What's Up - Your guide to what's happening in Fayetteville, AR this week!
Issue link: https://www.epageflip.net/i/967941
8 WHAT'S UP! APRIL 15-21, 2018 Downtown Is Uptown COVER STORY "We'll be in partnership with Donald Judges, vice provost for distance education," says Theatre Chairman Michael Riha of the new Global Campus Theatre. "This is their home, and they are inviting us in their home by allowing this renovation to happen. Without Todd Shields, the dean of Fulbright College of Arts and Sciences, supporting this renovation, financially investing in our program and without Donald inviting us to be a partner, it would never have happened." NWA Democrat-Gazette/ANDY SHUPE LARA JO HIGHTOWER NWA Democrat-Gazette T he University of Arkansas Department of Theatre is on the move — both literally and figuratively. Next week, department chairman Michael Riha will unveil the ambitious renovation of the UA Global Campus Theatre, where UA students and faculty playwrights will also stage ArkType, a brand new, weeklong play festival. And Riha couldn't be more excited about both endeavors. "It will be the most state-of-the-art, digitally equipped black box theater in the state of Arkansas," Riha says of the renovated space, which will include an 18-foot lighting grid, a sprung floor, two five-person dressing rooms, a production booth, an upstairs balcony for orchestras or actor entrances, a box office and a storage space. Riha says the department plans to produce four shows a year at the Global Campus Theatre and only two at the University Theatre space on campus. "We're going to be doing more shows at Global because parking is easier, and people can get dinner and drinks," says Riha. "There's an art gallery right across the street. It's a very welcoming place to come and see theater. On top of that, it gives our university another connection to the town, because we will be hosting the Fayetteville Film Fest and Arts Live shows there. It's not going to be a rental space, because we will be holding classes in there, as well as productions and rehearsals. But we're excited to maintain our relationship with Arts Live — because we believe in youth theater — and with the Fayetteville Film Fest. We also hope to have a partnership with the Roots Fest to get small music acts in there, as well." Those interested in seeing the new space, says Riha, can attend an open house from 3 to 5 p.m. April 26. "People can poke their heads in and talk to us about the space," says Riha. "There will be a ribbon cutting with the mayor that day." But an even better way to see the new theater in action would be to catch one — or more — of the shows being presented during ArkType, the seven- day play festival that will celebrate the playwriting talent housed at the University of Arkansas. "We feel that writing is a serious strength of our students and faculty," notes Riha. "With [playwrights] Les Wade and John Walch on our faculty, we thought we would do something that honored what we think is a growing interest at the University of Arkansas Department of Theatre." Walch, a published playwright and the head of the department's playwriting program, says the festival is an indication of the support for new work that exists within the department. New plays open new UA theater