Elsewhere in entertainment, events and the arts:
Young artists
The Arkansas Museum of Fine Arts opens its 60th "Young Arkansas Artists Exhibition" with a virtual awards ceremony and family festival, 11 a.m. Saturday on the museum's YouTube channel. Register at my.arkansasartscenter.org/136/8197.
The digital exhibition will be available for online viewing permanently at yaa.arkmfa.org. The 59th exhibition is currently and will remain on display on the site as well.
Art teachers and instructors at 41 schools in 24 cities across the state submitted 273 works by students from kindergarten through high school — in a range of media and techniques to a panel of art professionals who chose 65 pieces — five per grade — for the exhibition.
Juror Courtney Bradford, curator of collections at Little Rock's Mosaic Templars Cultural Center, selected a Best in Class and two honorable mentions for each grade, as well as the recipients of the Mid-Southern Watercolorists Award for Achievement in Watercolor and Ray Smenner Award for Achievement in Painting.
Members of the Arkansas Art Educators Association also selected one Teacher's Choice award from each grade; the winner's school receives a monetary award to support its art program funded by Arkansas Children's Hospital.
Call (501) 372-4000 or visit arkmfa.org.
Studio 'Songs'
The Studio Theatre, 320 W. Seventh St., Little Rock, performs "Songs for a New World" (music and lyrics by Jason Robert Brown), 7:30 p.m. today-Saturday and May 20-22 and 2:30 p.m. Sunday and May 23. Tickets are $20. Visit centralarkansastickets.com. For more information, call (501) 374-2615 or visit studiotheatrelr.com. Safety protocols are in place; theater capacity is currently 60 seats per performance with all patrons required to wear face coverings inside the building. Social distancing is recommended; all public areas are cleaned before and after every performance with an antiviral fogging agent.
2nd Friday
Stephen Koch of public radio program "Arkansongs" and the Old State House's Daniel Cockrell continue their series of programs exploring Barton Coliseum's impact as a music venue, for the years 1965-70, via Facebook Live, for 2nd Friday Art Night, 7 p.m. Friday. The museum's 2FAN group will host a 2nd Friday Art Night get-together in-person, 5-8 p.m. at the Main Street Pocket Park, on Main Street between Eighth and Ninth streets, with music, Loblolly ice cream, Stone's Throw beverages and appearances from the 10 local artists who recently painted the park's mural gallery wall.
Fabulous comedian
Comedian Jackie Fabulous, a semifinalist on the 2019 season of "America's Got Talent," performs at 7 p.m. Saturday at the Nut House Comedy Lounge, 303 Phillips Road, North Little Rock, to benefit the Alex Foundation, a nonprofit that introduces limited-access students (members of minorities and marginalized groups) to architecture, including STE+AM (science, technology, engineering, architecture and math). Also on the bill: featured act Latoya Polk and host May Gayden. Tickets are $35. Visit tinyurl.com/8cuuwndd.
'Visions of Hope'
The Conway Symphony Orchestra and Music Director Israel Getzov present "Visions of Hope," a free online concert, 7 p.m. Sunday via the orchestra's website, conwaysymphony.org. Getzov and the orchestra's new general manager, Suzanne Loerch, say the virtual presentation, which "anticipates the orchestra's return to in-person concerts in the fall of 2021," according to a news release, will be the first but not the last such virtual presentation: "Virtual performances could be the bridge to the symphony and its repertoire for many people and we are eager to provide that connection," Loerch explains. The program: Edward Elgar's "Serenade for Strings" and Arcangelo Corelli's "Concerto Grosso No. 8," known as the "Christmas Concerto." Getzov will give a pre-concert talk, live at 6:45 p.m. Sunday on Facebook (facebook.com/conwaysymphony). Call (501) 269-1066.
Cemetery session
Leslie Fowler will present a program titled "Monarch Flower Gardens" for the Downtown Dames' Mount Holly Garden Series, 9 a.m. Saturday at the Bell House at Mount Holly Cemetery, 1200 Broadway, Little Rock. Admission is free but a suggested donation benefits cemetery projects. Call (501) 372-3372 or email mewtfrontporchlady@gmail.com.
Gaffigan, AMP, August
Tickets — $29.50-$99.50 plus fees — go on sale at noon Friday for a 7 p.m. Aug. 28 show by comedian Jim Gaffigan, on his "Fun Tour," at the Walmart AMP, 5079 W. Northgate Road, Rogers. Call (479) 443-5600 or visit amptickets.com.
Shakespeare lesson
The Arkansas Shakespeare Theatre is offering a program titled "Shakespeare in Isolation: Conflict and Forgiveness" that provides interactive videos for students in grades 9-12 that "compare the emotions and situations that we are experiencing today with [those] of Shakespeare's iconic characters," according to a news release. Complete a short form at arkshakes.com or via tinyurl.com/n5hh76bh to access the materials, which are free. Partial funding for the course comes from a grant through the Arkansas Arts Council. Call (501) 450-5092 or email atmelissap@uca.edu.
Royal relaunch
Benton's Royal Players and Young Players have announced a series of 2021 performances at the Royal Theatre, 111 Market St., Benton, starting with the Young Players' July 15-18 production of "Disney's Frozen Jr." (music and lyrics by Kristen Anderson-Lopez and Robert Lopez, plus five new songs written for the 2018 Broadway production).
The rest of the lineup:
- ◼️ Aug. 12-22: Royal Players' production of "Lost in Yonkers" by Neil Simon
- ◼️ Sept. 17-19: "Disney's The Jungle Book Kids" (Young Players, adapted from Disney's animated film and the works of Rudyard Kipling)
- ◼️ Dec. 2-12: "Disney's Beauty and the Beast" (music by Alan Menken, lyrics by Howard Ashman and Tim Rice, based on the Academy Award-winning animated feature,).
The 2021-22 season will also include the "Haunted Royal Theatre Tour" in October. Email theroyalplayers@gmail.com.