Calendar of Events

The 25th Annual Putnam County Spelling Bee plays October 27 through November 13 in the Carousel Theatre. This delightful new musical is a real time event where ten finalists compete for the chance to go to the national spelling bee in Washington DC. Through the course of the bee we get up close and personal with all the contestants and learn of their dreams and challenges. As participants gradually are eliminated we see the trials and tribulations of adolescence in high comic relief.

The Tony award winning musical was based upon C-R-E-P-U-S-C-U-L-E, an original improvisational play created by Rebecca Feldman and performed by The Farm, a New York-based improvisational comedy troupe. It opened on Broadway in 2005 and ran until January 2008. The musical is now produced in theatres across the country to rave reviews!

OCTOBER 27 - NOVEMBER 13 Carousel Theatre.

“A WRINKLE IN TIME” PLAYS THROUGH NOVEMBER 5. CTK will present a special Halloween event: “A Wrinkle In Time,” a time-warping and space-bending play based on the Newberry Award-winning novel by MadelineL‘Engle, on weekends through November 5. Meg Murry has always felt like a misfit, especially since her father disappeared five years ago, while working on a top secret project for NASA. Her only friend is herbrother Charles Wallace, a six-year-old prodigy who hidesa secret of strange psychic powers. In one breath taking week, however, Meg meets three mysterious time-traveling ladies, battles a mysterious force called The Black Thing, travels to another galaxy, battles The Man With Red Eyes, comes face-to-face with a horrible entity called IT, and then meets the cutest and smartest boy ever! “A Wrinkle In Time” is a special family-friendly Halloween event, with just the right mix of creepiness, humor, and thought-provoking entertainment for the Halloween season. THE COMPLETE PERFORMANCE SCHEDULE is: Thursday, October 27 at 7 PM, Friday, October 28 at 7 PM, Saturday, October 29 at 1 PM and 5 PM Thursday, November 3 at 7 PM, Friday, November 4 at 7 PM, Saturday, November 5 at 1 PM and 5 PM. Reservations are strongly recommended for all CTK performances. To reserve tickets for the production, e-mail the number of adult and child tickets needed, along with your requested performance date and time, to tickets@childrenstheatreknoxville.com at any time. Or you may call us at (865) 599-5284 between the hours of10 AM and 5 PM. Tickets are $12 per person. CTK is continuing our special Adult & Child Combination rate for this production: If an adult and a child enter together, these two may be admitted for $10 each.The play is being performed at CTK’s theatre in downtown Knoxville, located at 800 Tyson Street.

The universe is under attack by The Black Thing. Meg's father has been kidnapped and is trapped on the alien planet of Camazotz. A man with red eyes has hypnotized Charles, and he's now under the control of a giant, disembodied brain named IT. A sci-fi classic for Halloween, based on the Newberry-winning novel by Madeline L'Engle.

Located at 800 Tyson Street, Knoxville, TN 37917. Information: 865-599-5284, www.childrenstheatreknoxville.com, info@childrenstheatreknoxville.com.

By Agatha Christie
The longest running play, in the world, ever, has been running continuously since 1952 at St. Martin's Theatre in London. But if you can't make it to London, travel on down to Theatre Knoxville Downtown instead! Written by the world’s most successful author, Agatha Christie, it’s one of the finest plays ever written.

It follows a group of strangers – one of whom is a murderer – trapped in a boarding house during a snow storm. Is it the newlyweds whose rampant suspicions nearly wreck their marriage, or the spinster with the curious background? Perhaps it is the architect, the retired Army major, or the odd man who claims his car overturned in a snow drift? The play is also known for its twist ending, which at the end of every performance the audience is asked not to reveal.

Theatre Knoxville Downtown, 319 N. Gay St, Knoxville, TN 37917. Performances are Thursday, Friday, and Saturday at 8:00 PM and Sunday at 3:00 PM. Tickets are $10 plus fees for Thursday & Sunday; $15 plus fees for Friday & Saturday. For information: 865-544-1999, www.theatreknoxville.com. For tickets: 865-523-7521, www.KnoxTIX.com

BOO! at the Zoo presented by U.S. Cellular® kicks off 11 nights of safe and not-too-scary Halloween fun beginning Thursday, Friday and Saturday, October 13, 14 and 15 and continuing Thursday through Sunday, Oct. 20-23 and 27-30, from 5:30-8:00 p.m. each evening.
BOO! at the Zoo, a Halloween tradition for 25 years, is a family event featuring
devilishly good music and games at the Monster Mash tent in The Clayton Family
Kids Cove, your favorite costumed characters throughout the zoo, and the only
“haunted” carousel in East Tennessee, the Scary-Go-Round. (How can you tell it’s
haunted? It goes backwards, of course.)
One of the highlights of BOO! at the Zoo is the BOO! Trail, where little trick-or-treaters can fill their bag with goodies as they make their way through the zoo. Each night will feature a variety of entertainment, from belly dancers and jugglers to out-of-this-world STAR WARS characters. For updated information
about each evening’s activities, visit the zoo’s Facebook page at www.facebook.com/knoxvillezoo.
Boo! at the Zoo tickets are $6 per person. Children under two are admitted free. Parking is $5. Tickets are available at in advance by phone at 865.637.5331, online at www.knoxville-zoo.org, or at the zoo’s ticket office during regular zoo hours. Knoxville Zoo members receive a $1 discount on admission and free parking.

