Calendar of Events

By Doug Stone. The time: 1968. The place: a Tupperware party. 5 women with concealed home lives drink a little too much alcohol and hilarity ensues. This play is both hysterical and tremendously touching. One critic wrote, "a knock-down, drag out, soul baring, bra-burning frenzy of self-discovery."

"A Raucous Comedy!" - Associated Press
"It makes its audiences loopy with giddiness." - theatremania.com

Showtimes: Thu/Fri/Sat @ 8:00 pm and Sun @ 3:00 pm

Theatre Knoxville Downtown, 319 North Gay Street, Knoxville, TN 37917. Information & tickets: 865-544-1999, www.theatreknoxville.com

From Hitchcock to Spielberg there's something for everyone in the 17th Annual Summer Movie Magic lineup. Movie-goers will travel back in time and see these American classics as they should be: in a historical theater, with a bag of popcorn in their lap, and a cold drink in their hand. This season is the first season all films will be shown with a digital projector! Come experience some of your favorite classics in a completely unique way.

GONE WITH THE WIND
Friday, July 31 • 7 PM, Saturday, August 1 • 7 PM, Sunday, August 2 • 2 PM

Tennessee Theatre, 604 S. Gay Street, Knoxville, TN 37902. For information/tickets: 865-684-1200, www.tennesseetheatre.com

Traveling thrift store, stand up comedy act, or impromptu dance party? Urban Gypsy Trunk Show is THE most fun you will ever have shopping! Happy customers are able to gather items guilt-free with every article of clothing being recycled and usually between $4-$10. Shoppers are swept away with the excitement and joy that comes with getting beautiful clothing in an inspiring setting. Whether you want a costume for that funky festival, the perfect vintage dress, or a classic blazer, you will be thrilled with your new treasures. Urban Gypsy also features one of a kind men's & children's clothing! Elle creates a temporary store, popping up in different cities, with her endless collection of handpicked clothing & accessories. The magic is enhanced by including unique and local talents from handcrafted jewelry to performance artists.

http://www.urbangypsytrunkshow.com/

Plus:
hand crafted jewelry Amy Metsker
Kara Strauss
tarot readings - Leslie Deatrick
chair massage - Annie Roe Aaron Searcy
henna art - Sara Davis

BYOB and a friend and plan on staying a while! Credit cards and cash accepted.

Paulk & Co., 510 Williams Street, Knoxville, TN 37917. Information: 865-414-8641, www.paulkandco.com
https://www.facebook.com/events/1663486587217729/

Tennessee's largest Diesel event! Weekend of Test N Tuning, Diesel Drag Racing, and Diesel Sled Pulling! See the nation’s top diesel trucks compete for the top spot in this Outlaw Diesel Super Series event! Brought to you by RLC Motorsports and Lucas Oil Pro Pulling League. Join us Friday night for the Test & Tune session, and Saturday for the main events!

July 31st 2015 - August 1st 2015
Drag Racing at the I-40 Dragway in Crossville Tennessee, 1650 Creston Rd, Crossville, TN 38571
Sled Pulling at the Fairgrounds in Crossville Tennessee, 1398 Livingston Road
Crossville, TN 38555
www.rockytopdieselshootout.com

Alive After Five is a unique live music series presented on twenty-eight Fridays per year in four seasonal series. The programs take place in the smoke-free, casually elegant setting of the Ann and Steve Bailey Hall in the Knoxville Museum of Art. There is a live band on stage, seating at tables, two cash bars, food from area restaurants, free freshly popped popcorn, free parking, and a licensed therapeutic masseuse available. Audience members can enjoy listening to music, dancing, and browsing the museum’s art galleries.

Admission to the Spring series premier of Alive After Five is $10 for general admission and $5 for museum members and college students with ID. Ages 17 and under are admitted free. Alive After Five is sponsored by Cherokee Distributing Company, Knoxville Mercury, and WDVX-89.9FM. For more information about the Alive After Five series, please contact Michael Gill, Alive After Five Coordinator, at (865) 934-2039.

Knoxville Museum of Art, 1050 World's Fair Park Dr, Knoxville, TN 37916. Hours: Tuesday-Saturday, 10AM-5PM, Sunday, 1-5PM. Information: 865-525-6101, www.knoxart.org

Join the Cattywampus Puppet Council as they celebrate the magic of puppetry in the park with two puppet shows on July 31.

Starting at 3pm, there will be an open puppet-making station for kids of all ages where they can make a mask or handpuppet to bring to the puppet show. The kids show begins at 4 pm. The fee for this program is $6 per person; children 2 and under are FREE.

Then, later that evening, the adult show will begin (PG-13 rating).There will be an open puppet-making station from 7 pm – 8 pm where even grown-up kids can make a mask or handpuppet to bring to the puppet show. The puppet double feature begins at 8 with both of the CPC’s spring shows, Fireside Tails and Night of a Few Dollys, as well as some other silly acts and musical entertainment. We promise to fill your hearts with whimsy! The fee for this program is $12 per person; not recommended for children under 13.

