owned by Jess P. Odum, an Arkansas businessman and insurance executive. The Capital Hotel might have been taken out by the wrecker’s ball if it hadn’t been for his determination to save the historic structure. An advocate for the city’s riverfront development, he understood its importance long before others did. He championed historic preservation and  chaired the commission of the Arkansas Territorial  Restoration (now the Historic Arkansas Museum). Cromwell Architects and Engineers, the firm he founded, has to its credit the design of many public buildings and facilities throughout the state and beyond.

The three panelists will explore Cromwell’s legacy as a creative architect, a visionary planner and a champion of  historic  preservation. Architecture and Design Network (ADN) lectures are free and open to the public. For additional information, contact ardenetwork@me.com.

ADN’s supporters include the Arkansas Arts Center, the University of Arkansas Fay Jones School of Architecture, the Central Section of the Arkansas Chapter of the American Institute of Architects and friends in the community.

54th Young Arkansas Artists exhibit now at Arkansas Arts Center

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AACYAA2015Now in its sixth decade, the Young Arkansas Artists exhibit showcases artwork by students in kindergarten through 12th grade from across the state.

This year, 455 entries from 111 schools and programs across Arkansas were received. 106 works in a huge variety of media were juried by the Arkansas Art Educators. Award juror Katherine Strauss selected a Best of Class and Honorable Mentions for each grade among other awards. Monetary awards are provided to each winner’s school.

Each year, selections from the exhibition travel to schools and other venues throughout the state as part of the Arkansas Arts Center’s State Services program.

The exhibit runs through July 26 at the Arkansas Arts Center.

Robin Hood Steals in to Ark Arts Center Children’s Theatre

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aacctrobinThe Arkansas Arts Center Children’s Theatre presents The Legend of Robin Hood April 24 through May 10.

“The Legend of Robin Hood takes the audience on an action-packed journey that’s familiar to so many generations,” said Todd Herman, executive director of the Arkansas Arts Center. “The audience will be entertained as Robin Hood and his gang take them on adventure after adventure through Nottingham.”

Swords will clash. Arrows will fly. Truth and justice will be championed. From the treetops of Sherwood, the call rings out: “Come to the forest, all ye of stout heart and true. Rally to Robin Hood and his Merry Band as they outwit and outclass the nasty Sheriff of Nottingham. Now is the time to find your heart and your courage. Now is the time to liberate England’s honest poor from the strangling grasp of tyranny.

The cast for The Legend of Robin Hood includes:

  • Noah Kaplan of Virginia Beach VA, as Robin Hood
  • Katie Campbell of Little Rock as Marian of Lea
  • Jordan Taylor of Little Rock as the Old Woman
  • Drew Posey of Jonesboro as the Sheriff of Nottingham
  • Paige Carpenter of Lonsdale as The Prioress of Kirklees
  • Richard Nelson of Little Rock as Forrester Willie
  • Margaret Lowry of Little Rock as Much
  • John Isner of Little Rock as Little John
  • Mark Hansen of Little Rock as Will Scarlet and Sir Guy of Gisbourne
  • Jeremy Matthey of Little Rock as Alan-a-Dale
  • Genevieve West Fulks of Jonesboro as Ellen of Lea
  • Keara Billings of Little Rock as an ensemble member
  • Kate Kelly of Little Rock as an ensemble member
  • Gabriel Moleta of Brazil as an ensemble member

Bradley Anderson is the artistic director. Keith Smith is the playwright for the production. Sets are designed by MA Hare; costumes are designed by Erin Larkin; technical direction by Drew Posey; lighting design by Penelope Poppers; properties design by Miranda Young; fight choreography by Brett Ihler and Sarah Gasser is the stage manager.

The Arkansas Arts Center Children’s Theatre presenting sponsor is Arkansas Blue Cross and Blue Shield and the season sponsor is Dr. Loren Bartole, ‘Family Footcare’; Pay What You Can Night is sponsored by Dorothy Morris.

Arkansas Arts Center Children’s Theatre is supported in part by: The Shubert Foundation, the City of Little Rock; the Little Rock Convention and Visitors Bureau; Arkansas Arts Center Board of Trustees; and the Arkansas Arts Council, an agency of the Department of Arkansas Heritage and the National Endowment for the Arts.

Performances for the public Fridays at 7pm and Saturdays & Sundays at 2pm.

“Where We Learn Matters” is topic of tonight’s Architecture & Design Network talk given by former LR resident Anisa Baldwin Metzger

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anisaLittle Rock native Anisa Baldwin Metzger will headline an Architecture and Design Network discussion tonight entitled “Where We Learn Matters.”  The program starts at 6pm in the lecture hall at the Arkansas Arts Center. A reception will precede it starting at 5:30.

