Aside from the free food, booze, and the opportunity to see someone’s grandma getting jiggy on the dance floor, the best part about weddings is seeing two people who compliment each other almost perfectly make a commitment to a lifelong, mutually beneficial partnership that is so evident when those people are standing at the alter together that everyone in attendance gets glassy eyed at the beauty of it all.

That’s kind of how I felt when I heard that Arts Live Theatre Company, Ceramic Cow Productions, and DownRiver Actors were putting together a schedule of performances at the UARK Bowl on Dickson St. beginning in August.

All three theatre and production companies needed a good place to hold performances, the UARK Bowl is a big, nonsmoking space on Dickson St. with a large bar, and the capability to serve food that just needed some entertainment to help fill the room, and Fayetteville is an awesome college town in Arkansas that was in need of some more opportunities to see live theatre.

That’s 5 wins in a row for those keeping score at home.

Arts Live is Northwest Arkansas’ only non-profit, fully dedicated youth and children’s theatre company, and they will hold performances at the UARK bowl throughout the year, beginning with their annual Arts Live Theatre Awards at the in August.

A scene from Ceramic Cow’s A Dupont Christmas Carol.

Ceramic Cow Productions is the theatre, film, and television production company of local playwright, actor, director, and producer Mark Landon Smith, and Ceramic Cow co-founder, producer and director Julie Gabel.

Ceramic Cow will be performing a Halloween show at the UARK in October, followed by other seasonal shows, and they plan to produce an original musical there in the Spring.

Smith is excited about the new venue. “They have lights, sounds, stage, seating, food and beverage for the possibility of dinner theatre. We’re excited because the space will really lend itself to producing some of the cabaret style productions that we love to do.”

DownRiver Actors Company is a relatively new professional theatre company in Fayetteville, and will be hosting Comedy Improv nights beginning in September.

As an added bonus, we also noticed that the UARK will begin a dinner and a movie series starting on August 28th with The Big Lebowski where attendees will be encourage to dress as their favorite Big Lebowski character. The Jesus, anyone?

The entire schedule of performances is available here. Just when I thought Fayetteville couldn’t get any more awesome, it does. It’s amazing.