3/29/2024
Education and Outreach
For the past decade, The Smith Center for the Performing has sent two student-actors year to New York City each year, to represent Nevada at the prestigious National High School Musical Theatre Awards, better known as the Jimmy Awards.
1/19/2024
Education and Outreach
Through a variety of programs, from free student matinees at Reynolds Hall to performances on school campuses to professional development opportunities for teachers in all curriculum areas and beyond, The Smith Center makes education its mission on a daily basis in meaningful and measurable ways.
11/15/2023
Education and Outreach
When mariachi students from Del Sol High School experienced one of the world’s leading mariachi groups at The Smith Center this fall, they didn’t just witness the genre’s foremost musicians. They also saw an impressive show embracing their heritage.
9/13/2023
Education and Outreach
As a nonprofit, The Smith Center will expand its Disney Musicals in Schools program this year to middle schools. Previously offered only at elementary schools, this initiative helps under-resourced schools create their own sustainable musical-theater programs.
8/24/2023
Education and Outreach
When Andrew Wright walks into the CARE class he teaches at J.E. Manch Elementary School in Las Vegas, he knows the students selected for it have experienced challenges he could never understand. But he also knows something else: that once these students act out a scene, or play a theater game, many of them start smiling and talking freely about their lives and emotions.
8/23/2023
Education and Outreach
Bruce Ewing still remembers feeling uplifted as he watched a performance of musical “In the Heights” at a Southern Nevada high school. “I counted at least 40 to 50 kids in one dance number, and they were great,” recalls Ewing, who has starred in several Broadway national tours. “They just connected to the material. You could see they were so happy, doing a show that spoke to them.”
8/1/2023
Education and Outreach
“Camp Broadway gives you an incredible experience,” Englberg says. “What is so amazing at Camp Broadway is you can’t compare yourself to anyone or look down on yourself, because everyone is unique in their own way.”
7/17/2023
Discovering The Smith Center / Education and Outreach
Southern Nevada teenagers Zoe McCracken and Riley Stannard got a true taste of life as theater professionals this June. That’s because the two theater students competed at the national Jimmy Awards in New York City, which included performing on a Broadway stage alongside the country’s top high school performers.
7/5/2023
Education and Outreach
This process typically requires unloading semi-trucks full of sets, costumes, props and equipment — followed by hours of flawlessly installing every item without a second to spare. And this summer, The Smith Center showcased the load-in process to teenagers who will likely be doing that work themselves, someday.
4/28/2023
Education and Outreach
As a nonprofit, The Smith Center serves as one of many organizations nationwide that provide the Disney Musicals in Schools program, which helps at-risk elementary schools create their own musical-theater programs. At no cost to schools, the center’s teaching artists train educators on all aspects of putting on their inaugural production, including teaching kids how to sing, dance and act.