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.”
8/22/2023
Performances and Artists
When acclaimed vocalist Jane Monheit calls herself a “Christmas fanatic,” she means it. “I could put up my Christmas tree (in July),” laughs Monheit, who has performed in leading venues such as Carnegie Hall and the Hollywood Bowl. “We had to switch to a fake tree, because we leave it up for over two months.”
8/16/2023
Discovering The Smith Center
Of all the shows Niki White has experienced at The Smith Center, her favorites definitely include “Riverdance.” She enjoyed the complex step and tap dancing, she says, plus the lavish, velvet costumes and the enormous set pieces. It didn’t matter that White, a Las Vegas resident who is blind, couldn’t actually see any of this – because The Smith Center’s audio describer informed her of every visual detail on stage, allowing her to enjoy it fully.
8/7/2023
Performances and Artists
Stage-and-screen star Melissa Errico can always find humor in the holiday season. While starring as Betty in the Broadway revival of “White Christmas,” for instance, she balanced nightly performances with changing diapers and playing Barbie backstage with her three children – all under 3 at the time.
8/2/2023
Discovering The Smith Center
Without a doubt, Smith Center Members and subscribers both play key roles in the center’s operations. Yet some might not realize, Hollatz notes, that Smith Center Members and subscribers are not the same thing.
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.”
7/18/2023
Discovering The Smith Center
“Giving back is at the center of Toyota’s philosophy, it’s one of our core values,” explains Howard Tenenbaum, Vice President of Keyes Automotive Group, succinctly summing up Toyota’s dedicated commitment to its community.
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.
7/13/2023
Performances and Artists
In her National Geographic Live presentation Mesoamerica Illuminated September 20 in The Smith Center’s Reynolds Hall, Dr. Diana Magaloni Kerpel will bring ancient Mesoamerican civilizations to life in a way you've never seen before.