Calendar of Events

by Earnest J. Gaines; adapted by Romulus Linney. At the Carousel Theatre. “The story’s wrenching power lies not in its outrage but in the almost inexplicable grace the characters must muster as their only resistance to being treated like lesser beings.” The New Yorker

It’s 1948 in a small plantation community in the heart of Cajun country. A young man, jailed for a murder he did not commit, will soon lose his life and has lost his self-respect. A young teacher, with most of his life ahead of him, has lost respect for the situation in which he lives. Both men teach each other the lessons they need to face their very different futures with dignity and strength. The CBT is pleased to be partnering with the Knox County Public Library on a series of ancillary events associated with this production.

Pay What You Wish Night - Wednesday, February 24, 7:30 p.m.
Tickets may be purchased Feb. 24 at the CBT Box Office from 12 to 7 p.m. Cash in full dollar amounts is accepted and limited tickets are available on a first come, first served basis.

Post-Performance Salon Discussions - Tuesday, March 1 and 8, following the 7:30 p.m. performance
Audience-driven, providing patrons and community members the opportunity to discuss their thoughts, experiences, and issues raised after attending the performance.

Sunday Symposium with Dr. Michelle D. Commander - Sunday, March 13, following the 2 p.m. performance
Dr. Michelle Commander will lead a post-performance discussion on the play and its themes. Dr. Commander received her Ph.D. in American Studies and Ethnicity from the University of Southern California. She teaches courses and conducts research on twentieth and twenty-first century African American literature, cultural studies, diasporic literatures, and Black social movements.

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

The final dress rehearsal of Hansel & Gretel will take place at the Tennessee Theatre. Admission is free to Hansel & Gretel ticket holders and to students of all ages, with accompanying adults paying $5 at the door. Adults without tickets to the Friday or Sunday performance must accompany a student for admittance (be prepared to show student ID if an adult).

At the Tennessee Theatre, 604 S. Gay Street, Knoxville, TN 37902. Tickets and info from Knoxville Opera: 865 524-0795, http://www.knoxvilleopera.com/schedule/hanselandgretel/

Wednesday, February 24 at noon The Bookaholic Reading Group discusses A Lesson Before Dying by Ernest Gaines.

Union Ave Books, 517 Union Avenue, Knoxville, TN 37902. Information: 865-951-2180, www.unionavebooks.com

Dr. Naima Bush explores the history of the development of the Spiritual with acapella demonstrations and original music contained within it. Using storytelling, audience participation, poetry and music, this program traces the roots of this original American art form from its beginnings in West Africa and its apex on Southern plantations to its influence on modern music.

At Beck Cultural Exchange Center, 1927 Dandridge Avenue

The Big Read is a program of the National Endowment for the Arts in partnership with Arts Midwest. The Big Read aims to encourage reading for pleasure and enrichment by providing citizens with the opportunity to read and discuss a single book in their communities. The grant for The Big Read 2016 was awarded to Friends of the Knox County Public Library. A full schedule of events can be found at www.knoxlib.org/bigread.

Knox County Public Library: 500 West Church Avenue, Knoxville, TN 37902. Information: 865-215-8750, www.knoxlib.org

Have you ever wished you could paint? This is your opportunity! Join us for a Painting With a Twist class where a local artist will instruct us step by step as we create a painting, called "To the Moon." People of every skill level will enjoy making this beautiful work of art. Did we mention we're offering free childcare while you enjoy the class? This is a great opportunity for a date night, or just a night out with a few friends. It would also make the PERFECT Valentine's gift for that Special Someone. Give them something that will last longer than a dozen roses! Cost for the class is $35. Half of all proceeds will be donated to ETTAC to benefit people with disabilities in East TN.
February 24 from 6-8 p.m.
Please RSVP by February 21. A $35 fee includes all supplies at
http://www.ettac.org/calendarevents/paintingwithatwistfundraiser.html

East Tennessee Technology Access Center, 116 Childress Street, Knoxville, TN 37920. Information: 865-219-0130, www.ettac.org

