EAT begins new season with staged reading

The English Alternative Theatre will open its 14th season on Monday with a staged reading of the Tony Award-winning play, “Take Me Out.” The play, by Richard Greenberg, deals with sexism, racism and homophobia in the world of professional baseball.

Directed by Paul Stephen Lim, the cast includes KU faculty members Kevin Willmott, John Younger, Jim Carothers, Bud Hirsch, Maggie Childs, Antonio Simoes and David Jenkins, as well as KU students and Lawrence residents Colin Elliott, Chris Nelson, Aron Carlson, Ebony Simon and Ryan Butts. Stage manager for the production is Paul Shoulberg. Lee Saylor is the lighting designer.

The event starts at 8 p.m. at the Lawrence Arts Center, 940 N.H., and is followed by a reception. Admission is free.

KU alumna, Laker girl returns to Lawrence

A 2001 Kansas University graduate who went on to become a member of the Laker Girls dance team in Los Angeles will instruct dance students today at a clinic.

Aimee Martinez, a former captain of KU’s Crimson Girls dance team and a former Kansas City Chiefs cheerleader, will teach a master class on jazz and hip-hop routines and techniques from noon to 1:30 p.m. at Dance City Performing Arts Academy, 5150 Clinton Parkway.

Martinez, who has a degree in journalism, also works as a professional dancer for the TV and film industry and choreographs college and NFL dance teams.

The cost for the clinic is $35. For more information, call the studio at 843-3344.

Watkins Museum to offer jewelry class

Alison Miller, museum educator at Watkins Community Museum of History, 1047 Mass., will be offering a jewelry-making class Saturday at the museum.

The session is open to children ages 9-12.

The class will include making necklaces out of hemp and a bracelet out of colored beads. Miller also will lead a discussion on how jewelry was created in the past and its use for self-expression.

The session is 10 a.m-noon and will include a snack. A small fee is required to cover the cost of materials. To register, call 841-4109.

Lied Center sponsors Kevin Locke residency

American Indian musician and dancer Kevin Locke will conduct a residency in Holton and Mayetta from Tuesday through Friday.

His appearance is sponsored by the Lied Center and Capitol Federal Savings.

The project, which will include teacher workshops and school assemblies, is part of the Lied Center’s Statewide Outreach Program, which brings performing artists to communities in Kansas and Missouri for education and residency activities. Since it was launched in 1996, statewide residencies and performances have been taken to eight cities and reached nearly 8,000 people.

Locke will give a public performance at 7 p.m. Friday at Holton High School.

Nelson-Atkins plans celebration

Kansas City, Mo. — The Nelson-Atkins Museum of Art, in conjunction with the Ford Motor Co. Fund, will be celebrating the 150th Ford Free Friday on Friday.

Since 2000, the collaboration of the Museum and the Ford Fund has offered free admission and extended hours to visitors every Friday.

Friday’s celebration marks the final Ford Free Friday of the exhibit. The celebration, which begins at 10 a.m., will be giving away a free membership to every 150th visitor.

After 5 p.m., the first 150 visitors will receive two tickets to the upcoming exhibition, “Marsden Hartley (1877-1943): American Painter,” opening Oct. 11.

Kansas City Symphony opens Theatre in Park

Shawnee — Kansas City’s Theatre in the Park series kicks off with “Pops in the Park,” the Kansas City Symphony’s 20th annual Labor Day weekend concert. The event is at 6:30 p.m. today in Shawnee Mission Park, 7710 Renner Road.

Mix 93.3 FM will provide pre-concert entertainment, and the orchestra will take the stage at 7 p.m. The concert will feature pops and light classics, as well as renditions of favorites like “Danny Boy” and “Stars and Stripes Forever.”

Other events include an instrument petting zoo, where children can experiment with various instruments, and free frozen refreshments from Custard’s Last Stand.

Admission is $5 for adults and $3 for children 4-12. Concessions will be available, but picnic baskets and coolers are welcome. For more information, call (913) 631-7050.

Sandzen Gallery to display Garzio pottery

Lindsborg — Kansas potter Angelo Garzio will be exhibiting his wheel-thrown stoneware pottery Wednesday through Oct. 25 at the Sandzen Gallery.

Garzio, a retired Kansas State University ceramics professor, received a master’s degree in art history and master’s of fine arts degree in ceramics from Iowa State University. He has received numerous awards, and his work has been featured in galleries in Denver and Detroit as well as a permanent collection at the Smithsonian Institute. He also has lectured and demonstrated his skills at various museums and universities.

The gallery will have a reception in Garzio’s honor from 2 p.m. to 4 p.m. Sept. 13. Gallery hours are 1 p.m.-5 p.m. Tuesday through Sunday. Admission is free, but donations are accepted. For more information, call (785) 227-2220.

Writers at Work series to kick off Thursday

Kansas City, Mo. — Rockhurst University will begin its Writers at Work series at 7:30 p.m. Thursday at Rockhurst’s Greenlease Gallery.

The featured author will be Eric Miles Williamson, a professor at Central Missouri State University. Williamson will be reading from his in-progress novel, “Out of Oakland.” It is his first reading in Kansas City. Williamson is a winner of the National Endowment for the Arts Fellowship and a PEN/Hemingway finalist. He has had short works of fiction published in several reviews. He is a vice-president of the National Book Critics Circle.

Following the reading, there will be a public reception for Williamson. Admission to the events is free, and books will be available in advance or at the event.

Nelson-Atkins to begin lecture series

Kansas City, Mo. — The first installment in a three-part lecture series, “Women and Art,” begins Saturday at the Nelson-Atkins Museum of Art, 4525 Oak St., Kansas City, Mo.

The lectures will focus on both the artistic productions, as well as social structures throughout the 20th century that permitted and prohibited women in art.

The first lectures cover the early period of art from prehistory to the 17th century. Jan Schall, the museum’s Sanders Sosland Curator of Modern & Contemporary Art, will deliver the first series, which begins at 10:30 a.m. Saturday and continues Sept. 13 and 20. The two remaining lectures will begin in January and March.

Admission per lecture is $7 for the public, $6 for museum members. Students and faculty are admitted for half price. More information on the series and the readings is available at www.nelson-atkins.org.

Sherry Leedy to begin season with three new solo exhibits

Kansas City, Mo. — The fall gallery season at Sherry Leedy Contemporary Art begins with three new solo exhibits of painting and photography. The three featured artists are Jeff Aeling, Chris Faust and Billy Hassell.

Jeff Aeling, a St. Louis artist and landscape painter, displays his new exhibition, “Flint Hills.” Aeling’s work is available in numerous public and private collections. Minnesota-based photographer Chris Faust makes his first solo exhibit in Kansas City with a collection of panoramic black-and-white images of Midwestern landscapes titled “Night.” Billy Hassell, a Texas painter, addresses nature’s influence on the aesthetic with a series of oils, watercolors and prints commissioned by the Audubon Society.

The exhibits will be featured at the gallery Friday through Nov. 1. The opening reception will be from 7 p.m. to 9 p.m. Friday.