Tag Archives: Karen Q. Clark

Pulitzers Play Little Rock: DOUBT at the Studio Theatre

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TST DoubtIn 2016, the Studio Theatre presented John Patrick Shanley’s Pulitzer Prize winning Doubt. It was not the first theatre in Little Rock to present the play in the 12 years since it had debuted.  But the taut, riveting, and somewhat ambiguous story is one that offers audiences plenty of reasons to return to it.

As the Studio Theatre summarized it:

Did he or didn’t he? Doubt, a Parable, follows the story of the staff at a Catholic school in the Bronx, New York. It begins when Sister James, a young sister who recently started teaching at the school, becomes concerned that the relationship between a priest, Father Flynn and a student may have become inappropriate. Sister James confides this fear to the principal, Sister Aloysius, who becomes determined to find out the truth about what happened and to protect the boy.

Bob Bidewell directed the play. The quartet of actors in the cast were Karen Q. Clark (cast against type), James Norris, Angela Bloodworth-Collier, and Jessica Lawson.  Brandon Nichols was the assistant director and Andrew Jordan designed the lighting.

2018 marks the 100th anniversary of the first Pulitzer Prize for Drama being given. To pay tribute to 100 years of the Pulitzer for Drama, each day this month a different Little Rock production of a Pulitzer Prize winning play will be highlighted.  Many of these titles have been produced numerous times.  This look will veer from high school to national tours in an attempt to give a glimpse into Little Rock’s breadth and depth of theatrical history.

Creative Class 2016: Karen Q. Clark

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cc16-clarkKaren Q. Clark has played a sympathetic nun on film and an exceedingly unsympathetic nun on stage.   In between she has been a singing nun (in The Sound of Music).  Outside of the habit, she has appeared in New York, many regional theatres, and most (if not all) Little Rock stages.  A native of Wisconsin, she came to Little Rock with her husband (and fellow thespian) Jay Clark.  During the day, she is Lower School choral and drama teacher at Episcopal Collegiate School.

In addition to being a fixture in the Little Rock theatre scene, she also has numerous credits in many Arkansas-made films.  Favorite stage roles include: Mrs. Banks, Mary Poppins (Arkansas Rep); Betty in The It Girl (IRNE nomination, Worcester Foothills); Princess Rhyme in the world premiere of The Phantom Tollbooth and Rachel in Inherit the Wind (Wheelock Family Theatre); Irene in Hello Dolly! (Jekyll Island); Maria in The Sound of Music; and Narrator in Joseph and the Amazing Technicolor Dreamcoat (Arkansas Shakespeare Theatre). Another favorite role is being Quin’s mom.

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.  

48 Hour Film Project Awards Tonight

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48HFP logoThe Little Rock Film Festival’s 48 Hour Film Project is nearly wrapped for 2013. This year was a whirlwind of anticipation, anxiety, excitement, and energy as the 31 teams produced short cinematic treasures in only 48 Hours. The audiences guffawed, gasped, and sometimes groaned before selecting their Top 10 favorites of the screening nights.

The following films will be playing at the Best Of Screening and Awards Ceremony tonight at 7pm at Wildwood Park for the Arts. The lineup in no particular order as voted by the audiences are:

  • La Grande Fete by Flokati Films (Operetta)
  • Surprise Party by AndrewMFilms (Comedy)
  • Vacation by Something Clever (Vacation or Holiday Film)
  • Abattoir by Team Bearshark (Buddy Film)
  • The Door by The Immaculate Production (Thriller/Suspense)
  • The Plumbmeler by Altered Egos (Martial Arts)
  • Last Chance Romance by Domino Pictures (Dark Comedy)
  • Drain by Raymond Roquello and His Orchestra (Found Footage)
  • The Third Save by Whiffle Powder Productions (Superhero)
  • Deuces! by Clever Alibi Productions (Mystery).

In addition to playing the Top 10 Audience favorites at the Award Ceremony we will also announce and award the Best Film of Little Rock that will go on to represent the city at the national competition for the 48 Hour Film Project in Hollywood! The nominations were very difficult for the judges this year who will remain anonymous until after the ceremony and I don’t envy them because there were so many great films.