As School District Sustainability Manager for Green Schools at the U.S. Green Building Council (USGBC), headquartered in Washington, D.C., Anisa Baldwin Metzger, oversees a  national effort that  provides guidance and support for the Council’s state subsidiaries and their sustainability efforts. Here in Arkansas, the state USGBC hosts the Arkansas Green Challenge (AGC), a program that pairs mentors – architects and engineers among them – with students and staff to find ways of greening their schools. Now in its fourth year, the Arkansas AGC has reached  eighty schools and more than forty thousand students, helping them understand the influence of school facilities design on matters relating to learning, health and the environment. 

Ms. Baldwin Metzger, who grew up in Little Rock, received a B.S degree in architecture from Washington University, St Louis and earned an M.Arch from the University of Washington, Seattle. Following the devastation of Hurricanes Katrina and Rita, she worked in New Orleans, helping schools rebuild in ways that reflected their commitment to USGBC’s  principles of greening.   Drawing on her own experience, she asserts that “the pursuit of environmental sustainability requires that we utilize design thinking to deal with many complex problems our world faces.” In her talk, she will share strategies for working with schools and school districts throughout the country to develop ways of insuring sustainability.
Growing up in Little Rock, Anisa rode to kindergarten on the back of her dad’s bike. She was raised by parents (Jim Metzger and Deborah Baldwin) who made it second nature to try to waste less, and so she understands the importance of raising sustainability natives—children and adults who act to benefit the earth without needing to be asked.
 
The Arkansas chapter of the USGBC is the co-sponsor of Ms. Baldwin Metzger’s talk.  Supporters of Architecture and Design Network (ADN) include the Arkansas Arts Center, the UA Fay Jones School of Architecture, the Central Arkansas Section of the Arkansas Chapter of the American Institute of Architecture and friends in the community. 
 
All ADN lectures are free and open to the public

30 Americans exhibit now open at Arkansas Arts Center

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30americans30 Americans, the newest exhibit at the Arkansas Arts Center, opens today.  It will be on display there until June 21.

30 Americans showcases works by many of the most important African American artists of the last three decades. This provocative exhibition focuses on issues of racial, sexual, and historical identity in contemporary culture while exploring the powerful influence of artistic legacy and community across generations.

“This exhibition presents a sweeping survey of artwork by many of the most influential African-American artists of the last four decades,” said Arkansas Arts Center executive director Todd Herman. “For years, I’ve searched for an exhibition of this kind but couldn’t quite find what I was looking for – an exhibition with powerful interpretations of cultural identity and artistic legacy. When I came across 30 Americans, I knew this was exactly what I wanted patrons and visitors of the Arts Center to experience. These themes are universal in nature and speak to the larger human experience.”

30 Americans features work by such early and influential artists as Barkley L. Hendricks, Robert Colescott and Jean-Michel Basquiat, and those of younger and emerging artists, such as Kehinde Wiley, Wangechi Mutu and Shinique Smith. Often provocative and challenging, 30 Americans explores what it means to be a contemporary artist through an African-American point of view – whether addressing issues of race, gender, sexuality, politics or history.

Drawn from the collection of Mera and Don Rubell, 30 Americans contains 41 works in a variety of media – paintings, drawings, sculptures, installations, digital videos and photographs – by 30 of the leading contemporary African American artists. The Rubells began acquiring contemporary art in the late 1960s, often forging close friendships with living artists, particularly young artists.

The Rubells collected both backwards and forward, out of which emerged a pattern of intergenerational influence. Consequently, the works that comprise the exhibition afford viewers the opportunity to observe a stylistic dialogue among artists working throughout the past four decades. Now in collaboration with their two grown children, the Rubells continue to assemble one of the largest private collections of contemporary art in the world, which they currently house in a 45,000 square foot former DEA warehouse-turned-museum in Miami, Florida.

Previous institutions that have hosted variations of the exhibition include: the North Carolina Museum of Art, Raleigh, North Carolina (March 19, 2011 – September 4, 2011); the Corcoran Gallery of Art, Washington, D.C. (October 1, 2011 – February 12, 2012); the Chrysler Museum of Art, Norfolk, Virginia (March 16, 2012 – July 15, 2012); the Milwaukee Art Museum, Milwaukee, Wisconsin (June 14, 2013 – September 8, 2013); Frist Center for the Visual Arts, Nashville, Tennessee (October 11, 2013 – January 12, 2014); and the Contemporary Arts Center, New Orleans, Louisiana (February 8, 2014 – June 15, 2014).