Calendar of Events

By Harold Pinter. Directed by Patrick McCray.

Actors often have to face the challenge of growing older on stage, but in Harold Pinter's Betrayal they have an even more difficult task: they must grow younger as the play progresses. Pinter's play tracks the course of an affair, but it does so backwards: it opens with a meeting between the two lovers some years after the affair ended; it finishes with the first erotically charged encounter between the two, nine years earlier. The performers chart the stages in the affair, discarding the layers of guilt, to become their younger, fresher selves.

The play begins in 1977 with a meeting between adulterous lovers, Emma and Jerry, two years after their affair has ended. During the nine scenes of the play we move back in time through the states of their affair, with the play ending in the house of Emma and Robert, her husband, who is Jerry's best friend.

The classic dramatic scenario of the love triangle is manifest in a mediation on the themes of marital infidelity, duplicity, and self-deception. Pinter writes a world that simultaneously glorifies and debases love.

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

Athens Community Theatre announces its spring 2016 production of Shadowlands, inspired by the life of C.S. Lewi, by William Nicholson. Show dates for Shadowlands are April 21 - 30, 2016.

This play is based on the real life love story of C.S. Lewis, author of The Chronicles of Narnia and The Screwtape Letters, and American poet Joy Davidman. Jack Lewis is smug in his convictions about God and His plan for the world until Joy and her young son enter his life and the bewildered man who theorizes about love in the abstract finally confronts its direct presence.

Shadowlands is directed by recent Oklahoma! star and ACT veteran actor, Whitney Kimball Coe.

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

Music by Richard Rodgers; Lyrics by Oscar Hammerstein II; Directed by Terry Silver-Alford. At the Clarence Brown Theatre.

“A majestic spectacle.” - The New Yorker

From the haunting “Bali Ha’i” to the exquisite “Some Enchanted Evening,” this Rodgers & Hammerstein classic features some of the most beautiful music ever composed for the theatre. The Pulitzer Prize and 10-time Tony Award winner is set on a tropical island during World War II and tells the romantic tale of how the happiness of two couples is threatened by the realities of war and prejudice.

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

BAGWELL CENTER BUILDING AND GALLERY

This exhibit showcases the work of Pellissippi State’s Communication Graphics Technology students. Art from the exhibit will be on display from April 18-May 1.

The exhibit is free. Hardin Valley Campus of Pellissippi State: 10915 Hardin Valley Road, Knoxville, TN 37932. Bagwell Center Gallery hours: M-F 10-6:30. Information: 865-694-6405, www.pstcc.edu/arts

Featuring works by David Denton and Max Robinson. Opening reception April 22, 6-7:30 PM with artists' talk at 6:30 PM.

Tennessee Valley Unitarian Universalist Church, 2931 Kingston Pike, Knoxville, TN 37919. Gallery hours: M-Th 9-5, Su 9-1. Information: 865-523-4176, www.tvuuc.org

Special Public Opening: Friday, April 15, from 5:30-8:00 p.m.

In 1929 and again in 1930, Brunswick Records' Vocalion label set up a temporary recording studio at the St. James Hotel in downtown Knoxville and invited locals to come make records. These old-time, jazz, blues, and gospel recordings added Knoxville's voice to American popular music and inspired the next generation of country music stars. In an exciting new exhibition, the East Tennessee Historical Society and the Tennessee Archive of Moving Image and Sound present a first-time look at the impact of these recordings and the region’s contributions to American popular music. The exhibition features an array of artifacts, videos, sound recordings, and photographs showcasing East Tennessee’s diverse musical heritage. Come to Make Records explores Knoxville’s growth in the early 20th century, the importance of fiddling contests in generating fans and driving record sales, the role of Sterchi Bros. in exposing local talent to a national audience, and examines why Knoxville was selected for the recordings. The exhibit offers a closer look at the St. James Hotel, the site of the Knoxville Sessions, an overview of the local talent that arose from the sessions, and a look at the next generation of artists, such as Chet Atkins and Roy Acuff. The exhibit includes a display demonstrating 130 years of recorded sound from the wax cylinder to the iPod, a re-creation of the St. James Hotel room where the Knoxville Sessions took place, Roy Acuff’s fiddle, Cal Davenport’s banjo, a Bairdola, and an assortment of other instruments. Other artifacts featured are original records from the Knoxville Sessions, a painting by Howard Armstrong, and Carl and Pearl Butler’s performance suits, designed by Nathan Turk. Special video presentations include a film produced by East Tennessee PBS on the Knoxville Sessions, a look at how 78 rpm discs are made, rare footage of Knoxville Sessions artists, and recordings of Roy Acuff, Uncle Dave Macon, and Carl and Pearl Butler.

