THEATER
‘For Colored Girls …’
Actors Theatre of Little Rock stages Ntozake Shange’s “For Colored Girls Who Have Considered Suicide/When the Rainbow is Enuf,” 7:30 p.m. Wednesday-Friday and 2 and 7:30 p.m. Saturday through April 26 at Quapaw Quarter United Methodist Church, 1601 Louisiana St., Little Rock. Tickets are $25, $20 for students, senior citizens and military tickets, in advance, via actorstheatrelr.org/tickets, $5 more at the door.
For ‘Golden Girls’
“Golden Girls: The Laughs Continue,” a stage show in drag by Robert Leleux based on the TV series, takes two Arkansas stages this week:
7 p.m. Tuesday at the Fort Smith Convention Center’s ArcBest Performing Arts Center, 55 S. Seventh St., Fort Smith. Tickets are $30-$99. Visit Ticketmaster.com.
7 p.m. Thursday in Little Rock’s Robinson Center Performance Hall, 426 W. Markham St. at Broadway. Tickets are $34-$64 (plus tax and fees); VIP tickets include a post-show meet-and-greet and tour swag — an official autographed tour poster and laminate with lanyard. Visit Ticketmaster.com.
Sophia (Christopher Kamm) is out on bail after being busted by the Drug Enforcement Agency for running a drug ring for retirees. Blanche (Vince Kelley) and Rose (Adam Graber) have founded CreakN, a thriving sex app for senior citizens. And Dorothy (Ryan Bernier) is trying to hold it all together with help from a new, (much) younger sex-crazed lover (Tommy Favorite).
Visit goldengirlstour.com.
“Golden Girls: The Laughs Continue” is onstage Tuesday at Fort Smith’s Convention Center’s ArcBest Performing Arts Center and Thursday at Little Rock’s Robinson Center Performance Hall. (Special to the Democrat-Gazette)MUSIC
‘Timeless Strings’
Arkansas Symphony Orchestra Concertmaster Andrew Irvin and pianist Jaeyeon Park perform the Violin Sonata No. 3 in d minor, op.108, by Johannes Brahms for the final concert of the orchestra’s 2024-25 River Rhapsodies Chamber Music Series, 7 p.m. Tuesday and Wednesday in the Susie and Charles Morgan Hall at the orchestra’s Stella Boyle Smith Music Center, 1101 E. Third St. in Little Rock’s East Village.
Also on the program, titled “Timeless Strings,” violinist Magdalena Ryszkowski and pianist Hee-Kyung Juhn play the Violin Sonata No. 1 in A major, op.13, by Gabriel Fauré. And the orchestra’s Rockefeller Quartet — Trisha McGovern Freeney and Linnaea Brophy, violins; Katherine Reynolds, viola; and Jacob Wunsch, cello — will perform the String Quartet No. 2 in a minor by Ralph Vaughan Williams.
Tickets are $30 (subject to change if tickets become scarcer), $15 for students and/or military with a valid ID. Call (501) 666-1761, Ext. 1, or visit arkansassymphony.org.
Saxophonist concert
Grammy-nominated jazz saxophonist Troy Roberts, in residence Wednesday-April 20 at the University of Central Arkansas, will give a concert at 7:30 p.m. Friday in the Concert Hall of the Windgate Center for Fine and Performing Arts, 2150 Bruce St. at Donaghey Avenue, Conway. Admission is free with the donation of nonperishable food items for the UCA Food Pantry.
Roberts’ residency includes master classes with UCA ensembles and individual students. Call (501) 450-3293, email [email protected] or visit uca.edu/cahss/artists-in-residence.
Roberts, a native Australian now living in New York, has backed Joey DeFrancesco, Van Morrison, Jeff “Tain” Watts, the Orrin Evans Captain Black Big Band, Kurt Elling and Veronica Swift. He has released 15 recordings under his own name.
SoNA season finale
Pianist Stewart Goodyear solos in George Gershwin’s “Rhapsody in Blue” with the Symphony of Northwest Arkansas and Music Director Paul Haas as the orchestra closes its 2024-25 MainStage season with a concert titled “American Voices: Rhapsody in Blue,” 7:30 p.m. Saturday at Fayetteville’s Walton Arts Center, 495 W. Dickson St. The program also includes William Grant Still’s Symphony No. 1, “Afro-American,” and the Symphony No. 1 by Florence Price. Tickets are $37-$62, with discounts for students (with photo ID), free for children under 18 with the purchase of an adult ticket. Ticket holders can take part in a celebratory toast in the lobby immediately following the concert, recognizing Haas’ 15 years on the SoNA podium. Call (479) 443-5600 or visit sonamusic.org.
