Jeannie Austin, Vanessa Butler and Alan Safier Set for This Week's STATE OF THE ARTS

Vocalist Jeannie Austin, actors Vanessa R. Butler and Alan Safier are the featured guests on this week's (Friday, September 16) State of the ARTS which airs LIVE every Friday from 12noon to 1pm on WPKN-FM (89.5) in Bridgeport, Connecticut. Co-hosts of the weekly arts & entertainment program are Richard Pheneger and Peggy Nelson.

Jeannie Austin will take the stage of Bridgeport's Downtown Cabaret Theatre in Tapestry: Tribute to Carole King, which faithfully recreates the glorious sound of a Carole King concert, leaving audiences with memories of the great music she wrote and recorded. Featured songs include "You've Got a Friend", "Natural Woman", "It's Too Late", "So Far Away", "I Feel the Earth Move" and "Beautiful," among others highlighting the life and times of one of America's most prolific, honored and revered singer-songwriters. Tapestry: Tribute to Carole King is schedule for two performances at 2pm & 5pm on Sunday, September 18. The Downtown Cabaret Theatre is located at 263 Golden Hill Street in Bridgeport, Connecticut.

Vanessa R. Butler is featured as Molly, a young Marine Corps Officer, in the Hartford Stage production Queens for a Year, which is defined as aderogatory term for a female soldier or Marine serving her year of overseas tour of duty, implying that even an "ugly" female gets away with slacking off and being unduly treated as a queen. In the play four generations of women who've served their country in the Marines clash during what at first appears to be a post-deployment vacation but is revealed to be much more. Queens for a Year is playing now through October 2 (2016) at Hartford Stage located at 50 Church Street in Hartford, Connecticut

Alan Safier is celebrating five decades on stage, TV, in commercials and in voice-overs. He brings his tour de force performance as everyone's favorite centenarian, George Burns in Say Goodnight Gracie to the Ridgefield Playhouse. He has been playing Burns for nine seasons, both off-Broadway and across the U.S. This hit play invites audiences to spend a hilarious, heart-warming evening in the uplifting company of George Burns, the world's favorite and funniest centenarian. Say Goodnight Gracie is scheduled on September 23 at 7:30 pm at the Ridgefield Playhouse located at 80 East Ridge in Ridgefield, Connecticut.

State of the ARTS, featuring arts and entertainment personalities, airs LIVE each Friday from 12noon-1pm on WPKN-FM located at 89.5 and streams worldwide online at wpkn.org.