Food trucks and beverages will be available for the adult show.

Check out the Cattywampus Puppety Council at: http://cattywampuspuppetcouncil.com/
https://www.facebook.com/events/1603838173219309/

At Ijams Nature Center, 2915 Island Home Ave, Knoxville, TN 37920. Hours: Grounds and trails open during daylight hours. Call for Visitor Center hours. Information: 865-577-4717, www.ijams.org

The next show is one which the Fountain city Art Center has been eagerly anticipating for the past year! We are honored to have a four-artist show featuring four remarkably talented people: Aurora H. Bull, oils; Tracy Gray, watercolors, Terry Chandler, acrylics, and Marty McConnaughey, mixed media gourds.

The opening reception will be Friday, July 17, 6:30 – 8:00 PM.

Among Aurora’s works from her travels will be scenes from Italy, the Netherlands, and the deserts and mesas of the American West. Terry will also include works from some of his trips in East Tennessee and around the country. Tracy’s works are brilliant with color, each one a true gem in transparent watercolor. Every work by Marty is a treasure in itself! She uses items from nature to embellish her decorative work on large gourds. The end result must be viewed to be believed! Everyone is encouraged to attend the opening reception. No entry fee is charged to FCAC exhibits.

Gallery Hours: Tu, W, Th 9-5; Fri. 10-5; Sat. 9-1. At 213 Hotel Rd, Knoxville, TN 37918. Info: (865) 357-2787, www.fountaincityartctr.com

What good is sitting alone in your room? Come here the music play as Encore presents Kander and Ebb’s award winning musical “Cabaret.” Based on Christopher Isherwood’s “Berlin Stories,” “Cabaret” takes audiences into the nightlife of the Kit Kat Klub on the eve of Hitler’s rise to power in Weimar Germany. It follows the interlocking stories of a cabaret singer, a writer from America, and the denizens of Berlin as they are caught up in the swirling maelstrom of a changing society. Led by the enigmatic Emcee, “Cabaret” is an thrilling theatrical experience
Written by the same team that brought “Chicago” to the stage, “Cabaret” features well-known classics of the musical stage such as “Don’t Tell Mama,” “Maybe This Time,” as well as the title song. “Cabaret” opened on Broadway in 1966 featuring Joel Grey and won 8 Tony Awards in 1967. It has been revived numerous times and is currently enjoying another revival on Broadway at Studio 54. It was made into a film version in 1972 which was directed by Bob Fosse and starred Liza Minelli, Michael York, and Joel Grey.

“Cabaret” will run July 17- August 2 at Walters State Community College.

Encore Theatrical Company: 423-218-8331, www.etcplays.org

Encore Theatrical Company is asking, “What good is sitting alone in your room?” as it prepares to open Cabaret, the next production in its 2015 season. This award-winning musical will begin performances July 17 for three weekends at Walters State Community College in Morristown.

From the creators of the musicals Chicago and New York, New York, the show Cabaret takes audiences into the decadent nightlife of Weimer Germany on the eve of World War II. The story follows the ambitious singer Sally Bowles and the denizens of the notorious Kit Kat Club as they seek fame, fortune, and the rewards of a life on the stage. As the world outside the Kit Kat Klub becomes ever more dangerous, Sally and her fellow performers strive to keep the world inside the club beautiful.

“This show has special meaning for me,” said Micah-Shane Brewer, Encore’s artistic director who is also serving as stage director for this production. “Cabaret was one of the first musicals I directed, almost 14 years ago, and I’m revisiting the piece now with the advantage of time and age. Today, we are still dealing with many of the same issues that we did both in the time period when the play is set as well as the late 1960s when the show was first produced. It’s no wonder the show has endured and remains popular all over the world.”

Cabaret premiered in 1967 and was later turned into an Oscar winning film in 1972 starring Liza Minnelli and Joel Grey. It has seen hundreds of productions around the world and enjoyed numerous revivals on Broadway, most recently this past spring. The last time it was produced in Morristown was in 2001, when Brewer originally directed and starred in the show.

The show opens Friday, July 17 and plays for three weekends through August 2. Performances are Friday and Saturday nights at 8pm and Sunday afternoons at 2pm. There is one additional Saturday matinee on Saturday, August 1 at 2pm. It is recommended for mature audiences only. Tickets can be purchased on Encore’s website at etcplays.org or by calling 423-318-8331.

