First Friday, family fun and more
Theater
LITTLE THEATRE OPENS
TONY-WINNING COMEDY
A sunny, funny play about gloomy people. That’s Christopher Durang’s “Vanya and Sonia and Masha and Spike,” 2013’s Tony-winner for best play, which opens a three-weekend run Friday at Las Vegas Little Theatre.
Inspired (just a bit) by Anton Chekhov’s stage classics, “Vanya and Sonia” focuses on bickering middle-age siblings (Stephen McMillan, Teresa Fullerton) living quietly on their family’s Pennsylvania farm. That is, until their movie-star sister Masha (Marlena Shapiro) swoops in with boy toy Spike (Dustin Loosier), disrupting the placid tedium. Angela Williams (as a wannabe starlet) and Martha Watson (as the gloomy maid) round out director Rob Kastil’s cast.
“Vanya and Sonia and Masha and Spike” will be presented at 8 p.m. Friday, 2 and 8 p.m. Saturday and 2 p.m. Sunday at Las Vegas Little Theatre, 3920 Schiff Drive; performances continue at 8 p.m. Thursdays through Saturdays and 2 p.m. Sundays through Nov. 23. For tickets ($21-$24), call 702-362-7996 or visit www.LVLT.org.
First Friday
‘ENLIGHTEN’MENT
AWAITS EVENT VISITORS
Light, and enlightenment, inspire “EnLIGHTen” activities at November’s First Friday in the downtown Arts District.
Yoga studios will hold free classes, while Next Chapter offers a free guided “Shamanic Journey.” Other groups participating range from the Las Vegas PhotoCollective to the West Flamingo Senior Pathway to Poetry Group, which will be “word bombing” the festival with a kinetic mural of fluttering poems and prose.
In addition, the Shuffle Zone becomes the Dance DepARTment, spotlighting a variety of DJs — including 12-year-old DJ Vader. Speaking of young performers, the 9-year-old triplets known as Dom the Bom’sTriple Threat (from “America’s Got Talent”) will entertain on the hour from 5 to 9 p.m.
Recycled light bulbs will shine at Pure Green Place, while Arts Row once again features emerging Las Vegas artists, the Bazaar showcases arts and crafts vendors and the Hub hosts live music in the Arts District along Casino Center Boulevard, from Colorado Avenue to Charleston Boulevard.
First Friday runs from 5 to 11 p.m.; more information is available online at www.firstfridaylasvegas.com.
Music
STORM LARGE BACK
AT CABARET JAZZ
If you had to describe singer Storm Large in one word, that word would be “eclectic” — which definitely applies to her return this weekend to The Smith Center’s Cabaret Jazz.
At home in a dive bar or concert hall, the Pink Martini singer puts her stamp on everything from Cole Porter’s “I’ve Got You Under My Skin” to a salsa-fied, bilingual take on Black Sabbath’s “N.I.B.” As she explained to the Review-Journal before her Cabaret Jazz debut in April, “I have an eclectic taste” — as long as “something strikes me as honest.”
She’ll perform at 7 p.m. Friday and Saturday in Cabaret Jazz at The Smith Center, 361 Symphony Park Ave. For tickets ($39-$50), call 702-749-2000 or visit www.thesmithcenter.com.
Family fun
DISCOVERY SALUTES
TRIBAL HERITAGE
The Discovery Children’s Museum launches a three-week Native American Heritage Celebration on Saturday, enabling young visitors to experience a variety of tribal traditions.
From Saturday through Nov. 14, “Celebrating the Paiute Tribe” features basket-weaving and other traditional crafts. From Nov. 15-21, “Rock Art and Petroglyphs” invites visitors to create petroglyphs and pictographs. The program concludes Nov. 22-27 with “Celebrating the Navajo Tribe.”
The Discovery Children’s Museum, 360 Promenade Place, is open from 9 a.m. to 4 p.m. Tuesdays through Fridays, 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. Saturdays and noon to 5 p.m. Sundays. Admission is $12 (children under 1 and members are free, as are active duty and retired military personnel through Nov. 15). For more information, call 702-382-5437 or visit www.discoverykidslv.org.
Art
ARTIST BEEHN
RETURNS TO LV
Las Vegas native Erik Beehn’s been studying at Chicago’s Art Institute, but he returns to his hometown — or at least his artwork does — at MCQ Fine Art.
Beehn’s second MCQ solo show, “From Where I Stand,” features drawings, photo collages and other works on paper. “My work honors the ordinary in our everyday lives in hopes of creating a personal experience for the viewer,”he says.
The exhibit continues through Dec. 5 at MCQ Fine Art, 620 S. Seventh St.; the gallery is open from 9 a.m. to 5 p.m. weekdays, by appointment on weekends. For more information, call 702-366-9339 or visit www.mcqfineart.com.
Theater
SIGNATURE STAGES
‘WHITE CHRISTMAS’
It’s not too early to dream of a “White Christmas.” That’s because Signature Productions’ staging of the holiday favorite opens Monday at the Summerlin Library and Performing Arts Center, 1771 Inner Circle Drive.
Based on the 1954 movie, “White Christmas” — about two song-and-dance duos presenting a Christmas show at a Vermont lodge — features 17 Irving Berlin standards, from “Blue Skies” to the Oscar-winning title tune.
“White Christmas” previews at 7:30 p.m. Monday, Wednesday and Thursday; additional performances are at 7:30 p.m. Nov. 14-15, Nov. 18-22, Dec. 2-6 and Dec. 9-13, with 2 p.m. matinees Nov. 22 and Dec. 6. For tickets ($30 for adults, $28 for seniors and students and $20 for children 8 to 12), visit www.SignatureProductions.net or call 702-878-7529.
— By CAROL CLING
