Tag Archives: Pulitzer Prize

Sculpture Vulture: Brookin Memorial in Mount Holly

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The Pulitzer Prizes are announced tomorrow.  Two previous Pulitzer Prize winners are buried in Mt. Holly – poet John Gould Fletcher and publisher J. N. Heiskell.  With an eye toward the Pulitzers as well as some of the sculpture in Mt. Holly, today the Sculpture Vulture focuses on a statue which honors the memory of Little Rock firefighter Henry C. Brookin.

The sculpture depicts a firefighter in a helmet holding a hose.  On the base is the inscription “Erected by the Volunteer Firemen of Little Rock to the memory of Henry C. Brookin. Born Mar. 23, 1852, Died Mar. 11, 1891. He Was Killed Responding.”

The statue, forged in metal, is only a couple of feet tall but stands on a stone pedestal of approximately four feet tall. It marks Mr. Brookin’s grave. It is the only metal statue in the cemetery and the only one which does not depict an angel, child or religious figure.

Ark Lit Fest this Weekend!

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April 12 – 15

The Arkansas Literary Festival, the premier gathering of readers and writers in Arkansas, has expanded to include more than 95 presenters in many locations on both sides of the river from April 12-15, 2012. The Central Arkansas Library System’s Main Library campus and other venues in the River Market and Argenta Arts districts are the sites for a stimulating mix of sessions, panels, special events, performances, workshops, presentations, opportunities to meet authors, book sales, and book signings. Most events are free and open to the public.

Festival authors include New York Times columnist Jason Zinoman, Bryan Borland, Kevin Brockmeier, Frank Thurmond, Roy Blount Jr., Diana Southwood Kennedy, George Dohrmann, Deborah Crombie, Trent Stewart, Mary Monroe, Justin Torres, Greil Marcus, and more. Festival authors include winners of such awards as the Pulitzer Prize, World Fantasy Award, James Beard Foundation Award for Cookbook of the Year, Critics Choice Award for Best Family Film, American Book Award, The Heartland Prize, Truman Capote Award for Literary Criticism; Thomas Wolfe Award; National Association of Black Journalists Award, Guggenheim Fellowship, and a regional Emmy. One author was decorated with the Order of the Aztec Eagle, the highest honor given to foreigners by the Mexican Government; another was inducted into the French Legion of Honor, the highest honor bestowed on a French citizen. Many of the presenters’ works have been translated into multiple languages, optioned for television, and made into feature films.

Special events during the Festival include a cocktail reception with the authors, a book fiesta for children, cooking workshops, two films, and a street fair featuring area musicians. Panels and workshops will feature topics such as graphic novels, poetry, memoirs, romance, craft activism, electronic books and publishing trends, magazine editing, and pencil sharpening. Children’s special events include a storytime on the lawn of the Governor’s Mansion, a reading of a children’s story with illustrations and musical accompaniment at the Clinton Presidential Center, two plays, a magic show, a puppet show, and a concert by the Kinders.

Through the Writers In The Schools (WITS) initiative, the Festival will provide presentations by 17 authors for Pulaski county elementary, middle, and senior high schools and area colleges.

Author! Author!, a cocktail reception with the authors, will be Friday, April 13 at 7:30 p.m.; tickets are $25 in advance, and $40 at the door. Cooking workshop tickets are $20. All tickets go on sale at http://www.arkansasliteraryfestival.org beginning Thursday, March 1. Author! Author! tickets will also be available for purchase at all Central Arkansas Library System branches. All other Festival events are free and open to the public.

The Arkansas Literary Festival’s mission is to encourage the development of a more literate populace. A group of dedicated volunteers assists Festival Coordinator Brad Mooy with planning the Festival. Jay Jennings is the 2012 Festival Chair, with Laura Stanley serving as the Vice Chair. Other committee chairs include Katherine Whitworth, Talent Committee; Lisa Donovan & Darcy Pattison, Youth Programs; Martha Perry, Finance; and Amy Bradley-Hole, Moderators.

