Showgirls with exposed garters and midriffs and decolletage denuded, male gymnasts in wrestling singlets and face paint tumbling one atop the other - this is what you don’t get at other blacktie events on the calendar. But then, it’s not Saints and Quaints, is it?
What the Arkansas Repertory Theatre is calling the 30th anniversary Saints & Sinners - it hasn’t always been “Saints & Sinners,” and some years there was no event - took time to celebrate past chairmen, themes and dance numbers, beginning with Ruth Shepherd and Charlotte Brown, who headed up the very first fundraiser, That’s Entertainment - Un, Deux, Trois.
An unidentified panel of judges culled from the long list of past events a tidy four dance numbers representing the top four moments in Saints & Sinners history, and none was more than five years old. They were “Anything Goes” from the 2010 event, chaired by Greg and Annamary Thompson; “All That Jazz” from the 2009 event, chaired by Chip and Cindy Murphy; “Crazy for You” from the 2012 event, chaired by Ron and Catherine Hughes; and Marilyn Monroe with Little Rock’s Leading Men (Dr. Vic Snyder, Chip Murphy, Robert Hupp - standing in for Herren Hickingbotham - Daniel Robinson and Adam Melton) from last year’s event, chaired by Dr. Randal and Jan Hundley.
One of the most touching moments of this year’s gala took place when Nicole Capri Brown took the stage after a video about the theater’s Summer Musical Theater Intensive, or SMTI (pronounced “smitty”), for young artists. The Rep is not just the leading repertory theater in town but one with a burgeoning educational mission.
“We have dreams of expanding our territory and moving into a brand new arts corridor” space catty-cornered from the theater’s current location at Sixth and Main streets. “Little Rock and all the arts organizations here are making a huge investment into revitalizing Main Street to where you have the ballet, Arkansas Symphony Orchestra, coffee shops, small galleries … and of course, a training program for the Arkansas Repertory Theatre’s young artists.
“We want to create a yearlong program with a conservatory environment, where we’re teaching young people about singing and dancing and performing, even a brand new film department. We have dreams to open those doors, hopefully this year, because I drive by the building and I can still see through it!”
The event raised just under $400,000, which is about 12 percent of the theater’s budget.
High Profile, Pages 38 on 02/09/2014