Weekend Entertainment Roundup for November 6, 2024

FUN 

The Arkansas Cornbread Festival gets ready to crumble, 11 a.m.-4 p.m. Saturday along Main Street from 14th to 17th streets in Little Rock’s SoMa neighborhood. 21 area chefs and culinary experts, representing local restaurants, shops, and bakeries, will cook and serve up an array of variations including traditional Southern recipes and “innovative twists,from classic skillet cornbread to Cajun crawfish cornbread.” The festival also features live entertainment and a kids’ zone. Admission is free; Cornbread Tasting Tickets are $20; proceeds benefit the Arkansas Hunger Relief Alliance. arkansascornbreadfestival.com.

Another food-related get-together this weekend: Chili Fights in the Heights, 11 a.m.-6 p.m. Saturday Nov. 9 along Kavanaugh Boulevard in Little Rock’s Pulaski Heights, to benefit the Arkansas Foodbank. Solo and teams of chili cooks will be competing for trophies and bragging rights, with food trucks, a free petting zoo, face painting and live music. Purchase a $10 Tasting Kit and cast your vote for the People’s Choice award. hatclublr.com/events/chili-fights-in-the-heights.

The Junior League of Little Rock holds its Holiday House fundraiser and shopping extravaganza, 9 a.m.-9 p.m. Friday and 9 a.m.-4 p.m. Saturday at the Statehouse Convention Center, Markham and Main streets, Little Rock. Vendors and craftspeople from around the area will sell seasonal merchandise and one-of-a-kind items. Proceeds benefit the Junior League’s community projects. jllr.org/holiday- house.

MUSIC

For King + Country performs at 7 p.m. today at North Little Rock’s Simmons Bank Arena. (501) 975-9000; simmonsbankarena.com.

THEATER

The touring company of “Dr. Seuss’ How The Grinch Stole Christmas! The Musical” will be onstage at Little Rock’s Robinson Center Performance Hall, 10 a.m., 2:30 and 7:30 p.m. Saturday Nov. 9, 1 and 6:30 p.m. Sunday Nov. 10 at Little Rock’s Robinson Center Performance Hall, 426 W. Markham St. at Broadway. (501) 244-8800; CelebrityAttractions.com or Ticketmaster.com.

“The Breach” 2024, stories of honor, integrity, and personal courage from veterans and their families who served in the Gulf War, the Global War on Terror, and more, along with performance by Oklahoma City-based Perpetual Motion Dance, takes the stage at 2 p.m. Saturday, Nov. 9 at the Arkansas Repertory Theatre, 601 Main St., Little Rock. “The Breach” is a veteran-run initiative that brings together theater artists, mental health providers, active service people, veterans, first responders and their family members to strengthen the emotional resources they need to overcome trauma and reintegration issues, and to share their experiences through the art and practice of theatre and storytelling. Admission is by free ticket. therep.org/the-breach-event.

The University of Central Arkansas theater program stages “Heathers: The Musical”, 7 p.m. Friday-Saturday and Nov. 15-16 and 2 p.m. Sunday and Nov. 17 in the Windgate Center for the Fine and Performing Arts, 2150 Bruce St. at Donaghey Avenue, Conway. The show includes mature content, heavy adult language, violence and suicide and is not recommended for children. (501) 450-3265 or (866) 810-0012; web.ovationtix.com/trs/dept/2176.

The absurdity and seriousness of preteen competitive dance is on display as Actors Theatre of Little Rock stages “Dance Nation” by Clare Barron, a finalist for the 2019 Pulitzer Prize for Drama, 7:30 p.m. Thursday-Saturday and Nov. 6-9 at Quapaw Quarter United Methodist Church, 1601 Louisiana St., Little Rock. The theater rates the show R and recommends that although it’s about the puberty years, “leave the kids at home.” actorstheatrelr.org/tickets.

A brutal murder interrupts a honeymoon cruise down the Nile and everybody on board the riverboat is a suspect in Agatha Christie’s “Murder on the Nile,” onstage through Nov. 9 Murry’s Dinner Playhouse, 6323 Colonel Glenn Road, Little Rock. Shows are at 7:30 p.m. Wednesday-Saturday (12:30 p.m. Wednesday matinee only, Oct. 30) and 12:45 and 6:45 p.m. Sunday. The buffet opens 90 minutes before curtain time. (501) 562-3131; murrysdp.com.

ART AND EXHIBITS

“The Soul of Color,” recent mixed-media paintings by Rex Deloney “that explore emotional energy through the use of intense color and symbolism,” goes on display with a reception, 5-7 p.m. today at Thea Foundation, 401 Main St. in North Little Rock’s Argenta District. See it, 9 a.m.-5 p.m. Monday-Thursday and by appointment, through Nov. 28. theafoundation.org.

EXHIBIT

“Treehouse Treasures: A Collector’s Collection Part 1” remains on display through Jan. 18 at Cantrell Gallery, 8208 Cantrell Road, Little Rock, consisting primarily of works by area artists, including Gail Batson, Kennedi Benjamin, Bob Crane, Warren Criswell, James Hayes, Beverly McLarty, Kirk Montgomery, Carol Spencer Morris, LeeNora Parlor and N. Scott, from the collection of original gallery owner Helen Scott, who is downsizing her home. 10 a.m.-5 p.m. Tuesday-Saturday or by appointment. (501) 224-1335 or visit cantrellgallery.com.

“The Natural State in Four Seasons,” 33 photographs that North Little Rock native Brian Cormack took over 14 years that capture the beauty of Arkansas through the changing seasons, is on display through Nov. 27 at the William F. Laman Public Library, 2801 Orange St., North Little Rock, 9 a.m.-7 p.m. Monday-Thursday, 9 a.m.-1 p.m. Friday-Saturday. (501) 758-1720; NLRlibrary.org.

“Two Minutes to Midnight and the Architecture of Armageddon,” photographic essays on the Cold War by Jeanine Michna-Bales and Adam Reynolds, on display through Jan. 5 at the MacArthur Museum of Arkansas Military History, 503 E. Ninth St., Little Rock. (501)-376-4602; littlerock.gov/macarthur.

And “Commanding the Screen: The American Presidency in Film and Television,” continues to offer a look at material from more than 30 movies and television shows portraying fictional and real-life U.S. presidents, through March 23 at the Clinton Presidential Center, 1200 President Clinton Ave., Little Rock. clintonpresidentialcenter.org/exhibits.