Tag Archives: Ron Robinson Theater

100 Years of the Pulitzer celebrated tonight by Arkansas Humanities Council lecture with Ray Moseley

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Tonight, ahc-pulitzer-100-moseleyTuesday, October 4 at 7PM, at Ron Robinson Theater,  the Arkansas Humanities Council will present the 3rd in a series of lectures honoring the Pulitzer Prize in Arkansas. This lecture will honor the Arkansas Gazette which won two Pulitzer Prizes in 1958 for Meritorious Service and Editorial Writing.

Ray Mosely, who was the lead reporter for the Gazette’s coverage of the Central High integration crisis in 1957, will give the lecture.  This event is free and open to the public.

Moseley was  later was a United Press International foreign correspondent, bureau chief and then editor for Europe, Africa and the Middle East. For many years after that he was chief European correspondent of the Chicago Tribune based in London. In a 59-year career, he covered such stories as the 1967 Six-Day War, the first Indo-Pakistan war, the Greek-Turkish war in Cyprus, the Rhodesian civil war, the Iranian revolution, the fall of the Berlin Wall and the death of Princess Diana.

He was a Pulitzer finalist in 1981 for a series of articles about Africa and in 2003 was awarded an honorary MBE (Member of the British Empire) by Queen Elizabeth II for services to journalism, the first American correspondent in two decades to receive that honor. He is also the author of three books including a journalistic memoir, In Foreign Fields, and of two forthcoming books, one on the war correspondents of World War II and the other on the black American soldiers of that war. Moseley will share reminiscences about coverage of the 57 crisis, his personal experiences afterward, the end of the Gazette and the future of newspapers.

Following Moseley’s remarks Ernie Dumas will moderate a panel discussion featuring former Gazette reporters.

Today at noon – Legacies and Lunch with Bobby Roberts

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robertsThe Butler Center for Arkansas Studies and Clinton School of Public Service present today’s Legacies and Lunch program which features a conversation with Bobby Roberts.

Roberts has been the director of the Central Arkansas Library System (CALS) since 1989. During his tenure at CALS, it has been recognized as one of the premier library systems in the United States, noted for outstanding public service and innovative programming. Roberts is retiring from CALS on March 4. On March 2, he will talk with Clinton School of Public Service Dean Skip Rutherford at the Butler Center’s monthly Legacies & Lunch presentation series.

A native of Helena, Ark., Roberts became a historian and archivist, a writer of Civil War history, a university faculty member, and a member of Governor Bill Clinton’s staff before taking leadership at CALS. At Legacies & Lunch, Rutherford will interview Roberts about his interest in history and politics, the transformation of CALS, and what he sees for the future of the library system, the city of Little Rock, and the state of Arkansas. This special program is sponsored in part by the Arkansas Humanities Council.

Wednesday, March 2, 2016 at 12:00 Noon
CALS Ron Robinson Theater

Tonight at 7, Arkansas Sounds salutes composers Florence Price and William Grant Still at Ron Robinson Theater

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AR Sounds price_stillTwo of the leading American classical music composers in the first half of the 20th Century were from Arkansas and were African American.  Tonight (February 26) Arkansas Sounds pays tribute to Florence B. Price and William Grant Still in a program at 7pm at the Ron Robinson Theater.

Arkansas Sounds pays tribute to two of Arkansas’s most highly acclaimed African American classical composers with a screening of The Caged Bird: The Life and Music of Florence B. Price followed by performances of Price’s and Still’s compositions by members of the Arkansas Symphony Orchestra (ASO) and the ASO Youth Orchestra. The film’s length is approximately 1 hour.

Little Rock native Florence Price (1887-1953) was the first African American female classical composer to have her composition played by a major American symphony orchestra. The Caged Bird: The Life and Music of Florence B. Price traces Price’s life, detailing her cultured childhood in an extraordinarily gifted family, her struggles and eventual departure from the South due to racial tension, and her great artistic impact and success. Her compositions were favored by famed soprano Marian Anderson, and in 1933, her “Symphony in E Minor” was performed at the Chicago World’s Fair by the Chicago Symphony.

Born in Woodville, Mississippi, and raised in Little Rock, William Grant Still (1895-1978) achieved national and international acclaim as a composer of symphonic and popular music and, as an African American, was hailed for breaking race barriers of his time. His Afro-American Symphony was the first symphony composed by an African American to be played by a major symphony orchestra and is still performed today. Still was a prolific composer whose work includes symphonies, ballets, operas, chamber music, and works for solo instruments, totaling nearly 200. He also received numerous honors and achievements such as the Guggenheim Fellowship in 1934, 1935, and 1938. He also received eight honorary degrees from institutions such as Oberlin College, the University of Arkansas, Pepperdine University, and the Peabody Conservatory of Music.

The Arkansas Symphony Orchestra (ASO) comprises the state’s most sought-after professional musicians and is celebrating its 50th season. The ASO Youth Orchestra comprises over 200 student musicians, ages 9-18, who travel from over thirty-seven communities throughout Arkansas.