Beginning at 6:00 p.m., Julie Belcher from the Pioneer House will display an art exhibition in the Bilo Nelson Auditorium of the East Tennessee History Center with music provided by saw player Robert Maddox. At 7:00 p.m. there will be a program with musical performances by local musicians, including Kelle Jolly, David Balle, saw player Robert Maddox, and the Tennessee Stiff Legs, of songs from the 1929 and 1930 Knoxville Sessions with remarks by Dr. Ted Olson, co-producer and co-author of The Knoxville Sessions box set book. The evening will conclude with a screening of rare film footage of Knoxville sessions artists Uncle Dave Macon, Willie Seivers, and Howard “Louie Bluie” Armstrong. Relatives and descendants of the musicians that recorded during the Knoxville Sessions will also be acknowledged during the program.

East Tennessee Historical Society, 601 S. Gay Street, Knoxville, TN 37902. Museum hours: M-F 9-4, Sa 10-4, Su 1-5. Information: 865-215-8824, www.easttnhistory.org

Explore more than 60 miles of trails, open gardens, and camera site sites as you enjoy a walk, bike, or drive the time honored tradition of the Dogwood Trails and Open Gardens. Holston Hills is the 2016 Featured Trail.
For an online version of the Dogwood Trails & Gardens Guide please visit
http://www.dogwoodarts.com/trails-and-gardens/
Dogwood Arts: 865-637-4561

Knoxville Watercolor Society announces a new All Media art exhibit! The Knoxville Watercolor Society will exhibit recent works from its members. For more information about the Knoxville Watercolor Society, membership requirements and to view members' art works go to www.knxvillewatercolorsociety.com.

Opening reception on Fri, Apr 8, 6:30-8:00 PM. Free and open to the public.

Exhibit viewing hours: Tu, Th 9-5; W, F 10-5; Sat 9-1. Fountain City Art Center, 213 Hotel Ave, Knoxville, TN 37918. Information: 865-357-2787, www.fountaincityartctr.com

Selections from the Permanent Collection: Opening Friday, April 8, 5:00 PM - 8:00 PM

These Ukiyo-e prints (literally "pictures of floating world") represent the Buddhist concepts of death and rebirth. Subjects represent the entertainments in urban life such as courtesans, red-light districts, beautiful women, kabuki scenes and actors, and traveling. Woodblock prints are regarded as the most characteristic expression of the Japanese artistic genius. Great quantities of this popular art form were made during the Edo period (1603-1868) and sold inexpensively to a pubic captivated by Kabuki theater, sumo wrestling, and courtesans of the brothel districts. Representing these active, colorful ways of life often allowed for great freedom and creativity on the part of the artist. Ukiyo-e artists formed a school of painting and print design from which basic themes were drawn from everyday life. This genre became very popular among the working class of Japanese society.

Free admission! UT Downtown Gallery, 106 S. Gay St, Knoxville, TN 37902. Hours: W-F 11-6, Sat 10-3. Information: 865-673-0802, http://web.utk.edu/~downtown

At Westminister Presbyterian Church-Schilling Gallery, 6500 Northshore Drive, Knoxville

Free and open to the public, Monday thru Friday, 9 A.M. to 4 P.M.
Information: 865-584-3957

A world-class visual arts exhibition of large-scale outdoor sculpture which enliven downtown Knoxville, the McGhee Tyson Airport and Oak Ridge. Sculpture artist Isaac Duncan III, a Brooklyn, New York native who currently resides in Chattanooga, Tennessee served as the Juror for the 2016-2017 exhibition. #AIPP

Dogwood Arts: 865-637-4561 www.dogwoodarts.com

Sundress Academy for the Arts (SAFTA) invites you to Scruffy ‘Scapes and Sonnets, an art and poetry exhibit featuring two-dimensional art depicting the scruffy city of Knoxville, TN and the sonnets that were written with the pieces of art in mind.

SAFTA introduces this exhibit from 6 to 8 p.m. in Preservation Pub’s second floor Speakeasy. This event will feature a reception with the artists as well as a reading from the featured poets. Please join us as we celebrate the tremendous amount of talent that Knoxville holds!

The show itself runs from April 1 through May 5, 2016 and features photography by Michelle Jephcott, Jessica Hanneken, Anita Koester, Keith Norris, and Shae Hacker, paintings by Starr Cline and Dawn Hawkins, and sonnets by nationally-acclaimed poets Kristi Maxwell, Chris Petruccelli, Ben McClendon, Keri Withington, Erin Elizabeth Smith, and more!

Sundress Academy for the Arts: (865) 560-6106, safta@sundresspublications.com, http://www.sundresspublications.com