Country performer, classic play part of offerings
By Staff
The Princess Theatre Center for the Performing Arts announces the 2009-2010 season, presenting six major touring arts events in the Professional Series, Special Events, a Lecture and Film Series and Decatur’s first NEA Big Read project. Season tickets are now on sale at the Theatre’s box office, providing first choice of tickets and discounts. Single ticket sales begin Sept. 21. The Princess Theatre invites the public to a free Performing Arts Festival and Open House on Sept. 10 from noon until 8:30 p.m. to learn about upcoming events.
The season begins on Oct. 26 with Montana Repertory’s National Touring production of “To Kill a Mockingbird,” the Pulitzer Prize-winning novel by Alabamian Harper Lee. The play is made possible with The Big Read initiative of the National Endowment for the Arts in partnership with the Institute of Museum and Library Services and Arts Midwest, a grant from the Southern Arts Federation and sponsorship support from Eyster, Key Attorneys at Law and Morgan County Attorneys. On Nov. 19, 14-time Grammy Award winner Ricky Skaggs and Kentucky Thunder perform a bluegrass concert. Direct from New York, 100 Years of Broadway is next on Jan. 30. The All-Star Broadway concert features a live band and five dazzling Broadway stars from such hit musicals as Phantom of the Opera, Les Miserables, Chicago and Jekyl and Hyde in a tribute to the Great White Way.
Grammy winner and Grand Ole Opry regular Marty Stuart appears next on the Princess stage on Feb. 19. In a career that has spanned from playing with Johnny Cash to serving as president of the Country Music Foundation, Marty and His Fabulous Superlatives will share their music that celebrates American roots music. One of jazz’s hottest young performers is Russian-born vocalist Sophie Milman. The winner of Canada’s Juno Award for Best Vocal Jazz Album in 2008, Milman performs on March 13, adding the Princess to her list of venues that include the Blue Note, Hollywood Bowl and the Kennedy Center. The concert is sponsored by the Decatur Women’s Chamber of Commerce. The season ends on a comedy note when the
Special events include area jazz bands in the Annual Big Band Bash XVII on April 1. The Lecture and Film Series includes a lineup of cultural lectures/films begins on Oct. 1 with a lecture on Harper Lee, followed by a film screening of the 1962 classic “To Kill a Mockingbird” on October 8 and the featured author of the Calhoun College Writers’ Conference. Special programming during the 2009-2010 season features October as “Mockingbird Month.” More than 40 programs are scheduled that feature films, lectures, book discussions and workshops about the novel “To Kill a Mockingbird” during Big Read Decatur and it kicks off with a brown bag lunch event on Oct. 1 followed by a free evening lecture “How a Lady from Monroeville Taught the World About Tolerance” by distinguished historian Wayne Flynt.
The Princess Theatre season is made possible by grants from the Alabama State Council on the Arts, Southern Arts Federation and the National Endowment for the Arts.
Reserved season tickets are now available at the Princess Theatre box office.
For more information, call -340-1778 or visit www.princesstheatre.org.
