Weekend Entertainment Roundup for Thursday, October 24, 2024

FUN

Trick-or-treating, games and fun family activities in a safe environment are at the center of the annual Big Boo!seum Bash, with 14 participating organizations at eight downtown Little Rock locations, 5:30-8:30 p.m. Thursday. Admission is free. Costumes are encouraged. LittleRock.com.

The list of participants and host locations:

-The Old State House Museum, 300 W. Markham St., partnering with the Arkansas State Archives.

-Historic Arkansas Museum, 200 E. Third St.

m Witt Stephens Jr. Central Arkansas Nature Center, 602 President Clinton Ave., with the Little Rock Zoo.

-Museum of Discovery, 500 President Clinton Ave.

-MacArthur Museum of Arkansas Military History, 503 E. Ninth St., including representatives of Historic Curran Hall and the Jacksonville Museum of Military History.

-Arkansas Museum of Fine Arts, 501 E. Ninth St.

-Firehouse Museum & Hostel, 1201 Commerce St., with representation from the Central Arkansas Library System.

-Mosaic Templars Cultural Center, 501 W. Ninth St., with representation from the Little Rock Central High School National Historic Site.

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The MacArthur Museum of Arkansas Military History, 503 E. Ninth St., Little Rock, hosts the annual Arkansas Paranormal Expo, 9 a.m.-5 p.m. Saturday and Sunday, with presentations on topics including Bigfoot, “Deep Water Alien Residents,” “The Bell Witch Haunting,” “Demonology & Exorcism, What Is True or Fantasy,” “Cryptids of Arkansas” and “The 50th Anniversary of S.E. Missouri UFO Flap.” There will be vendors outside and inside the museum and food trucks. (501) 376-4602; arkansasparanormalexpo.com.

MUSIC

Award-winning cellist John-Henry Crawford joins the Conway Symphony Orchestra and conductor Israel Getzov to perform the Cello Concerto No. 1 by Camille Saint-Saëns, 4 p.m. Sunday at the University of Central Arkansas’ Windgate Center for Fine and Performing Arts, 2150 Bruce St. at Donaghey Avenue, Conway. The program also includes the world premiere of “Roundabouts” by composer-in-residence Paul Dickinson, the “Light Cavalry” Overture by Franz von Suppé and the Symphony No. 3 by Franz Schubert. (501) 470-7572 or (501) 269-1066; conwaysymphony.org.

An unusual concert in Jonesboro this weekend: Grammy winner and Arkansas native Ashley McBryde performing her own songs, arranged by Tom O’Connor for symphony orchestra, with the Delta Symphony and conductor Neale Bartee, 7:30 p.m. Sunday in Riceland Hall at Arkansas State University’s Fowler Center. (870) 761-8254; deltasymphonyorchestra.org/tickets.

Insane Clown Posse, with opening act Ouija Macc, performs at 7 p.m. Friday at The Hall, 721 W. Ninth St. (501) 406-1364; littlerockhall.com.

Little Rock musical legend Chris Maxwell, with opening act Ambassador Paisley, performs at 8 p.m. Saturday at White Water Tavern, 2500 W. Seventh St. You may remember Maxwell, a singer-songwriter-guitarist who now lives in Woodstock, N.Y., got his start in 1980s Little Rock bands Jubilee Dive and The Gunbunnies. He recently released his third album, “Nothingland.”

And progressive newgrass string band Arkansauce performs at 7:30 p.m. Saturday at the Center for Humanities and Arts on the UA-Pulaski Tech main campus, 3000 W. Scenic Drive, North Little Rock. (501) 812-2387; uaptc.edu.

THEATER

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. today Thursday-Saturday and Nov. 6-9 and 6 p.m. Nov. 3 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.

Molière’s “The Imaginary Invalid” is onstage, 7:30 p.m. Thursday-Saturday, 2:30 p.m. Sunday Oct 23-27 in the Haislip Theatre, Center for Performing Arts, University of Arkansas at Little Rock, 2801 S. University Ave., Little Rock. Admission is by free ticket. Visit tix.com/ticket-sales/ualrtheatre/5517

Three roommates face a tough choice regarding a would-be rapist as the Weekend Theater, 1001 W. Seventh St. at Chester Street, Little Rock, closes out its run of “Extremities” by William Mastrosimone, 7:30 p.m. Friday-Saturday and 2:30 p.m. Sunday. The play, intended for an adult audience, contains strong language, sexual content and discussion and scenes of violence that could be triggering to some audience members. CentralArkansasTickets.com.

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

New this week: the opening of “Treehouse Treasures: A Collector’s Collection Part 1” with a 6-8 p.m. reception Friday at Cantrell Gallery, 8208 Cantrell Road, Little Rock. The exhibition, up through Jan. 18, consists 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.

Continuing resolutions:

“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, 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.