In a Brown Bag Lecture on February 24, Stephen Wicks, curator at the Knoxville Museum of Art, will explore the legacy of painter Beauford Delaney, one of the country’s most significant African American modernists. Born in Knoxville in 1901, Delaney went from sketching on Sunday school cards to formal lessons with Knoxville’s Lloyd Branson to joining the artistic revolution in Harlem, New York. From 1953 until his 1979 death he lived in Paris, where his artistic focus shifted from depictions of city life to abstract expressionism. While you are at ETHS for the program, we invite you to view the watercolor painting by Delaney in the museum’s current exhibition, Celebrating a Life in Tennessee Art: Lloyd Branson 1853-1925.

Stephen Wicks has guided the Knoxville Museum of Art’s curatorial department for more than 20 years. He has organized dozens of exhibitions, including Higher Ground: A Century of the Visual Arts in East Tennessee, Awakening the Spirits, Facets of Modern and Contemporary Glass, and New Directions in American Drawing. He previously served as Curator of Collections and Exhibitions at the Columbus Museum in Georgia, and is active as a guest curator, juror, lecturer and writer. Wicks received his Bachelor of Arts in Art History from the University of Tennessee, his Master of Arts in Art History and Museum Studies from Case Western Reserve University, and was awarded back-to-back Cleveland Museum of Art Fellowships.

The lecture is sponsored by the Harriet Z. Albers Memorial and is free and open to the public. The lecture will begin at noon at the East Tennessee History Center, 601 S. Gay Street, Knoxville. Guests are invited to bring a “Brown Bag” lunch and enjoy the lecture. For more information on the lecture, exhibitions, or museum hours, call 865-215-8824 or visit the website at www.EastTNHistory.org.

Join your host Paige Travis for Tennessee Shines Radio Show live at 7pm every Wednesday night from Boyd's Jig & Reel in the Old City. The radio broadcast is 7 - 8pm, but the live music continues on until 8:30pm at Boyd's.

With special guests The Sea The Sea. Mira Stanley and Chuck E. Costa of The Sea the Sea make engrossing indie folk music with rich harmonies and inventive instrumentation. Their debut release, Love We Are We Love, is an intimate, intense and delicate journey of lightness and dark. Their new single, “How Will We Know,” teases new songs to come from this phenomenal duo.

Tickets are $10, $5 with a student ID at the Boyd's Jig and Reel door or on online. For more information visit wdvx.com. Information: 865-544-1029, www.wdvx.com

7:30 pm, room 109 A+A Building

Pete Schulte and Amy Pleasant are co-jurors of the Fine Arts division of the 69th Annual Student Art Competition.

Pete Schulte comes from a country called the Midwest. He received an MFA from The University of Iowa in 2008. Drawing is the cornerstone of a practice which includes the integration of sculpture, site-specific, and curatorial activities. Recent exhibitions include Build A Fire at whitespace in Atlanta, Drawings and Paintings with John Dilg at Jeff Bailey Gallery in Hudson, New York, Between Moth And Flame at whitespec in Atlanta, A Letter Edged In Black at The Visual Arts Gallery at the University of Alabama at Birmingham, and Pardon up Here at Luise Ross Gallery in New York. His work has been included in recent group exhibitions at Look&Listen in Saint-Chamas, France and in Simplest Means at Jeff Bailey Gallery in New York. He has been awarded residencies at Yaddo, Bemis Center for Contemporary Art, Atlantic Center For Art and Threewalls. Art in America, World Sculpture News, Burnaway, and The New Art Examiner have reviewed his work, among other publications. Pete Schulte currently divides his time between Birmingham and Tuscaloosa, where he teaches at The University of Alabama. He co-founded The Fuel And Lumber Company with Amy Pleasant in the summer of 2013.

