Tag Archives: The Weekend Theater

SPRING AWAKENING at Weekend Theater

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Spring Awakening, which won 8 Tony Awards on Broadway, is the next production of the Weekend Theater.  It opens this weekend and runs through July 1.  Steven Sater and Duncan Sheik adapted Frank Wedekind’s 1891 play about the trials, tears, and exhilaration of the teen years. The three central teens are Wendla, the naïve, newly pubescent one, who is struggling with feelings that are foreign to her; Melchior, the intellectual, knows exactly what his feelings are, but is struggling with the unfair amount of power adults possess; and Moritz, the disempowered, is basically struggling with everything and doesn’t know how to relieve the pressure surrounding him.

The cast features Jessica Smith, Garrett Houston, Will Nicholson, Hannah Blackburn-Parish, Justin Holzknecht, Garrett Whitehead, Jhonika Wright, Sarah Richardson, Noah Whitney, Nick Abel, Emily McDow, Lana Hallmark and Tony Spicer.  The production is directed by Ralph Hyman with music direction by Lori Isner.

The performances are at 7:30pm on Friday and Saturday evenings and at 2:30 on Sunday afternoons.

A…My Name Is Alice @ Weekend Theater

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The Weekend Theater’s production of A…My Name Is Alice wraps up this weekend.

The show was conceived by Joan Micklin Silver and Julianne Boyd, with contributions from multiple collaborators. It opens Friday, May 4 and runs on Fridays, Saturdays and Sundays through May 20.  Showtimes are 7:30 p.m. Fridays and Saturdays and 2:30 p.m. Sundays. Tickets are $20 for general admission and $16 for students and seniors age 65 and over.

The cast features area actors Antisha Anderson-Scruggs, Jane Morgan Balgavy, Sarah Scott Blakey, Rachel Hampton, Erin Martinez, Danette Scott Perry, Samantha Porter, and Beth Ross, who will portray various characters in the 20 or so scenes.  When casting the show, director Duane Jackson was looking for women of all ages, sizes, shapes, colors, and life experiences.

While each scene is self-contained, the overarching connection is always the lives of women: the friendships they share, the trials they face, and the joys of sharing this journey of life. Most consist of songs, and there are a couple of monologues, as well as a series of short poems interspersed throughout the show.

Among the scenes are “Sisters,” which details a lifelong sibling rivalry that reaches a bittersweet conclusion. “At My Age” is a duet between a 50-something widow and a teenager, both preparing for long-awaited dates with excitement and trepidation. In “Good Thing I Learned to Dance,” a woman goes from past to present recalling how dancing gave her a sort-of-safe way to let out her inner “bad girl.”

To make reservations or get more information, visit the online ticketing system at http://www.weekendtheater.org; tickets will also be sold at the door on performance days, based on availability. Reservations are no longer accepted by phone, but you can get information about the production by calling (501) 374-3761.

NEXT FALL this spring at Weekend Theater

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The next offering of the Weekend Theater opens this Friday evening.  Geoffrey Nauffts’ Next Fall is a charming, heart-warming, gut-wrenching look at relationships, religion, and the choices we all have to make in our lives. It and runs Fridays and Saturdays through April 21. Showtimes are at 7:30 p.m.

Tickets are $16 for general admission and $12 for seniors age 65 and older as well as students. Tickets can be purchased at www.weekendtheater.org or, based on availability, at the door. Reservations are no longer taken by phone; for more information only call (501) 374-3761.

“These are real people, but they’re also bigger than life,” says director Ralph Hyman about the play, which he describes as a “comical tragedy.” He saw it during its initial Broadway run and was captivated by the conflicts raised in the script – fundamentalism versus atheism, parents versus children, the family we make versus the one we’re born into.

The cast includes Harold Dean, Jackson Stewart, Hannah Blackburn-Parish, Ryan Whitfield, Allison Pace and Byron Taylor.

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.

Weekend Theater: LARAMIE PROJECT, TEN YEARS LATER

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In the wake of the 1998 murder of Matthew Shepard, playwright/director Moises Kaufman and several colleagues visited the site of the crime.  The outcome of their interviews was the performance piece The Laramie Project, which the Weekend Theater presented a few seasons back.

In 2008, Kaufman and colleagues revisited Laramie and revisited some of the interviewees. They also conducted interviews with new people who had been involved in the 1998 incident, including two of young men who attacked and killed Shepard. The result of these interviews was The Laramie Project: Ten Years Later.

Duane Jackson, who directed the Weekend Theater’s production of the previous play, helms this production.  The cast includes David Anderson, Johnnie Brannon, Alan Douglas, Jeremy Estill, Julie Atkins, Sally Graham, Regi Ott, and Roben Sullivant.  Each actor portrays a variety of characters in this tale of a town and an entire nation.

The production opens on Friday, January 13 and plays the next three weekends.  Showtimes are at 7:30 p.m. Fridays and Saturdays through Jan. 28. Tickets, $16 for general admission and $12 for students and seniors age 65 and over can be reserved by calling (501) 374-3761 or online at www.weekendtheater.org.

Sponsors for this production are Canvas Community Church, Quapaw Quarter United Methodist Church, Open Door Community Church, and New Beginnings Church of Central Arkansas.

Weekend Theatre: Judgment at Nuremberg

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The Weekend Theatre’s production of Abby Mann’s Judgment at Nuremberg concludes this weekend.  Ralph Hyman directs this tale of honor, humanity, justice, and duty.

The cast is led by Alan Douglas and Tom Crone as opposing forces in this tug of war between different aspects of the justice system.  Also in the cast are matt Maguire, Frank Butler, Ebon Jones, Tucker Steinmetz, Chris Biagini, Thomas Sullivan, Wyatt Jones, Ovid Lamb, David Anderson, Byron Taylor, Jenifer Hamel, Deb Lewis, Johnnie Brannon, Drew Ellis, Samantha Porter and Patti German.

The show plays at 7:30pm tonight and tomorrow.  To reserve tickets, $16 for general admission and $12 for students and seniors age 65 and older, call (501) 374-3761 or visit the Web site at www.weekendtheater.org.

Weekend Theatre explores THE QUALITY OF LIFE

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This weekend is the final chance to catch the latest show at the Weekend Theater.  Jane Martin’s The Quality of Life plays Friday and Saturday at 7:30 pm.

Directed by Allison Pace, this play explores two couples who are at once polar opposites and facing similar situations.  The cast includes Stephanie Gunderman, Scott Minor, Fran Jameson and Alan Douglas.

The play has been described as “this magnetic work of theater, filled with compassion, honesty and humor” which “explores a myriad of ethical, religious, and moral beliefs, as well as personal rights issues concerning life and death.”