Heeeere’s THE SHINING – tonight at the CALS Ron Robinson Theater

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RRT shiningStanley Kubrick’s 1980 thriller The Shining will be chilling the big screen tonight at the Ron Robinson Theatre at 7pm.

Based on the Stephen King novel, The Shining was directed by Kubrick from a screenplay he wrote with Diane Johnson.

Jack Nicholson is appropriately cerebral and scary as he alternates between wrestling with writer’s block and wielding an ax.  Shelley Duvall, Danny Lloyd, Scatman Crothers, Barry Nelson, Anne Jackson and Joe Turkel are also in the cast.  Set largely in a desolate hotel, the movie was a chore for the actors due to the incredibly long hours of shooting each day.  As a director, Kubrick was overly exacting.  But the result of the hard work comes through on the screen.

Though he was excruciatingly demanding on Duvall, Kubrick took cares to make it a pleasant filming experience for six-year-old Lloyd.  It was not until a decade later that Lloyd realized it had been a horror film, because Kubrick and others kept him out of the way during the more violent scenes.

See it all on the big screen tonight.

Go Off to see THE WIZARD OF OZ this afternoon at the CALS Ron Robinson Theater

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RRT Wizard_of_oz_movie_poster“Follow the Yellow Brick Road”

“There’s No Place Like Home”

“I’ll Get You, My Pretty”

“And Toto, too!”

Those are just a few of the famous lines from the iconic 1939 MGM Technicolor classic The Wizard of Oz.  The CALS Ron Robinson Theater will be screening it today (February 13) at 2pm for $5.  Concessions are available for purchase.

Based on the L. Frank Baum novel (which launched a series of books), this film was directed by Victor Fleming (who also received credit for directing another 1939 classic – Gone with the Wind – but that’s another story).  For Judy Garland, Ray Bolger, Bert Lahr, Jack Haley and Margaret Hamilton – this film was the source of their iconic roles.  Frank Morgan played the titular role, while Billie Burke essayed the role of Glinda.

The movie was nominated for six Oscars, and picked up two – Best Score (Herbert Stothart) and Best Song (E. Y. “Yip” Harburg and Harold Arlen for “Over the Rainbow”).  The year 1939 has largely been considered the best  year for movies during the Golden Age of Hollywood, so picking up two Oscars in the year of Gone with the Wind, Ninotchka, Mr. Smith Goes to Washington, Stage Coach, Wuthering Heights, Intermezzo, and The Hunchback of Notre Dame is quite an accomplishment.

While now viewed as a classic, it took 14 writers and five directors as well as several re-castings to get the movie finished.  This afternoon is the chance to see it again on the big screen.

DRIVING MISS DAISY at CALS Ron Robinson Theater tonight

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RRT driving-miss-daisy-posterThe Oscars are later this month, but tonight is a chance to see the winner of the 1989 Best Picture Oscar – DRIVING MISS DAISY. It will screen tonight at 7pm at the CALS Ron Robinson Theater.

Tickets are $5.  Concessions are available for purchase.

Based on the 1988 Pulitzer Prize winning play, Driving Miss Daisy tells the story of a textile factory owner who insists on hiring an ever-patient chauffeur for his aging head-strong mother. The Jewish woman and her African American driver eventually build a relationship over many years.

In addition to winning the Oscar for Best Picture, star Jessica Tandy won the Oscar for Best Actress.  Morgan Freeman and Dan Aykroyd each earned Oscar nominations for their performances.  Others in the cast include Patti LuPone and Esther Rolle.

Directed by Bruce Beresford (who surprisingly did not pick up a nomination for Best Director), the film was adapted by Alfred Uhry from his original stage play. Uhry won an Oscar for his writing. The film also earned a fourth Oscar for Best Makeup.  In addition to the nominations for Freeman and Aykroyd’s performances, it picked up nominations for Art Direction, Costumes, and Editing.

Arkansas Sounds presents Mad Nomad and Ghost Bones at the CALS Ron Robinson tonight

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arkansas_sounds_2013Tonight at the CALS Ron Robinson Theater, Arkansas Sounds presents Mad Nomad and Ghost Bones.

This evening evening of fresh, energetic, indie rock music will begin at 7pm.  Tickets are $10.

Mad Nomad performs melodic, high powered, heavy rock music that has been described as “informed by…the Replacements, Built to Spill, Dinosaur Jr. and unabashedly guitar-centric.” (Robert Bell, Arkansas Times) The band’s style has also been classified as “a cohesive mix of hard rock, punk, scream metal, ’90s pop rock and even twinges of ’80s metal, all held together with an accessible and undeniable sense of melody.” (Sean Clancy, Arkansas Democrat-Gazette) Based in Little Rock and founded in September 2012, Mad Nomad won the 2014 Arkansas Times Musicians Showcase.

Ghost Bones plays post-punk, alternative dance rock music that may be described as urgent, angular, and inspired by art school sensibilities. It is a young and experimental band that strives to create an original sound that appeals to a mass audience. At a time when the alternative rock scene is dominated by male bands, Ghost Bones has drawn attention as a female-fronted band. Based in Hot Springs and founded in September 2014, Ghost Bones won the 2015 Arkansas Times Musicians Showcase.