4/25/2019
Community Impact / Education and Outreach
In her first three years as a professional teaching artist with The Smith Center’s Disney Musicals in Schools program, Kathy Ortiz found endless joy. Except for one thing. Ortiz noticed that educators often paid out-of-pocket for set materials, costumes and props to ensure their schools continued to put on student musicals.
2/19/2019
Community Impact
By: Dr. Richard McGee, Conductor, Musician and Professor of Fine Arts at College of Southern Nevada. I moved to Las Vegas in 1981 because I thought I could work here as a performing trombonist. The reputation of the town was, at that time, such that if you played well enough, you could find work in the lounges and showrooms of the Strip. Now, it’s not that I needed work – I had a great job as a high school band director in the Denver area, but I wanted to use my trombone skills for more than the occasional gig.
12/3/2018
Community Impact / Broadway Las Vegas
When Simon Robinson’s family booked a flight for Sept. 11, 2001 to visit him in Florida from their home in England, he was nothing but elated. Simon and his wife Sarah — now both Las Vegas residents — highly anticipated their family’s visit, as the couple had only recently moved to America from their native England. This incredible true story is captured in the acclaimed Broadway musical “Come From Away."
11/16/2018
Community Impact
As guitarist Raul Midon’s fingers nimbly skipped down the frets of his instrument on stage at Las Vegas Academy, the over 300 students in the audience cheered at his fiery improvisation. None were phased by the sunglasses on the Grammy-nominated artist’s face, a subtle reminder of his lifelong blindness.
9/27/2018
Broadway Las Vegas / Community Impact
Two talented, Las Vegas 5-year-olds have been chosen to play a role in Broadway musical “Waitress” during its engagement at The Smith Center – and both girls are just the latest in their families of performers to take the spotlight. The “Waitress” tour has selected Adelaide Babcock and Melina Biltz to play the child role of Lulu.
9/7/2018
Community Impact / Inside the Theater / Supporting the Arts
Rona Mendelson knows all too well how her husband David is impacted when wearing hearing aids at a Broadway show. “I’ll ask him, ‘What did you think of the show? And he’ll say, ‘I didn’t really hear it,’” says Rona. Now, Smith Center guests like the Mendelsons can use new, state-of-the-art assistive listening equipment to enjoy the full theater experience.
9/6/2018
Education and Outreach / Community Impact
“The Smith Center has seen Disney Musicals in Schools transform students across Southern Nevada, so we’re honored that Disney chose us to take on this expanded role,” says Myron Martin, president and CEO of The Smith Center. “Helping bring musical theater programs to rural schools falls right into what we’re all about.”
8/10/2018
Broadway Las Vegas / Community Impact
Admiring the view from the Row B parterre box in Reynolds Hall at The Smith Center, Sarah Iwamuro said she had never sat so close to the stage. “This is incredible,” said the Las Vegas resident and mother of four. Sarah was the randomly selected winner of The Smith Center’s drawing for two free tickets to all 10 shows of the 2018-2019 Broadway season.
7/13/2018
Community Impact / Inside the Theater
Weeks before “Hamilton” came to The Smith Center, Whitney Hobbs started preparing for the show. She listened obsessively to the soundtrack. She met almost daily with her coworkers to rehearse each scene. Hobbs is not an actress. She is one of the locally based, certified American Sign Language (ASL) interpreters providing ASL interpretation during Broadway productions.
10/13/2017
Supporting the Arts / Community Impact
Not many birthday parties involve exclusive use of a Smith Center theater, attendance by 100 community leaders like Tony Hsieh, and a personal serenade by Las Vegas headliner Frankie Moreno. But the 90th birthday for Smith Center Founder Janice Allen was no ordinary fete.