What's Up - Your guide to what's happening in Fayetteville, AR this week!
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SEPTEMBER 20-26, 2020 WHAT'S UP! 7 FYI UA Theatre Fall Season 'The Laramie Project' Oct. 1-11 Conversation with the director and designers at 7 p.m. before the Oct. 1 (Act I), Oct. 2 (Act II), and Oct.3 (Act III) performances. The cast will join the director in a moderated 30-minute conversation to chat about the play and their creative processes, with an opportunity for the audience to submit questions. Oct. 9 Online performance at 7:30 p.m. Oct. 10-11 Online performance at 2 p.m. "The Laramie Project analyzes the death of Matthew Shepard, an openly gay college student who was brutally murdered in Laramie, Wyo., in 1998 because of his sexual identity. Shepard's murder is one of the most well-known hate crimes in recent American history; in 2009, the U.S. Congress passed the Matthew Shepard and James Byrd Jr. Hate Crimes Prevention Act, a piece of legislation that strengthens existing hate crime laws." 'Vanities' Nov. 6-8 Online performances at 7:30 p.m. A bittersweet comedy that is an astute, snapshot sharp chronicle of the lives of three Texas girls. In 1963, Joanne, Kathy, and Mary are aggressively vivacious cheerleaders. Five years later, in their college sorority house, they are confronting their futures with nervous jaunti- ness. In 1974, they reunite briefly in New York. Their lives have diverged, and their friendship, which once thrived on assumption as well coor- dinated as sweater sets, is strained and ambig- uous. Old time banter rings false. Their attempts at honest conversation only show they can no longer afford to have very much in common. 'I'm F*cking Tired of Writing Plays About This' Nov. 13 Staged reading at 7:30 p.m. * Moderated discussion to follow. After yet another black man is unneces- sarily killed by the police, a group of friends get together at a dinner party to discuss race, gender and the lines that divide us even amongst our closest friends. Each of the characters is challenged about their beliefs as they struggle to come to terms with their own unconscious bias. WHERE — For information about how to get Zoom tickets and log on to see the show, see uark.universitytickets.com. COST — All shows are free; consider donating to the department to compensate for the loss of ticket revenue due to the covid-19 performance restrictions. INFO — 575-4301 The Show(s) Must Go On LARA JO HIGHTOWER NWA Democrat-Gazette T his fall, University of Arkansas Department of Theatre students will be facing something they have in common with actors, designers and directors all over the world. They'll be putting on a theater season without a live audience due to covid-19 restrictions. The department announced its slate of fall shows, and they're all scheduled to be virtual productions that audiences will sign into through a Zoom room. "The most important element of live performance, aside from the people doing the work, is the audience," notes Michael Riha, department chairman. "Unfortunately, we have no real way to engage. We can't hear them applaud, laugh, sigh, breathe — the performers can't feel what live performers feel when the audience is in the room, whether that's a room the size of [Kimpel Hall Black Box Theater Space] 404 or a room the size of Madison Square Garden. Performers need to feel the presence of an audience — that's part of their training, and for the time being, we're not going to be able to rely on that." The key, says Riha, is finding the sunny side of a global pandemic — as much as that can be done. "We're finding ways to make lemonade out of lemons," he says. "We're finding other aspects of this art form that we can focus on for our actors, directors and designers, and we're hoping and planning that this is temporary and that we can get back to training theater artists the way that we know we're most prepared and able to do." The department kicked off the season with MFA playwright Brendan Beseth's "Thrift Store University Theatre finds ways to make lemonade University of Arkansas Department of Theatre Chairman Michael Riha — seen here in the renovated Global Campus black box theater on the Fayetteville square — says he and his department are making lemonade from lemons when it comes to making the best of the covid-19 restrictions prohibiting them from public performances. (NWA Democrat-Gazette File Photo/Andy Shupe) FAYETTEVILLE See Theatre Page 40