12/18/2024
Performances and Artists
Upheld throughout Japan in various forms, Niwaka is a traditional folk performing art where people perform improvised skits filled with satire and wit. Kodo’s new piece Niwaka draws inspiration from that art form to create a banter-like performance between two men and two women, demonstrating a comical and nimble form of taiko expression. It’s a taiko piece and a theatrical interlude all rolled into one.
12/17/2024
Supporting the Arts
The Smith Center has always strived to make its events accessible to everyone in the community. That’s now more possible than ever, thanks to a generous donation by one of the performing arts center’s Member families.
12/13/2024
Education and Outreach
Swing. The blues. Improvisation. We know what the terms mean individually, but did you know they’re considered the three fundamentals of jazz music? More than 2,000 students – from grades 5 through 12 at 30 area schools – learned that and much more about one of the foremost American musical art forms, on a recent visit to The Smith Center for the Performing Arts.
11/15/2024
Discovering The Smith Center
With Immediate Past Chairman of the Board Don Snyder looking on, Smith Center President and CEO Myron Martin officially ushed in the campus’ new Starbucks at a dedication ceremony in November.
11/14/2024
Education and Outreach
Cartreze Tucker, who plays Goldie Wilson and Marvin Berry in the touring production of the show – which ran at The Smith Center from October 23 to November 3 – worked individually with four separate students on their solo numbers at the front of a class of about 40 ninth-through-twelfth-graders.
11/8/2024
Community Impact
A dancer since age 3, Las Vegas native Angelina Vera suffered a serious injury in high school that kept her sidelined for a time. The silver lining? It determined the direction of her life, which has helped heal performers across the valley in the years since.
11/1/2024
Broadway Las Vegas
Kimberly is about to turn 16, and she’s navigating the usual challenges of adolescence after arriving in suburban New Jersey. She deals with family dysfunction (her parents mean well but have their own issues, and her Aunt Debra is an actual criminal), her first crush and even possible felony charges.
10/8/2024
Community Impact / Discovering The Smith Center
“Super Bloom,” the mural that fills the northeast wall inside the new Starbucks at The Smith Center, brings a welcoming, bright and colorful vibe to a space set to become a meeting place for creative types from Downtown Las Vegas and beyond. The new Starbucks, adjacent to the Discovery Children’s Museum and The Smith Center courtyard, opened its doors in September, with a grand-opening celebration set for November 12. The store offers all your favorite Starbucks’ beloved drinks, bites and treats, along with an eight-seat community table that can be reserved for free for two hours at a time.
10/1/2024
Supporting the Arts
George G. Johnson enjoys his Saturday matinee subscription for the Toyota Broadway Las Vegas® Series, but sometimes travel plans or his daughter’s work schedule conflict with those performances. When that happens, Johnson knows what to do.
9/30/2024
Broadway Las Vegas
Every year, The Smith Center awards a pair of tickets to every show in its Toyota Broadway Las Vegas® Series. And fittingly, this year’s winner is a member of the Las Vegas and Broadway performing arts worlds herself. Local resident Becky Stephenson, who won our 2024-2025 giveaway, currently serves as the general stage manager for Cirque du Soleil show KÀ at MGM Grand. Stephenson first moved to Las Vegas in 2005 to open the Broadway musical Avenue Q at Wynn Las Vegas and has worked for Cirque since 2006.