Southern Living  March 2008 -- page LA 2

The golden age of the silver screen lasts a Little Longer for Louisiana.
By Taylor Bruce

Town Theater   Ruston, Louisiana, is a hometown, the hometowniest of hometowns-sweetsmelling streets, meat-n-three friendliness, the local college faithful-but the Lincoln Parish seat does not claim to be a vacation spot. That is, unless you find yourself in a red-cushioned seat under the chandelier glow at the Dixie Center for the Arts. Then Ruston might as well be Tinseltown.

Onstage   In Ruston (population approximately 20,000), the Dixie is now a true community entertainment venue where a bluegrass band may play the weekend after a touring theater troupe. Essentially, the Dixie, now refitted, sound-checked, and neon-ed after 10 years and $2 million, serves as host and home to all sorts of performers in the community. But, in its soul, the Dixie remains a movie house, with a balcony projector and billboard-size screen to prove it.

The Comeback Story   The Dixie Theater, built in 1928 under the handle New Astor as a vaudeville house and silent film home, became a pigeons' hideaway by the 1980s. "But this wasn't just a musty old theater," says resident and renovation champ Linda
Graham, who faced an uphill restorative climb in the late 1990s. ""The Dixie is a memory ofhow the world used to come to Ruston through the movies."

Bake-offs, seat sales, pennyjars, talent shows, and a generous state grant paved the road to a new Dixie, which reopened with a performance by The Temptations."Definitely takes you back to a simpler time," muses Rick Hohlt, publisher of The Ruston Daily Leader.

Where and When?   Visit www.dixiecenter.org, or call (318) 255-1450 for a schedule of events; snap a photo of the classic marquee and Dixie star where North Vienna Street meets West Alabama Avenue

If You Give A Mouse A Cookie

Thursday, May 1, 9am & 11am & 12:30pm

School show play based on the book by the same title. Pre-school and Elementary ages. Arkansas Arts Center State Services of Little Rock, AR

Bob Dawson: Breaking the Rules®
Friday, May 9, 7:30 pm

Breaking the Rules® is a vivacious, irreverent investigation of classical music intended to spur a revolution in music comprehension. Fueled with insatiable desire to introduce classical music to novices, Bob Dawson pulls out all the stops. Unlike a formal recital, this is a solo piano show hosted and performed by Bob Dawson. He invites the novice to experience the delights and integrity of classical music with vivid imagery, amusing stories and a profound universal connection that stimulates curiosity about classical music and its place in our world.  (more info)