Wynonna Judd will be at the Performing
Arts Center at Kent State University at
Tuscarawas during the 2011-2012 season.

The curtain will rise on 34 crowd pleasing events during the 2011-2012 season of the Performing Arts Center at Kent State University at Tuscarawas. The schedule was announced during the center’s Season Unveiling on July 27.

“Our Performing Arts Center’s second season is extraordinary,” says Dr. Gregg L. Andrews, dean and chief administrative officer at Kent State Tuscarawas. “We carefully assembled an outstanding schedule featuring well-known Broadway shows such as MAMMA MIA!, Riverdance and Rain, along with comedy, dance, music, family programming and a variety series that includes acrobats and magicians. Highlighting the concerts for the 2011-2012 season are phenomenal entertainers such as Darius Rucker, Amy Grant and Michael W. Smith, John Tesh and Wynonna Judd, to name just a few. People who love swing music will want to be sure to attend the Big Bad Voodoo Daddy concert, which pays tribute to Cab Calloway. One event from our dance series is Ballroom With a Twist, a national tour spinoff of Dancing With the Stars, American Idol and High School Musical. Our 1,100-seat-theatre can accommodate the high demand for tickets that we have been experiencing.”

The Inaugural Season ran November 2010 through May 2011. Many of the 23 shows had sellout or near sellout crowds.

“We are very grateful for the overwhelming support we received for our inaugural season,” adds Andrews. “Clearly, last season was a great success. Many of our patrons shared their own wish list of events they would like for us to bring to the Performing Arts Center. And we tried to follow up on those suggestions – MAMMA MIA! and Rain: A Tribute to the Beatles are examples of patron suggestions.”

The new schedule begins Aug. 27 with ventriloquist and comedian Kevin Johnson and ends May 13, 2012 with the Tony and Grammy award-winning Broadway musical In the Heights.

Additional Broadway shows are Blast!, Monty Python’s Spamalot and The Pirates of Penzance. Along with Kevin Johnson, the comedy series features Nobodies of Comedy, Sinbad, John Caparulo, The Complete World of Sports (abridged) and Cocktails With Larry Miller.

“Natalie MacMaster, an award-winning fiddler, will present a holiday show, Christmas in Cape Breton, says Mike Morelli, general manager of the Performing Arts Center. “We also have concerts by The Official Blues Brothers Revue and The Blanks, who are also known as Ted’s Band from the TV show Scrubs.”

Five of this year’s events are also part of the Class Acts series, featuring a total of six daytime, educational performances for students in grades K-12. Zabapago, John Tartagllia’s ImaginOcean, Freedom Bound, Sylvester and the Magic Pebble and Rainforest Reptile Shows will also have evening performances with special children’s ticket prices of $10.

“Garry Krinsky, Toying With Science is also part of our Class Acts series but will not be offered as an evening performance,” adds Morelli. “Garry delivers a fast-paced and dynamic performance exploring the principles of gravity, leverage, fulcrums and simple machines.”

Other productions for 2011-2012 include magician and illusionist Mike Super, acrobats and martial artists Chi of Shaolin, Soul Street Dance, the ballet Romeo and Juliet, Craig Karges presenting Experience the Extraordinary, and Tony Award winning Proof, which is supported by the Performing Arts Fund, a program of Arts Midwest, funded by the National Endowment for the Arts, with additional contributions from the Ohio Arts Council, General Mills Foundation and Land O’Lakes Foundations.

Ticket packages and single event tickets go on sale Aug. 8. Tickets prices, which vary per event, range from $16 to $77 and can be purchased by mail, in person at the Performing Arts Center box office, by calling 330-308-6400 or online at www.tusc.kent.edu/pac. The box office is open from 9 a.m. to 5 p.m. weekdays.

The Performing Arts Center at Kent State Tuscarawas is at 330 University Dr. N.E. in New Philadelphia.