Calendar of Events

April 28: TBA

Tennessee Shines is a weekly radio show performed live for an in-studio audience at the Knoxville Visitor Center Mondays at 7pm and broadcast live on WDVX FM and WDVX.com. Hosts are Bob Deck and Paige Travis. Tickets are $10, free for students with valid ID and children ages 14 and under. Tickets are available in advance at the WDVX Blue Plate Special, noon weekdays and Saturdays at the Knoxville Visitor Center, or at the door beginning at 6 p.m. on the night of the show. For more information, visit WDVX.com.
Information: 865-544-1029, www.wdvx.com, http://www.tennesseeshines.com

At The Square Room, 4 Market Square
The WordPlayers presents a Staged Reading of Keeping Watch by Thomas Ward. Free Admission. Food and drinks available to purchase from Café 4.

Coming of age in a small Southern town. Complicated friendships. Coping with death that comes to those far too young to die. Falling in love with the “wrong” person. The serio-comedy KEEPING WATCH deals with all these themes in scenes alternating between two seemingly unrelated meetings of characters. The surprise twist at the end will leave the audience moved and touched with hope. Rated PG-13.

Info: 865-539-2490, wordplayers@comcast.net, www.wordplayers.org

When taking cruises, most people think of traveling to warm climates like the Caribbean or Mediterranean. While Larry and Judy Ackley have travelled extensively in the Caribbean (10 cruises as of this date), they decided last year to check off two items on Judy’s bucket list: cruises to the North and South Poles.

Larry Ackley will give a presentation, “The North and South Poles: the Differences from a Travelogue Perspective,” on Monday, April 28, at 7 p.m., at the Blount County Public Library.

The North and South Poles are on the extreme ends of the earth and are in some of the colder areas in the world. Surprisingly, there are more differences than common parameters between the two poles.

Free and open to the public, the program is sponsored by the Blount County Public Library, located at 508 N. Cusick Street, Maryville.

For further information about library programs or services, call the library at 982-0981 or visit the Web site at www.blountlibrary.org . To sign up to receive a monthly calendar by email, go to the library’s Home Page, click on the “News and Events” tab, and then “Calendar of Events Signup” and type in your email address. Also check out Facebook at “Blount County Public Library” and Twitter at “Blount_Library”.

In conjunction with the new feature exhibition, Woven of Wood: East Tennessee Baskets, 1880-1940, the East Tennessee Historical Society will be holding a series of “Casual Basket Sundays” and special demonstrations by members of the Foothills Craft Guild. Guests are invited to bring their baskets, share stories, and meet with basket experts. Programs include:
April 25-27, Friday and Saturday - 10:00 am-4:00 pm, Sunday - 1:00-5:00 pm
Basket Making Demonstrations
There will be basket making demonstrations from members of the Foothills Crafts Guild on the porch and front lobby of the East Tennessee History Center. Featured artists include Karen Kenst, Sue Mowen, Judy and Virgil Davis, Bill Alexander, and Jim Gentry.

April 27, 2:00-4:00, A United States show and tell gathering
Collectors will show their favorite or unusual baskets made roughly from 1880-1940, regardless of where in the United States they were made. Examples are likely to be seen from Pennsylvania, Virginia, North and South Carolina, Kentucky, Missouri, and Middle Tennessee, as well as Native American. Each collector will tell something about his basket, either why it is a favorite or something of its history. There will also be basket demonstrations by featured basket maker Billy Sims and Sue Mowen and Bill Alexander from the Foothills Craft Guild.

May 11, beginning at 2:00, Mother’s Day Gallery Tours
Interactive gallery tours of the East Tennessee Historical Society’s feature exhibit Woven of Wood lead by guest curator Carole Carpenter Wahler. Museum visitors will learn about baskets and their features and are welcome to join in at any time.

May 18, 2:00-4:00, Casual Basket Sunday- A world wide show and tell gathering
Collectors will show baskets made anywhere in the world, at any time, and of any materials. Examples are likely to be seen from Australia, Africa, Philippines, England, and China, as well as baskets made in Tennessee from the middle of the 20th century to the present. Each collector will tell something about his basket, either why it is a favorite or something of its history. A gallery tour of Woven of Wood will take place immediately following the show and tell gathering.

“Casual Basket Sundays” are free and open to the public and will take place at the East Tennessee History Center, 601 S. Gay Street. For more information please call Michele MacDonald, (865)215-8829 or visit www.eastTNhistory.org.

he Farragut Business Alliance has once again partnered with the Town of Farragut and Dogwood Arts Festival to host the 4th Annual Farragut Art in the Park, presented by TDS. It is a plein air event, with two days of painting or photography on location, followed by a gallery reception and sale. Art for Kids! will be back again this year as well and new youth competition categories have been added.

The paint-out/shooting dates are Saturday and Sunday, April 26-27, 2014. The Gallery Reception and Sale is Friday, May 9th. The events will occur rain or shine.

Farragut Art in the Park culminates with a Gallery Reception & Art Sale at 7pm on Friday, May 9. Due to a generous partnership with The Pinnacle at Turkey Creek, it will be held in a new location this year, at 11483 Parkside Drive (in the space next to Men’s Warehouse). Hors d'oeuvres and desserts are complimentary and wine will be available for $3 per glass. The Knoxville Bella Corda, an Allied Music Instructors youth acoustic guitar ensemble, will provide entertainment. Finally, Best of Show, First Place and Second Place paintings and photographs (judged separately) will be awarded cash prizes. Presenting Sponsor’s Choice will also be named.

