Averett University is excited to announce the lineup for its 2016-17 Arts@Averett Series. Whatever form of entertainment you enjoy most, chances are you’ll find it in Averett’s annual series, which kicks off with its first event this week. All events are open to the public. Ticket pricing varies, and some events are free. For more information about our events this season, visit https://www.averett.edu/about-us/arts-averett/averett-arts-schedule/ or call (434) 791-5867. Following is the list of events for the season:
Sept. 15-16, 7 p.m.; Sept. 17, 2:30 p.m.
Averett Theatre Department Presents its Theatre for Young People Show, “Miss Nelson is Missing”
Pritchett Auditorium in the Violet T. Frith Fine Arts Center (150 Mountain View Ave.)
Tickets: $10 adults, $8 students/senior citizens
Remember the days of substitute teachers? Long bathroom breaks, talks in the corner with friends, basically goofing off. Unfortunately for Miss Nelson’s class, Viola Swamp is a scary substitute teacher who assigns loads of homework and wields her ruler like a sword! Will Miss Nelson ever come back?
Sunday, Oct. 23, 4 p.m.
Acrobats of CirqueTacular “Spooktacular”
Pritchett Auditorium in the Violet T. Frith Fine Arts Center (150 Mountain View Ave.)
Tickets: $5
Spooks, specters and scaredy-cats cavort and conspire through a hair-raising circus of scare. Banshees soar and acrobatic zombies contort from the beyond in this humorously haunted bazaar of the bizarre! Join us for a jaw-droppingly fun circus Halloween adventure that the whole family will enjoy!
Oct. 24-Nov. 23
Student Art Show
Jut’s Café (204 Woodland Dr.) and Mary B. Blount Library (344 W. Main St.)
Free
A selection of student art work from both art majors and minors will be on display.
Nov. 17-19, 7 p.m.; Nov. 20, 2:30 p.m.
Averett Theatre and Music Departments Present, “Anything Goes”
Pritchett Auditorium in the Violet T. Frith Fine Arts Center (150 Mountain View Ave.)
Tickets: $10 adults, $8 students/senior citizens
Put a colorful assemblage of passengers on a boat and “Anything Goes.” Billy Crocker is a lovelorn Wall Street Broker who has boarded the S.S. American to try and win the heart of Hope Harcourt, who is engaged to another passenger, Sir Evelyn Oakleigh. Helping Billy in his quest are Reno Sweeney, a popular nightclub singer and former evangelist, and a second-rate conman, Moonface Martin.
Thursday, Dec. 1, 7:30 p.m.
Averett Celebrates Christmas
Pritchett Auditorium in the Violet T. Frith Fine Arts Center (150 Mountain View Ave.)
Free
The Averett Music Department renews the tradition of “Averett Celebrates Christmas” with a collaboration of student and community performers. Join us to awaken your Christmas spirit.
Thursday, Feb. 2, 7 p.m.
Kuumba Dance Company
Carrington Gym (under Pritchett Auditorium in the Violet T. Frith Fine Arts Center, 150 Mountain View Ave.)
Tickets: $5
The Kuumba Dance Company shares West African culture through song, rhythm and dance by demonstrating how celebrations are carried out in traditional West African settings.
Thursday, Feb. 9, 7 p.m.
The Poetry Project
David S. Blount Chapel in Frith Hall (160 Mountain View Ave.)
Tickets: $5
The Poetry Project is an organization that prides itself on using poetry to teach, inspire and build the communities we call home. Through structured workshops, performances and open mics, it creates safe spaces to share our lives and tell our stories. This art form has the power to transcend barriers and bring people together. Prepare to be intrigued, inspired and reminded of just how powerful your voice can be through an evening of spoken word poetry.
Tuesday, Feb. 14, 7 p.m.
“Dear White People”
David S. Blount Chapel in Frith Hall (160 Mountain View Ave.)
Free
“Dear White People” is a satirical drama film released in 2014 that focuses on escalating racial tensions at a prestigious Ivy League college from the perspective of several African American students. Following the film there will be a conversation led by Averett faculty and staff about the movie and how the movie’s themes relate to Danville in 2017.
Feb. 16-18, 7:00 p.m.
Averett Theatre Department Presents, “The Pillowman”
Pritchett Auditorium in the Violet T. Frith Fine Arts Center (150 Mountain View Ave.)
Tickets: $10 adults, $8 students/senior citizens
In an interrogation room in an unnamed totalitarian dictatorship, Katurian, a writer, is being interrogated by two detectives. The detectives want to know why his stories feature gruesome plots about child murder and torture, and in particular, why they seem to mirror a string of recent child murders in the area. “The Pillowman” is a dark, twisty and utterly unforgettable masterpiece.
**Not recommended for children under the age of 15.
Tuesday, Feb. 21, 7 p.m.
Johnny Peers & the Muttville Comix
Pritchett Auditorium in the Violet T. Frith Fine Arts Center (150 Mountain View Ave.)
Tickets: $5
Johnny Peers and the Muttville Comix is a slapstick comedy act like no other. Johnny, playing the straight man role, leads more than a dozen dogs through challenging and hilarious tricks in this wonderful show. Johnny Peers and the Muttville Comix have appeared in Ringling Brothers & Barnum and Bailey Circus and on David Letterman as well as performing arts centers around the country!
Thursday, Feb. 23, 7 p.m.
CORE Ensemble “Of Ebony Embers – Vignettes of the Harlem Renaissance”
Pritchett Auditorium in the Violet T. Frith Fine Arts Center (150 Mountain View Ave.)
Tickets: $5
“Of Ebony Embers” is a music theatre production that explores the life and times of African Americans who helped shape the Harlem Renaissance. It examines the lives of three outstanding, but very different, African American poets – Langston Hughes, Countee Cullen and Claude McKay.
March 20-April 20
Student Art Show
Jut’s Café (204 Woodland Dr.) and Mary B. Blount Library (344 W. Main St.)
Free
A selection of student art work from both art majors and minors will be on display.
April 6-8, 7 p.m.
Averett Theatre Department Presents, “Vanya and Sonia and Masha and Spike”
Pritchett Auditorium in the Violet T. Frith Fine Arts Center (150 Mountain View Ave.)
Tickets: $10 adults, $8 students/senior citizens
Take a trip to Bucks County, Pa., where adult siblings Vanya and Sonia are still residing in their old family home and mourning their lost dreams and missed opportunities. When their often-wrong, fortune-telling maid warns of impending dangers and their movie star sister, Masha, arrives suddenly with her young, sexy, boy toy, Spike, the family is launched into a rollicking weekend of one-upmanship, exposed nerves and a lot of broken mugs.
Friday, April 21, 7:30 p.m.
Averett Music Department Spring Concert
Pritchett Auditorium in the Violet T. Frith Fine Arts Center (150 Mountain View Ave.)
Free
The Music Department will present a concert featuring its ensembles and some solo performers.
