THEATER
'Chicago' at UCA
A touring company stages "Chicago" (music by John Kander, lyrics by Fred Ebb, book by Fred Ebb and Bob Fosse), 7:30 p.m. Monday in Reynolds Performance Hall at the University of Central Arkansas, 201 Donaghey Ave., Conway. The show contains adult themes and mature content. Tickets are $30-$50, $10 for students. Call (501) 450-3265 or (866) 810-0012 or visit uca.edu/reynolds.
FUNDRAISER
'Into the Blue'
Thea Foundation's 2024 Into the Blue fundraiser, 6:30 p.m. Saturday at the University of Arkansas-Pulaski Technical College, 3000 W. Scenic Drive, North Little Rock, includes a tented cocktail reception with food from Heritage Catering and craft cocktails from Colonial Wines & Spirits and a performance by the Little Rock School District high school jazz band. Then it moves to the college's CHARTS Theater for a performance of music and dance acts that benefit from Thea's programming, including current Art Closet recipients and past scholarship winners who are now performing professionally. Clark Trim and Henrik Thostrup, owners of Colonial Wines and Spirits, will receive the nonprofit's 2024 Pillars of the Arts award. Tickets are $100. Visit theafoundation.org/into-the-blue. All proceeds support Thea Foundation programming.
MUSIC
Guitarists I
Guitarists Mak Grgig and Jake Hertzog, in collaboration with the University of Arkansas music department, perform at 7 p.m. Thursday at the 21C Museum Hotel, 200 N.E. A St., Bentonville, part of the Trillium Salon Series. Tickets are $10. Visit trilliumsalonseries.com/grgic.
Guitarist II
Guitarist Jackie Venson performs for a "West Street Live" concert, 7:30 p.m. Friday in the Starr Theater at Fayetteville's Walton Arts Center, 495 W. Dickson St. Tickets are $33 for theater seating, $53 for cabaret seating. Call (479) 443-5600 or visit waltonartscenter.org.
Guitarist Jackie Venson performs Friday at Fayetteville's Walton Arts Center. (Special to the Democrat-Gazette)
COMEDY
Kountry Wayne
Actor/comedian Kountry Wayne's 29-city "King of Hearts" tour includes a 7:30 p.m. performance today at Little Rock's Robinson Center Performance Hall, 426 W. Markham St. at Broadway. Tickets are $39.50-$79.50. Visit Ticketmaster.com.
Actor/comedian Kountry Wayne performs today at Little Rock's Robinson Center Performance Hall. (Special to the Democrat-Gazette/Cat Harper)
Michael Palascak
Comedian Michael Palascak performs at 7:30 p.m. Thursday at Fayetteville's Walton Arts Center, 495 W. Dickson St. Tickets are $21 for theater seating, $31 for cabaret seating. Call (479) 443-5600 or visit waltonartscenter.org.
DANCE
WAB 'Wizard'
Western Arkansas Ballet stages the premiere of a new ballet, "The Wizard of Oz," 7 p.m. Saturday and 2 p.m. April 7 at the ArcBest Corp. Performing Arts Center, 55 S. Seventh St., Fort Smith. Associate artistic director and choreographer Jared Mesa has set the ballet on music by Adolph Adam, Richard Wagner and Ferdinand Hérold. Presenting sponsors are Scott and Vicki James. Tickets are $30, $20 for children and students (with a valid student ID). Call (479) 785-0152 or visit waballet.org.
ON THE PODIUM
Eclipse-related talks
Erin Fehr, assistant director and archivist at University of Arkansas at Little Rock's Sequoyah National Research Center, will give two eclipse-related talks, focusing on the significance of solar eclipses within Native American mythology:
◼️ 3:30 p.m. Wednesday as part of a free "Solar Eclipse Survival Kits" event at the Argenta Public Library, 420 Main St., North Little Rock, that will also feature kids' crafts and an eclipse-glasses giveaway.
◼️ 6 p.m. Friday, a presentation titled "Storytelling: Native Americans and the Eclipse" at the Arkansas Museum of Fine Arts, 501 E. Ninth St., Little Rock, in conjunction with the museum's exhibition "Action/Abstraction Redefined: Modern Native Art, 1940s to 1970s." Admission is free, but registration is required, via tinyurl.com/y2xj9hx6.
Erin Fehr, assistant director and archivist at University of Arkansas at Little Rock's Sequoyah National Research Center, gives two eclipse-related talks this week. (Special to the Democrat-Gazette)
'Imagineer's' dreams
Former Disney "Imagineer" C. McNair Wilson presents "An Imagineer's Behind the Dreams," 7 p.m. Thursday in the Owen Center theater, 1102 W. College St., at Arkansas State University-Beebe. It's part of the university's Lecture-Concert Series. Tickets are $10, $5 for educators, military personnel, K-12 students and senior citizens 60 and older. Visit asub.ticketleap.com/mcnairwilson.
Wilson served as a consultant for 23 divisions of the Disney Co. from 1989 to 1996 and contributed significantly to Walt Disney Imagineering from 1985-91. He also served as a creative director, overseeing projects including stage plays, musicals, grand openings, convention shows, street theater and conference planning staging, at Universal Studios, Sony Entertainment and Warner Bros.
Historical novelist
Author and Lyon College alumnus Garrard Conley discusses his latest novel in a talk titled "The Novel 'All the World Beside': Researching Historical Fiction," 4 p.m. Thursday in the Nucor Auditorium, Lyon Business and Economics Building, Lyon College, 2300 Highland Road, Batesville. It's part of the college's Lyon annual Convocation speaker series. Admission is free.
Conley is also author of the memoir "Boy Erased" (Riverhead/Penguin 2016). His work has been published by The New York Times, Oxford American, Time and Virginia Quarterly Review. He is also a graduate of Brooklyn College's Master of Fine Arts program, where he was a Truman Capote Fellow. He is an assistant professor of creative writing at Kennesaw State University in Kennesaw, Ga.
Post 'apocalypse'
Former Washington Post executive editor Martin "Marty" Baron discusses his new book, "Collision of Power: Trump, Bezos, and the Washington Post," with Walter E. Hussman Jr., former Arkansas Democrat-Gazette publisher and current chairman of WEHCO Media Inc., 6 p.m. April 9 at the Clinton Presidential Center, 1200 President Clinton Ave., Little Rock. It is part of the center's Frank & Kula Kumpuris Distinguished Lecture series. Admission is free; visit clintonpresidentialcenter.org/events to RSVP. Baron will sign copies of the book immediately following the program; copies are available at the Clinton Museum Store.