Calendar of Events

Filled with warm humor and tremendous heart, SWEAT tells the story of a group of friends who have spent their lives sharing drinks, secrets, and laughs while working together on the factory floor. When layoffs and picket lines begin to chip away at their trust, the friends find themselves pitted against each other in a heart-wrenching fight to stay afloat.

Winner of the 2017 Pulitzer Prize for Drama, Lynn Nottage’s SWEAT examines the impact of a national economic shift on a local, tight-knit community in Reading, Pennsylvania. In the year 2000, layoffs and lockouts threaten their factory floor jobs, thrusting them into a bitter fight for survival. Produced across the country to critical and popular acclaim, SWEAT considers the effects of America’s economic decline and deindustrialization alongside a heart-wrenching examination of friendship, race, class, and trust within this community of family and friends.

River & Rail Theatre, 111 State Street, Knoxville, TN 37902. Information: 865-407-0727, www.riverandrailtheatre.com

Flying Anvil Theatre shares Knoxville stories. A new play captures the real-life stories of a diverse group of Knoxvillians in Flying Anvil Theatre’s The Knoxville Covid Story Project, opening April 28. Using interviews compiled over the past two years, the show covers the gamut of pandemic experiences from teachers, students, front line workers, engineers, artists and more. Each audience will get the chance to share their Covid stories as well. Director Jayne Morgan says the play is an interactive experience. “In addition to hearing the moving and funny stories we’ve gathered through interviews, audiences can share what they’ve learned, what aggravated them and what challenges they faced. But we’ve learned that people also talk about surprising benefits that came out of this time. About how they’ve grown, the sublime and the ridiculous. Sharing these stories is really cathartic and healing.”

The Knoxville Covid Story Project interviews were conducted by Linda Parsons, Jayne Morgan, Summer Awad, Brandi Augustus, Jazmin Witherspoon and Ginger Lyvere Peck, beginning in 2020. “We originally had the show planned for last year,” Parsons says. “But the continuing pandemic made that impossible. The blessing was that the cancellation allowed us to continue interviewing people as conditions changed. The result is an overview of the past two years in local people’s lives, a tapestry of their journeys both individually and in community.”

Parsons and Morgan compiled the final script, which will include new stories from the audience each night. The stories will be read by actors Josh Brandon, Brandi Augustus, Carolyn Corley and Barbara Kistler-Martin. Jade Hurst is stage manager, set design by David Hutto and lighting by Adam Baranowski.

The show is partly underwritten by a grant from the Tennessee Arts Commission. Tickets for The Knoxville Covid Story Project are available at flyinganviltheatre.com or on the theatre’s Facebook page.

Following CDC guidance, the theatre no longer requires masks, but they are highly recommended.

Flying Anvil Theatre, 1300 Rocky Hill Road, Knoxville. Information: 865-357-1309, www.flyinganviltheatre.com. Facebook and Instagram @flyinganviltheatre

Ijams Nature Center will host in-person and virtual open houses for families interested in fall 2022 enrollment for the full-time Ijams Nature Preschool and part-time Ijams Nature Play Club.

Virtual open houses are April 28 from 6-7 p.m. Virtual events will take place via Zoom.

In-person open houses are May 1 from 1-3 p.m. at the Ijams Miller Education Building, 2915 Island Home Ave. In-person events will follow COVID-19 safety protocols, including wearing masks inside the building, to ensure everyone stays safe.

More information and registration is available on the Ijams Calendar of Events at www.Ijams.org/calendar-of-events.

Fall classes start Monday, Aug. 8. The Ijams Nature Preschool meets Monday-Friday from 9 a.m.-3:30 p.m. and focuses on child-led, age-appropriate, experiential learning. Children ages 3-5 spend more than 50% of their time outdoors.

The Ijams Nature Play Club follows the same model, but is 100% outdoors. There are two, two-day sessions, Monday/Wednesday and Tuesday/Thursday. Both sessions meet from 9:30 a.m.-12:30 p.m.

The Ijams Nature Preschool and Play Club programs blend traditional education standards with the opportunity to learn about and explore the natural world. Children spend the majority of their time outdoors, where they learn through play, discovery and inquiry. Activities focus on sensory experiences with live animals, natural objects, artifacts and art materials. The programs encourage curiosity, cognitive growth and motor skills through unstructured, child-led outdoor adventures. Children build problem-solving, math and engineering skills through hands-on experiences, and cultivate social skills through group play and opportunities for cooperative learning.

