Eissey Campus Theatre to mark 20th anniversary
The Palm Beach State College Eissey Campus Theatre will celebrate 20 years of bringing the performing arts to northern Palm Beach County. Since opening on March 18, 1994, the theatre has hosted more than 3,700 performances by more than 150 different organizations, including professional and community groups.
More than 1.5 million people have attended these events through the years. In addition to being a performing and meeting venue for cultural, civic, governmental and school groups, the Eissey Campus Theatre has educated hundreds of students through theatre classes, workshops and master classes as well as on-the-job training in the technical theatre areas of lighting, sound and stage management.
Several local arts organizations call the Eissey Campus Theatre home and perform their entire season at the theatre each year: Ballet Palm Beach, New Gardens Band, Indian River Pops, Palm Beach Gardens Concert Band and the Symphonic Band of the Palm Beaches. The theatre has a community free ticket program which distributes free tickets to the less fortunate clients of local social service agencies in Palm Beach County. It also has an active volunteer program of more than100 individuals that serve as ushers at all events.
“The Eissey Campus Theatre had made a major on this community,” said Nancy Denholm, who has been manager of the theatre since it opened. “We are a true gathering place for people of all ages to enjoy the arts. It has been a great pleasure to watch the theatre grow and develop.”
The Eissey Campus Theatre often forms cultural partnerships with local nonprofit organizations to provide educational opportunities and scholarship funds for Palm Beach State students. Current cultural partnerships include Palm Beach Shakespeare Festival, Reach Dance, Symphonic Band of the Palm Beaches, Palm Beach Chamber Music Festival, Insight Through Education and Gulfstream Goodwill.
The theatre has presented more than 100 professional touring companies as part of its Arts in the Gardens professional series since 1994. Guest-artists have included Linda Eder, The Lettermen, Larry Elgart and his Orchestra, Moscow Boys Choir, Jonathan Edwards, The Glenn Miller Orchestra, Peking Acrobats, Ballet Folklorico, The Ink Spots, Chris Brubeck, the Tamburitzans and Copeland Davis, plus Broadway touring shows such as “Music Man,” “Biloxi Blues” and “Cabaret.”
In 2011, the Eissey Campus Theatre created the Arts in the Gardens for Young People series and, with the generous support of Paul and Sandra Goldner of Jupiter, the series has already reached nearly 10,000 young people with free school-time programs like TheatreWorks’ “Peter Pan,” the Young Artists of the Palm Beach Opera and the Palm Beach Symphony. In addition, master classes with artists such as Linda Eder and Dallas Brass, acting and audition workshops and a Teen Summer Theatre Program have been held over the years.
To learn more about the Eissey Campus Theatre and its programs, visit www.eisseycampustheatre.org or call Nancy Denholm, theatre director at 561-207-5905 or denholmn@palmbeachstate.edu.