Arkansas Symphony 2012-2013 Masterworks and Pops

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Continuing with the Spring Break theme of looking to next year, today’s entry looks at the 2012-2013 Masterworks and Pops offerings from the Arkansas Symphony Orchestra.

The Arkansas Symphony Orchestra will kick off the 2012-2013 season on September 29 and 30 with a Stella Boyle Smith Masterworks concert featuring violinist Augustin Hadelich returning to play Eduoard Lalo’s Symphonie espagnole.  Also on the program are Strauss’ Don Juan and von Dohanyi’s Suite in F-sharp Minor. ASO Musical Director/Conductor Philip Mann will conduct.

The ASO next turns to the Pops series. The Acxiom Pops Live! series starts on October 6 & 7 with the Beatles tribute act Classical Mystery Tour. ASO Associate Conductor Geoffrey Robson will lead this concert.

Pulitzer Prize winning composer Jennifer Higdon will be the ASO Composer of the Year for 2012-2013.  Her composition To the Point will be featured on the ASO’s second Masterworks concert on October 20 and 21.  That concert will also featured pianist Elissa Bolkkvadze performing Saint-Saens’ Piano Concerto No. 2 and Sibelius’ Symphony No. 5.

On November 10 and 11, the ASO’s annual “Beethoven & Blue Jeans” concert will showcase Tan Dun’s Pipa Concerto featuring soloist Wu Man. Also on the program is the overture to Beethoven’s only ballet, The Creatures of Prometheus.  The evening will conclude with Rimsky-Korsakov’s Scheherazade.

For many families, it isn’t the holidays without the annual ASO Happy Holidays concert.  In 2012 it will take place on December 14-16.  Plan accordingly.

In January, the ASO will start 2013 with guest conductor Guillermo Figueroa, music director of the New Mexico Symphony and Colorado’s Music in the Mountains Festival on January 26 and 27.  ASO principal cellist David Gerstein will solo on Tchaikovsky’s Variationson a Rococo Theme.  The concerts will also include Respighi’s Ancient Airs and Dances Suite No. 1 and Beethoven’s Symphony No. 2.

Returning to Pops, on February 9 and 10, the ASO will present “A Night at the Movies.”  Later that month, the ASO will feature Composer of the Year Higdon again on February 23 and 24.  In addition to her blue cathedral, the program will include Haydn’s No. 95 in C minor and Shostakovich’s No. 10 in E minor.

The ASO will march into March with a celebration of the American Songbook on the Pops schedule on March 16 and 17.

The Masterworks season will conclude on April 13 and 14, 2013.  Tchaikovsky’s Violin Concerto featuring Midori will be the centerpiece of the evening.  Also on the bill will be the overture to Mozart’s The Marriage of Figaro as well as Brahms’ Symphony No. 4.

The final concert of the 2012-2013 season will be in the Pops series: Cirque de la Symphonie.  This concert, on May 11 and 12, will featured six Cirque du Soleil veterans performing to music accompanied by the ASO.

Sponsors for the 2012-2013 season are the Stella Boyle Smith Trust, Acxiom and American Airlines.

Arkansas Rep 2012-2013 season

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It is Spring Break throughout Arkansas. So this is a good time to take a break from the current arts season and look ahead to next year.

Rich stories and rewarding shows are the bounty that awaits Arkansas Repertory Theatre audiences during the 2012-2013 season, the Rep’s 37th year. Robert Hupp, the Rep’s producing artistic director, recently announced the lineup.

The season kicks off on September 7 with William Shakespeare’s Henry V.  This will be the first of Shakespeare’s “History” plays to be staged at the Rep in its history.  Following the overwhelming success of Hamlet last season, it is pleasing to see the Bard return to the Rep’s lineup.  It will run through September 23, 2012.

Next up is the annual Young Artists’ production.  This edition of the revue is entitled Singin’ on a Star.  It will run from October 24 through November 3, 2012. Though the show is still being written, it promises to feature Arkansas’ best and brightest students in songs and dances which will enchant audiences of all ages.

