ENTERTAINMENT NOTES

Fiddler Dennis Stroughmatt performs Friday at the Ozark Folk Center.
Fiddler Dennis Stroughmatt performs Friday at the Ozark Folk Center.

Elsewhere in entertainment and the arts:

Folk Center music

Fiddler Dennis Stroughmatt will blend Celtic, Canadian and old- time sounds, bridging contemporary Canadian and Louisiana Cajun styles, Friday at the Ozark Folk Center State Park, 1032 Park Ave. in Mountain View: 2-3 p.m. in the Craft Village and 7-9 p.m. in the large auditorium. Tickets to each performance are $12; combination tickets for both shows are $19.50. Call (870) 269-3851 or visit OzarkFolkCenter.com.

Also at the center this weekend:

• Area musicians will honor folk legend Jimmy Driftwood, who played a large part in developing the folk music scene in Mountain View in the 1960s and the creation of the center in the early '70s, in the annual Jimmy Driftwood Tribute Concert, 7 p.m. Saturday. Tickets are $12.

• The Folk Center will host a concert by folk musician and storyteller Dave Brancecum, who will perform traditional Ozark and old-time tunes from 2-3 p.m., followed by an open "pickin'" session from 3-4 p.m., Sunday at the Shelter Cave at Blanchard Springs Caverns, in the Ozark National Forest, 54 Forest Road 1110-A, Fifty-Six. Admission is free; take lawn chairs and instruments for the jam session.

Mixed-media art

"Are We There Yet," an exhibit of mixed-media works by Little Rock artist Diane Harper, opens today and will be up through Dec. 31 at Christ Church Gallery, 509 Scott St., Little Rock. Opening reception is 5:30-8 p.m. Oct. 9. Admission to reception and gallery are free. Gallery hours: 9 a.m.-5 p.m. Monday-Thursday, 9 a.m.-noon Friday and anytime the church is open on Sunday. Call (501) 375-2342.

Gospel kickoff

The 75-voice Saint Mark Sanctuary Choir kicks off Trinity United Methodist Church's Trinity Presents ... Performance Series with a gospel concert at 6 p.m. Sunday at the church, 1101 N. Mississippi St., Little Rock. Darius Nelson conducts. Admission is free. Call (501) 666-2813.

Mezzo recital

Mezzo-soprano Rosella Ewing, assistant professor of voice and opera at the University of Arkansas at Little Rock, and pianist Kyung-Eun Na will give a recital at 3 p.m. Sunday in the Stella Boyle Smith Recital Hall, Fine Arts building, UALR, 2801 S. University Ave., Little Rock.

The program: Trois Chansons de Bilitis by Claude Debussy; "Arianna a Naxos" by Franz Joseph Haydn; four selections from Brettl-Lieder by Arnold Schoenberg; Cabaret Songs by Benjamin Britten; "The Boy From ..." by Mary Rodgers; "Ages Ago" by Vernon Duke; and "Stranger Here Myself" by Kurt Weill. Admission is free. Call (501) 569-3294 or visit ualr.edu/music.

ASU premiere

Arkansas State University faculty member Ken Hatch will be the clarinet soloist as the ASU Wind Ensemble premieres Winding Up/Winding Down by Michael Gandolfi in a concert at 7:30 p.m. today in Riceland Hall, ASU's Fowler Center, 201 Olympic Drive, Jonesboro. The program will also include La Procession du Rocio by Joaquin Turina, Music for Prague 1968 by Karel Husa and March, op.99, by Sergei Prokofiev. Admission is $5, free to ASU students. Call (870) 972-2094.

Historical tour

The White-Baucum House, 201 S. Izard St., Little Rock, will be the site of the Arkansas Historic Preservation Program's October "Sandwiching in History" tour, noon Friday. The 1869-70 Italianate-style house was built for Robert J.T. White, then-Arkansas secretary of state; was enlarged in the mid-1870s by second owner, businessman George F. Baucum, and was recently rehabilitated as office space. The event includes a brief lecture; take a lunch. Admission is free. Call (501) 324-9880, email info@arkansaspreservation.org or visit arkansaspreservation.org.

Dance concerts

Christian-oriented New Creation Dance Company opens its fifth season with dances from its spring 2015 show "Love Never Fails" and 2014's "Thy Kingdom Come" at 2 p.m. Saturday as part of Sherwood Fest, a free, family-centered event at Sherwood Forest, 1111 W. Maryland Ave., Sherwood.

The company will reprise "Love Never Fails" at 6:30 p.m. Oct. 10 at Mena High School, 1200 Dallas Ave., Mena.

Admission to both performances is free. Visit newcreationdance.org.

"Leap Into Fall," a fundraiser, 6:30 p.m. Nov. 6 at Pulaski Heights United Methodist Church, 4823 Woodlawn Drive, Little Rock, will feature a catered dinner, performances by company dancers and students, games for children and a silent auction. Tickets are $15, $5 for children in advance, $18 and $7 at the door.

T. Williams one-acts

Fort Smith Little Theatre, 401 N. Sixth St., Fort Smith, will stage Four by Tenn, four one-acts ( 27 Wagons Full of Cotton, The Lady of Larkspur Lotion, Lord Byron's Love Letter and This Property Is Condemned) by Tennessee Williams, 7:30 p.m. Thursday-Saturday. Doors open at 6:45 p.m. Tickets to the off-season production are $5. Visit fslt.org.

Weekend auditions

The Weekend Theater, 1001 W. Seventh St. (at Chester Street), Little Rock, will hold auditions for two plays -- The Foreigner by Larry Shue and Standing on Ceremony: The Gay Marriage Plays by Mo Gaffney, Jordon Harrison, Moises Kaufman, Neil LaBute, Wendy MacLeod, Jose Rivera, Paul Rudnick and Doug Wright, conceived by Brian Shnipper -- at 10 a.m. Saturday and 6 p.m. Sunday.

Foreigner director Matthew Mentgen (matthew@mentgenlawfirm.com) is casting five men and two women; production dates are Dec. 4-6, 11-13 and 18-20. Standing on Ceremony director Duane Jackson (jacksonduane84@yahoo.com) will cast at least six actors (three men and three women) and possibly up to 12, age 20 and up. Production dates are Jan. 15-16, 22-23 and 29-30.

Auditions will involve cold readings from the scripts (not available before the auditions). Auditioners need attend only one session. Print and fill out an audition sheet, available online at tinyurl.com/qxfsqy9; also provide a recent photo (can be black and white or color, medium- or head-shot) unless you already have a recent photo on file. Visit the website, weekendtheater.org, for more details.

Literary prizes

Arkansas authors Guy Lancaster and Davis McCombs will receive the Booker Worthen Literary Prize and the Porter Fund Literary Prize, respectively, at "A Prized Evening," 6 p.m. today in the Darragh Center, Central Arkansas Library System's Main Library, 100 Rock St., Little Rock. Lancaster, editor of the online Encyclopedia of Arkansas History & Culture at the Butler Center for Arkansas Studies, will receive his award for his book, Racial Cleansing in Arkansas, 1883-1924: Politics, Land, Labor, and Criminality. McCombs, director of creative writing and translation at the University of Arkansas at Fayetteville, will receive his prize in recognition of his body of work, which includes two published volumes of poetry. A book signing and reception will follow the presentation. Admission is free; make reservations (appreciated, not required) by calling (501) 918-3033 or by email, kchagnon@cals.org.

Weekend on 10/01/2015

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