What's Up - Your guide to what's happening in Fayetteville, AR this week!
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ROUNDUP 38 WHAT'S UP! OCTOBER 11-17, 2020 understand the steps of creating a virtual production. As we enter fall, we are energized and excited to explore virtual in-school residencies, virtual field trips to the theater and an exciting new play about American women writers that will live in a hybrid format of live and virtual presence on a dedicated website. What we have truly learned through this unprecedented year is that the need for theater, that need for humans to connect, is alive and well, whether you are able to physically enter the theater or not. Of course, we cannot wait to get audiences back into our beautiful space and to visit schools in person, but we are excited to be able to explore all of the ways that we can continue to serve the students and teachers of our state in the meantime. Missy Gipson As the founder and executive director of Pilot Arts Theatre as well as the executive director of Fort Smith's Young Actors Guild, Missy Spears Gipson stays pretty busy. My Online Projects: During this time, Pilot Arts has stayed engaged with online workshops. These included Indie Filmmaking with Ron and Elizabeth Hanks, The Audition: Musical Theater with Broadway performer Chad Burris, and Crafting Moments in Plays with director and producer Coleman Ray Clark. We are also excited to produce an online project this fall with Pilot Arts featuring local performers with an exciting theme of women and their work. Stay tuned to our social media for information. The Young Actors Guild just recently produced The 24 Hour Plays: Young Actors Guild. We decided to produce scenes written by young actors that featured two young actors in each scene. We had 12 actors between the ages of 8 and 19 act in the virtual project, as well as five young actors that wrote the scenes. We also had eight Young Actors Guild alumni direct each scene via Zoom, as well as mentoring the playwrights and the actors. We then released each scene over a two-hour period via our social media. It was incredibly funny, inspiring and a creative, collaborative experience for all involved. Kids are so clever. You can check them out on our social media: @weareyag (FB and IG). We also held online workshops taught by YAG alumni in songwriting with Laura Pierson and musical theater with Chad Burris. We look forward to announcing our online programming for fall! Katy Henriksen Katy Henriksen is the former producer and host of the KUAF classical music show "Of Note with Katy Henriksen"; in 2016, she founded the live classical music organization Trillium Salon Series, where she now serves as the executive director. She's also the director of publicity for New Amsterdam Records, an independent record label. My Online Projects: It's a rough time for performing arts. My nonprofit Trillium Salon Series, which redefines the live music experience, was slated for its first artist residency in late March. Like most everything else, it was tabled because of the pandemic. We also canceled other events, like our second annual Summer Solstice Block Party. Because Trillium is still dedicated to bringing the community together and to supporting artists directly, we've launched an online community forum and now host virtual salons. We even had Thomas Echols, our artist-in-residence, in July. He stayed in a cottage up on Mount Sequoyah Center and wrote a piece for guitars, synths and samples he created. A couple weeks later Trillium hosted violinist Er-Gene Kahng and friends for a virtual quartet from Diabate, as well as works for piano and violin by Arkansas native composer Florence Price. Even with technology like Zoom, there's still a delay, and it's enough of one that makes actually playing live, virtually, impossible. Each player recorded their own part with a click track to ensure everyone stays at the same tempo, with the parts layered together for a virtual performance. If you'd like to experience these salons, they're available at Trillium Salon Series (www.trilliumsalonseries.com). We also have a number of fall events slated including guitarist Craig Colorusso in collaboration with The Art Experience Oct. 16 and a silent film screening with a live improv score TBD. Keep up with all things Trillium Salon Series by adding your name to our mailing list. And join our online community forum, all at our website. My heart is heavy for so many reasons, especially because live music is nearly impossible. What's kept me going is innovative ways that we continue to connect. Part 2 — my podcast: Music is a lifeline and the way I've always connected. When the covid-19 pandemic hit, I missed having my daily radio show to bring music to everyone as a way to cope and find solace in these heavy times. Almost exactly a year after I retired from hosting "Of Note" on KUAF, I launched a podcast. "Sound Off" (https://podlink.to/soundoff) features in-depth conversations about music that challenge the status quo — hybrid sounds that fall through the cracks because they aren't easily labeled. Whether it's a classical flute-and- electronic music project that takes on police brutality and race, or a mix of poetry, pop and chamber music, "Sound Off" explores creativity at the intersection of art, music, and literature, and digs into what that work and the people making it tell us about art and life in the 21st century. Music is the great resonating force that connects us all. It's a thrill to bring music and conversations straight to you. Artists Continued From Page 10 In addition to her Trillium Salon Series, Katy Henriksen has a new podcast, "Sound Off." (Courtesy Photo/Meredith Mashburn) PRESIDENT Brent Powers EDITOR Becca Martin-Brown 479-872-5054 bmartin@nwadg.com Twitter: NWAbecca ASSOCIATE EDITOR Jocelyn Murphy 479-872-5176 jmurphy@nwadg.com Twitter: NWAJocelyn REPORTER Lara Hightower 479-365-2913 lhightower@nwadg.com DESIGNER Deb Harvell ! UP WHAT'S ON THE COVER SHUTTERSTOCK IMAGE What's Up! is a publication of the Northwest Arkansas Democrat-Gazette.