Events in this roundup are possibly subject to cancellation based on the covid-19 public health situation.
TheatreSquared, 477 W Spring St., Fayetteville, will open its 2020-21 season with the previously announced world premiere of a stage version of Designing Women by Linda Bloodworth-Thomason, co-creator of the TV show on which it's based, Aug. 12-Sept. 13.
The rest of the lineup:
• Sept. 30-Oct. 25: Violet, music by Jeanine Tesori, libretto by Brian Crawley. A young Arkansas woman in 1964 hops a Greyhound bus heading towards a miracle in Tulsa -- the healing touch of a TV evangelist who will make her beautiful.
• Nov. 4-Dec. 13: At the Wedding by Bryna Turner (regional premiere)
• Dec. 2-27: A Christmas Carol, adapted by Amy Herzberg and Robert Ford from the novel by Charles Dickens (special season add-on)
• Jan 27-Feb 21: School Girls: or, the African Mean Girls Play by Jocelyn Bioh
• March 10-April 4, 2021: Twelfth Night by William Shakespeare
• March 31-May 16, 2021: The Half-Life of Marie Curie by Lauren Gunderson
• May 19-June 13, 2021: American Mariachi by Jose Cruz Gonzalez
For season ticket information, call (479) 777-7477 or visit theatre2.org.
Rock's opera
Opera in the Rock opens its 2020-21 season kicks off Aug. 27-30 with Scalia/Ginsburg by Derrick Wang, focusing on the unlikely friendship of U.S. Supreme Court justices Ruth Bader Ginsburg and the late Antonin Scalia, at the Clinton Presidential Center, 1200 President Clinton Ave., Little Rock.
It's a co-production with the Clinton Foundation. Matthew Tatus and Shannon Rookey will sing the title roles.
The rest of the lineup:
• Jan. 27-31: The musical A Gentleman's Guide to Love and Murder (music and lyrics by Steven Lutvak, book and lyrics by Robert L. Freedman), co-production with the Argenta Community Theater, 405 Main St., North Little Rock, where it will be staged.
• Early June 2021: Gaetano Donizetti's Anna Bolena, with soprano Francesca Mondanaro in the title role and musicians from the Arkansas Symphony Orchestra conducted by Geoffrey Robson.
Ticket information will be available online at oitr.org.
Arts academy
Wildwood Park for the Arts, 20919 Denny Road, Little Rock, is registering students for its 2020 Wildwood Academy of Music and the Arts, a summer music festival and arts camp for youngsters 6-18.
The lineup:
• WAMA Dance, for beginner and intermediate students grade 6 and up, focusing on Broadway and theater dance, June 15-19
• Advanced & Intermediate Voice, June 22-26. Intermediate: students 8-18, must be graduates of the WILDMusic beginners vocal program or have 2-3 years of private instruction, choral, or musical theater experience. Advanced: ages 14-18, must have more than four years of private instruction, choral or musical theater experience.
• Advanced & Intermediate Piano, June 22-26. Intermediate: Students 8-18 with 2-3 years of previous piano instruction; advanced: ages 12-18 with a minimum of four years instruction.
• Advanced & Intermediate Instrumental, June 29-July 3. Intermediate: ages 8-18 with 2-3 years of previous instruction on an instrument. Advanced: ages 12-18 with at least four years instruction.
• Advanced & Intermediate Visual Arts, June 29-July 3
• WAMA Beginner Musicians, July 6-10, designed for students 6-13 who have little or no prior music experience.
Visit wama.wildwoodpark.org.
Windgate grants
The Windgate Foundation has awarded two grants totaling $950,000 to Artspace, a national nonprofit real estate developer for the arts that has been active in Arkansas for the last three years.
The larger grant, $650,000, provides for the predevelopment of an Artspace mixed-use project on a site to be selected in the Little Rock/North Little Rock area offering affordable live/work housing for artists plus space for non-residential uses such as studios, offices, galleries and arts-friendly retail. Little Rock-based artists and philanthropists John and Robyn Horn have pledged an additional predevelopment gift.
The second earmarks $300,000 for "Immersion," an Artspace training program that helps arts and cultural nonprofits quantify, plan for and successfully address their space needs. Little Rock will be the fourth community to participate in the 12-month program, following Detroit, Minneapolis/St. Paul, and Memphis.
Style on 03/22/2020