FUN
Wildwood Park for the Arts, 20919 Denny Road, Little Rock, hosts its annual Lanterns Festival, 6-10 p.m. Thursday-Friday, 4-10 p.m. Saturday, 4-9 p.m. Sunday April 10-13, celebrating the food, music, crafts and performing arts of four world cultures (China, Germany, Australia and Portugal), one U.S. city (St. Louis) and a fantasy land (Neverland, in keeping with the park’s recent production of the musical “Peter Pan”).
Festivities and activities include a multicultural indoor stage show, the chance to explore the park’s woodland trails “lined with beautiful lights,” and food and beverages from each of the six “cultures” on display. Patrons can buy a floating lantern ($5) and set it afloat on the park’s Swan Lake.
Purchases of food, drink, lanterns to launch on the lake and souvenirs require Wildbucks, scrip that can be bought on the grounds. Since there’s a $10 charge to park across the street from the park entrance, organizers suggest parking for free at the Promenade at Chenal shopping center, 17000 block of Chenal Parkway; shuttles run hither and thither every 15 minutes (501) 821-7275; wildwoodlanterns.org.
And Main Street from Broadway to Fifth Street in North Little Rock’s Argenta Arts District closes from 4 p.m. Friday to 10 p.m. Saturday for Dogtown Throwdown, a block party that promotes outdoor dining, live entertainment and what a news release calls “family-friendly activities.” This year, each event will have a theme including food specials from all the restaurants and themed activities for all ages.
MUSIC
The Arkansas Choral Society performs works by Franz Joseph Haydn, Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart and Antonio Vivaldi with members of the Arkansas Symphony Orchestra, 7:30 p.m. Friday April 11 at Calvary Baptist Church, 5700 Cantrell Road, Little Rock. The program: Mozart’s “Misericordia Domini,” K.222; Haydn’s “Little Organ Mass”; and Vivaldi’s cantata “Cessate, omai cessate” for alto and strings and his “Magnificat.” lovetosing.org.
Grammy-nominated jazz saxophonist Troy Roberts, in residence at the University of Central Arkansas, will give a concert at 7:30 p.m. Friday in the Concert Hall of UCA’s Windgate Center for Fine and Performing Arts, 2150 Bruce St. at Donaghey Avenue, Conway. Admission is free with the donation of nonperishable food items for the UCA Food Pantry.
The Love Light Orchestra, featuring John Németh, performs at 7:30 p.m. today Thursday at the Arkansas Museum of Fine Arts, 501 E. Ninth St., Little Rock (501) 372-4000; arkmfa.org.
Country singer-songwriter Suzy Bogguss performs at 7 p.m. Sunday at UCA’s Windgate Center for Fine and Performing Arts, 2150 Bruce St., Conway. (501) 450-3265; uca.edu.
THEATER
Actors Theatre of Little Rock stages Ntozake Shange’s “For Colored Girls Who Have Considered Suicide/When the Rainbow is Enuf,” 7:30 p.m. Wednesday-Friday and 2 and 7:30 p.m. Saturday through April 26 at Quapaw Quarter United Methodist Church, 1601 Louisiana St., Little Rock. actorstheatrelr.org/tickets.
“Golden Girls: The Laughs Continue,” a stage show in drag by Robert Leleux based on the TV series, is onstage at 7 p.m. today Thursday in Little Rock’s Robinson Center Performance Hall, 426 W. Markham St. at Broadway. Ticketmaster.com.
Art and drama students at the University of Arkansas-Pulaski Technical College will take audiences on a “whirlwind tour of theater history, promising laughter and chaos” in “The Complete History of Theatre (abridged)” by Matt Thompson, 11 a.m. and 6 p.m. today Thursday April 10 in the Center for Humanities and Arts Theatre at UA-PTC, 3000 W. Scenic Drive, North Little Rock.
The University of Central Arkansas Theatre Department stages “Eurydice” by Sarah Ruhl, a modern, poetic retelling of the classic Greek myth, 7 p.m. Friday-Saturday April 11-12 and April 18-19 and 2 p.m. Sunday April 13 and April 20 in the James M. Bridges Black Box Theatre in UCA’s Windgate Center for the Fine and Performing Arts. (501) 450-3265 or (866) 810-0012; web.ovationtix.com/trs/dept/2176.
Argenta Contemporary Theater, 405 Main St., North Little Rock, continues its run of the musical “Gypsy” 7 p.m. today through Saturday and April 15-19, 2 p.m. Sunday April 13. argentacontemporarytheatre.org.
