Tag Archives: Keith Harper

DETROIT ’67 is next play for UA Little Rock Theatre and Dance Department

Posted on by

UA Little Rock theater students, from left, Taylor Green, Tre Whitley, Keith Harper and Char Dupins, rehearse scenes from the upcoming production of Detroit 67, which opens Feb. 27, 2019. Photo by Benjamin Krain.The University of Arkansas at Little Rock Department of Theatre Arts and Dance will present a production of “Detroit ’67” Feb. 27 to March 3. The play is winner of the Edward M. Kennedy Prize for Drama Inspired by American History

“Detroit ‘67” is a powerful play, written by Dominique Morisseau, that unfolds an explosive moment in American history – the race riots that ravaged the city of Detroit in 1967, all set to a vibrant soundtrack of the day’s Motown music.

In 1967 Detroit, Motown music is getting the party started, and Chelle and her brother Lank are making ends meet by turning their basement into an after-hours joint. But when a mysterious woman finds her way into their lives, the siblings clash over much more than the family business. As their pent-up feelings erupt, so does their city, and they find themselves caught in the middle of the ’67 riots.

Lawrence Smith, assistant professor of theatre history, directs the play featuring Taylor Green, Char Kendall Dupins, Tre’ Vaughn Whitley, Keith Harper, and Abby Jo Windsor. Additional crew members include Stage Manager Crystal Briner, Scenic and Lighting Director William Marshall, and Costume Designer Yslan Hicks.

The play will be held in the Haislip Theatre in the UA Little Rock Center for Performing Arts on the following days and times:

  •      Wednesday, Feb. 27: 7:30 p.m.
  •      Thursday, Feb. 28: 7:30 p.m.
  •      Friday, March 1: 7:30 p.m.
  •      Saturday, March 2: 7:30 p.m.
  •      Sunday, March 3: 2:30 p.m.

General admission tickets are $10 each, while tickets for UA Little Rock employees, students, seniors, and members of the military are $5. Tickets can be purchased online.

August Wilson’s TWO TRAINS RUNNING is running in August at the Weekend Theater

Posted on by

twt-Two-Trains-Running_smNext up at the Weekend Theater is August Wilson’s Two Trains Running.  It opens tonight and plays Fridays and Saturdays through September 5.

The play is a story about love, hate, and the struggles that ordinary African Americans faced in a Pittsburgh neighborhood in 1969. The gossip, debates, philosophizing, and storytelling that take place in Memphis’ restaurant reflect the oral tradition of African American culture. Wilson’s characters appear engaged in talk that seems detached from the racial riots, assassinations, and antiwar protest that marked this era and damaged black areas economically. The restaurant and the neighborhood are on the brink of economic development.

Wilson explores their social and psychological manifestations of changing attitudes toward race. Seeking to escape from poverty, racism, and “Jim Crow” laws, many black Americans migrated to northern industrial cities during the early and mid-20th century where Wilson reveals simple truths, hopes and dreams for a community on the brink of change.

The play is directed by Jamie Scott Blakey and Margaret Parker.  The cast features Jermaine McClure, Rodney Ford, Eric Tate, Keith Harper, Kearie Saine, Ronald Coleman and Cherisse Coleman.  

Performances begin at 7:30pm.  The box office opens at 6:30pm. Seating is general admission and begins at 7:00pm.

Award winning THE MEMBER OF THE WEDDING at Weekend Theater

Posted on by

TWT Member WedNext at the Weekend Theater is The Member of the Wedding, Carson McCullers unflinching yet heart-warming look back at the transition from childhood to adulthood.

Winner of the New York Drama Critics’ Circle Award and the Donaldson Award in 1950 for best play, The Member of the Wedding is based on the Carson McCullers multi-award winning novel by the same name. The play set during World War II takes place over a few days in late August, 1945.

It tells the poignant story of 12-year-old tomboy, Frankie Addams, who, like many prepubescents, feels disconnected from everything in the world; in her words, an “unjoined person.” Frankie’s mother has died in childbirth, and her widowed father is a distant, vacuous figure who has no idea of the anxiety his daughter is experiencing. Her closest companions in her small racially divided hometown are the family’s African American housekeeper and surrogate mother to Frankie, Berenice Sadie Brown, and her six-year-old pesky cousin, John Henry West. She has no other friends in her deeply southern birthplace and dreams of going away with her soldier brother and his bride-to-be on their honeymoon in the Alaskan wilderness. Frankie Addams desperately wants to become “joined” with the newlyweds in The Member of the Wedding.

Directed by Margaret Pierson Bates, the production opens tonight and runs through May 30 on Friday and Saturday evenings.

The cast includes Danette Scott Perry, Ellis Golden, Alex Harkins, Barry Clifton, Elizabeth Bartyzal, Peter Emery, Amanda Oxford, Stacy Williams Jr., Eric Tate, Akasha Hull, Allison Filbert, Claire Green, Jeffrey Oakley, Hannah Smith, Nikolai Gordeev, Drew Ellis, Keith Harper, Tommie Tinker, Alexander White, Terry White and Ryan Whitfield.