6/18/2026
Education and Outreach
The 2026 National High School Musical Theater Awards, better known as the Jimmy Awards, return to the Minskoff Theatre on June 22. Join us in cheering on the best #TheatreKids in the country by tuning in to the Jimmys with some bingo.
5/6/2026
Education and Outreach
The Smith Center for the Performing Arts announced winners in 23 award categories at its 2026 Nevada High School Musical Theater Awards on May 3, 2026, held inside majestic Reynolds Hall.
4/17/2026
Education and Outreach / Inside the Theater
On April 8, students and educators from six Nevada schools ascended to the stage at The Smith Center for the Performing Arts to demonstrate how much they’ve learned from their participation in this year’s Disney Musicals in Schools program.
4/12/2026
Community Impact / Education and Outreach / Supporting the Arts
For more than 15 years, teaching artist Marcia Robinson has carried a simple but powerful belief into classrooms: The arts are not an extra; they are a pathway to connection, confidence and community.
3/4/2026
Education and Outreach
A pair of slack-jawed pirates are slouched over a table backstage in Reynolds Hall. No, they’re not Fremont Street Jack Sparrows who wandered over after busking; they’re the pirates many folks meet first: Captain Hook and Mr. Smee. And these pirates aren’t people – they’re life-sized puppets. Get a behind-the-scenes look at Derek Lux’s impressive Neverland puppets.
2/10/2026
Education and Outreach
Student matinees were out of this world recently when our Education and Outreach team welcomed Secrets of Space to the Reynolds Hall stage. Northern Ireland theater company Cahoots NI made its return to The Smith Center to share the original production.
10/2/2025
Education and Outreach / Inside the Theater
Every year, the nonprofit performing arts center welcomes busloads of local students to its campus for free student matinees – part of The Smith Center’s central mission of providing arts access and education to children across Nevada. Last school year alone, more than 42,000 students and teachers participated in student matinees here.
8/29/2025
Education and Outreach
Twenty five years ago, New York-based actress Elena Ferrante-Martin took a role in Men Are From Mars, Women Are From Venus on the Las Vegas Strip. She couldn’t have known then how much this town would change her life – or how much she would impact its theater community.
8/1/2025
Education and Outreach / Inside the Theater
Las Vegas theater kids soared around The Smith Center’s campus in July, sharing stories of high-flying adventures through song and dance as family and friends packed the house for Camp Broadway’s 30th anniversary.
6/26/2025
Education and Outreach
NVHSMTA’s 2025 Outstanding Lead Actor and recent Las Vegas Academy of the Arts graduate Chris Hayes won his spot at The National High School Musical Theatre Awards® — commonly referred to as the Jimmy Awards® — thanks to a charismatic performance as Gaston from Beauty and the Beast singing “Me” in The Smith Center’s Reynolds Hall on May 4. Hayes reprised the role at The Jimmys when chosen for the coveted Character Medley round, thus making him eligible for a finalist spot—which he was selected for and then won as well!