Weekend Entertainment Roundup for May 30, 2024

Here’s the latest Weekend Entertainment Roundup from Eric E. Harrison, culture reporter at the Arkansas Democrat Gazette.

THEATER

Actors Theatre of Little Rock stages the Arkansas premiere of “26 Pebbles!” by Eric Ulloa, with shows at 7:30 p.m. Thursday-Saturday this weekend and June 5-8 and 6 p.m. June 2 at Pinnacle View Middle School, 5701 Ranch Drive, Little Rock. The play focuses on the 26 youngsters who died in the Dec. 14, 2012, shooting at Sandy Hook Elementary School, who would have been high school seniors this year. The theater group rates the show PG-13 for mature content and discussion of mental illness, PTSD, death and child loss. centralarkansastickets.com.

A preacher and a musical family perform traditional and bluegrass gospel songs and share stories and beliefs at a North Carolina Baptist church during the Depression in the perennial favorite “Smoke on the Mountain,” onstage through June 29 at Murry’s Dinner Playhouse, 6323 Colonel Glenn Road, Little Rock. (501) 562-3131; murrysdp.com

Riverside Actors Theatre in partnership with Nightingale Theatre Collective presents a staged reading of “Light Blind” by Ben Grimes, 7:30 p.m. Thursday-Saturday May 30-June 1 at the Public Theatre, 616 Center St., Little Rock. It’s the story of a 15-year-old, who after murdering his father’s meth dealer finds himself trying to negotiate “the heartless and complicated labyrinth of the modern-day justice system,” according to a news release. An in-depth talkback with the cast and playwright follows each performance. Admission is free but with a suggested donation of $10 at the door. Visit riversideactorstheatre.org.

FUN

The SoMa Pride Parade starts at noon Saturday June 1, along Main Street from 22nd Street to 12th Street. It takes place in the midst of a daylong street festival, 10:30 a.m.-5 p.m., with live music (including, on the Main Stage, MonsterBoy Lives at 1 p.m., The Baby Magic at 2:30 and Butterfly from New Orleans at 4); an adults-only area (with a series of drag performances and beverages from Stone’s Throw Brewing and Rock Town Distillery), a kiddie corner, roughly 100 vendors and food trucks, along Main Street south of Interstate 630. Visit somalittlerock.com/somapride.

LIVE MUSIC

And if you’re up in Northwest Arkansas this weekend or can get up that way, the legendary John Legend performs at 8 p.m. at The Momentary, 507 SE E St., Bentonville. (479) 367-7500; themomentary.org

Tune in every Thursday at 4:44pm to hear Eric’s roundup for arts and culture events in Central Arkansas during All Things Considered on Little Rock Public Radio.