Reception Oct. 7, 6:30-8:30 PM

213 Hotel Ave, Knoxville, TN 37918. Hours: Tuesday & Thursday, 9AM-5PM; Wednesday & Friday, 10AM-5PM; Saturday, 9AM-1PM. For information: 865-357-2787, www.fountaincityart.org

Fountain City Art Center Annual Membership Show

Fountain City Art Center, 213 Hotel Avenue, Knoxville , TN 37918
October 7 - November 4, 2011
Contact Info: 865.357.2787
www.fountaincityartctr.org

129 North Main Street
Greeneville, TN 37743
(423) 787-0195

www.james-ben.com

"LARGER THAN LIFE" Exhibit at NPAC Displays Great Talent and Inspiration

As a prelude to the holiday season, the final 2011 exhibit in the lobby of the Niswonger Performing Arts Center by James-Ben: Studio and Gallery Art Center is set to open Friday, October 7th. "LARGER THAN LIFE" features work from 4 of the Art Center's most gifted artists who are expressing themselves in large format images. Barbara de Saussure, Medha Karandikar, David Daus, and Lorna Paquin have all been represented in previous NPAC exhibits but "LARGER THAN LIFE" brings together some of their more striking works in a group show of larger images. The exhibit is open free to the public and can be viewed during lobby hours at NPAC,10:00 am to 5:30 pm Monday through Friday, and during scheduled performances.

For further information about "LARGER THAN LIFE" or the Art at NPAC series, contact James-Ben Stockton at (423) 787-0195.

Justin Randolf Thompson's "The Pits" is a multi-disciplinary installation and performance that investigates the political employment of sound, both in realm of propaganda and as protest, and the visual hierarchies of the architectural organization of theatre space. The work involves a direct collaboration with sculpture, architecture and music department students and can be broken down into four interrelated parts:
-A raised stage supporting a faux marble inlay floor
-A pit orchestra performance
-A chandelier
-A series of three freestanding sculptures

This orchestra will be a collaboration with students and faculty of the UT music department. Jazz musician and composer Jason Thompson (a Knoxville local and UT Graduate) will work with this group to create an 8-10 piece pit orchestra that will be conducted to perform a score that shifts from classical, triumphant marches, into the drum and flute sound of Black Power poets, through folk styles of spiritual praise, and finally into abrasive Hip Hop. The score will be recorded with each instrument taken separately, and following the opening performance; the orchestra will be replaced (in each of their seats) by their recording. The mix of sound references is meant to associate triumph with climax and climax with ascent and the skewing of the elements geographical and cultural identity addresses sound's social transcendence and simultaneous role as entertainment.

The stage and sculptural elements will be created as a collaboration with the artist, UT's architecture department, and UT's sculpture department.

Opening Reception: October 7, 5-9pm with live musical performance as part of First Friday opening.

UT Downtown Gallery, 106 S. Gay St, Knoxville, TN 37902. Hours: Wednesday-Friday: 11AM - 6PM; Saturday: 10AM - 3PM. Information: 865-673-0802, http://web.utk.edu/~downtown

In observance of the Civil War’s 150th anniversary, Great Smoky Mountains Heritage Center is hosting an exhibition from the Tennessee State Museum, Common People in Uncommon Times: The Civil War in Tennessee. The exhibition focuses on how the war affected the lives of Tennesseans through personal stories of participants whose sagas illustrate a land divided.

The narrative of personal struggle and endurance during the Civil War is presented on 10 graphic panels taken from the State Museum’s collection of photographs and artifacts from the era, as well as from other collections across the state. Each panel portrays a different theme: Confederate leaders, Union leaders, African-Americans, civilian home front, common soldiers, war on the water, reconstruction and commemoration.

Admission to the special exhibition is included in the museum admission price, and free for Heritage Center members. For current hours and admission rates, visit www.gsmheritagecenter.org

At the Palace Theatre, 72 South Main Street in Crossville.

www.isiksonmez.com

Isik Sonmez, whose oil paintings are done with a palette knife, is exhibiting at the Palace Theatre in Crossville during the month of October.

Born in Turkey of a noted military family, he went to Military High School and became a soldier in the Turkish Army and became an apprentice to Professor Dr. Gulbin Yalim and began his study of abstract art. Later he was mentored for a year under the instruction of Nesin Us, a well known abstract artist.
He has been accepted and won prizes in prestigious exhibits both in Turkey and the U.S. In Tennessee, this includes the Oak Ridge Art Center Open Show and 1st in the landscape category in the Art Guild’s juried show.

Sonmez described his work as his own versatile blend of impressionism and surrealism. The exhibit theme at the Palace consists of horses, clients at a café, and Turkish peasants, great fields, storm clouds, and a piece that comments on both joy and pain.

The Palace Theater, 113 West Broadway, Maryville TN 37801. Information: 865-983-3330, www.palacetheater.com