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Favorite characters from Pixar take to the skates in “Toy Story 3 on Ice” at Conseco Fieldhouse Jan. 19-23. Details here.

Student singers take the spotlight in “Indiana’s Rising Stars,” presented by Encore Vocal Arts Jan. 14 at the Basile Opera Centre. Details here.

Director Peter Bratt, son of actor Benjamin Bratt, visits the Indianapolis Museum of Art to present and discuss his film “La Mission” on Jan. 13. Details here.

Noise! Cabaret returns to the White Rabbit Cabaret Jan. 14 for more late-night, open-stage singing from the Indy performing arts community. Details here.

Opening Jan. 13
IU Cinema, Bloomington
A few months ago, I had the pleasure of taking the new IU Cinema on a test run—spending an afternoon losing myself in David Lean’s Academy Award winning “The Bridge on the River Kwai.”
My memories of the film—except for the ending—were fuzzy. On TV, it always felt overly long. But the screening was revelatory, with the new room’s state-of-the-art sound and image—and a newly restored print—bringing out the glory of what I now consider a truly great film.
Want to have an experience like I did? The newly opened IU Cinema is showing David Lean films all week, beginning with “Lawrence of Arabia” on Jan. 13 and continuing with “Kwai” on the 16th, “Summertime” on the 17th, “Dr. Zhivago” on the 24th , “Brief Encounter” on the 30th, and “Great Expectations” on the 31st.
That’s just the beginning. A “John Ford Searches West” series—including “The Grapes of Wrath,” “The Searchers” and “The Man Who Shot Liberty Valance”—starts Jan. 21. And there’s more all semester long. Most events are free. Details here.

Jan. 15
Conseco Fieldhouse
This time, the twist is that 4-point shot spots will be added to each side of mid-court, 35 feet from the basket. Would such an innovation liven up NBA games? I’m not sure—but I have a pretty good idea from where the game-winning basket will be shot.
And, yes, the antics of the clown princes of basketball qualify as arts and entertainment. Details here.

Jan. 17-Feb. 11
CDFAC Art Gallery at the University of Indianapolis 
Last year, Terry Border’s book of whimsical photographs “Bent Objects: The Secret Life of Everyday Things” (Running Press) was an unexpected treat that still has a place on my family room coffee table. Every page—featuring ordinary objects (from cheese puffs to paper clips) transformed into comic moments—is a smile.
Now an exhibit based on the book will be seen in Border’s hometown, thanks to the Christel DeHaan Fine Arts Center. I’ve said it before and I’ll say it again: Pixar should be calling any minute. Details here.

Jan. 18-Feb. 24
Indiana Repertory Theatre
If you saw this famed play in high school or caught the film on TV, you might be surprised at some changes on stage at the Indiana Repertory Theatre. 
Playwright Wendy Kesselman has eliminated from the 1955 script written by Frances Goodrich and Albert Hackett much of what was considered by many to be soft-peddling of the subject matter. Now, according to reports on the New York production of this version (which starred a 16-year-old Natalie Portman), the play includes material from the complete editions of the diary published after the original play premiered. There’s a stronger sense of the impending danger beyond the attic walls. And the characters’ ethnicity isn’t downplayed or Anne’s optimism overplayed.
In the lead at the IRT will be Chicago actress Rebecca Buller, who recently appeared in The Goodman Theatre’s production of “The Seagull.” Given that she was part of, in that show, the finest ensemble cast I’ve seen in my life, I’m optimistic about what she’ll bring to “The Diary of Anne Frank.” Joining her are IRT regulars Robert Johansen and Constance Macy. Details here.