Calendar of Events

Athens Area Council for the Arts' Big Time/Small Town Performance Series continues on February 6, 2012 with the Fats Waller Musical Show Ain’t Misbehavin’, 7:30 PM at the Athens City Middle School, 200 Keith Lane in Athens, Tennessee.

Extraordinary for its sheer exhuberance, Ain’t Misbehavin’ encompasses 30 show-stopping musical numbers that take you on a journey not only through the Fats Waller song book, but through Harlem in its heyday. With snazzy period costumes, complete with bowlers and spats, ermine and pearls, the dynamic five member cast and six piece band turn the theatre into a rollicking rent party.

Tickets for Ain’t Misbehavin’ are available on line at www.athensartscouncil.org, by phone at (423)745-8781, at The Arts Center, 320 North White St., and at the door as available.

The play is set in the dining room of a typical well-to-do household, the place where the family assembled daily for breakfast and dinner and for any and all special occasions. The action is comprised of a mosaic of interrelated scenes—some funny, some touching, some rueful—which, taken together, create an in-depth portrait of a vanishing species: the upper-middle-class WASP. The actors change roles, personalities and ages with virtuoso skill as they portray a wide variety of characters, from little boys to stern grandfathers, and from giggling teenage girls to Irish housemaids. Each vignette introduces a new set of people and events; a father lectures his son on grammar and politics; a boy returns from boarding school to discover his mother's infidelity; a senile grandmother doesn't recognize her own sons at Christmas dinner; a daughter, her marriage a shambles, pleads futilely to return home, etc. Dovetailing swiftly and smoothly, the varied scenes coalesce, ultimately, into a theatrical experience of exceptional range, compassionate humor and abundant humanity.

Tickets: Adults $17 Seniors and Students $15
On Sale Now!!!
Call the Clayton Center Box Office for more details.

January 12 - April 14th
A Timeless American play that inspired the Academy Award winning film, Driving Miss Daisy, is the Affecting story of the decades long relationship between a stubborn Southern matriarch and her compassionate chauffeur

Admission: $24 for Adults, $23 for Seniors, $22 for groups (15 or more Adults/ Seniors), $12 Kids/Students. Includes a $3 Service/facility charge

The WordPlayers, a Knoxville theatre company, will tour “Walk Don’t Ride! - A Celebration of the Fight for Equality” by Peter Manos from January 20 through Feb. 29, 2012.

“Walk, Don't Ride” is a presentation of drama and song depicting events that helped shape American freedom. Events included are: The Montgomery Bus Boycott, The Nashville Lunch Counter Sit-ins, and The Greyhound/Trailways Freedom Rides.

“Walk, Don't Ride” is an example of the best kind of “edu-tainment,” and has been booked in 14 different venues, including middle schools, high schools, colleges, and churches.

There are seven public performances, the first being Jan. 25 at First Baptist Church, 510 Main St., Knoxville at 6:00 pm. For a complete list of performances, please visit www.wordplayers.org.

For more information, please call 865.539.2490 or visit www.wordplayers.org.