Elsewhere in entertainment and the arts:
Interactive ceramics
“And then, I: Monuments to Pivotal Moments,” an interactive art exhibit designed for public spaces featuring installations of figurative ceramic sculptures by Conway artist Barbara Satterfield, is on display through June 27 in the third Floor Gallery of the Central Arkansas Library System’s Cox Creative Center, 120 River Market Ave., Little Rock.
Receptions at 11 a.m. and 3 p.m. Saturday will include refreshments, interactive options for visitors, improvisational performances based on the artwork and a welcome by the artist. Admission to the exhibit and the receptions are free. Call (501) 918-3090 or email tmikulan@cals.org.
Park Proposal
The Proposal (starring Ryan Reynolds, Sandra Bullock and Mary Steenburgen) will be on screen at sundown Wednesday in the First Security Amphitheater in Riverfront Park, behind the River Market’s Ottenheimer Market Hall, 400 President Clinton Ave., Little Rock.
The film, rated PG-13, is part of the Little Rock Convention and Visitors Bureau and City of Little Rock’s summer Movies in the Park series. Sponsor for this screening is the Little Rock Marriott. Admission is free; families (children under 18 must be accompanied by an adult with a photo ID), picnics and pets are welcome, but no glass containers, please. The amphitheater opens an hour before screenings. Call (501) 375-2552 or visit the website, moviesintheparklr.net.
New Play Festival
TheatreSquared’s 2015 Arkansas New Play Festival kicks off with an opening reception, 6:30 p.m. Friday at the Nadine Baum Studios, 505 W. Spring St., Fayetteville.
The lineup will include a workshop production of The Quest for Don Quixote, Mark Brown’s new adaptation of the novel by Miguel de Cervantes, and staged readings of Uncle by Lee Blessing, a Pulitzer Prize finalist; Dust by Arkansas native Qui Nguyen, a 2014 Sundance Institute Fellow; Fault by Robert Ford, TheatreSquared’s artistic director; and The Dingdong: Or, How the French Kiss, Mark Shanahan’s new adaptation of the classic Georges Feydeau farce, slated for an off-Broadway premiere in 2016.
Also on the schedule, the “24 Hour Play-Off,” in which teams of artists compete to create the best original 10-minute play with 24 hours to write and rehearse, at 6 p.m. Sunday, and a “Young Playwrights Showcase,” 10-minute plays by Arkansas high school students, at 5:30 p.m. June 27.
New Play Passes, granting early access to all performances and events, are $40; there will be a limited number of “30 under 30” passes for patrons under 30 for $15. Single tickets range from $7 to $15. Call (479) 443-5600 or online at theatre2.org.
The lineup:
Friday: 6:30 p.m., Opening reception; 7:30 p.m.: Fault
Saturday: 2 p.m., Dust; 7:30 p.m., The Dingdong: Or, How the French Kiss
Sunday: 2 p.m., Uncle; 6 p.m., 24 Hour Play-Off
June 25: 8 p.m., The Quest for Don Quixote
June 26: 5:30 p.m, The Dingdong: Or, How the French Kiss; 8 p.m., The Quest for Don Quixote
June 27: 2 p.m., The Quest for Don Quixote; 5:30 p.m., Young Playwrights Showcase; 8 p.m., The Quest for Don Quixote
June 28: 2 p.m., Uncle; 7 p.m., Dust
The festival also will feature June 27 performances of Dust and Uncle at the Arkansas Repertory Theatre, 601 Main St., Little Rock. Call (501) 378-0405 or visit the website, therep.org, for ticket information.
Artists’ opportunity
The River Valley Arts Center, 1001 E. B St., Russellville, is seeking works by area artists to display in its gallery in July. Artists on the center’s Local Artist Register or who reside in Pope, Johnson, Conway or Yell counties may submit up to two works that have not been shown at the center in the past two years. All work must be delivered to the center June 24-26 between 10 a.m.-4 p.m.
The exhibit opens with a reception, 1-3 p.m. July 5, and will remain up through the end of the month. A list of rules, entry information and an entry form are available online at rivervalleyartscenter.org. Call (479) 968-2452 or email rvartscenter@gmail.com.
Staycation Sweepstakes
The Little Rock Convention and Visitors Bureau is running a “Summers Are Better With a Southern Accent” summer sweepstakes through Aug. 21, including four vacation packages ( “Family Fun,” “Presidential Pathways,” “Little Rock Libations” and “Dinner and a Show/Downtown Date Night,” each valued at $250-$300).
Enter the sweepstakes by liking and commenting on specific questions relating to each package via the bureau’s Facebook page, facebook.com/ExperienceLR; or via its Twitter (twitter.com/LittleRockCVB) and Instagram feeds. For complete rules, visit the website, tinyurl.com/pm2mqdg.
Opera-ting grant
The University of Central Arkansas’ College of Fine Arts and Communication has received a $32,400 grant from the Multi-Arts Production Fund toward its commissioning of a Little Rock Nine opera from Cuban-born composer and conductor Tania Leon, with a libretto by literary critic and scholar Henry Louis Gates Jr.
The college has also received a $15,000 grant from the National Endowment for the Arts, $50,000 from the Virginia B. Toulmin Foundation and $25,000 from the Darragh Foundation. UCA Sponsored Programs has also granted $10,000 to the project, which still needs to raise $38,600 toward the $166,000 total cost to commission the opera, says Gayle Seymour, the college’s associate dean. To make an online donation, visit the website, uca.edu/go/LR9.