Calendar of Events

PREMIERING ONE HUNDRED YEARS AFTER WORLD WAR I… The Italian tradition of Comedia dell’arte grows strange wings in Tarocco: A Soldier’s Tale, a mesmerizing fusion of circus arts, dance, mask-and-puppet theater, original music, elaborate costumes, and intricate animation. Tarocco tells the story of an Italian WWI infantryman, trapped behind enemy lines after barely escaping the gas attacks at Caporetto. To pass the time, the soldier comforts a dying comrade with stories using the images from an ancient deck of playing cards known as the Tarocco Piemontese (a predecessor of modern Tarot cards). What follows is a spellbinding and dark narrative based on the Fool’s Journey of the Tarot.

THE MAGICIAN… THE HANGED MAN… DEATH… Each new card brings to the stage a mysterious character from the Tarocchi, leading the doomed soldier through twenty-one wondrous labyrinths of the human imagination. Opening on the centennial of Italy’s entry into WWI, Tarocco blends history and fantasy into a wholly new kind of theatrical experience. Handmade Venetian costumes adorn incredible circus artists and dancers in each breathtaking act. Nashville composer Marcin Bela performs with a multitude of live instruments and live vocals, and Alexander Daniloff’s stunning, hand-drawn Tarocco Piemontese are woven into the incredible nonstop animation of Colorado’s Dreambox Workshop. Moving backdrops, giant puppetry, aerial acrobatics, ballet, and more…Tarocco is an experience not to be missed.

WARNING: Contains dark, sometimes disturbing content. Not recommended for children under 12. General Admission Tickets are $26. VIP Tickets are $66: includes pre-show catered reception with members of the FBT and Knoxville Aerial Arts, priority seating, and complimentary gift. Tickets: http://www.foxandbeggar.com; contact: Fox & Beggar Theater, nat@foxandbeggar.com or 952-237-3759

At the Bijou Theatre, 803 S. Gay Street, Knoxville, TN 37902. Information/tickets: 865-522-0832, www.knoxbijou.com, www.ticketmaster.com

July 28, at 7:30PM, the Fox and Beggar Theater presents Tarocco: a Soldier's Tale.

PREMIERING ONE HUNDRED YEARS AFTER WORLD WAR I…
The Italian tradition of Comedia dell’arte grows strange wings in Tarocco: A Soldier’s Tale, a mesmerizing fusion of circus arts, dance, mask-and-puppet theater, original music, elaborate costumes, and intricate animation. Tarocco tells the story of an Italian WWI infantryman, trapped behind enemy lines after barely escaping the gas attacks at Caporetto. To pass the time, the soldier comforts a dying comrade with stories using the images from an ancient deck of playing cards known as the Tarocco Piemontese (a predecessor of modern Tarot cards). What follows is a spellbinding and dark narrative based on the Fool’s Journey of the Tarot.

THE MAGICIAN… THE HANGED MAN… DEATH…
Each new card brings to the stage a mysterious character from the Tarocchi, leading the doomed soldier through twenty-one wondrous labyrinths of the human imagination. Opening on the centennial of Italy’s entry into WWI, Tarocco blends history and fantasy into a wholly new kind of theatrical experience. Handmade Venetian costumes adorn incredible circus artists and dancers in each breathtaking act. Nashville composer Marcin Bela performs with a multitude of live instruments and live vocals, and Alexander Daniloff’s stunning, hand-drawn Tarocco Piemontese are woven into the incredible nonstop animation of Colorado’s Dreambox Workshop. Moving backdrops, giant puppetry, aerial acrobatics, ballet, and more…Tarocco is an experience not to be missed.

WARNING: Contains dark, sometimes disturbing content. Not recommended for children under 12.

General Admission Tickets are $26 at http://www.foxandbeggar.com/
VIP Tickets are $66: includes pre-show catered reception with members of the FBT and Knoxville Aerial Arts, priority seating, and complimentary gift baskets.

July 28, 7:30-9:30PM, The Bijou Theater Center, 803 South Gay St., Knoxville, TN 37902.

ENCORE, an exhibition of the work of 11 graduates from the University of Tennessee School of Art living in Nashville, TN opens Friday, July 15. Exhibiting artists are: Jodi Hays, Rob Matthews, Sterling Goller-Brown, Brandon Donahue, Briena Harmening, Jonathan Lisenby, Mary Addison Hackett, David King, Lakesha Moore, Lain York, and Terry Thacker.

