Tag Archives: Arkansas Repertory Theatre

Go Native – comedy NATIVE GARDENS on Arkansas Rep stage through May 5

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A hilarious new comedy where cultures and gardens clash, turning well-intentioned neighbors into feuding enemies, is up next in Arkansas Repertory Theatre’s 2019 Season.Native Gardens, by Karen Zacarías, runs April 17-May 5. Tickets are available at TheRep.org.

“This hilarious comedy is going to have all the staples of a Rep production including a beautiful set and great acting,” said Karen Rudolph, Director of Marketing & Audience Engagement. “Spring is here, gardens are blooming and the community is ready to laugh. This play will deliver.”

In Native Gardens, Pablo, a rising attorney, and doctoral candidate Tania, his pregnant wife, have purchased a home next to Frank and Virginia, a D.C. couple with a prize-worthy English garden. But an impending barbeque for Pablo’s colleagues and a dispute over a long-standing fence line soon spiral into a border dispute, exposing both couples’ notions of race, taste, class, and privilege.

The Arkansas Rep cast includes Rachel Harker (Virginia Butley), Kurt Zischke (Frank Butley), Aurora Leonard (Tania Del Valle) and Gabriel Pena (Pablo Del Valle).

Little Rock native Steve Broadnax III is the play’s director. The design and creative team includes Holly Payne, costume designer; Lynda J. Kwallek, properties designer; Mike Nichols, resident set designer/technical director; and Yael Lubetzky, lighting designer. The production manager is Joshua Marchesi and the stage manager is Colin JB.

Zacarías is one of the most produced playwrights in the nation. She is one of the inaugural Resident Playwrights at Arena Stage in Washington D.C, and is a core founder of the LATINX THEATRE COMMONS. She is founder of Young Playwrights’ Theater, an award-winning company that teaches playwriting in public schools in Washington D.C.

Tickets start at $20. Discounts are available for full-time students, season subscribers, seniors and military personnel. For complete information, visit TheRep.org.

Today at Clinton School, the Arkansas Rep production of NATIVE GARDENS

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The new Arkansas Repertory Theatre production of Karen Zacarias’ Native Gardens will be the focus of a noontime Clinton School program today (April 18).

What makes a good neighbor?

When a young, up-and-coming Latinx couple move in next door to an older, well-established white couple, everything is downright neighborly until it’s discovered that the fence separating their backyards is over the property line — a property line that cuts right through a prize-winning flowerbed! Cultures and generations clash with comedic results in this hip and hysterical new play written by one of the nation’s leading Latina playwrights, Karen Zacarias.

Audiences will love this sidesplitting contemporary comedy that critics have called a “‘woke’ DICK VAN DYKE SHOW for the stage.”

Zacarias is one of the most produced playwrights in the nation. She is one of the inaugural Resident Playwrights at Arena Stage in Washington D.C, and is a core founder of the LATINX THEATRE COMMONS. She is founder of Young Playwrights’ Theater, an award-winning company that teaches playwriting in public schools in Washington D.C.

All Clinton School Speaker Series events are free and open to the public. Reserve your seats by emailing publicprograms@clintonschool.uasys.edu or by calling (501) 683-5239

Rep Brings Neighbors Together for Salsa Night

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In the spirit of its next production, Native Gardens, Arkansas Repertory Theatre is bringing neighbors together for a Salsa Night on April 11 from 5:30-7:30 p.m. at Cranford Co in downtown Little Rock.

At this mix-and-mingle event, guests can learn dance moves from Latin Dance instructors Rick and Sarah Pinedo, enjoy complimentary drinks and snacks, and put their new salsa skills to use on the dance floor. Singles and couples are welcome.

“Latin dance is used during transitions in Native Gardens, so we thought our patrons might have fun trying a little salsa themselves,” said Anna Kimmell, The Rep’s director of education. “Plus, Native Gardens is a play about bringing different groups of people together. We hope this event does that.”

Admission is $5 at the door or free for The Rep’s 601 Club members and $75+ donors.

SALSA NIGHT EVENT DETAILS

Thursday, April 11
5:30-7:30 p.m.

Cranford Co.
512 Main St., Little Rock

RSVP encouraged but not required: krudolph@therep.org
Ages 21+ welcome!