Amy Pleasant received a BFA from The School of the Art Institute of Chicago and an MFA from The Tyler School of Art, Philadelphia, PA. She has held solo exhibitions at Jeff Bailey Gallery, NY, whitespace gallery, Atlanta, GA, The Birmingham Museum of Art, The Atlanta Contemporary Art Center, CANDYLAND, Stockholm, Sweden, Rhodes College, The Ruby Green Center for Contemporary Art, The University of Alabama at Birmingham and Auburn University's School of Liberal Arts. Her work has been included in group exhibitions in venues such as The Knoxville Museum of Art, The Hunter Museum of American Art, The Weatherspoon Museum of Art, The Columbus Museum of Art, The Wiregrass Museum of Art, The National Museum for Women in the Arts, The Mobile Museum of Art, The Southeastern Center for Contemporary Art, The Huntsville Museum of Art, Clifford Chance, and The U.S. Embassy, Prague, Czech Republic. She is a recipient of the Joan Mitchell Foundation's Painters and Sculptors Award for 2015.

Ewing Gallery, 1715 Volunteer Blvd on the UT campus, Knoxville, TN 37996. Information: 865-974-3200, www.ewing-gallery.utk.edu

The Town of Farragut and Farragut Arts Council will sponsor the 2016 Farragut Intermediate Schools Juried Art Show this winter at the Farragut Town Hall. Don't miss this opportunity to marvel at the work of some of Farragut's most talented young artists from Farragut Intermediate School and St. John Neumann Catholic School. Awards will be given for best in show and first, second and third places during a reception on Tuesday, March 1.

Reception: Tuesday, March 1 - 4:30 - 6 p.m.

View the exhibition during regular Town Hall hours: Monday - Friday, 8 a.m. - 5 p.m.
At 11408 Municipal Center Dr, Farragut, TN 37934. Information: 865-966-7057, www.townoffarragut.org

History, Food, & Fun! Enhance your time in Historic Downtown with Knoxville’s Award Winning, Original Tour! Enjoy a complete Knoxville experience in just a few hours – enjoy tastings of specially selected dishes from some of Knoxville’s best new and iconic restaurants featuring local, regional, Southern & Appalachian cuisine; add pairings of beer from local and craft breweries, wine flights, craft cocktails, Tennessee whiskey, or even moonshine; hear the history of the city and notable buildings. A must for locals and visitors!

Reservations Required. Purchase Tickets at www.knoxvillefoodtours.com or call 865-201-7270.

An off-Broadway hit comedy-drama by Jack Heifner. The story follows three young girls as they journey from high school in the 1960s to college days and beyond in this sharply sad and funny play. Tickets: 423-586-9260.

Performed at Rose Center, 442 West Second North St., Morristown, TN, 37814. www.rosecenter.org

Athens Community Theatre presents Rodgers & Hammerstein's Oklahoma! February 18 - 28, 2016 in the Sue E. Trotter Theater at The Arts Center in Athens, TN.

Rodgers & Hammerstein's first collaboration remains, in many ways, their most innovative having set the standards and established the rules of musical theatre still being followed today. Set in a Western Indian Territory just after the turn of the century, the high–spirited rivalry between the local farmers and cowboys provides the colorful background against which Curly, a handsome cowboy, and Laurey, a winsome farm girl, play out their love story. Although the road to true love never runs smooth, with these two headstrong romantics holding the reins, love's journey is as bumpy as a surrey ride down a country road. That they will succeed in making a new life together we have no doubt, and that this new life will begin in a brand–new state provides the ultimate climax to the triumphant Oklahoma!

Oklahoma! is directed by recent Steel Magnolias star and ACT veteran director, Melonie Carideo, with music direction by AACA Executive Director Emeritus, Ellen Kimball, and choreography by Pippin choreographer, Angie Hudson .The score is played by a live orchestra led by Ellen Kimball.

Performances are February 18, 19, 20, 21, 25, 26, and 27 at 7:00pm and February 21 and 28 at 2:00pm. Tickets for all performances are $15 for adults, $8 for students. Tickets are available online at athensartscouncil.org, by phone at 423-745-8781, or in person at The Arts Center, 320 N. White St., Athens, Tennessee. For more information, contact The Arts Center at 423-745-8781.
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