All events are free and open to the public.

Farragut Business Alliance, P.O. Box 23583, Farragut, TN 37933

This Tony Award winner evokes the delightful humor and infectious energy of honky tonk dives, rent parties and stride piano players in 1930's Harlem. The rollicking, winging music of the inimitable "Fats" Waller gets the joint a-jumpin as the cast struts, strums and sings songs made famous in a career that ranged from uptown clubs to downtown Tin Pan Alley to Hollywood and concert stages in the U.S., Canada and Europe.
April 25-May 11, 2014, Mainstage.

Purchase tickets online 24 hours a day: www.orplayhouse.com.
Purchase by phone or at box office: 865 482 9999, 12:00-5:30PM Mon.-Sat. during performance weeks.

The Town of Farragut Arts Council presents Mary Agnes Schaefer as the featured artist for April and May. Located at the Farragut Town Hall, her exhibit - "Fabric Friends" - features handmade fabric dolls.

A charter and current member of the Farragut Arts Council, Schaefer spent many hours as a child playing with paper dolls as well as making handmade dolls out of drawing paper. Later in life, she started making paper dolls for her granddaughters and nieces. Each doll includes a wardrobe, toy and carrying case. The goal of her fabric dolls is to inspire children to use their imagination. Schaefer's "Fabric Friends" are available for sale at the Concord Gallery and the Annabelle Emporium in Loudon.

Each month, the work of an artist or group of artists is featured in specially designed cases on the second floor of the rotunda in the Farragut Town Hall. For more information about this exhibit or to access a Featured Artist of the Month application, please contact Lauren Cox at lauren.cox@townoffarragut.org or 966-7057 or visit www.townoffarragut.org/artsandculture.

The Farragut Town Hall is open Monday through Friday from 8 a.m. to 5 p.m. and is located at 11408 Municipal Center Drive directly across from the Farragut Branch Post Office.

Directed by Bill Jenkins

Winner of the 2005 Tony Award for Best Musical and voted Outstanding Musical of 973 AD, the New York Times called “Spamalot” “resplendently silly.” A musical comedy "lovingly ripped off” from the 1975 film “Monty Python and the Holy Grail,” this Broadway smash features flying cows, killer rabbits, taunting Frenchmen and show-stopping musical numbers! This production is recommended for high school and up.

Clarence Brown Theatre / Carousel Theatre, 1714 Andy Holt Ave on the UT campus, Knoxville, TN 37996. For information: 865-974-5161, www.clarencebrowntheatre.com. For tickets: 865-974-5161, 865-656-4444, www.knoxvilletickets.com

I Hate Hamlet centers on a young and successful television actor who relocates to New York, where he rents a marvelous, gothic apartment. With his television career in limbo, the actor is offered the opportunity to play Hamlet onstage, but there’s one problem: He hates Hamlet. His dilemma deepens with the entrance of John Barrymore’s ghost, who arrives intoxicated and in full costume to the apartment that once was his. The contrast between the two actors, the towering, dissipated Barrymore whose Hamlet was the greatest of his time, and Andrew Rally, hot young television star, leads to a wildly funny duel over women, art, success, duty, television, and yes, the apartment.

Director: Rick Parker, Producer: G David Brown

Opening night dinner theatre - April 24, 6:00 PM - $25 pp
Other shows: April 25-26, May 1-3 at 7:30pm
Sunday Matinee: April 27 at 2:00pm
Tickets: $12 adult / $8 student

For more information on our other programs, visit www.athensartscouncil.org, call us at 423-745-8781, or stop by The Arts Center, 320 North White Street in Athens.

April 17-May 3, 2015
An Inspector Calls by J.B. Priestly

Theatre Knoxville Downtown
319 North Gay Street, KNoxville
865 544 1999 or email: info@theatreknoxville.com
www.theatreknoxville.com

Join Bill Landry of "The Heartland Series" for a guided trip around Cades Cove. Bill will share stories, tales and adventures during each tour.

$50 per person, advance reservations required, with a limit of 18 guests per tour.
Call 865 448 8838 for reservations Mon.-Fri., 10:00AM - 5:00PM.
Bill Landry Cades Cove tour dates:
Saturdays, April 12, May 24, May 31, June 7, June 21, July 5, July 12, July 19, July 26,
August 2, August 16, August 23, September 6.

Tours depart at 9:30 am from the Great Smoky Mountains Heritage Center in Townsend.
Tour is approximately 4 hours.
Light snacks and a cold beverage is included in the ticket price.
Bill Landry Cades Cove tours will run rain or shine.

Poets for Preservation is a forthcoming spring poetry series presented by Knox Heritage and eight local poets in April and May of 2014. Native Knoxville poets, most residing in the area for 30 years, will perform engaging works about history, home, and new beginnings in celebration of the opening of Historic Westwood at 3425 Kingston Pike. Poets will read in pairs on Saturdays at 3 p.m. in April and May as listed below. Refreshments will be served, and guests are welcome to look around the newly restored mansion after the readings.

April 12, 3 p.m.
Linda Parsons Marion and Laura Still

April 19, 3 p.m.
Marilyn Kallet and Keith Norris

May 10, 3pm
Donna Doyle and Rose Raney

May 24, 3 p.m.
Darren Jackson and Arthur Smith

Historic Westwood at 3425 Kingston Pike, Knoxville
865-523-8008, www.knoxheritage.org