For more information about the Ijams Nature Preschool and Ijams Nature Play Club, visit www.Ijams.org/nature-preschool or www.Ijams.org/nature-play-club. Additional questions may be directed to Abby Branstetter at 865-679-5491, or via email at preschool@ijams.org or playclub@ijams.org.

Board Game Days is a three day weekend event for everyone in the Knoxville area and more to enjoy. We provide space and games for friends and family to play. We also provide space for aspiring and established designers to showoff their prototypes to get playtested. If you don’t have friends, new folks are always welcome to join our growing community. Got your own games, bring them along to share or use our space with your own group if you want. Board Game Days about providing opportunities to play games and prototypes.

We provide a game library for you to choose games from. If you want to play a game that you don’t know, let us know and we can set it up for you and teach you. We may even have it as the game of the moment, where we highlight a popular title just for that. Then there are Play-to-Wins, which are games provided by our sponsors to showcase and whoever wins in the game, gets it. In addition to this, we also provide space for board game designers, so be sure to ask us what is being playtested today and we will introduce you to get the chance to play.

As it is a three day event, be sure to get your tickets for your interest. Soon we will have separate days tickets. You can come and go as you like as there is no strict policy on coming for some of a day or one day and not another.

Thursday is the Design & Dine: 5pm-9pm It was created for those who make games and want to interact with those passionate about games.

Friday is our Kickoff day: 12pm-9pm With the game library and opening for designers to share their prototypes with the gaming community.

Saturday is the big day with the Raffle: 8am-9pm We expect many attendees and more opportunities to mingle and have fun. Don’t hesitate on getting your ticket.

Please reach out to the event organizer Conner Cole with any questions you have. (cole@bgdknx.com)

125 W. Jackson Ave., Knoxville, TN 37902
https://www.eventbrite.com/e/board-game-days-knoxville-2022-tickets-220909605577

WALKER HAYES: THE FANCY LIKE TOUR WITH SPECIAL GUEST MACKENZIE PORTER
THURSDAY, APRIL 28, 2022 | 7:30PM

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

Tickets: $15 Early Bird | $20 Advance
VIP Packages Available!
8PM Doors | 9PM Show
Ages 18+

The Concourse, 4328 N Broadway, Knoxville, TN 37917
https://concourseknox.com/

Thursday, Apr. 28, 7 p.m.
Clayton Performing Arts Center
Free, no ticket required

Hardin Valley Campus of Pellissippi State: 10915 Hardin Valley Road, Knoxville, TN 37932. Information: 865-694-6405, www.pstcc.edu/arts

PIGEONS PLAYING PING PONG with THE MOTET
Thursday, April 28

Hailed as “musical explorers” by Rolling Stone, Pigeons Playing Ping Pong FINALLY returns to Knoxville after being our first canceled show in March 2020. This will be a special one for all of us for sure. At a time when America seems to grow more divided by the day, Pigeons Playing Ping Pong still believes in the power of music to bring people together, and ‘Presto’ is a big, bold album all about celebrating the present and sharing it with the ones we love most.

The Mill & Mine, 227 W. Depot Avenue, Knoxville, TN 37917. Tickets/information: https://themillandmine.com

Save the date for YWCA's 12th Annual Keys of Hope Luncheon on Thursday, April 28th held at the Knoxville Convention center. After two years of virtual luncheons, we are excited to safely gather once again!

If interested in reserving a table for 10 guests or to purchase an individual ticket for the Keys of Hope Luncheon, please contact Marina Taylor at mtaylor@ywcaknox.com or 865-523-6126.

YWCA’s Keys of Hope Luncheon exists to support the YWCA’s essential Keys of Hope Women’s Program which provides safe, affordable housing for 58 women in downtown Knoxville for up to two years.