Tennessee Stage Company presents Shakespeare on the Square 2015: Performances of The Taming of the Shrew and Macbeth alternating Thursday to Sunday evenings at 7:00 PM from July 16 until August 16 on the Market Square Stage. Shakespeare on the Square annually features two of the magnificent plays of Williams Shakespeare, comedies, tragedies and histories, rotated nightly outdoors on Market Square in the heart of downtown Knoxville. A blanket or a lawn chair is all you need to view these performances. While we perform with no admission charge for general seating, we do appreciate your donations – we pass a basket nightly and we suggest a $10 donation per person. Special VIP seating is available on the Square for $15. Shakespeare on the Square productions are performed on a rough replica of the new Globe Theatre in London (a reconstruction of Shakespeare’s original theater. The plays are presented in the timeless style of Elizabethan theatrical presentations.

The Taming of the Shrew: Renowned as Shakespeare’s most boisterous comedy, The Taming of the Shrew is the tale of two young men, the hopeful Lucentio and the worldly Petruchio, and the two sisters they meet in Padua. Lucentio falls in love with Bianca, the apparently ideal younger daughter of the wealthy Baptista Minola. But before they can marry, Bianca’s formidable elder sister, Katherine, must be wed. Petruchio, interested only in the huge dowry, arranges to marry Katherine – against her will – and enters into a battle of the sexes that has endured as one of Shakespeare’s most enjoyable works.
July 16, 18, 24, 26, 30, Aug. 1, 7, 9, 13, 15 - 7:00 pm nightly outdoors on Market Square

Macbeth: One of the great Shakespearean tragedies, Macbeth is a dark and bloody drama of ambition, murder, guilt, and revenge. Prompted by the prophecies of three mysterious witches and goaded by his ambitious wife, the Scottish thane Macbeth murders Duncan, King of Scotland, in order to succeed him on the throne. This foul deed soon entangles the conscience-stricken nobleman in a web of treachery, deceit, and more murders, which ultimately spells his doom. Set amid the gloomy castles and lonely heaths of medieval Scotland, Macbeth paints a striking dramatic portrait of a man of honor and integrity destroyed by a fatal character flaw and the tortures of a guilty imagination.
July 17, 19, 23, 25, 31, Aug. 2, 6, 8, 14, 16 - 7:00 pm nightly outdoors on Market Square

Macbeth is directed by Greg Congleton with Taming of the Shrew directed by Jennifer Alldredge and Tom Parkhill. The Tennessee Stage Company encourages our audiences to spend an evening on the Square: do a little shopping, have a nice dinner, see the play and maybe stop by a pub afterward. All of this and more is available on Market Square nightly. So come early and see the Square!

Tennessee Stage Company P.O. Box 1186 Knoxville, TN 37901. Information: 865-546-4280, tennesseestage@comcast.net, or www.tennesseestage.com

The Athens Area Council for the Arts announces Me and the Gazelle showing work by Angela Dittmar Posey, regional artist and adjunct professor of art at University of Tennessee at Chattanooga. Angela Dittmar Posey earned a Bachelors of Fine Arts in Painting and Drawing from the University of Tennessee at Chattanooga and a Master of Fine Art in Studio Art from the City University of New York, Hunter College. During her Masters studies, Posey studied at University College London, The Slade School of Fine Art, in London, England. Posey executes various types of work, from paintings to performances, which solicit moments of self-awareness. She teaches Painting, Drawing, and General Education courses at the University of Tennessee at Chattanooga.

The exhibit reception is Friday, July 17, 2015 from 5:30 – 7:00 p.m. Posey will be on hand to informally discuss her art. The reception will include light refreshments and is free and open to the public. After the reception, AACA’s Youth Theatre Workshop will present Shaking Up Shakespeare at 7:30 pm in the Sue E. Trotter Theatre. This event is also free and open to the public.

Athens Area Council for the Arts: 320 North White Street, Athens, TN, 37303. Hours: M-F 10-5. Info: 423-745-8781, www.athensartscouncil.org

On Fridays this July, step out of the heat and into the McClung Museum’s Decorative Arts Gallery for an hour of guided meditation, yoga, and lecture. Mindfulness and Meditation Club at UT, McClung Museum Coordinator of Academic Programming Lindsey Waugh, and Yoga instructors Jamie Blessinger and Andrea Cartwright will lead the hour-long sessions. These events are free and open to the public.

Friday, July 10. 11:30-12:30. A Month of Mindfulness: Mantra Meditation with the Mindfulness & Meditation Club at UT.

Friday, July 17. 11:30-12:30. A Month of Mindfulness: Mindfulness in the Museum Lecture with Lindsey Waugh.

Friday, July 24. 11:30-12:30. A Month of Mindfulness: Yoga Nidra with Jamie Blessinger.

Friday, July 31. 11:30-12:30. A Month of Mindfulness: Meditation in Motion with Andrea Cartwright.

McClung Museum of Natural History and Culture, 1327 Circle Park Dr on the UT campus, Knoxville, TN 37996. Hours: Monday-Saturday, 9AM-5PM, Sunday, 1-5PM. Information: 865-974-2144, Information: http://mcclungmuseum.utk.edu/events/a-month-of-mindfulness/