BEST FRIDAY EVER! Usually, I’m happy to give you choices other than theater. Because I know not everyone loves theater as much as I do. Today, I cannot. This weekend offers comedy, Shakespeare, drama, two musicals, theater especially for kids and experimental installation theater by Artist’s Laboratory Theater. Resistance is futile. You have to choose one — or more. “Much Ado About Nothing” — With the Classical Edge Theatre Company, 6 p.m. today & Saturday, with a bonus show Sunday to make up for the rainout last weekend, Lawrence Plaza in Bentonville. Free. Email scheuertheatre@gmail. “Bear State of Mind” — 6:30 p.m. today; 2 & 4:30 p.m. Saturday, Starr Theater at Walton Arts Center in Fayetteville. $10-$12. 443-5600. A new show developed for children through a partnership between the Walton Arts Center and Trike Theater, it’s aimed at teaching Northwest Arkansas children through experiential theater, music and puppetry, says singer-songwriter Shannon Wurst, who appears in the play with Jason Suel and Julie Gabel, the playwright. In the play, a little lost bear and an owl team up to try to “show kids that we all have problems, but through cooperation and teamwork, we can work through it,” Suel says. New Now 2.0 — With Artist’s Laboratory Theater, 6:45 p.m. today-Sunday, Tri Cycle Farms, 1705 N. Garland Ave. in Fayetteville. $10-$15. artlabtheatre. It’s more than just theater. It’s storytelling. Well, that and art installation and performance art. And it’s part choose-your-own-adventure and immersion experience. Exactly what “New Now” is may be kind of hard to define, but if you’re Erika Wilhite, that is just as good. The first installation, called “Connections,” was a performance series which investigated the impact of social media on personal presence and interpersonal relationships, says Wilhite. Since the show debuted, the artists, including site-specific designers Nathan Morton and Heather Youngers, continued to develop the show, creating an ongoing discourse on the human condition in the modern world, she says. “We are looking at how our lives are different because of social media, how personal space and even food are all a little different now that we have so much going on,” Wilhite says. The immersion experience allows audience members to become part of the show, although they will be guided by the actors and directors, she says. They can also expect to have a unique experience, different from any other participant, she says. Patrons are asked to wear comfortable clothes and shoes for this performance, although chairs will be provided. Food will be sampled, but it will not be much, so people are asked to eat before they come. “Stuart Little” — 7 p.m. today, 2 & 7 p.m. Saturday, 2 p.m. Sunday, Arts Live Theatre Second Stage in Fayetteville. $6-$8. 521-4932. Joseph Robinette’s adaptation for the stage closely follows the classic book by E.B. White, says Chelyse Ginn, a Florida transplant directing her first show for Arts Live Theatre. The stage adaption is also storybook theater, meaning that each of the 15 actors, save for Preston Dulaney, who portrays the title character, play several different characters. The actors, most of whom are between the ages of 11 and 13, are required to change quickly between costumes. A mouse born to a human family, Stuart races sailboats, searches for his avian friend Margalo and also travels the country in a model car. Most of the costumes are abstract, says Ginn, relying on hats and jackets to signify a new character or a set of ears or a tail to designate a character is an animal. Sight gags help demonstrate the difference in size between Stuart and his normal-size family. He comes out holding a wedding ring the size of a hula hoop, Ginn says. In the next scene, his mother holds the same piece of jewelry, now the size of a standard ring. “I think the story is about finding your way in life,” she says. “One Man, Two Guvnors” — Adapted from “The Servant of Two Masters,” starring Chris Crawford, 7:30 p.m. today, 2 & 7:30 p.m. Saturday, 2 & 7 p.m. Sunday, TheatreSquared at the Nadine Baum Studios in Fayetteville. Last weekend. $10-$34. 443-5600. “Splendor in the Grass” — The story of an ill-fated high school romance written by William Inge, 7:30 p.m. today & Saturday, Fort Smith Little Theatre. $10. 783-2966. “Fiddler on the Roof” — The classic tale of a Tevye, a hardworking dairyman iving in czarist Russia in 1905, 8 p.m. today & Saturday, 2 p.m. Sunday, Rogers Little Theater. $17-$60. 631-8988. “Into the Woods” — By New Threshold Theatre, 7 p.m. Thursday and Saturday, 2 & 7 p.m. Sept. 28, Fayetteville High School Performing Arts Center. $10-$16. newthresholdtheatre. Coleman Ray Clark is 18 — barely. His birthday was Sept. 13. That’s important to know — because two years ago, just after he turned 16, the Fayetteville High School student started a theater company. And now, New Threshold Theatre will kick off its third season with “Into the Woods” Sept. 25, 27 and 28. Clark doesn’t seem to think he’s done anything extraordinary. “I’ve always had a drive for theater and performing, for creating in general,” he says. “My parents aren’t theater people, so I don’t really know where it came from.” Clark credits Erika Wilhite of Artist’s Laboratory Theatre for the idea of a company by young people, for young people. “She basically planted a seed in my head that this could be something Northwest Arkansas could handle. For weeks, I couldn’t sleep. Where would we get money? Who would come to the shows? Who would participate?” Clark went to professionals, both in the theater world and outside it, to ask how to run his fledgling nonprofit, and in November 2012, the company was born. His goal, he says, was to get as many students involved as he could and entice anyone not involved to want to be front and center in the first row. In the previous two seasons, the company presented five shows total. Coleman is counting on producing five shows this year alone. “When we choose shows, we try to pick things we think no other youth company could do or if they did, there would be no way on earth they could do it like this,” he says. “As a business, you want to be different and try new things.” Clark loves “Into the Woods” because of an early experience working with Amy Herzberg at University Theatre, he admits, but it also met his criteria. Other youth companies would likely do the “junior” version, he says, but New Threshold Theatre will do the complete show, filled with all the Stephen Sondheim songs from “Hello, Little Girl” to “Agony” to “Giants in the Sky.” As director, he also had the opportunity to reduce the actor count by giving each of them more than one role. He wants to see “every member of this cast working incredibly hard all the time.” And he’s set the play within a play, focusing the actors on storytelling — because, as he points out, “Children Will Listen.” Really. Trust me. You should too.
Posted on: Fri, 19 Sep 2014 16:05:20 +0000
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