Western Nevada College News & Notes: ‘Beauty and the Beast’ to open Nov. 4

A tale as old as time is coming to the Carson City Community Center weekends, Nov. 4-19. The Western Nevada Musical Theatre Company will present the full Broadway version of Disney’s Tony-winning Beauty and the Beast, featuring spectacular production numbers, stunning costuming, sets and lighting, and lavish orchestrations performed by a large, professional orchestra.

Disney adapted this staged version of its 1991 Academy Award-winning animated musical film of the same name as its first introduction to Broadway in 1994. The show was a tremendous success, running for an impressive 5,461 performances, making Disney — and family entertainment a permanent Broadway attraction.

Disney released a live-action film of Beauty and the Beast earlier this year, mixing live characters with animated enchanted objects. Each of these Disney productions is based on the classic French fairy tale by Jeanne-Marie Leprince de Beaumont, which tells of a cold-hearted prince who is magically transformed into a hideous beast because of his cruelty. The spell can only be broken if he learns to love another and earns their love in return.

Producer-director Stephanie Arrigotti and assistant director-choreographer Gina Kaskie-Davis have mounted three Disney mega-musicals in the last three Novembers: Mary Poppins, The Little Mermaid and now Beauty and the Beast.

“Let there be no doubt: Nothing about Disney is easy,” Arrigotti said. “Designing effective and artistic costumes and sets for these productions is extraordinarily difficult. And the production numbers in these shows are some of the most difficult — and the most exciting — that you’ll find on Broadway, requiring highly trained dancers and creative choreography.

“While these productions may be based on children’s stories, the ultimate performance is one that brings adults to their feet.”

Arrigotti hires more than 20 professional seamstresses, set artists, set builders, vocal and instrumental directors, technicians and musicians to create these productions. Their company recently celebrated their 100th show, attracting audiences from 20 states.

“Personally, I prefer the staged version of Beauty and the Beast to the recent live action movie,” Arrigotti said. “Rather than animated figures, I love having real people inside of the enchanted objects. The audience relates to them more and gets more deeply involved in the story. And the number ‘Be Our Guest’ performed by the enchanted objects, is truly one of the most exciting production numbers I’ve ever seen on Broadway. When we presented that number in our 2005 production, the cheers and applause were so thunderous and lasted for so long, they literally stopped the show.”

Note that tickets are selling quickly for the production. Sales are currently 27 percent higher than sales at this date than for the last two Disney shows. Poppins ultimately drew 6,550 people. To accommodate the crowds, an additional matinee has been scheduled, but Arrigotti strongly advises buying tickets early as multiple performances will sell out.

Evening performances are on Nov. 4, 10, 11, 17 and 18 at 7:30 p.m. at Bob Boldrick Theater. Matinees are on Nov. 4, 5, 11, 12, 18 and 19 at 2 p.m. Tickets ($25/$28) are available on WNMTC.com or by calling 866-977-6849.

Be wary of third-party ticket distributors; buy tickets directly from www.wnmtc.com.

Public Invited to Participate in WNC Accreditation Process on Nov. 2

Western Nevada College’s accreditation is evaluated every seven years by the Northwest Commission on Colleges and Universities. The college is required to demonstrate to the accrediting authority that it is qualified to educate people in Northern Nevada.

In preparation for the college’s accreditation visit in April 2018, an accreditation committee has been performing a self-study to ensure that standards of performance, integrity and quality are being met. WNC faculty and staff participate in the process, and community members also have the opportunity to contribute to the accreditation self-study.

The public is invited to attend an accreditation forum from 5:30 to 7:30 p.m. on Thursday, Nov. 2 in Marlette Hall in the Cedar Building on the Carson City campus.

The meeting will take participants through a review of the college self-study, with a focus on standards for which the committee is seeking information to guide it in completing the evaluation.

Nevada Promise Scholarship Deadline on Tuesday

The deadline for high school seniors to apply for the Nevada Promise Scholarship is 11:59 p.m. Tuesday, Oct. 31. To apply and learn more about the Nevada Promise Scholarship, go to www.wnc.edu/promise/.

WNC Veterans Club Plans Spaghetti Feed/Raffle Fundraiser on Nov. 4

The Student Veterans Club of Western Nevada College is providing a spaghetti feed and raffle drawing fundraiser from 5 to 8 p.m. on Nov. 4 at the Veterans Memorial Hall in Carson City.

The spaghetti dinner costs $10 per person and tickets can be reserved by calling Kevin Burns or Richard Vlach in the Veterans Resource Center at 775-445-3302, or Student Veterans Club President Matthew Hodges at 775-434-9497.

Tickets will also be sold at the door.

Raffle tickets are $1 apiece and 6 for $5. The prize drawing is set for 7 p.m.

‘Making A Mark’ Exhibit at Main Gallery Celebrates Drawing

A collection of Nevada artists is doing its part to inspire, excite and inform Western Nevada College Main Gallery visitors about the beauty of drawing.

Showing in the Carson City campus gallery through Dec. 14 is the Nevada Art Council’s traveling exhibit, “Making A Mark,” which includes the work of seven artists.

Dennis Angel, Las Vegas; Galen Brown, Carson City; Gig Depio, Las Vegas; Miya Hannan, Reno; Eunkang Koh, Reno; Dennis Parks, Tuscarora; and Sidne Teske, Tuscarora contributed their drawings, stoneware and watercolors to the exhibit.

Making an image using line is an art that reaches back 35,000 years. These contributing artists honor this ancient custom of communicating visual ideas using the means of lines with their drawings of sushi, clouds, gardens, oysters and more. Their intent is to show that every human is a mark maker and that the exhibition calls attention to the creative urge to leave behind a trace of ourselves.

“Making A Mark” is part of the Nevada Arts Council’s Nevada Touring Initiative Traveling Exhibition Program and is funded by the National Endowment for the Arts and the State of Nevada. It’s curated by Paul Baker Prindle.