The Grainger Hill Performing Arts Center is bringing a special series to the community sure to entice young and old. The Second Sunday Series includes four Sunday afternoon concerts, with all proceeds, after expenses, benefitting Grainger Hill.
The inaugural performance, “Love is in the Air,” is a collection of love songs to be performed by Shanda Maddox and Antuan Hawkins, accompanied by Timothy Maddox. Light refreshments will be served.
Director of activities at Bayview Nursing Rehab in New Bern, Shanda Maddox has been performing since age 5. The winner of the National School Choral Award, she has performed at the Opry Land Hotel and in stage performances at the Rivertowne Theater in New Bern, including: “Annie Get Your Gun,” “Radio Gals,” “Nunsense,” “The Wizard of Oz” and “Blithe Spirit.” She also has performed for six years in Lenoir Community College’s “Broadway and Beyond.”
She and her husband, Jim Maddox, live in New Bern and have five children and three grandchildren.
Hawkins is an actor and singer living in Kinston. He received a Bachelor of Science in music with an emphasis on vocal performance from Chowan College. After graduation, he taught middle school and private music classes, but soon began balancing performances around professional career.
He has serenaded acclaimed opera singer Luciano Pavarotti and shared the stage with such celebrity entertainers as Jeff Foxworthy at the Duke University Children’s Miracle Network Benefit Concert, featuring country singer Jo Dee Messina and jazz recording artist Branford Marsalis. He also created the role for “Bailey” in the world premier of Samm-Art Williams’ “Conversations on a Dirt Road.”
Hawkins has performed in New York City in several off-Broadway productions; co-starred in several independent movie projects; and co-starred in the world premier of “F.I.S.H.,” the musical. More locally, he has performed in “Ain’t Misbehavin’” and produced “The Golden Oldies Radio Show.”
Kinston native Timothy Maddox received his master’s degree in music education from Bob Jones University in Greenville, S.C., and is a music instructor at Lenoir Community College. He has worked as a music minister and private piano teacher.
Maddox recently musically directed “Dreamgirls,” “Wizard of Oz,” “Jesus Christ Superstar,” “Cabaret” and “Legally Blonde.” He has accompanied numerous shows, including “Broadway after Dark,” “Guys and Dolls,” “26th Annual Putnam County Spelling Bee” and “Sleeping Beauty.”
Upcoming shows include: March 10, “Jazz OnStage,” featuring ECU’s Student Jazz Trio; April 14, “Big Band Sounds,” featuring Earl Abernethy and Company (Carol Ann Tucker, vocalist; Jimmy Aycock, pianist, and Dave Adduddel, bass); and May 12, “Variety of Eagles, Country and Bluegrass Selections,” featuring The Ray and Bobby Band.
Grainger Hill Second Sundays premier
‘Love is in the Air’
3 p.m. Feb. 10, doors open at 2 p.m.
Community Council for the Arts
400 N. Queen St., Kinston
Presented by the Grainger Hill PAC
Tickets: $10 in advance, $12 at door
Available at arts center
Info: 252-527-2517 or kinstoncca.com; or 252-527-8515, Total Experience