It is guaranteed that Little Rock will see a White Christmas in December 2012 because the Rep will be producing the stage version of the Irving Berlin classic White Christmas from November 30 through December 30, 2012.  In addition to the classic Berlin tunes from the film, a treasure trove of other Berlin classics is also included.

As 2013 kicks off, the Rep presents the play Gee’s Bend.  Set in the eponymously named Alabama town, it tells the story of the women who make quilts there. The play is not about the quilts themselves (though they are works of art which have been displayed in many top art museums), it is instead about the remarkable lives of the women who make them.  Elyzabeth Gregory Wilder’s play will run from January 25 through February 10, 2013.

As the Rep marches into the third month of 2013, it will present the world premiere of a new musical version of Treasure Island.  This production, which emphasizes the adventure and mystery of Robert Louis Stevenson’s classic tale, features a book by Brett Smock (who will also direct) and Carla Vitale with songs by Corinne Aquilina (who served as musical director/conductor for last season’s Hairspray at the Rep).  It runs from March 8 through March 31, 2013. (This world premiere is the reason the title of this entry is written in “Pirate.”)

Arthur Miller’s prize winning Death of a Salesman is up next at the Rep.  This classic tale explores the American Dream in the middle of the 20th Century as the Loman family copes with hope and despair.  During its original Broadway run, it received the Pulitzer Prize for Drama and Best Play recognition from the Tony Awards and the New York Drama Critics Circle.  “Attention must be paid” from April 26 through May 12, 2013.

Avenue Q is one of the smartest, funniest, and bawdiest musicals over the last decade. Written by Jeff Marx and Robert Lopez, it irreverently tells the story of a group of 20 and 30somethings in New York City as they cope with the onset of adulthood. Some of the characters are played by humans while others are portrayed by puppets — but this is not for the kids; it is definitely an adult show (it includes full puppet nudity).  This 2004 Tony winner for Best Musical, Best Book and Best Score, ran for over 1000 performances on Broadway and is now enjoying a healthy Off Broadway run.  The Rep’s brand new production will run from June 7 – 30, 2013.

The Weekend Theater presents THE MIRACLE WORKER

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Nicholson and Sawyer (photo by Byron Taylor)

William Gibson’s Pulitzer and Tony winning play The Miracle Worker opened last weekend at the Weekend Theater.  It continues tonight and tomorrow as well as March 23 and 24.

Showtimes are 7:30 p.m. Fridays and Saturdays through March 24; there is also one matinee scheduled for 2:30 p.m. Sunday, March 18. Tickets, $16 for general admission and $12 for students and seniors age 65 and older, can be ordered online at the theater’s Web site, www.weekendtheater.org, or purchased at the door before each performance, based on availability.

Though the play is the story of Helen Keller (Sarah Nicholson) at the start of her remarkable life, it is also the story of her family and the indomitable Annie Sullivan (Hannah M. Sawyer).

The cast includes Byron Taylor and Patti Airoldi as Helen’s parents, Captain Arthur and Kate Keller, along with Drew Ellis, Zoe Dickerson, Diondre Wright, Patty German, Henry Melhorn, Donna Singleton, Patty Landry, Adrianne Owings, and Colin Boyd.

Andy Hall directs the production.

Arts & Humanities Month: SHREK

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Celebrity Attractions brings the national tour of Shrek to Robinson Center Music Hall.  The production opened its Little Rock stand last night and continues through Sunday evening.  Originally directed on Broadway by Arkansan Jason Moore, Shrek features a book and lyrics by Pulitzer Prize winner David Lindsay-Abaire and music by Jeanine Tesori.

The musical is based on the Oscar-winning DreamWorks film. It tales the story of an ogre, a princess, a talkative donkey, a vertically-challenged prince, and many other fun, lovable characters from fairy tales and nursery rhymes.

The national tour is directed by Stephen Sposito and choreographed by Chris Bailey.  The design team includes Tim Hatley (costumes and original scenic design), James Kronzer (tour scenic design), Paul Miller (lighting) and Shannon Slaton (sound).  The cast is led by Lukas Poost as Shrek, Liz Shivener as Princess Fiona, Andre Jordan as Donkey and Merritt David Janes as Lord Farquaad.