Neighbors: True Stories of Fences and Friendship – tonight presented by The Yarn and Arkansas Rep

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Neighbors. We all have them. Perhaps we are separated by a fence, a street, a hallway, or a cubicle, but the question remains; “What makes a good neighbor?”

The upcoming Arkansas Repertory Theatre production Native Gardens explores this.  But before that takes, place, on April 5, The Rep and The Yarn will explore this question in a storytelling performance all about neighbors – what divides us and what connects us.

The program will take place from 7pm to 9pm at the Rep’s Main Street Annex (518 Main Street).

Join them to hear stories about funny, outrageous, sweet, or challenging neighbors, stories about someone who makes the place they live a better place to live, and more!

Spring classes for Arkansas Rep announced

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Image may contain: textArkansas Repertory Theatre’s Education Department announces a four-week minimester of theatre classes this April for students ages 5+.

“Whether you’re new to The Rep or continuing your theatre studies, we’ve got something fun for everyone this April,” said Anna Kimmell, Director of Education. “We create a fun, high-energy creative environment where artists of all ages can learn, discover, and grow.”

Spring classes run April 1-29 and include training in musical theatre, improvisation, Shakespeare, theatre dance, tap dance, stage combat, and audition prep for students of all ages and abilities. Scholarships are available.

The Rep provides a professional and encouraging environment for artists of all ages and abilities. With new material every semester, classes can be taken multiple times.

Faculty members include Kimmell, TJ Medel, Kevin Brown, Courtney Baker, Molly Emerson, Joi Hester, Matt Boyce, and Stephen Stone.

Each year, The Rep reaches more than 7,500 Arkansas students through classes, workshops with guest artists, summer programs, community outreach, and the Student Matinee Program. More than $18,000 in scholarships were awarded in 2017-2018 to students for theatre training at The Rep.

The full class schedule, online registration and info on teaching artists can be found therep.org/education

Final Few Days for CHICAGO at Arkansas Rep

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Image may contain: indoorThere are just a few performances (each with only a few seats) left in the Arkansas Repertory Theatre production of Chicago. 

The musical—book by Fred Ebb and Bob Fosse; music by John Kander; lyrics by Fred Ebb—is based on a play of the same name by Chicago Tribune reporter and playwright Maurine Dallas Watkins. Ron Hutchins directs and choreographs Chicago which runs through March 24. Tickets are available online at TheRep.org.

The story, set in the mid-1920s Jazz Age, follows the murder trial of Roxie Hart and her slick-talking attorney, Billy Flynn. Roxie quickly becomes the most popular celebrity in Chicago, dethroning fellow inmate Velma Kelly. This legendary musical takes a tantalizing look at how the allure of fame remains a fundamental motivation for those willing to sacrifice their scruples for the spotlight.

Chicago earned five Tony Awards, a Grammy Award for Best Musical Show Album, seven Drama Desk Awards and two Olivier Awards (for the British production).

The Arkansas Rep cast includes Adriana Milbrath, Daisy Hobbs, Felicia Dinwiddie, Christopher Johnstone, Matt Allen, Z. Spiegel, Matty Rickard, Erik Joshua Clack, Nicholas Karl Brown, Brian Earles, Anthony Bryant, Frederick Webb Jr., Madeleine Corliss, Joi Hester, Rachel Perlman, Sydney Ippolito, Allison Wilson and Sarita Crawford.

The design and creative team includes Trish Clark, costume designer; Lynda J. Kwallek, properties designer; Mike Nichols, resident set designer/technical director; Michael Rice, musical director; and Marty Vreeland, lighting designer. The production manager is Joshua Marchesi and the stage manager is Colin JB. Phillip T. Perez is the assistant stage manager.

Tickets may be purchased online at TheRep.org, by phone at (501) 378-0405 or by visiting the Box Office at 601 Main Street in Little Rock.

2nd Friday Art Night – REPtrospective at the Arkansas Rep

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Whether you have a ticket to CHICAGO tonight or not, drop by Arkansas Repertory Theatre on Friday, March 8, between 5 – 8 p.m. to enjoy REPtrospective, the newest collection of local artwork displayed on our lobby walls.

Each featured artist in this collection has been a part of The Rep’s story and continues to support our future by donating a percentage of all artwork sold back to the theatre.