Closing Reception to be held on Sunday, August 28th 1:00-4:00 pm - Artists will be present

Summer Hours (through Tuesday, August 16): Tues, Thurs & Fri - 12-5 PM

School Hours (starting Wednesday, August 17): Mon-Fri - 10 AM - 5 PM

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

Knoxville Children’s Theatre will present “Legally Blonde: The Musical, Jr.,” a version of the hit Broadway musical specially adapted for children and families, and based on the popular MGM film. The play will be performed July 15 - 31, Thursdays and Fridays at 7 PM; Saturdays at 1 PM and 5 PM; Sundays at 3 PM.

Harvard's beloved blonde takes the stage by glittery pink storm! “Legally Blonde:The Musical, Jr.” follows Elle Woods as she tackles stereotypes, snobbery and scandal in pursuit of her dreams. When Elle's high school boyfriend, Warner, dumps her and heads to Harvard, claiming she's not "serious" enough, Elle takes matters into her own hands. As Elle begins outsmarting her peers, she realizes that law may be her natural calling after all. Songs from the junior version include “Serious,” “Bend And Snap,” “Daughter of Delta Nu,” “Chip On My Shoulder,” “Omigod You Guys,” and “Legally Blonde.” The play is performed by 21 talented young actors, from ages 12 to 17. The play is directed by KCT Academy Director Dennis E. Perkins. Paul Jones serves as Musical Director.

Knoxville Children's Theatre, 109 E. Churchwell Avenue, Knoxville, TN 37917. Information: 865-208-3677, www.childrenstheatreknoxville.com.

The Knoxville Museum of Art presents a powerful exhibition by the Central High School National Art Honor Society students to bring awareness of the problem of human trafficking. The exhibition contains 15 artworks created under the instruction of teachers Phyllis Ball and Val Sigmon. The exhibition runs through July 31 and then moves to the Knox County Schools Office at the Andrew Johnson Building.

Human Trafficking is the recruitment, transportation, transfer, harboring or receipt of persons, by means of the threat or use of force or other forms of coercion, of abduction, of fraud, of deception, of the abuse of power or of a position of vulnerability or of the giving or receiving of payments or benefits to achieve the consent of a person having control over another person, for the purpose of exploitation. Exploitation shall include, at a minimum, the exploitation of the prostitution of others or other forms of sexual exploitation, forced labor or services, slavery or practices similar to slavery, servitude or the removal of organs. Cases of human trafficking have been reported in all 50 U.S. States. Almost every country in the world is affected by trafficking, whether as a country of origin, transit or destination for victims. Human trafficking is the third largest international crime industry (behind illegal drugs and arms trafficking). National Human Trafficking Hotline 1-888-373-7888

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

The Tennessee Stage Company presents its 26th Anniversary summer Shakespeare Festival, featuring the comedy Merry Wives of Windsor and the tragedy King Lear, alternating Thursday to Sunday evenings at 7:00 PM 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. The indoor matinees (Sunday, July 24 & 31, 2:00 PM) at the Scruffy City Hall are $10. One additional performance on July 25 at 6:30 PM takes place at the Blount County Public Library.

Merry Wives of Windsor Features one of Shakespeare’s funniest and most unique characters, the dissolute knight Sir John Falstaff. This play was purportedly written at the command of Queen Elizabeth who demanded that Shakespeare write a play showing “Falstaff in love!” In what may be the original sitcom, Falstaff attempts to court two women at the same time behind their husbands backs, but the fat knight is no match for our fiery heroines who give him his comeuppance. “Let us everyone go home, and laugh this sport o’re by a country fire.”
July 14, 16, 22, 24, 28, 30, Aug. 5, 7, 11, 13 - 7:00 pm nightly outdoors on Market Square

King Lear of Britain, aging and weary from his years of rule decides to divide his kingdom among his three daughters and lay down the burden of governing. But when his youngest daughter, Cordelia, does not show the obsequiousness he sought he grows furious and turns his back on her, dividing her portion between his two older daughters, Regan and Goneril. He only slowly realizes - and too late - these two daughters were not sincere in their protestations of undying adoration and that love is found in actions, not in words. “How sharper than a serpent’s tooth it is to have a thankless child.”
July 15, 17, 21, 23, 29, 31, Aug. 4, 6, 12, 14 - 7:00 pm nightly outdoors on Market Square

King Lear is directed by Julianna Sanderson and Merry Wives of Windsor is directed by Jennifer Alldredge and Tom Parkhill.

