UNCSA Presents brings professional live entertainment to Stevens Center

I hope by now you’ve heard about “UNCSA Presents,” our new series at the Stevens Center bringing world-class, professional live entertainment back to downtown Winston-Salem for the first time in almost a decade. If you haven’t attended a performance yet, I encourage you to check out this season’s offerings, and take advantage of a very special offer only for students, faculty and staff (details below).

Known as a venue for first-class classical performing arts, the historic Stevens Center has been a launchpad for generations of student-artists and a home for many community arts presenters. The presenting series launched in the summer of 2018 with the American Music Series—featuring performances by groups ranging from Las Cafeteras to Mavis Staples to Steve Earle. Award-winning Broadway touring shows such as the sold-out “Kinky Boots” were added last May. (“Kinky Boots” was the first time in 11 years that a Broadway tour had made a stop in Winston-Salem!)

I’m thrilled to be giving back to our neighbors by offering top-tier entertainment right here in their own backyard. Our tickets are generally less expensive than other venues and you don’t have to fight traffic for 80 or even 30 miles (as you would with DPAC in Durham and the Tanger Center in Greensboro). And I know many of you feel as I do – that the Stevens Center is special. Many of us have actively worked toward restoring the facility to its former glory, physically and programmatically.

A member of the League of Historic American Theaters, the Stevens Center is truly historic (Elvis Presley played there!) and a cultural treasure. Last updated in 1983, the renovation of the theater remains the university’s No. 1 capital project. Our leadership continues to seek public and private funding for the renovation, which will help drive downtown’s ongoing rebirth, better serve our students with state-of-the-art technology, and better serve our patrons (think more lobby space, seat space and restrooms!). With the work going on with the Sentinel Cohammons redevelopment project and Don Flow’s 500 West Fifth Street project, the Stevens Center is right in the middle of a coming boom downtown!

We launched the first full season (2019-20) of “UNCSA Presents” earlier this fall. In addition to Tony Award-winning Broadway musicals “Once” and “The Color Purple,” the season will feature “The Choir of Man” (“the best pub concert you’ve ever been to”); an immersive experience for families titled “Erth’s Prehistoric Aquarium Adventure,” and the next installment of the American Music Series, featuring a diverse array of all-female ensembles and soloists including Grammy Award-winning country and folk singer Kathy Mattea, Southern Gothic alt-country blues singer Amythyst Kiah and virtuosic trio Lula Wiles.

And now, as promised: We want to see YOU at “UNCSA Presents” events! We’re offering a very special discount to our UNCSA community: Five days before a show, students will have access to $15 tickets. Faculty and staff will receive a $15 discount (depending on the show’s price; no ticket will be less than $15 plus fees). I hope you will take advantage of this offer, and join us to help make this series a continuing success with more fantastic offerings in seasons to come.

Upcoming UNCSA Presents Events

Sincerely,

Wiley Hausam
Managing Director, Performance Facilities
Curator, UNCSA Presents

November 4, 2019