Art Briefs
Pratt to discuss future plans
The Pratt Museum in Homer will host a brown bag lunch from noon to 1 p.m. May 29 to discuss the future plans for the museum and topics of interest to the participants on the main exhibit gallery renovation and site plans.
Participants should bring a lunch and ideas for discussion. The event is the first of a monthly luncheon series.
Want to be in a movie?
Actors for major and minor speaking parts, stuntmen (especially teenagers and adults who are strong swimmers) and extras of all ages are needed for "Echo Lake," a full-length independent feature film being shot June 4 to and July 12 largely in the Kenai-Nikiski area.
There will be an open casting call from 3 to 9 p.m. May 30 and 31 at the Kenai Central High School Little Theatre to fill the needed parts. Auditions for girls and teenage women will be from 3 to 4 p.m.; for boys and teenage men from 4 to 5 p.m.; for adult women from 5 to 6 p.m.; for adult men from 6 to 7 p.m.; and auditions for the two adult male major speaking roles will be from 7 to 9 p.m. The major speaking roles that need to be cast are Luc Svoboda, a 50-year-old or older grizzled and good-humored man of Slavic descent who is a kind of savior and patriarch to the people of Echo Lake, and a Roman Catholic priest between 30 and 50 whose compassion for his small, dwindling parish in Echo Lake belies a wry, angst-ridden soul. Call-backs will be from 7 to 9 p.m. May 31. Anyone with significant prior acting experience is encouraged to bring a resume, but no prior acting experience is required to audition.
Actors will not receive financial compensation. The film is a contemporary thriller about a young writer and aspiring director filming a college thesis project in Echo Lake, Alaska, who become entangled in the town's lethal secret.
A packet with more information about the film's plot, characters and production details is available for review at the Kenai Public Library.
For more information not covered by the packet, call Mario Bird at 776-5898 or Alden Ford at 776-8308.
Native plants for sale
The Pratt Museum in Homer will sell plants from its garden at 10 a.m. May 31. The museum has 150 species of native plants that need to be thinned every year. Gardener Donna Bauer and volunteers will be available to answer questions and provide gardening tips to plant buyers.
The Museum Store will hold a sidewalk sale on the museum's porch in conjunction with the plant sale.
Poetry contests offers $1,000
A $1,000 grand prize is offered in two free poetry contests. One is sponsored by Celestial Arts, the other by Hollywood's Famous Poets Society.
To enter, send one poem 21 lines or less to Celestial Arts, P.O. Box 1140, Talent, OR 97540, or Free Poetry Contest, 1626 N. Wilcox Ave. No. 126, Hollywood, CA 90028. Or enter online at www.freecontest.com. or www.famouspoets.com.
The deadline for entering the Hollywood's Famous Poets Society is June 9. The deadline for entering the Celestial Arts contest is June 21. A winners' list will be sent to all entrants of the contests. Winning poems may be posted online.
Book sale coming up
The Kenai Public Library will have its annual book sale June 12 to 14. A presale for Friends of the Library members will be open from 5 to 8 p.m. June 12. Non-Friends can join the organization at the door. The sale will be open to the public from 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. June 13 and from 10 a.m. to 2 p.m. June 14 in the parking lot. Book donations will be accepted anytime at the library.
Booth space for festival available
The Kenai Watershed Forum is accepting applications from local artists to reserve booth space at the Kenai River Festival in Kenai on June 14 and 15. Space is limited. The application deadline is May 23. To apply or for more information, contact Josselyn Burke at 260-5449 or visit the Web site www.kenaiwatershed.org.
Writers' conference slated
The Kachemak Bay Campus of Kenai Peninsula College will present the statewide Kachemak Bay Writers' Conference at Land's End Resort in Homer from June 22 to 26. It will feature award-winning author Tobias Wolff as the keynote presenter as well as 25 other faculty members, including noted authors, editors, publishers and agents from throughout the United States.
The conference offers daily workshops, craft talks, manuscript reviews, panel presentations and evening readings in fiction, nonfiction, poetry, children's writing and more. Conference participants also are offered an optional three-day preconference writers' workshop retreat from June 18 to 21. Evening readings by conference faculty will be open to the general public at no charge.
Advanced registration is required, and there is limited enrollment. Registration is $275. The preconference session is an additional $300, including room and board. One University of Alaska Anchorage academic credit is offered for the additional tuition fee of $93. For specific program and registration information, visit chinook.kpc.alaska.-edu/~conference. For more information, call Carol Swartz at (907) 235-7743.