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 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: 865-546-4280, www.tennesseestage.com

Free admission! Join us on Thursdays in July for a new series: Parlor Jazz at the Emporium. These intimate concerts will be held in the Black Box at the Emporium center, a cozy atmosphere with a grand piano, comfortable couches and great acoustics for un-amplified music. Vance Thompson, trumpet, Jamel Mitchell, tenor, Keith Brown, piano, Taylor Coker, bass and Garrit Tillman, drums.

Located in the Black Box of The Emporium Center, 100 S. Gay Street, Knoxville, TN 37902. Knoxville Jazz Orchestra: 865-573-3226, www.knoxjazz.org

The Town of Farragut Arts Council presents Mary Agnes Schaefer as the featured artist for July and August. Located at the Farragut Town Hall, her exhibit features quilt squares painted on canvas.

Schaefer's featured painted quilt squares are smaller in size and suitable to be hung inside. Typical quilt squares are not fabric but are quilt square images painted on prepared surfaces to be hung outside on sides of buildings, business establishments, barns, homes. They also appear on routes through communities to be seen from highways or back roads. Quilt square trails is a movement across the United States and includes one in Tennessee called the Appalachian Quilt Square Trail (www.vacationaqt.com). The quilt squares on this trail represent patterns that were used in quilts pieced by our ancestors as well as modern day designs. Some of these quilt squares are quite large and can be seen from a great distance. Schaefer hopes to encourage the creation of a Farragut Quilt Square Trail in our community.

The Farragut Town Hall, 11408 Municipal Center Dr, Farragut, TN 37934. Hours: M-F 8 AM - 5 PM. Information: 865-966-7057, www.townoffarragut.org

Artists from the greater Maryville area are creating artwork to honor our country and show appreciation for the freedom we enjoy because of those who protect us. Stop by Vienna Coffee House and enjoy some wonderful artwork from local artisans!

Customers will have the opportunity from July 2 through July 9 to vote for their favorite artwork.

Vienna Coffee House, 212 College St, Maryville, TN 37804. Phone: 865-980-8282

Our exhibit features the work of quilters Melissa Everett and Emily Doane. Melissa describes her quilting in this way: "I started quilting in 2011, after my first son was born. I wanted to make him something he could have forever. The obsession just snowballed from there. In 2012, I opened my Etsy shop, Cycling Jane's Closet, and through it met Emily Doane. Emily, whose work is also featured in this exhibition, invited me to a Knoxville Modern Quilt Guild meeting. That meeting, i joined the guild. I have continued to be an active member and in 2014 became the president. I've enjoyed the creativity, inspiration and education I've gained from the other members. My work is somewhat all over the map. I love trying new techniques, taking classes and learning how others approach the craft. I am a self-taught quilter, learning the craft form other bloggers. My grandmothers were seamstresses and made clothing, but only a great-grandmother, whom I never met, was a quilter. It has been such a healthy outlet for me while staying at home to raise my two boys. This is my first solo exhibition and you can see my growth and exploration of styles throughout the pieces showcased."

On display at Westminister Presbyterian Church, 6500 S Northshore Dr, Knoxville, TN 37919. Info: (865) 584-3957 or www.wpcknox.org.

Hours: Monday thru Friday, 9 AM to 4 PM

Rusted Beings: attachments to survival for life, oxidations marked by the passing of generations clinging to a physical space that blinds reality, where we evaded the basic needs of human beings.

Please join us for an artist reception for First Friday, August 5, 5:00 to 9:00 PM

HoLa Hora Latina, 100 S. Gay Street, Suite 112, Knoxville, TN 37902. Gallery hours: M-F 1-5 PM. Information: 865-335-3358, www.holahoralatina.org

"Home" - a Mixed Media Exhibition by Regional Artists and Selections from the Permanent Collection
Featuring International Artists including Henri Matisse, Georges Rouault, Salvador Dali and many others.

Artists Reception: Friday Evening, July 8 from 6:00 to 8:00 PM, Gallery Talk at 5:30 PM
The event is free and open to the public. Bring your friends and family!

Oak Ridge Art Center, 201 Badger Avenue, Oak Ridge, TN 37830. Hours: Tu-F 9-5, Sa-M 1-4. Information: 865-482-1441, www.oakridgeartcenter.org