The nominations for the awards are as follows:

Best Film

  • Abbatoir Team Bearshark (Joshua Harrison)
  • La Grande Fete Flokati Films (Johnnie Brannon)
  • Surprise Party AndrewMFilms (Andrew McMurray)
  • Metafloor Fort Smith Film Mafia (Jeff Carter)

Best Directing

  • Abbatoir Team Bearshark (Joshua Harrison)
  • Surprise Party AndrewMFilms (Andrew McMurray)
  • Miss Otis Regrets Down River Productions (David Bogard)
  • Now You See Me Grundle Productions (Kelly Griffin)

Best Story

  • Abbatoir Team Bearshark (Joshua Harrison, John Schol, Matthew Maguire)
  • Last Chance Romance Domino Pictures (Lauren Walker)
  • Miss Otis Regrets Down River Productions (Jim Linsley, Wanda Linsley, Jim Jolly, David Bogard, Sherri Andrews, Ruth Shepherd)
  • Surprise Party AndrewMFilms (Andrew McMurry, Matthew McMurry, Joe Ochterbeck, Austin Blunk, Garrett Whitehead, Spencer Waldner)

Best Actor

  • Now You See Me Grundle Productions (Jay Morgan)
  • Drain Raymond Roquello and his Orchestra (Mike Brabender)
  • Surprise Party AndrewMFilms (Austin Blunk)
  • Shillelagh Dirty Gnome Productions (Ed Lowry)

Best Actress

  • The Door The Immaculate Production (Holly Mary Anne Hall)
  • Community Cove Filmmakers Corner (Keshia Walton)
  • La Grande Fete Flokati Films (Karen Clark)
  • Dateable Evan Pierce Productions (Rachel Jarchow)

Best Cinematography

  • Last Chance Romance Domino Pictures (Brent Walker)
  • MetaFloor Fort Smith Film Mafia (Charlie Ryan)
  • Abbatoir Team Bearshark (Joshua Harrison)
  • Drain Raymond Roquello and His Orchestra (Charlie Brady)

Best Editing

  • Abbatoir Team Bearshark (Joshua Harrison)
  • Drain Raymond Roquello and His Orchestra (Charlie Brady)
  • Metafloor Fort Smith Film Mafia (Charlie Ryan)
  • Vacation Something Clever (Jack Turner, Lorenzo Balderas, Drew Brown)

Best Music

  • La Grande Fete Flokati Films (Sam Clark et al.)
  • Dateable Evan Pierce Productions (Jonathan Glisson)
  • Forever and Again One of Many (Various)
  • Abbatoir Team Bearshark (Matthew Cronk, Luke Fain)

Best use of Prop

  • Shillelagh Dirty Gnome Productions
  • Community Cove FilmMakers Corner
  • La Grande Fete Flokati Films

Best use of Line of Dialogue

  • Now You See Me Grundle Productions
  • Plumb Out of Luck Heads or Tales
  • Tai Chi Child The Movie: The Movie die katze und die hunde

Best use of Character

  • Dateable Evan Pierce Productions
  • Scheit Happens Kaleidoscope Media
  • Halloween Revenge Reel J

More information about the films and the 48 Hour Film Project including where you can get tickets for the Awards Show can be found at http://www.48hourfilm.com/littlerock. You can also email littlerock@48hourfilm.com for more info.

‘Project elan’ at Arkansas Rep

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Project êlan small2Today at 1pm and 7pm, the Arkansas Rep’s Young Artists will perform a new work in progress.
Arkansas Repertory Theatre’s Resident Director and Director of Education, Nicole Capri has assembled a talented team of young musicians and writers to create a brand new, all-original musical, Project élan. This new musical will feature a mix of new songs from a wide variety of genres including contemporary-alternative, acoustic-folk, indie-pop, Nashville-sound and many more.

This year’s summer program will be unlike anything past participants have experienced before at The Rep. Project élan’s summer performances will be a-work- in-progress. Traditionally, The  Rep’s Young Artists have nine days to learn the songs, script and choreography for a summer production;  however, when the young artists arrived in July for rehearsals, the script will not be complete. Young artists will be heavily involved in script, storyline, design and character development. New script, music and staging changes will be made daily.  Audience members will also be encouraged to give feedback, complete surveys and directly interact with the actors and creative team.

