1 JOKES
Cedric The Entertainer, Mike Epps, Eddie Griffin, D.L. Hughley, George Lopez and Charlie Murphy are coming together for a night of laughs with the Black and Brown Comedy Get Down, 8 p.m. Saturday at North Little Rock's Verizon Arena. Tickets are $47.25-$72.50. Call (800) 745-3000 or visit ticketmaster.com. See story on Page 4E.
2 JUNETEENTH
The Mosaic Templars Cultural Center, 501 W. Ninth St., Little Rock, remembers the end of slavery with its annual Juneteenth Celebration of Freedom, 11 a.m.-5 p.m. Saturday. The block party will offer music, poetry, children's activities, food and vendors. Admission is free. Call (501) 683-3620 or visit mosaictemplarscenter.com. See story on Page 4E
3 JETT
Rocker Joan Jett performs at 8 p.m. Saturday in the Timberwood Amphitheatre at Magic Springs, U.S. 70 East (East Grand Avenue), Hot Springs. Hot Springs cover-alternative band Crash Meadows will open the show at 7 p.m. Lawn seating is included in the gate ticket -- $59.99, $36.99 for children under 4 feet tall and adults 55 and older, free for kids 3 and younger; reserved seats are $10 and $8. Call (501) 624-0100 or visit MagicSprings.com. See story on Page 5E
4 JOG
Runners of all ages can prove their speed in the Go! Mile, 7 a.m. Saturday at the Clinton Presidential Center, 1200 President Clinton Ave., Little Rock. The championship one-mile race will be broken into seven heats based on age, sex and ability. Registration is $15 without a T-shirt, $25 with a T-shirt and $5 for the children's mini-mile run. There will be a packet pick-up expo at 10 a.m.-6 p.m. Friday at Go! Running, 1819 N. Grant St., Little Rock. Call (501) 663-6800 or visit gorunning.com.
5 JOURNEY
"The Mom Series," photographs by Lali Khalid of more than 40 mothers and their children in Arkansas, her own mother and sister in Pakistan and family groupings in Pakistan, London and around the United States, opens Friday at Argenta Gallery, 413 Main St., North Little Rock, with a free 5-8 pm. opening reception during the Argenta Art Walk. The exhibit will be up through July 10; gallery hours are 11 a.m.-5 p.m. Monday-Saturday and by appointment. Call (501) 225-5600, email info@ArgentaGallery.com or visit ArgentaGallery.com.
6 JETE
Violinist Tarn Travers will be the guest artist, with pianist Kristina Marinova, for the first of four Wildwood Academy of Music & the Arts recitals, 7:30 p.m. today in the Cabe Festival Theatre, Wildwood Park for the Arts, 20919 Denny Road, Little Rock. The program: Passacaglia by Heinrich Ignaz Franz Biber; Nocturne for Solo Violin by Kaija Saariaho; Rhapsody No. 1 for violin and piano by Bela Bartok; and the Violin Sonata No. 9 in A major, op.47, "Kreutzer," by Ludwig van Beethoven. Tickets are $15 (all four concerts for $40); call (501) 821-7275 or visit wildwoodpark.org.
7 JUBILEE
For the 65th year, drama and music combine in the hills for Opera in the Ozarks. This year's season opens Friday, and continues through July 17 with performances of Offenbach's The Tales of Hoffmann, Verdi's La Traviata and Rossini's La Cenerentola. Most performances will take place at Inspiration Point in Eureka Springs, with three special performances at Bentonville's Arend Arts Center, 1901 S.E. J St. Tickets are $20 and $25. Call (479) 253-8595 or visit opera.org.
8 JUXTAPOSITION
An interactive sculpture public art tour has set up shop at the Cox Creative Center, 120 River Market Ave., Little Rock. "And then, I: Monuments to Pivotal Moments" will continue on display through June 27 in the center's Third Floor Gallery. Special receptions with refreshments, improvisational performances and a welcome by artist Barbara Satterfield are planned for 11 a.m. and 3 p.m. Saturday. Admission is free and regular gallery hours are 9 a.m.-5 p.m. Monday-Saturday, 1-5 p.m. Sunday. Call (501) 918-3093.
9 JUSTICE/JEWISH
The Arkansas Shakespeare Theatre's summer repertory season rolls on with two shows on the stage of the Reynolds Performance Hall, University of Central Arkansas, 201 Donaghey Ave., Conway. Tickets are $28, $23 for students, senior citizens and members of the military. Call (866) 810-0012 or visit arkshakes.com.
• The Merchant of Venice, William Shakespeare's tragicomic exploration of love, mercy, integrity and justice, opens at 7:30 p.m. Friday, with subsequent performances at 2 and 7:30 p.m. Saturday, 7:30 p.m. Tuesday and 2 p.m. June 27 and 28.
• Fiddler on the Roof (music by Jerry Bock, lyrics by Sheldon Harnick, book by Joseph Stein), based on Sholom Aleichem's tale of Tevye the dairyman, his five daughters and the rising tide of anti-Semitism that will force them out of their Russian shtetl, continuing at 2 and 7:30 p.m. Sunday, 2 and 7:30 p.m. Wednesday and 7:30 p.m. June 27.
10 JAMPACKED
On other area stages this weekend:
• Murry's Dinner Playhouse, 6323 Colonel Glenn Road, Little Rock, plumbs new "depths" as Church Basement Ladies in A Mighty Fortress (Is Our Basement) concludes its run this weekend. Little Rock's own Drew Jansen wrote the music and lyrics; book is by Greta Grosch. Dinner starts at 6 p.m., with curtain at 7:45 Friday-Saturday. Tickets are $36, $23 for children 15 and under; show only, $25 and $15. Call (501) 562-3131 or visit murrysdp.com.
• August: Osage County by Tracy Letts, the award-winning darkly comic look at a dysfunctional Oklahoma family, continues through Sunday at the Arkansas Repertory Theatre, 601 Main St. (7 p.m. Wednesday-Thursday, 8 p.m. Friday-Saturday, 2 and 7 p.m. Sunday). Tickets are $30-$40. Call (501) 378-0405 or visit therep.org.
• Community Theatre of Little Rock's production of 9 to 5: The Musical (music and lyrics by Dolly Parton, book by Patricia Resnick) continues at 7:30 p.m. Friday-Saturday and 2 p.m. Sunday at the Studio Theatre, 320 W. Seventh St., Little Rock. Tickets are $18; $16 for students (age 10-college), members of the military and senior citizens 65 and older; $8 for children 4-9; and free for children 3 and younger. Get $1 off for a pair of gently used running shoes. Call (501) 410-2283 (ACT3) or visit ctlr-act.org.
• The Addams Family: A New Musical (music and lyrics by Andrew Lippa, book by Marshall Brickman and Rick Elice) will be onstage 7:30 p.m. today and Saturday and June 26-28, 8 p.m. Friday and 2:30 p.m. Sunday and June 28 at the Weekend Theater, West Seventh and Chester streets, Little Rock. Tickets are $20, $16 for senior citizens and students; visit weekendtheater.org/boxoffice. For more information, call (501) 374-3761.
• Saline County Shakes closes out its run of Shakespeare's The Taming of the Shrew, 7 p.m. Friday-Saturday in the Juli Busken Memorial Amphitheater, Tyndall Park, 914 E. Sevier St., Benton. Admission is free; take whatever it will take to make your posterior comfortable in the concrete amphitheater. Weather cancellations or relocations will be posted at facebook.com/SalineCountyShakes. Call (501) 317-8281 or email salinecountyshakes@gmail.com.
Weekend on 06/18/2015