Everything Nac

The Stephen F. Austin State University School of Art and the Friends of the Visual Arts will present a free, one-night screening of the documentary “Free Solo” at 7 p.m. Friday, Aug. 2, in The Cole Art Center @ The Old Opera House in downtown Nacogdoches.

From award-winning documentary filmmaker E. Chai Vasarhelyi and world-renowned photographer and mountaineer Jimmy Chin comes “Free Solo,” a stunning, intimate and unflinching portrait of free soloist climber Alex Honnold, as he prepares to achieve his lifelong dream: climbing the face of the world’s most famous rock – the 3,200-foot El Capitan in Yosemite National Park – without a rope. Celebrated as one of the greatest athletic feats of any kind, Honnold’s climb set the ultimate standard: perfection or death.

“Free Solo” is a National Geographic Documentary Film release. It won the Academy Award for Best Documentary Feature; Critics’ Choice Documentary Award winner for Most Compelling Living Subject of a Documentary, Most Innovative Documentary and Best Sorts Documentary; BAFTA Award winner for Best Documentary; and American Film Fest winner for Best Film, among other awards.

The film runs 100 minutes. It is rated PG-13 for brief strong language. For more information, visit https://www.nationalgeographic.com.

This screening is part of the School of Art’s monthly Friday Film Series and is sponsored in part by William Arscott, Nacogdoches Film Festival, Karon Gillespie, Mike Mollot, David Kulhavy, John and Kristen Heath, Galleria Z, Jill Carrington, Jean Stephens, Jim and Mary Neal, Richard Orton and Main Street Nacogdoches.

The Cole Art Center is located at 329 E. Main St. For more information, call (936) 468-1131

The School of Theatre at Stephen F. Austin State University will present a community preview at 6:30 p.m. Friday, July 26, of the original play students will perform next month at the prestigious Edinburgh Festival Fringe in Edinburgh, Scotland.

The preview performance will be in the HPE Complex Dance Studio, Room 201, on the SFA campus. The event is a fundraiser to offset travel costs of the trip.

For the third time, SFA theatre students will tour a play that will be seen at the largest performing arts festival in the world during a two-week trip to Edinburgh in August. This year, SFA dance students will be among those performing.

This year’s play is “Tales of Neverland,” a family-friendly stage adaptation written and directed by School of Theatre professor Angela Bacarisse based on the book “Peter Pan,” J.M. Barrie’s most famous work.

The description on the festival’s website reads: “Make way for the Lost Boys! Join Wendy, Michael and John as they are whisked away to Neverland by Peter Pan and Tinkerbell. Watch as they tangle with vicious pirates and cheer for the boy who never grew up. Fusing spoken word with dance, the performers bring to life the beloved characters and fly through many adventures. An original script appropriate for all ages.”

The play’s choreography is by Heather Samuelson and movement direction is by Haley Jameson. Samuelson and Jameson are dance program directors in the SFA Department of Kinesiology and Heath Science.

Preview performance admission is $5 per person at the door. Additional donations to help with student costs to attend the festival will also be accepted.

The School of Theatre continues to seek out people who may want to help sponsor students and pay for trip expenses. For information on supporting the students, contact Bacarisse at abacarisse@sfasu.edu or (936) 468-1126. Tax-exempt donations can be made at sfasu.edu/giving by clicking on the “give online” tab and writing “Scotland trip” for special instructions.