Jazz festival
Jazz saxophonist and flutist Steve Wilson will be artist-in-residence at the 2025 UARK Jazz Festival taking place this week at venues around Northwest Arkansas and featuring area jazz ensembles, including high school and middle school bands and groups from the University of Arkansas Jazz Program.
The main performance lineup:
7:30 p.m. Tuesday: University of Arkansas Jazz Ensembles, University of Arkansas Union Theater, 1438 Markham Road, Fayetteville
7:30 p.m. Wednesday: Wilson and the UA Jazz Orchestra, UA Faulkner Center for the Performing Arts, 453 Garland Ave., Fayetteville
7:30 p.m. Thursday: Wilson with UA jazz faculty, Music Depot, 206 W. Walnut St., Rogers
7:30 p.m. Saturday: Wilson with UA faculty and students, Thaden School, 800 S.E. C St., Bentonville.
Admission to all events is free. Email [email protected].
Wilson is also the artist-in-residence for the Northwest Arkansas Jazz All-Star Program, a program for high school students created and presented by the Northwest Arkansas Jazz Society that brings together aspiring musicians from 14 regional high schools to study, rehearse and perform jazz big band repertoire over three months. The residency will culminate in a concert at 6:30 p.m. April 28 in Starr Theater at Fayetteville’s Walton Arts Center, 495 W. Dickson St.
Wilson’s visit is made possible by the Moye Family Jazz Residency program and a partnership with the Northwest Arkansas Jazz Society.
FILM
‘Model T’s to War’
The MacArthur Museum of Arkansas Military History, 503 E. Ninth St., Little Rock, screens the documentary “Model T’s to War: American Ambulances on the Western Front,” 6:30 p.m. Tuesday. The film uses silent-film footage and rare photos to tell the story of young men who under the aegis of the American Field Service drove Ford-built Model T’s to the front lines, serving the more than 3,000 U.S. volunteers who went to France between 1914 and 1917 prior to the United States’ official entry into World War I. It’s part of the museum’s Movies at MacArthur series. Admission, popcorn and soft drinks are free. Call (501) 376-4602.
An American Field Service Ford Model T ambulance stands by in the Woevre Forest, Meuse, France, during World War I. AFS drivers were all volunteers, mainly recruited from college campuses. The bell at left was used to warn of gas attacks. (Special to the Democrat-Gazette/Library of Congress)ON THE PODIUM
Fighting librarian
Amanda Jones will discuss her book, “That Librarian: The Fight Against Book Banning in America,” 6 p.m. Thursday at Ron Robinson Theater, 100 River Market Ave., Little Rock, as part of the Central Arkansas Library System Speaker Series. State Rep. Tippi McCullough (D-Little Rock) will moderate. This program honors Rabbi Ira E. Sanders and his lifelong commitment to intellectual freedom. Doors open at 5 p.m.; Jones will sign copies of her book (for sale on-site from WordsWorth Books) afterward. Admission is free, but the library system recommends registering in advance to secure a seat — visit tinyurl.com/3rs244w7.
Jones’ book “(chronicles) her fight against censorship as a Louisiana librarian on the front lines of America’s cultural and political battles over intellectual freedom,” according to a news release. She has worked for the past 23 years as the school librarian at the same school she attended as a child. She gained national attention in 2022 after being targeted by residents of her town for speaking out at a public library board meeting and subsequently took legal action against them.
ETC.
Cemetery talk
Jennifer Menna gives a talk titled “Blue Birds, Bugs and Backyard Bliss,” 9 a.m. Saturday at the Bell House at the center of Mt. Holly Cemetery, 1200 Broadway, Little Rock. It’s part of the cemetery’s Mt. Holly Garden Series. Enter the cemetery through the pedestrian gate on 13th Street. On-street parking is available on 13th, Arch and Gaines streets. Admission is a suggested donation of $10 to benefit the cemetery; the Downtown Dames are providing light refreshments and door prizes. Supply your own lawn chair. Call (501) 372-3372 or email [email protected].
Librarian Amanda Jones will discuss her book, “That Librarian: The Fight Against Book Banning in America,” on Thursday at Little Rock’s Ron Robinson Theater. (Special to the Democrat-Gazette)