Fayetteville-based professional regional theater TheatreSquared will showcase five new plays in its two-weekend, two-city Arkansas New Play Festival Friday-June 25.
Opening weekend sessions will take place in the Great Hall at Bentonville’s Crystal Bridges Museum of American Art, 600 Museum Way; the second weekend will take place at TheatreSquare’s home performance space, Walton Arts Center’s Nadine Baum Studios, 505 W. Spring St., Fayetteville.
The lineup (except as noted, rehearsed staged readings with professional casts):
The Furies by Pulitzer Prize finalist Lisa D’Amour, 2 p.m. Saturday, Crystal Bridges; 2 p.m. June 25, TheatreSquared. Adult language and themes.
Comet Town by Rick Ehrstin, 4:30 p.m. Saturday, Crystal Bridges; 7:30 p.m. June 24, TheatreSquared
Visible From Four States by Barbara Hammond, 5:30 p.m. Friday, Crystal Bridges; 4:30 p.m. June 25, TheatreSquared
We Swim, We Talk, We Go to War by Mona Mansour, 3:30 p.m. June 24, TheatreSquared
Transatlantic by John Walch, staged reading 7:30 p.m. Friday, Crystal Bridges; workshop performances, 7:30 p.m. June 22-23, TheatreSquared. An earlier draft was part of the 2015 festival, titled What God Hath Wrought.
The festival will also feature:
(I)sland T(rap), a new oneman “rap Odyssey” by Austin Ashford, 4:30 p.m. June 18, TheatreSquared.
Editors and staff from the Dramatists Guild, the national association of professional playwrights, will present a free, experimental live “publication” of their monthly magazine, The Dramatist, with playwright interviews and other features, 1 p.m. June 24, TheatreSquared. Free.
The Young Playwrights Showcase, two 10-minute student works as well as an encore performance of Follow Me @TioSam by Ashley Edwards, a devised theater prompted by the writings of the Stitches Group from Springdale, 2 p.m. June 18, TheatreSquared. Free.
TheatreSquared will offer a selection of complimentary on-tap “new releases” from Northwest Arkansas breweries and brewpubs before and after Fayetteville shows. A limited number of all-access, two-weekend passes, $50, also grant access to an artists’ reception 6:30 p.m. June 22. Single tickets are $10 for readings, $15 for workshops. Call (479) 443-5600 or visit arknewplayfest.com.
‘Nasty Woman’
“Nasty Woman,” a touring exhibition of work by 36 female artists, will be on display Wednesday-Aug. 25 in Gallery I, Fine Arts Building, University of Arkansas at Little Rock, 2801 S. University Ave., Little Rock. A 5-7 p.m. Aug. 24 closing reception will include a talk by curator Margo Duvall, assistant professor of photography at Henderson State University in Arkadelphia, where the exhibition debuted in March. Summer gallery hours are 9 a.m.-5 p.m. Monday-Friday. Admission is free. Call (501) 569-8977.
Regan era
Comedian Brian Regan will perform at 7:30 p.m. Thursday in Baum Walker Hall at Fayetteville’s Walton Arts Center, 495 W. Dickson St. Tickets are $59.50 plus fees and taxes. Call (479) 443-5600 or visit waltonartscenter.org or BrianRegan.com.
Wildwood festival
Students, faculty and guest artists will perform for the Wildwood Academy of Music and the Arts summer festival, kicking off at 7:30 p.m. Tuesday with a performance by violinist Kiril Laskarov at Wildwood Park for the Arts, 20919 Denny Road, Little Rock.
The rest of the lineup (all performances, 7:30 p.m.at Wildwood’s Lucy Lockett Cabe Festival Theatre):
June 22: Baritone Joo Won Kang
June 29: Soprano Kelly Singer
July 13: The Fourth Wall — actors/dancers/instrumentalists Hilary Abigana, flute; C. Neil Parsons, bass trombone; and Greg Jukes, percussion and accordion.
Admission is by suggested donation of $15. Call (501) 821-7275 or visit wildwoodpark.org.
Blues Weekend
Blues performers descend on Eureka Springs from Thursday-June 18 for the annual Blues Weekend at venues throughout the Ozarks village.
Headline shows — Saturday, Fiona Boyes at 4:10 p.m.; Sunday, Sister Lucille at 2:20 p.m., EG Kight at 3:30 p.m. and the All-Star Jam at 4:30 p.m. — take place on the Festival Stage at Turpentine Creek Wildlife Refuge, 239 Turpentine Creek Lane.
Saturday-Sunday passes are $40; Saturday tickets are $30; Sunday tickets are $10; VIP passes, $130, include premium seating and a special Blues Weekend goodie bag. Passes come with additional fees. Individual venues may also have cover charges, although some shows are free. A complete schedule and additional information are available at eurekaspringsblues.com.
Documentary film
Section 60: Arlington National Cemetery, a documentary about the final resting place for men and women who died fighting in Iraq and Afghanistan, screens at 6:30 p.m. Tuesday at the MacArthur Museum of Arkansas Military History, 503 E. Ninth St., Little Rock, part of the “Movies at MacArthur” series. Admission, popcorn and beverages are free. Call (501) 376-4602 or visit arkmilitaryheritage.com.
Corpse calling?
Arkansas Public Theatre will stage Dead Man’s Cell Phone by Sarah Ruhl, 8 p.m. Friday-Saturday and June 22-24 and 2 p.m. June 18 and 25 at the Victory Theater, 116 S. Second St, Rogers. Cabaret seats are $35, $60 per table of two; balcony seats are $23. Call (479) 631-8988 or visit arkansaspublictheatre.org.
Inside/Out!
Born in a Taxi, an Australian physical theater ensemble that creates performances for outdoor and site-specific environments, will put on two free shows Saturday as part of the Arts Center of the Ozarks and Potluck Arts’ Inside/Out project:
11 a.m. Downtown Springdale Farmers Market on Mill Street: The Curious Game, blending the worlds of fairy tales and board games in which audience members become pieces on an oversize chess board.
7-8 p.m.: The Born in a Taxi Zebras kick off the Rodeo of the Ozarks Western Days, 1423 E. Emma Ave., Springdale.
Call (479) 751-5441 or visit acozarks.org.
Rent in Memphis
The 20th anniversary tour of Jonathan Larson’s musical Rent will be onstage, 8 p.m. Friday, 2 and 8 p.m. Saturday and 1:30 and 6:30 p.m. June 18 at the Orpheum Theatre, 203 S. Main St., Memphis. Tickets are $35-$100. Call
(901) 525.3000 or visit orpheum-memphis.com.