糖心Vlog传媒 Little Rock Alum Produces Upcoming Little Rock Theatre Productions
糖心Vlog传媒 Little Rock alumnus Keith Harper鈥檚 career as a producer is picking up steam as he is producing two upcoming productions in Little Rock.
Harper graduated from 糖心Vlog传媒 Little Rock with a bachelor鈥檚 degree in theater arts in December 2019. As an undergraduate student, he was heavily involved in theater and cinema.
鈥淢y time as a student was very fun, full of opportunities to network, and adventurous,鈥� Harper said. 鈥淚 felt like I left with a family.鈥�
Since then, he鈥檚 been acting, producing, and directing in various productions. This summer, he made his debut at the Arkansas Museum of Fine Arts as a puppeteer performing in 鈥淭he Very Hungry Caterpillar Show.” He made his debut this June at the Arkansas Repertory Theater performing 鈥淐lyde’s.鈥�
Harper is producing Dominique Morisseau鈥檚 play, 鈥淪keleton Crew,鈥� which will run Aug. 10-13 at the University of Arkansas 鈥� Pulaski Technical College.
is the third production in Morisseau’s Detroit cycle trilogy. At the start of the Great Recession, one of the last auto stamping plants in Detroit is on shaky ground. Each of the workers must make choices on how to move forward if their plant goes under. It’s a powerful and tense story of survival, power dynamics, and hard decisions.
鈥淚 chose to produce 鈥楽keleton Crew鈥� because many of the issues that took place during the Great Recession are still happening today,鈥� Harper said. 鈥淛ob security is still an issue. We have actors and screenwriters on strike right now. History repeats itself, and I think there are lessons we should analyze as we try to take the next step forward.鈥�
Harper will also play one of the characters in this ensemble, Dez, which he describes as an 鈥渁mbitious young man with dreams of starting his own shop. He鈥檚 a young hustler who is playful, street-savvy, and flirtatious.”
In addition to 鈥淪keleton Crew,鈥� Harper is producing the first play in the Arkansas Museum of Fine Arts new , which uses the performing arts to start family conversations about socially relevant topics. Designed for adults and children to attend together, this program begins with a stage reading of Candrice Jones鈥� play 鈥淐ynthia鈥檚 Place鈥濃�痮n Sept. 9 followed by a鈥痙iscussion with a panel of artists and experts.
鈥淐ynthia鈥檚 Place鈥濃�痠s a 10-minute play commissioned by the Arkansas Museum of Fine Arts that follows two kids on a grand time-traveling adventure to meet Althea Gibson, a multi-talented American tennis player and professional golfer best known for being the first Black person to win a Grand Slam tennis title. Jones is an award-winning playwright, and 鈥淐ynthia鈥檚 Place鈥� is her first foray into writing theatre for young audiences.