LITTLE ROCK — Elsewhere in entertainment and the arts this weekend:
Benton’s Royal Players will stage The Strange Case of Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde, Noah Smith’s stage adaptation of Robert Louis Stevenson’s story, at 7 p.m. today-Saturday and Oct. 21-23 and at 2 p.m. Sunday and Oct. 24 at the Royal Theatre, 111 S. Market St., Benton. The Saline Courier is the sponsor. Tickets are $10, $8 senior citizens, $5 students. Call (501) 315-5483 (LIVE) or visit theroyalplayers.com.
Arkansas State University-Beebe Theater will stage the full-length premiere of Curio by Bruce Cohen, the university’s director of theater, at 7:30 p.m.Friday and Saturday and 2:30 p.m. Sunday in the Owen Center Theater, ASU-Beebe. There will also be a performance at 3 p.m. Oct. 31 to kick off the state’s gathering of the Kennedy Center American College Theater Festival, which the university is hosting this year. Cohen describes the play as “a contemporary black comedy about the absurdity of rampant consumption and our empty hunger for other people’s drama.” It contains adult subject matter and is intended for mature audiences. Tickets are $10, $5 for senior citizens, students and military, free for university students, faculty and staff with ID. Call (501) 882-8951.
Conway Dinner Theater will stage You Can’t Take It With You by George S. Kaufman and Moss Hart at 7:30 p.m. Friday-Saturday and Oct. 23 and 1:30 p.m. Oct. 24 at Wesley United Methodist Church, 2310 E. Oak St., Conway. Dinner starts at 6:15 for the evening performances, with lunch at 12:15 preceding the matinee. Oak Street Bistro is catering. Tickets are $30.
Reservations are required. Call (501) 339-7401.
The Delta Symphony Orchestra will open its season with its “Music for a Lifetime Family Concert” at 2 p.m. Sunday at Arkansas State University’s Fowler Center, 201 Olympic Drive, Jonesboro.
Two of the orchestra violinists, Dan Gilbert and concertmaster Barbara Reeve, will solo in The Four Seasons by Antonio Vivaldi; before the concert they’ll meet with students who have created artwork to go along with the Four Seasons theme. Also on the program: “Sunrise” from Also Sprach Zarathustra by Richard Strauss (used as the theme for the movie 2001: A Space Odyssey); “Jupiter” from The Planets by Gustav Holst; Capriccio Italien by Peter Ilich Tchaikovsky; “The Pines of the Appian Way” from The Pines of Rome by Ottorino Respighi; and Salute to the Big Apple, arranged by Calvin Custer. Neale King Bartee conducts. Ticketsare $15, $10 for senior citizens, $5 for students. Call (870) 972-2781 (ASU1) or visit tickets. astate.edu.
Nick Basbanes, the so-called “King of the Bibliophiles,” will deliver the Central Arkansas Library System’s J.N. Heiskell Distinguished Lecture titled “Among the Gently Mad” (also the title of his 2003 book) at 6:30 p.m. today in the Darragh Center of CALS’ Main Library, 100 Rock St., Little Rock. The lecture will cover some of Basbanes’ professional adventures during the past 30 years, highlights from his eight books and his perspective on books and book people as a former journalist,book review editor and book lover. The lecture is a tribute to Heiskell, editor of the Arkansas Gazette for more than 70 years and the longest-serving member of the library’s board of trustees. Admission is free; a book signing and reception will follow. Call (501) 918-3029 for reservations.
More than 70 singers from Henderson State University will present “A Choral Collage,” a program of music ranging from Orlando di Lasso to James Taylor, at 7:30 p.m. today at First United Methodist Church, 107 N. Ninth St., Arkadelphia. Stephen Eaves will conduct. Call (870)230-5053 or visit hsu.edu.
Weekend, Pages 36 on 10/14/2010