Take director's seat at Backdoor Theatre
Backdoor Theatre has announced the next in its performance arts education workshops.
"The In's and Out's of Directing" will be taught by Ben Sheaffer and Rich Affannato, who both tout significant Broadway experience. Sheaffer has appeared as Rolf in "The Sound of Music," and Affannato, who also is a Tony Award-winning Broadway producer, has toured with Cameron Mackintosh's "Les Miserables" as Marius and played the flamboyant Carmen Ghia in "The Producers."
The workshop is Oct. 13-14 at the theater, 501 Indiana.
Students will improve their directing skills, or if they never have directed before, will begin the process of becoming a director for plays and musicals. Students will see what a director sees, learn what a director is looking for, and find out how to get that from the actors.
Cost: $30 per session ($75 for all three, though it is recommended to attend Session I along with at least one of the other two).
Those who register by Oct. 1 will be the first choice for director selections. Those received after Oct. 1 will receive the material but will be alternates for director selections.
Information: 322-5000 or backdoortheatre.org.
Tickets on sale for Empty Bowls lunch
Tickets are on sale for the Empty Bowls luncheon, which will run from 11 a.m. to 1:30 p.m. Oct. 16 at the Museum of Art at Midwestern State University.
Ticketholders will pick out their own ceramic bowl at the event, which will feature a simple meal of soup, bread, drinks and desserts from a number of donors who will bring such soups as Tuscan Bean Soup, Burgundy Beef and Vegetable Stew, Chicken and Dumplings, and Enchilada Soup.
A silent auction also will be featured, and artworks spotlighted in a gallery exhibit will be for sale. Live music will entertain guests, and ticketholders may vote for the People's Choice Award for favorite soup.
The event will raise funds for the Wichita Falls Area Community Food Bank, and the empty bowls tickeholders will receive at the luncheon are a reminder that not everyone always has enough food to eat.
Tickets: $35, available at emptybowlswf.org or at United Market Street and the Wichita Falls Area Food Bank. No tickets will be sold at the door.
Arborist to speak at Speakers & Issues
The first Speakers & Issues Series talk at Midwestern State University will feature William Bryant Logan, a certified arborist and president of Urban Arborists Inc., a Brooklyn-based tree company.
His talk will be at 7 p.m. Oct. 4 in Akin Auditorium on the MSU campus.
Logan has won numerous Quill and Trowel Awards from the Garden Writers of America and won a 2012 Senior Scholar Award from the New York State chapter of the International Society of Arborists. He is on faculty at New York Botanical Garden and is the author of three books, "Oak," "Dirt" and "Air." About his latest book, one critic expressed: "With the passionate narrative style and wide-ranging erudition that have made William Bryant Logan's work a touchstone for nature lovers and environmentalists, 'Air' is — like the contents of a bag of seaborne dust that Darwin collected aboard the Beagle — a treasure trove of discovery."
Admission: Free, though donations are welcome.
Support for the lecture is from E. Bourland Hawley, the Libra Foundation, Prothro-Yeager College of Humanities and Social Sciences, Wichita Falls Times Record News, KCCU-FM NPR Radio and KFDX-TV3.
Bus tour to explore Dale Chihuly exhibit
The next "Exploring the World of Art" bus tour presented by the Kemp Center for the Arts and the Museum of Art at Midwestern State University will be Wednesday.
The tour will head to the Dallas Arboretum to see the enchanting Dale Chihuly glass exhibit and installation. The tour then will move on to the Dragon Street Galleries.
The Dragon Street Galleries available to visit are the Cohn Drennan Contemporary, Conduit, Conduit 12 Contemporary, Craighead Green, Cris Worley Fine Arts, Gallerie Zuger, Holly Johnson Gallery, Mary Tomas Gallery, PDNB Gallery, Samuel Lynne Galleries and Red Arrow Contemporary.
The bus will leave the Museum of Art, 2 Eureka Circle, at 7:30 a.m., when a continental breakfast will be served. At 10 a.m., the bus will arrive at the Dallas Arboretum for a walking tour with a docent to see the Chihuly glass. Then at 11:30 a.m., tourgoers will be served a box lunch at the Arboretum.
The tour of the Dragon Street Galleries will begin at 1 p.m. This will be a self-guided walking tour. The bus will leave at 3:30 p.m. with wine and cheese served on the ride home. The bus will return to the museum at 6 p.m.
Tickets are $50. The price includes refreshments, lunch and all admissions.
Downtown theaters gear up for 2013
Backdoor Theatre and the Wichita Theatre have announced some of the productions slated for their 2013 seasons.
Backdoor Theatre is planning to produce "Boeing, Boeing," "Don't Drink the Water," "Chicago," "Funny Money," the Summer Youth Musical "Anything Goes," "Crimes of the Heart," "How to Succeed in Business Without Really Trying" and "Pageant."
The Wichita Theatre's 105th anniversary season in 2013 will include "Grease," "West Side Story," "The Wizard of Oz," "Beauty and the Beast," "A Christmas Carol," "Cinderella," "Winnie the Pooh," "Mulan" and "Alice in Wonderland."
Season tickets are on sale for both theaters.
Information: for Backdoor Theatre, 322-5000 or backdoortheatre.org; for the Wichita Theatre, 723-9037 or wichitatheatre.com.