Four couples experience a severe attack of farce after a New York deputy mayor shoots himself at his 10th wedding anniversary party in Neil Simon’s “Rumors,” which the Royal Players stage at 7 p.m. Thursday-Saturday and 2 p.m. Sunday at the Royal Theatre, 111 S. Market St., Benton. onthestage.tickets/the-royal-theatre.
And “Church Basement Ladies” continues onstage through April 19 at Murry’s Dinner Playhouse, 6323 Colonel Glenn Road, Little Rock, 7:30 p.m. Wednesday-Saturday, 12:45 and 6:45 p.m. Sunday. Buffet opens 90 minutes before curtain. (501) 562-3131; murrysdp.com.
ETC.
Amanda Jones will discuss her book, “That Librarian: The Fight Against Book Banning in America,” 6 p.m. Thursday at Ron Robinson Theater, 100 River Market Ave., Little Rock, as part of the Central Arkansas Library System Speaker Series. State Rep. Tippi McCullough (D-Little Rock) will moderate. This program honors Rabbi Ira E. Sanders and his lifelong commitment to intellectual freedom. Doors open at 5 p.m.; Jones will sign copies of her book (for sale on-site from WordsWorth Books) afterward. Registering in advance to secure a seat — tinyurl.com/3rs244w7.
ART AND EXHIBITS
“Dawn Holder: Strange Meetings,” mixed-media ceramics by Holder, a sculptor and installation artist, opens Friday April 11 and will be on display through July 11 in the North and South Galleries of UA Little Rock’s Windgate Center of Art + Design, 2801 S. University Ave. There will be a 5 p.m. reception on April 17. Gallery hours are 9 a.m.-5 p.m. Monday-Friday, 11 a.m.-2 p.m. Saturday.
“The Creative Collective III,” 80 artworks by high school students and faculty at Little Rock Central, Conway, Joe T. Robinson, Parkview, Bryant, Maumelle and North Little Rock, opens with a reception, 5-7:30 p.m. Friday April 10 in the Thea Foundation Gallery, 401 Main St. in North Little Rock’s Argenta Arts District. It’s up through May 22, 9 a.m.-5 p.m. Monday-Thursday, with extended hours (5-8 p.m.) during Argenta Arts District Third Friday Art Walks on April 18 and May 16. theafoundation.org.
“Beverly Buys: Gone But Not,” 11 cyanotypes by Hot Springs photographer Beverly Buys, is on display through May 30 in the Focus Gallery of UA Little Rock’s Windgate Center of Art + Design, with a reception at 5 p.m. April 17. Gallery hours are 9 a.m.-5 p.m. Monday-Friday, 11 a.m.-2 p.m. Saturday.
“William Beckman: On the Horizon,” oil paintings by Beckman, whose work is on display at the Arkansas Museum of Fine Arts here in Little Rock, the Whitney Museum of American Art in New York and the Smithsonian American Art Museum in Washington, D.C., is up through June 30 in Gallery One in the UA Little Rock Fine Arts Building. 9 a.m.-5 p.m. weekdays.
“Spring: Exploring the blooming landscape of Clarence Cash,” oil and pastel paintings by Cash, a past president of the Arkansas League of Artists, is on display through Sunday April 13 at Art Group Gallery, in the Pleasant Ridge Town Center, 11525 Cantrell Road, Little Rock. 11 a.m.-5 p.m. Monday-Saturday, 1-5 p.m. Sunday. (501) 690-2193; artgrouparkansas.com.
“Specimens,” intricate watercolor paintings on used tea bags by Marcus Vasquez, is on display through Friday April 11 at the Argenta Library Gallery, 420 Main St., North Little Rock, 9 a.m.-6 p.m. Monday through Friday. (501) 687-1061.
The 55th Juried Exhibition by the Mid-Southern Watercolorists remains on display, 9 a.m.-7 p.m. Monday-Thursday, 9 a.m.-1 p.m. Friday-Saturday through May 2 at the William F. Laman Public Library, 2801 Orange St., North Little Rock. (501) 758-1720; NLRlibrary.org.
And “Crimson Moon,” pieces from the jewelry collection of Leesa Renshaw, remains on display, 11 a.m.-4 p.m. Tuesday-Sunday through June 1 at ESSE Museum and Store, 1510 Main St., Little Rock, (501) 916-9022; essepursemuseum.com.