At the YWCA, 24-hour staff provides support and monthly programming for women to encourage goal planning, career advancement, self-care, budgeting, and permanent housing. In 2019, the YWCA housed 142 women and received over 1,000 calls for housing. The need is overwhelming!
https://ywcaknox.com/keys-of-hope-luncheon/

Come down to Pretentious Beer Company for Connor Kelly and the Time Warp’s album release party - all ages welcome! Local songwriter Hollie Sikes will get the night started for us, followed by Nashville-based Lenox Hills, your friendly neighborhood rock band! Showtime is at 7:00 p.m. and doors open at 6:00 p.m. Advance tickets are available online for $10, day of will be $15, be sure to get yours early!

Thu, Apr 28, 2022, 7:00 PM EDT
Pretentious Beer Co
131 South Central Street
Knoxville, TN 37902
https://www.eventbrite.com/e/connor-kelly-and-the-time-warp-lenox-hills-hollie-sikes-tickets-309901151687

Listening to the world around us – whether in the city, a natural area, or to music through our earbuds – can connect us to the living world. Join us via Zoom as author, scientist and professor David George Haskell teaches us about the story of sound on Earth. This free program on Thursday, April 28th at 7:00 p.m. EDT is cosponsored by the UT Arboretum Society, Tennessee Citizens for Wilderness Planning and the Oak Ridge Public Library.

Starting with the origins of animal song and traversing the whole arc of Earth history, he illuminates and celebrates the emergence, diversification, and loss of the sounds of our world, including human music and language. His previous books, “The Forest Unseen,” and “The Songs of Trees,” are acclaimed for their integration of science, poetry, and rich attention to the living world. Among their honors include the National Academies’ Best Book Award, John Burroughs Medal, finalist for Pulitzer Prize, Iris Book Award, Reed Environmental Writing Award, National Outdoor Book Award for Natural History Literature, and runner-up for the PEN E. O. Wilson Literary Science Writing Award.

This program is co-sponsored by Tennessee Citizens for Wilderness Planning and the Oak Ridge Public Library. The program is free but please register to receive your Zoom link. at www.utarboretumsociety.org. This program will be recorded, and closed captioning is available. Please contact Michelle Campanis at mcampani@utk.edu with any questions or registration issues.

Haskell received his BA from the University of Oxford and PhD from Cornell University. He is a Guggenheim Fellow and William R. Kenan Jr. Professor at the University of the South in Sewanee, TN. Find him at dghaskell.com and on social media @DGHaskell (Twitter), DavidGeorgeHaskell (Instagram and Facebook).

When H.P. and Alice Ijams purchased 20 acres of land along the Tennessee River in 1910, they couldn’t have known their family would still be contributing to the legacy that would become the 318-acre nonprofit Ijams Nature Center more than a century later.

Ijams Nature Center will celebrate the contributions of the Ijams family and dedicate three acres of land recently donated to the nature center by H.P. and Alice’s granddaughter, Martha Kern, on Thursday, April 28, at 10 a.m. The public is invited.

Kern said the land, bordered by the Will Skelton Greenway and Ijams’ Secret Pond Trail near the Ijams Nature Preschool, will be a place for early childhood education and nature play in honor of her mother, Josephine, and her mother’s three sisters, Mary, Martha, and Elizabeth, who were the first Ijams children to explore the property.

“Growing up at my grandparent’s house and roaming this land was a wonderful time,” Kern said. “I developed a love for nature here that has resonated throughout my life. The Ijams family is thrilled to donate this land in honor of my mother and her sisters. Knowing that children will continue to play and learn to love nature where generations of my family did makes me very proud of the legacy we have built.”

The dedication ceremony will take place near the Miller Building at Ijams Nature Center and will include stories of growing up as an Ijams grandchild as told by George Kern, Martha’s brother, as well as a tour of the new property led by Ijams Nature Preschoolers.

“Land is forever, and this lovely section of forest will be open to children for years to come,” Ijams Executive Director Amber Parker said. “This generous gift illustrates the Ijams family’s strong involvement and continuing commitment to this place, and recognizes how critical nature and outdoor play is to a child’s early development. It is an honor for the nature center to protect and preserve this land, which also is a gift to Knoxville and East Tennessee.”

Ijams Nature Center, 2915 Island Home Ave, Knoxville, TN 37920. Visitor Center open daily 10-6; grounds and trails open daily from 8 AM - dusk. Information: 865-577-4717, www.ijams.org