The Rep offers two summer programs as part of its Summer Musical Theater Intensive (SMTI) training program for aspiring young artists in Arkansas.The SMTI creative team is comprised of professional directors, choreographers, musicians, designers and writers. Daily rehearsals are structured similarly to a professional summer stock experience and include instruction in musical theatre techniques, multi-media, costume and stage make-up, dance and vocal coaching. Each session involves intensive daily rehearsals culminating in a public workshop performance of a selected musical or musical revue.
Two weeks ago, the older students in SMTI performed Project élan. This weekend it is the time for the younger participants.

The project is overseen by Nicole Capri (director/choreographer) and Karen Q. Clark (music director).  The writers are Bobby Banister, Conly Basham, Sam Clark, Robert Frost, James Ebel Landfair and Charity Vance.  The choreography team includes Stacy Hawking, Sydney Ippolito, Marisa Kirby, Stephen K. Stone and Capri.  Christy Hawking is the assistant to the director and Beth Thiemann is the stage manager.

Final Weekend to go SINGIN’ ON A STAR

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Tonight at 7 and tomorrow at 2 and 7 are the final three times to catch the Arkansas Rep Young Artist production of Singin’ on a Star. The show is all about the actor’s journey from stardust to stardom, set to a toe-tapping soundtrack of modern song selections from the top pop charts and the Great White Way.

The production is directed by Nicole Capri, who is the Rep’s Resident Director and Director of Education.  Karen Q. Clark serves as Music Director.  Choreography is provided by Capri, Stacy Hawking, Marisa Kirby and Stephen K. Stone.  The design team includes Mike Nichols (sets), Shelly Hall (costumes), Dan Kimble (lighting), Lynda J. Kwallek (props) and Allan Branson (sound).

The cast is composed of of over 50 junior high and high school students who will literally fill the stage with their acting, singing and dancing.  They include: Skylar Bartlett, Cross Brandon, Matthew Carey, Calvin Chester, Cayla Christian, Jacob Clanton, Drew Clark, Andrew Curzon, Drew Dame, Spencer Davis, Anna Bliss Dean, C.J. Fowler, Jennifer Fuller, Melody Garrett, Zach Graham, Kayla Gray, Katie Greer, Christian Hickingbotham, Matthew Hugg, Sydney Ippolito, Mary Kate Jackson, Grace Jackson, Nia Jackson, Jackson James and Dalton Johnson.

Others in the cast include Riley Knight, Bailey Lamb, Julia Landfair, Maddie Lentz, Malik Marshall, Cass Martin, Annie McCurdy, Damon McKinnis, Elena McKinnis, Helen Melhorn, Henry Melhorn, Ella Moody, Angela  Morgan, Michael Myers, Annie Niswanger, Yasmin Newman, Caroline Osborn, Adrianne Owings, Cassidy Ratliff, Marina Redlich, Molly Russ, Kennedy Sample, Sterling Saul, Allie Scott, Jake Scott, Abby Shourd, Heidi Sohl, Alyssa Sowers, Sheffield Spence, Shelby Spooner, Mary Katelin Ward, Mia Waymack, Jhonika Wright and Charl Young.

For some observations from one of the summer performances of this production, click here.

Ark Rep’s Young Artists go “Singin’ on a Star” this week

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This past summer, the Arkansas Repertory Theatre’s Summer Musical Theatre Intensive (SMTI) presented workshops of Singin’ on a Star.  This week, the final version of Singin’ on a Star opens for a two week run on the Rep’s stage.

The show is all about the actor’s journey from stardust to stardom, set to a toe-tapping soundtrack of modern song selections from the top pop charts and the Great White Way.

The production is directed by Nicole Capri, who is the Rep’s Resident Director and Director of Education.  Karen Q. Clark serves as Music Director.  Choreography is provided by Capri, Stacy Hawking, Marisa Kirby and Stephen K. Stone.  The design team includes Mike Nichols (sets), Shelly Hall (costumes), Dan Kimble (lighting), Lynda J. Kwallek (props) and Allan Branson (sound).

The cast is composed of of over 50 junior high and high school students who will literally fill the stage with their acting, singing and dancing.

There is a preview performance on Wednesday the 24th with opening night on Friday, October 26.  Performances will continue with evening performances at 7 on Saturday, October 27 as well as November 1 – 3.  There will be 2pm matinees on October 27 and 28 as well as November 3.

For some observations from one of the summer performances of this production, click here.