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.
9/20/2024
Education and Outreach
Through the years, Las Vegas High School’s Mariachi Joya has toured internationally, opened for superstar John Legend and performed as part of 2021’s virtual presidential inauguration parade. On September 10, the group added another major accolade to its impressive résumé – collaborating with Mexico’s world-renowned Mariachi Vargas de Tecalitlán at The Smith Center for the Performing Arts in front of an appreciative sold-out crowd.
8/29/2024
Broadway Las Vegas
To get you ready for the show’s exciting Las Vegas arrival, let’s test your knowledge of Back to the Future lore, specifically that from the first film, upon which the hit musical is based.
8/23/2024
Education and Outreach
In conjunction with The Smith Center’s education and outreach department, Jazz Outreach Initiative has conducted a series of in-school performances all over town. “We usually have six to eight performances a semester with The Smith Center,” Cordell says. “We love going out to the schools and presenting this program, and The Smith Center has just been fantastic with their support.”
8/21/2024
Discovering The Smith Center
Halkyard, Chief Financial Officer of MGM Resorts International, takes over as Chairman of the Board in the fall of 2024, succeeding longtime Chairman Don Snyder, who stepped down after more than 20 years in the position. Halkyard, who has served two stints on the Board – from its pre-opening phase until 2014, when he moved to North Carolina, and again when he returned to Las Vegas in 2021 – has watched Snyder up close, and says he plans to model his approach after that of his predecessor.