Spotlight: KU Presents! announces 2024-25 season
Since 1988, Kutztown University’s Schaeffer Auditorium has been the venue for a wide range of performances, from jazz to classical, from dance to theater, and KU Presents! has announced another season of magical offerings for adults and families.
The 2024-25 season will open on Oct. 8 with “Shamilton!,” an improvised parody musical presented by the internationally recognized musical improv group, Baby Wants Candy. Founded in 1997, with alumni including Saturday Night Live’s Aidy Bryant and 30 Rock’s Jack M. Brayer, the company specializes in improvising musicals based on audience suggestions, including a live band and dancers. “Shamilton,” inspired by the epic hip-hop musical “Hamilton,” will ask the audience to choose a celebrity from history to create a show on the spot.
“Don’t Stop Believin’: The Journey Tribute by E5C4P3” will be coming on Oct. 24, for a high-energy performance of the legendary rock band’s music from the 1980s. E5C4P3 founder Jason Kelty will be the lead singer, impersonating Journey’s lead singer, Steve Perry, during the height of its popularity from 1978 to 1987. Journey, a spin-off from Santana, is one of the world’s best-selling bands of all time, with 25 gold and platinum albums.
Those who love the music of Mozart, Haydn and Beethoven will be delighted to hear their music performed on a fortepiano, the predecessor to the modern piano. Pianist Daniel Adam Maltz, renowned for his expertise in Viennese classicism, will culminate his solo performance with Haydn’s Concerto in D Major with the KU Orchestra on Nov. 7.
Audiences of all ages can celebrate the holiday season on Dec. 6 with Broadway star Mandy Gonzalez in “Home for the Holidays,” featuring the KU Choir and Berks Youth Chorus.
The season will continue in 2025, beginning with the Barron Ryan Trio performing Ryan’s “There Arises Light (in the Darkness)” on Feb. 12. Ryan, a pianist/composer from Tulsa, Okla., was commissioned to write this piece to commemorate the Tulsa Race Massacre of 1921. His style is influenced by classical, jazz and other contemporary music.
“Through the Years” with the Kenny Rogers Band, featuring singer/songwriter Don Gatlin, will be performed by the late Rogers’ band, who supported him for 50 years. Gatlin, a close friend of Rogers, will sing a retrospective of hits and fan favorites on March 12.
Two-time Grammy-winning singer Kurt Elling will celebrate the music of the renowned jazz fusion band Weather Report to wrap up the season on April 9 during Boscov’s Berks Jazz Fest.
The Family Series, held Sundays at 2 p.m., allows younger children and their families to enjoy quality entertainment at affordable prices. It will begin Nov. 17 with “Pinkalicious: The Musical,” the touring production of the show based on the popular children’s series by Berks County’s own Victoria and Elizabeth Kann, who also wrote the book and lyrics, with music and some lyrics by John Gregor.
Puppy Pals LIVE!, performing on Feb. 2, is an interactive show with many stunts executed by dogs, most of them rescues.
The series will end with Bill Blagg Family Magic on March 2, with amazing illusions, including Blagg teleporting himself across the theater, shrinking his 6-foot body to 6 inches and passing through the blades of an industrial fan. He always leaves audiences wondering what just happened.
For complete information on the KU Presents! 2024-25 season and to order tickets, visit KutztownPresents.org or call the KU Presents! Box Office from 11 a.m. to 3 p.m., Tuesdays and Thursdays, at 610-683-4092.
Music
Tre Twitty and Tayla Lynn will present a show at the Community Building inside the Oley Valley Fairgrounds, 26 Jefferson St., Oley, on Aug. 15 at 7 p.m. Tickets are $55 and can be purchased at TwittyAndLynn.com.
Twitty and Lynn are the grandchildren of country music pioneers Conway Twitty and Loretta Lynn. Though they are singing their grandparents’ songs, there is no second-best quality to the artists. Twitty and Lynn have developed an authentic show that builds off their family histories without attempting to simply duplicate performances of the past. With a heavy emphasis on storytelling, the duo delights audiences with their live show.
???
Jimmy Damore has been named an artist in residence for the Department of Music and Theatre at Albright College, where he will also serve as director of choral activities and work with Albright’s vocal performance students.
Jimmy Damore
Damore is an educator, musician and theater artist who holds a bachelor of arts degree with honors in performance studies from Brown University, where he received the T. Carpenter Elocution Award.
Damore has taught middle and high school English and middle and elementary school music and choir in public and charter schools in southeastern Pennsylvania. He has also taught private voice and piano lessons and musical theater classes at the Yocum Institute for Arts Education.
???
The Reading Pops Orchestra continues its 55th season with a free concert tonight at 6:30 at Wyomissing High School featuring “Mars from the Planets,” selections from “Star Wars,” “West Side Story,” the music of Aaron Copland and Henry Mancini and more under the direction of Dr. Willis M. Rapp and guest conductor Veronica Mascaro.
Santo D. Marabella and Tracy Schott are collaborating on the documentary “Il Mio Posto a Tavola (My Place at the Table.) (Santo D. Marabella)
Film
The new documentary, “Il Mio Posto a Tavola (My Place at the Table)” from filmmakers Tracy Schott and Santo D. Marabella continues its fundraising efforts.
“Short Films ‘From the Table,” a screening of four short films by Schott and Marabella, will be held to benefit the film production on Friday from 7-9 p.m. at the GoggleWorks Boscov Film Theatre, 201 Washington St. Tickets are $20 and can be reserved at https://goggleworks.org/event/short-films-from-the-table.
The film is about Marabella’s adoption from Italy, and the implications adoption has had for him and others. For Schott and Marabella, this film continues a 15-year artistic collaboration and friendship.
“I would not be taking this film journey if Tracy were not leading the creative team,” Marabella said. “Tracy has the creative and human sensibilities to tell my story in a way that will resonate beyond the adoption community to anyone who is searching for their place in the world.”
Schott estimates it will take around $160,000 to fund the film. Most of the production will be filmed in Italy. This film is being funded through grants, partnerships and crowdfunding.
The campaign for this film is on the right track, “with more than 70% of the goal achieved,” Marabella sad. “The support from our local community has been incredible. Thanks to their generosity, we’ve raised more than $41,000 through crowdfunding and grants.”
(The Rev. Dr. Harry L. Serio)
Books
The Rev. Dr. Harry L. Serio’s fourth book, “Gray Matter, Dark Matter, and Doesn’t Matter” was recently published by Wipf and Stock Publishers.
Serio is a frequent lecturer and workshop leader in the areas of archaeology, spirituality and the arts and meditation. He is the director of the Spiritual Exploration Project in Reading. Serio is past president of the Academy for Spiritual and Consciousness Studies and is the author of “The Dwelling Place of Wonder,” “The Mysticism of Ordinary and Extraordinary Experience” and “The Other Side of Memory.”
This is a brief description of his latest book from the preface: “What are the limits of human cognition? How do we know anything? Who we are, what we do, who we interact with, where we live, what we read, what we watch on television, indeed our exposure to the world around us affects how we think and how we make sense of our environment. The world is inside of our brains. Our gray matter contains all of our memories and enables the past to affect our future. What we remember shapes who we are.”