9/16/2020
Inside the Theater
Most theater and dance performances feature live musicians tucked in a sub-stage orchestra pit, blasting and crooning melodies that enhance the show without audiences often realizing it. But this wasn’t always so. As part of The Smith Center’s ongoing blog series exploring the history of theater magic, discover how the orchestra pit originated.
9/10/2020
Inside the Theater
While audiences today delight in colossal and mesmerizing set pieces, all of this would have baffled audiences from the age of William Shakespeare. Performances in this golden era featured spartan stages, with no sets and often no props. Explore how eye-popping visuals and captivating music eventually became intertwined with theater as we know it today.
9/4/2020
Inside the Theater
Live theater began with a man and his love for stories. Most theater and history buffs can name Thespis of ancient Greece, the world’s first known actor, and the origin of theater term thespian. While ancient Greek performances had long featured choreographed choral processions, Thespis sparked the idea for a show the likes of which none had seen before.
8/11/2020
Inside the Theater
Most performers who take the stage at Reynolds Hall in The Smith Center leave something behind. Since the center opened in March 2012, all performers — superstars, dance ensembles and Broadway tour casts alike — have the opportunity to ink their signatures on the theater’s backstage walls.
8/3/2020
Inside the Theater
Russ McCrory vows that when he saw Broadway musical “American Idiot” at The Smith Center, he felt hooked from the first guitar chord. “I knew I found my happy place at The Smith Center,” says McCrory, 32, who has lived in Las Vegas since he was 5 years old. “I’ve been coming back ever since.” McCrory has the programs to prove it.
7/31/2020
Inside the Theater
Many shows offer surprising musical inventions and innovations. And countries across the globe offer their own, lesser-known instruments that produce entrancing sounds. To celebrate Uncommon Instrument Awareness Day, explore below some unusual instruments played by top artists at The Smith Center.
7/14/2020
Discovering The Smith Center / Inside the Theater
Despite its ongoing temporary closure, The Smith Center’s campus-wide deep cleaning and disinfecting continues on a daily basis. The Smith Center just gained a cutting-edge tool to prevent the spread of any infection: the Clorox® Total 360® System, which uses an electrostatic sprayer to ensure the even those hard-to-reach, difficult-to-clean areas are properly treated.
7/13/2020
Inside the Theater
Many audience members lose themselves in the pages of their show programs, rife with performance previews and feature articles on artists and theater magic. Little do many know, these Smith Center guests take part in a long and surprising legacy. The history of theater programs — also called playbills — dates back hundreds of years.
6/25/2020
Inside the Theater
Southern Nevadans can take great pride that world-renowned movie stars have graced the stage at The Smith Center. As the center’s curtains remain drawn during its temporary closure, enjoy this list of top film stars to perform at The Smith Center and their popular movies to revisit.
6/19/2020
Inside the Theater / Discovering The Smith Center
Reopening a performing arts center during a pandemic poses many challenges. Smith Center President and CEO Myron Martin explains some of the challenges that are preventing The Smith Center from reopening anytime soon.