Everything Nac

Stephen F. Austin State University School of Theatre will open the American comedy-drama “Crimes of the Heart” at 7:30 p.m. Thursday, July 5, in the Downstage Theatre for the play’s run in the 2018 SummerStage Festival.

This year’s summer theatre season, which opened June 29 and continues through July 19, also features the children’s favorite “Pinkalicious the Musical.”

“Crimes of the Heart” by Beth Henley is about three sisters with very different personalities and lives who reunite when the youngest of them, Babe, has just shot her husband. The oldest sister, Lenny, takes care of their grandfather and is turning into an old maid, while Meg, who tries to make it in Hollywood as a singer/actress, has had a wild life filled with many men. Their reunion causes much joy, but also many tensions, according to the description at imdb.com.

But “Crimes of the Heart” is ultimately a play about the bonds of family and about love, according to Dr. Inga Meier, assistant professor of theatre and the play’s director. “The play strikes a delicate balance between tragedy and comedy,” she said. “It deals with some very serious topics, but the sisters navigate the challenges they face with a great deal of humor and love for one another, and they are ultimately brought closer together as a result.”

Bruce Beresford directed the 1986 film adaptation which starred Sissy Spacek, Diane Keaton, Jessica Lange and Tess Harper. The film earned three Academy Award nominations. Henley was nominated for Best Adapted Screenplay; Harper was nominated for Best Supporting Actress; and Spacek was nominated for Lead Actress for her performance as Babe.

With “Crimes of the Heart” addressing domestic violence, pedophilia and suicide, a “talkback session” with Jill Milem, director of SFA Counseling Services, will follow the play’s July 7 performance.

“Crimes of the Heart” will be presented in the Downstage Theatre at 7:30 p.m. July 5, 7, 12, 13, 17, 18 and 19 and at 2 p.m. July 14. General admission tickets are $15 for adults, $10 for seniors and $5 for students/youth. A pay-what-you-can performance is at 2 p.m. July 14.

“Pinkalicious the Musical,” with book by Elizabeth Kann and Victoria Kann, music by John Gregor, and lyrics by John Gregor, Elizabeth Kann and Victoria Kann, is the story of Pinkalicious, a little girl who can’t stop eating pink cupcakes, which causes Pinkititis, an affliction that turns her pink from head to toe. Only Pinkalicious can figure out a way to get out of this predicament.

“Pinkalicious the Musical” will be presented again in W.M. Turner Auditorium at 10 a.m. July 10 and 19; at 2 p.m. July 7, 10 and 18; and at 6:30 p.m. July 14. General admission tickets are $8. A pay-what-you-can performance is at 2 p.m. July 10.

For tickets or more information, visit www.finearts.sfasu.edu or call (936) 468-6407 or (888) 240-ARTS.

Area middle school students constructed robots during an activity designed to teach them about engineering, computer programming and mathematics at Stephen F. Austin State University’s STEM Research and Learning Center iMAS Academy. The weeklong science camp gave students the chance to learn about different scientific fields through hands-on, interactive modules led by SFA students and faculty and area master teachers.

By Joanna Armstrong, senior marketing communications specialist at Stephen F. Austin State University.

Janet Carson, Arkansas extension horticulture specialist, will be the guest speaker for the Stephen F. Austin State University SFA Gardens’ monthly Theresa and Les Reeves Lecture Series, slated for 7 p.m. July 12 in the Brundrett Conservation Education Building at the Pineywoods Native Plant Center.

Janet Carson, horticulture specialist for the University of Arkansas’s Division of Agriculture System Cooperative Extension Service will present “Blinding Color in the Garden.”

Carson has been the extension consumer horticulture specialist and statewide master gardener coordinator with the university’s extension service since 1992. She travels all 75 counties doing horticulture programming and writes a popular gardening column in the Arkansas Democrat-Gazette each week with monthly feature stories in Arkansas Living Magazine and Arkansas Gardener Magazine. Carson was the extension’s 2017 Employee of the Year and has won numerous awards during her career. She has written two books, “In the Garden” and “Field of Feast.” She is married with two grown children and three dogs.

The Theresa and Les Reeves Lecture Series is held the second Thursday of each month and includes a rare-plant raffle after the program. The lecture is free and open to the public, but donations to the Theresa and Les Reeves Lecture Series fund are always appreciated.

Parking is available at the PNPC and Raguet Elementary School, located at 2428 Raguet St.

For more information, call (936) 468-4129, or email sfagardens@sfasu.edu.