photo by: Contributed photo

The cast of Theatre Lawrence's production of “Disney's Frozen Jr." rehearses for the performance. The show opens Friday, July 26, 2019, and runs through the weekend.

Temperatures are sizzling outdoors, but it will be snowing on the stage of Theatre Lawrence during this weekend’s youth production of “Disney’s Frozen Jr.”

The show, based on the 2013 Disney film, includes a cast of more than 40 young performers, and the technical crew has been hard at work to simulate a blizzard on the stage, director Hailey Gillespie said.

“People who have never come to Theatre Lawrence will love this show, which is very true to the animated film,” Gillespie said.

While Sunday’s matinee is sold out, tickets are still available for the 7:30 p.m. shows Friday and Saturday. For ticket information, visit theatrelawrence.com.

Early African American education exhibit at the Watkins

photo by: Contributed photo

This photograph of Mamie Dillard, an African American educator and suffragist, is included in a new Watkins Museum exhibit on early African American education in Lawrence. The exhibit opens Friday, July 25, 2019.

A new exhibit at the Watkins Museum of History will tell the story of Lawrence’s earliest African American educational institutions.

The exhibit, “Common Ground: The Foundations of Lawrence’s Early African American Community,” will highlight the African American teachers, administrators, and business owners who fostered and led formal educational centers and more informal institutions such as the Self-Culture Club, according to the museum’s website. Photographs and documents from these schools and clubs will be on display.

Watkins Museum staff collaborated with students from the University of Kansas’ museum studies program to create the exhibit, said Will Hickox, the museum’s public engagement coordinator, in an email to the Journal-World. The exhibit will open on Friday from 5 to 9 p.m. and will remain on display through November, the museum’s website said.

Humanities in the Wild

A little-known historical conflict between modern lifestyles and the peaceful countryside will take center stage in this month’s installment of the Humanities in the Wild lecture series.

When cars and bicycles first became popular, KU professor Nathan Wood says, people living in rural areas didn’t always approve of drivers using their country roads. On Friday night at Sunflower Outdoor & Bike Shop, he’ll share some facts about a time when country dwellers chased cyclists with axes and dug holes in the road to damage cars, according to the Humanities in the Wild Facebook page.

Humanities in the Wild began in April as a collaboration between the University of Kansas and several community organizations, said Liam Inbody, the manager of Sunflower Outdoor & Bike Shop.

The free lecture will be held from 6 to 8 p.m. Friday at the shop, 804 Massachusetts St., with refreshments provided by Free State Brewing Company.