What's Up - Your guide to what's happening in Fayetteville, AR this week!
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JANUARY 3-9, 2021 WHAT'S UP! 11 FEATURE do you make the soul of nature visible?" The experience begins the moment you arrive as, stepping onto the trail, you are enveloped in a cozy darkness. Colored lights illuminate a tree or sign here and there and a meditative soundtrack of rich, ethereal music greets your ears well before you reach the loop where the installations reside. This introductory walk takes several minutes and establishes a reverential and introspective mood for the experiences ahead. After three visits, I still can't decide which installation is my favorite. Sometimes it's Whispering Tree — a moment of intimacy created between person and magnificent tree as you communicate with each other, revealing the color of your own voice. Sometimes it's Memory of Water where, on a bridge over a dry creek bed, a light and laser spectacle encourages reflection on the life- giving nature of water and the majesty of its varying forms. Sometimes it's Forest Frequencies, which provokes a joyful electricity with its spirited dancing lights and expressive aural motif. Whatever my favorites of the day, or the hour, the overall experience is one of my favorites, and one of the most magical, of the whole year. "Once on This Island" — Sure, it's from the "before times," but seeing the national tour of Broadway's 2018 revival of "Once on This Island" on the Walton Arts Center stage in February was extraordinary and felt like a once-in-a-lifetime experience, so of course it has to be on my list. The revival production debuted in Fayetteville straight from Broadway, and offered the unique opportunity of on-stage seating at the edges of the set to re-create an in-the-round production as closely as possible. So, when I say I saw the show on stage, I mean that I was so close to the action, my feet were literally in the sand. On a Caribbean island recovering from a violent storm the night before, there's sand covering the floor and water seeping in from the ocean, threatening to flood the stage if the sandbags placed to hold it back do not succeed. Before the show even began, islanders milling about the debris-strewn scene welcomed those of us sitting near them to the island, and we were able to take in the intricate details of the set. From my seat, I could even see a telephone pole covered in photos that, I later learned during an interview with actor Tamyra Gray, were images of cast and THROUGH OTHER'S EYES Since I haven't seen the rest of my Features family in person since early March, I had to know how my coworkers have spent their time this year, too! Last Day Out Little did I know how much this picture of my daughter would come to mean to me as 2020 dragged on. It was taken Feb. 23 at Arkansas Public Theatre, on the last Sunday of the musical "Newsies." It was our third theater weekend in a row — "News- ies" on Feb. 9; "Into the Woods" at the Arts Center of the Ozarks on Feb. 16; and then "Newsies" again on Feb. 23. It was our last live theater for 2020. Our last live music for 2020. Our last mother/daughter outing for 2020, because covid-19 protocols have kept her sequestered in her group home for adults with disabilities. Live theater has always been our happy place — espe- cially when we're eating Peanut M&Ms and drink- ing Diet Coke! We just didn't know how long these last three perfor- mances would have to sustain us. Thank you to all the companies that make us welcome — TheatreSquared and Arts Live, too — and we cannot wait to see you again! — Becca Martin- Brown, Features Editor See Best Page 12 Just A Moment As caretaker for my 76-year-old mom, I'm taking the pandemic pretty seriously — so my 10-year-old twins, my husband and I haven't had many outside excursions since March. But the week before Christmas, we indulged ourselves by picking up dinner from Yeyo's in Bentonville, where the kids were drawn to the adjacent Momentary's neon "You Belong Here" sign. We took a turn around the Momentary parking lot so they could see it better. To our surprise, attendance looked sparse, so we ventured inside, only to find ourselves the solitary viewers of the fantastic "Nick Cave: Until" exhibit. The chance to take in Cave's electrifying study on race in the solitary grandeur of the Momentary elevated it to a once-in-a-lifetime experience that had me marveling at what we can find in our little corner of Arkansas. — Lara Hightower, Profiles Editor & Features Writer Martin-Brown Take A Hike The past year may have kept us all separate, physically, but it was the perfect year to take a hike. My husband Anthony and I loaded up our backpacks and our dog, Elvis, and went out for a trek on Pigeon Roost Trail at Hobbs State Park. It was perfect! We stayed overnight about half-way through the 8.5-mile trail and were seemingly alone in the forest, then did the hike out the following morning. It was a great way to get out and quar- antine at the same time. — Deb Harvell, Editorial Assistant/Features Design Harvell Hightower