Elsewhere in entertainment and the arts:
TODAY
Halloween sketches
Red Octopus Theater will scare up a Halloween-season sketch comedy show titled #SquadGhouls, 8 p.m. today-Saturday at the Public Theater, 616 Center St., Little Rock. Doors open at 7:30. Tickets are $10, $8 for senior citizens, students, active military and veterans, and anyone in a Halloween costume. The show is recommended for mature audiences. Call (501) 291-3896, email RedOctopusTheater@gmail.com or visit redoctopustheater.com.
Argenta guitar
Fingerstyle guitarist Ken Bonfield will perform at 7:30 p.m. today at The Joint, 301 Main St., North Little Rock, part of the Argenta Arts Acoustic Music Series. Tickets are $20. Visit argentaartsacousticmusic.com.
Tapas and Travel
Fiddlers Emily Phillips and Everett Elam, students at the University of Arkansas at Little Rock, will perform for the first Tapas and Travel, a social event supporting UALR Study Abroad programs, 5:30-7 p.m. today, 1918 S. Gaines St., Little Rock. The evening will include light hors d'oeuvres and refreshments. Admission is free and open to the public; donations to the Study Abroad programs will be accepted. Email esfinzer@ualr.edu.
'Water circus'
Cirque Italia, a nonanimal (well, except for the mermaid and the dinosaurs) "Italian water circus" featuring aerialists, acrobats, a contortionist and jet skiers, will be under a big white and blue tent, 7:30 p.m. today-Friday; 1:30, 4:30 and 7:30 p.m. Saturday and 1:30, 4:30 and 6:30 p.m. Sunday at the Garland County Fairgrounds, 4831 Malvern Road (U.S. 270), Hot Springs. Tickets are $20 and $30, $10 and $17 for children (free for one child 12 and under per paying adult, free for children 2 and younger), $50 and $45 VIP. Call (941) 704-8572 or visit cirqueitalia.com.
Writer's travels
Writer Daryl Farmer, in residence through Friday at Hendrix College, will give a talk titled "All the Luck You'll Ever Need: A Tale From Alaska," 7:30 p.m. today in Reves Recital Hall at Hendrix, 1600 Washington Ave., Conway, under the auspices of the Hendrix-Murphy Foundation Programs in Literature and Language. Admission is free. A reception and book signing will follow in nearby Trieschmann Gallery. Call (501) 450-4597 or email vanaman@hendrix.edu.
FRIDAY
Organ recital
Organist Alcee Chriss III will give a recital, under the banner of the Central Arkansas chapter, American Guild of Organists, 8 p.m. Friday at First Presbyterian Church, 800 Scott St., Little Rock. The program will include Organ Concerto in d minor, BWV 596, by Johann Sebastian Bach; the fourth (in A-flat major) of Six Canonic Studies, op.56, by Robert Schumann; a transcription of the "Prelude" to Pelleas et Melisande, op.80, by Gabriel Faure; Toccata, op.9, by Jean Guillou; Comes Autumn Time by Leo Sowerby; and Chriss' transcription of the first movement, "Non-Allegro," from the Symphonic Dances by Sergei Rachmaninoff. Admission is free. Call (501) 372-2512.
Teen's trials
A youngster plucked from his fast-paced, preteen New York life following his parents' divorce must figure out a way to fit in at a middle school in a sleepy Indiana town in the musical 13 (music and lyrics by Jason Robert Brown, book by Dan Elish and Robert Horn), a Young Players Second Stage production, 7 p.m. Friday-Saturday and Oct. 28-29, 2 p.m. Sunday and Oct. 30 at Royal Theatre, 111 S. Market St., Benton. Tickets are $13. Call (501) 315-5483 or visit theroyalplayers.ticketleap.com.
SATURDAY
Defying the Odds
Tracey L. Roland-McMillon will sign copies of her book, Defying the Odds, a semiautobiographical "realistic nonfiction" account of growing up in the projects, 2-5 p.m. Saturday in the Nugent Conference Center, Kendall Building, Philander Smith College, 900 W. Daisy L Gatson Bates Drive, Little Rock. Admission is free. Copies of the book will be available for $20. Visit defying-the-odds.com.
Sweet dreams
Little Rock musicians Brian and Terri Kinder mark the release of their latest children's album, Kinder Lullaby, with a concert and CD release party, 10 a.m. Saturday at the Hillary Rodham Clinton Children's Library & Learning Center, 4800 W. 10th St., Little Rock. The couple's 11th album features 12 original, acoustic songs by Brian Kinder, including "Sleepytime Song," "Little Baby Bunny," "Stay Here With You" and "Goodnight." Admission is free. Call (501) 978-3870.
Don Giovanni cinecast
The Metropolitan Opera will "cinecast" its production of Don Giovanni by Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart as part of its "The Met: Live in HD" series, 11:55 p.m. Saturday, at the Breckenridge Village 12, Breckenridge Village Shopping Center, Interstate 430 and North Rodney Parham Road, Little Rock, and the Tinseltown 14, 17314 Interstate 30, Benton. Tickets and more information are available online at metopera.org.
SUNDAY
UCA jazz
The University of Central Arkansas Jazz Ensembles will perform at 7:30 p.m. Sunday in the Recital Hall, Snow Fine Arts Center, UCA, 201 Donaghey Ave., Conway.
• The UCA Dixieland Band will pay tribute to the late New Orleans clarinetist Pete Fountain, parading into the recital hall to "West Lawn Dirge" to simulate a New Orleans funeral procession. Their part of the program will also include "Just a Closer Walk With Thee"; with clarinetist Jake Gatlin, "Deep River"; and "At a Georgia Camp Meeting" by Kerry Mills. Jackie Lamar conducts.
• Jazz Ensemble II, will perform "Cold Duck Time" by Eddie Harris, "Smoke Gets in Your Eyes" by Jerome Kern, "Downtown Tango" by Rick Hirsch, "Emily" by Johnny Mandel (with Andrea Rollison on trombone) and "Barbecue Ribs" by Mark Carubia. Gail Robertson conducts.
• Jazz Ensemble I will perform "Step Right Up" by Oliver Nelson, "A Little Minor Booze" by Willie Maiden, "Life in the Bubble" by Gordon Goodwin and "Tenderly" by Walter Gross and Jack Lawrence. Larry Jones conducts.
Admission is free. Call (501) 450-5759 or email jackiel@uca.edu.
Weekend on 10/20/2016