Rock Candy

The very word “play,” Lynett points out, is one we should learn to take more literally; theater exists to surprise, and one way to do that is to upend expectations or to get the audience to “laugh first” — two words which serve as a hallmark for Lynett’s eponymous theater company.

More gallery space, more programming, more culture on tap.

Strategies for the Ant Invasion of 2021, painted rocks, the gospel of "Sasquatch" and more.

The 1979 record, laid down on tape for an Arkansas label called Symplex Records, was re-released in late January on Athens of the North, an Edinburgh, Scotland-based record label that specializes, its website reads, “in reissuing and officially licensing long lost, rare — and, above all, amazing — soul, disco, funk records.”

"A full-circle moment for sure,” Arkansas Symphony Orchestra Interim Artistic Director Geoffrey Robson said of the programming.

Hot Springs’ Arts and the Park, an annual 10-day spring festival meant to highlight the vibrant city’s arts scene, this year honors native artist George Hunt and native musician Henry Glover (pictured below), who would have turned 100 in 2021.

On the lineup, a look at the life of trans musician Billy Tipton, a feature about a young girl's gender dysphoria and a portrait of a Chinese family struggling to reconcile sexuality and tradition.

Moms and dads and punk rockers and kiddos co-mingled in a quarter mile stretch of road yesterday under the Union Pacific railroad underpass.

Just as Yuh-Jung Youn did in the film for which she was nominated, she did at the ceremony, bringing levity and warmth and sincerity to her acceptance speech as she won the award for Best Supporting Actress.

Symone, boy name Reggie Gavin, a drag queen from Conway, Arkansas, is America’s next drag superstar.

Bankroll Freddie on skirting death, homemade banana pudding and Megan Thee Stallion.

“Play It Loud” opens virtually at 7 p.m. Friday, April 23, on the Old State House’s Facebook and YouTube channels, and opens in-person on April 27. Hours are 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. Tuesday-Saturday.

Lynett's play "Apologies to Lorraine Hansberry (You Too August Wilson)" is the winner of the 2021 Yale Drama Prize, selected this year by Pulitzer winner Paula Vogel. 

Happy 75th, Reverend.

This Thursday, Austin-based drummer Brannen Temple brings his band Temple Underground to Little Rock's Afrodesia Studio of Performing Arts for a live recording and concert, featuring sets from Dallas-based Suthurn Faze and from Rodney Block, Joshua Asante and Tim Anthony. 

Dunbar Garden, the 2-acre outdoor classroom that serves students from Gibbs International Magnet Elementary School and Dunbar Magnet Middle School, is throwing a spring shindig, COVID-cautionary style.

The museum founded by Alice Walton will be enlarged by 50 percent to increase gallery space and community educational and gathering venues.

Finders, keepers.

We caught up with 2021 Grammy winner and UA Fayetteville professor Murdock to learn more about his trajectory as a teacher, the importance of representation and about what he’s blasting on his car stereo right now.

Ahead of Arkansas Youth Poetry Day, we talked with state poet laureate Jo McDougall about her work and about her drive to foster new young poets.