Stretch your artistic limits

Two new opportunities have popped up out there for those who want to break into the arts. One has to do directly with young artists, the other with anyone who wants to be onstage.

Southeast Missouri State University has started an Art Academy for High School Art Students to get more experience and more instruction. All the instructors are faculty at Southeast.

The inaugural season covers the artistic bases with Public Art Painting, Drawing Basics and Three Dimensional Plaster Carving (ie: sculpture). Two of the three courses will be at the River Campus; the other one is in the Serena Building.

Emily Booth will be teaching the Public Art Painting. She's the same instructor who had her class graffiti a hallway in the Serena Building. Her class and the Drawing Basics with Kathy Smith will be at the River Campus.

The 3-D plaster class will be in the Serena Building. Chris Wubbena, who often has sculptural pieces on display and coordinated the 2008 High School Art Exhibition, will head this one.

Those involved said they're trying to reach ninth to 12th graders to improve the students' skills and fatten their portfolios. The classes are $100 including supplies and are from 9 a.m. to noon Saturdays starting Jan. 31 and going to Feb. 21. Call 651-2119 for more info.

It's not cartoons, but university-level instruction seems like a good reason to get out of bed on a Saturday morning.

The other op — one that doesn't require Saturday mornings (that I know of) and lets those who've already survived high school participate — is a call for actors. The Scallywag Melodrama Theater needs to refresh its cast.

Scallywag theater keeps actors and actresses on call for impromptu shows when tourist groups come through or when locals decide they want some dinner theater. The whole thing started when the Convention and Visitors Bureau approached Dr. Roseanna Whitlow, who is also active in the River City Players Community Theatre, and Doc Cain, who hosts the theater group for its dinner theaters.

The good folks at the CVB wanted tourists to have the chance to see some Mississippi theatrics. The pair agreed and Whitlow penned and directed "The Mighty Mississippi Melodrama ... Or Do I Smell a River Rat?" Preceded by Doc Cain's rib buffet and performed at Port Cape, the whole production gives Yankees a lil' taste of Cape Girardeau.

Auditions are at 6:30 p.m. Tuesday at Port Cape. Ruby the saloon singer has to (are you ready?) be able to sing. Other than that, just show up and give it the old college try.