2014 2015 CELEBRATE 402.472.4747 | CELEBRATE LIED25 | 29 THE LIED CENTER’S MISSION IS TO EDUCATE INSPIRE & ENTERTAIN THE PEOPLE OF NEBRASKA THROUGH THE BMNAT_8.625x10.indd 1 8/4/10 4:22:26 PM PERFORMING ARTS 402.472.4747 | CELEBRATE LIED25 | 29 Dear Lied Center Patrons, TABLE OF CONTENTS For 25 years a long list of artists, leaders and creative visionaries have graced the Lied Center stage while millions of audience members were dazzled, enlightened and forever transformed. Nebraskans don’t have to travel far to enjoy premier performances at a world-class 2 MESSAGE venue. The Lied Center is known as one of the top 100 performing arts centers in the entire world and statewide as the most recognized 4–5 LEGACY arts organization. We hope you find the 25th anniversary season to be a year of 6–7 UNIVERSITY performances that you celebrate forever. The diverse array of programs and legendary status of many of the artists truly creates a historic 8–15 HISTORY season for our state. It is also a season that celebrates the amazing talent right here in Nebraska. 16–17 NUMBERS Beyond the stage, Lied Center artists enrich the lives of Nebraska “It’s really amazing what the arts students. Imagine the transformation and inspiration of students 18–21 EDUCATION can bring to a person’s life, as working with Yo-Yo Ma, Wynton Marsalis, Suzanne Farrell ballet well as the understanding of the dancers, Alvin Ailey American Dance Theater or orchestral great, the 22–23 PROGRAMS world in which we live.” Chicago Symphony Orchestra. Lied Center artists not only perform on the stage, they also enlighten young people in the classroom. 14/15 SEASON SHOWS 24–25 COMMUNITY JAZZ Your support and involvement at the Lied Center is the foundation that 26 MESSAGE 30–33 has made our organization a fundamental part of the fabric of the community. Your future patronage ensures that we 38–45 BROADWAY continue to present the greatest artists in the world, expand the number of young people who are transformed by our 48–51 DANCE arts programs and makes sure that future generations will have the Lied Center for Performing Arts as an essential 27 STERLING place in their lives for years to come. 54–55 POPULAR 28–95 PERFORMANCES 58–61 WORLD & FOLK Food and water help us live, but the arts give us something to live for. Thank you for being a part of the Lied Center’s 25th year as Nebraska’s Home for the Arts. 64–67 COMEDY 96–101 SPECIAL EVENTS 70–71 HOLIDAY Sincerely, 74–77 FAMILY Bill Stephan 102–103 INFO 80–83 THEATER 104–108 SUPPORT 88–95 CLASSICAL FROM THE EXECUTIVE DIRECTOR BROCHURE DESIGN BY KIRA GEIGER, LIED CENTER GRAPHIC SPECIALIST 2 | CELEBRATE LIED25 | LIEDCENTER.ORG MESSAGE CONTENTS 402.472.4747 | CELEBRATE LIED25 | 3 THE HIXSON-LIED LEGACY Ernst F. Lied and Christina Hixson have transformed the lives of millions of Americans through the Lied Foundation Trust with philanthropic contributions of more than $300 million “The Lied Center’s most important role is to introduce to over 125 different organizations in seven states. individuals from all walks of life and cultural backgrounds to enriching and diverse performing arts experiences. It assures Born in 1906, Ernst F. Lied was a 1927 graduate of the University of Nebraska. He achieved access to world-class performances, especially for audiences business success as the owner of a Buick dealership in Omaha and as a real estate who might not otherwise have this opportunity.” magnate in Las Vegas. Having no living relatives, he established a trust in 1972, and upon his death in 1980, his secretary and business partner Christina Hixson was appointed to administer the foundation. The first gift from the Lied Foundation Trust was a $10 million dollar matching grant to build the Lied Center for Performing Arts in the early 1980s at the University of Nebraska-Lincoln in memory of Lied’s parents Ernst M. and Ida K. Lied. The Christina Hixson first partnered with Lied in 1944 as his secretary at the Omaha Lied Foundation Trust went on to support many projects in Nebraska including Omaha’s Buick dealership and she followed him to Las Vegas as a business partner in 1960. Henry Doorly Zoo Lied Jungle, the Lied Lodge in Nebraska City and the Lied Transplant After Lied’s death, Hixson became the executrix of his estate and continues to Center at the University of Nebraska Medical Center. serve as the Lied Foundation’s sole trustee. It was Hixson who made the decision to support the construction of the Lied Center for Performing Arts. In 2000, she also announced a gift of $18 million to support UNL’s Hixson-Lied College of Fine and Performing Arts. One of the last major gifts of the Lied Foundation Trust was a $2.5 million grant for the construction of the Lied Center’s new multi-purpose space, the Lied Commons, which opened in 2012. Together, Lied and Hixson built a multimillion-dollar empire that has positively impacted the lives of millions of people in Nebraska and across the nation. THE HIXSON-LIED LEGACY 4 | CELEBRATE LIED25 | LIEDCENTER.ORG LEGACY LEGACY 402.472.4747 | CELEBRATE LIED25 | 5 ARTIST/STUDENT ENGAGEMENT The opening of the Lied Center for Performing Arts in 1990 represented a huge step forward Education is central to the Lied Center’s mission. The Lied staff approaches every artist about engagement opportunities for the cultural landscape of the University and the state. Over its 25-year history, the Lied with students while they are in Lincoln. At least once a year, the Lied Center works to arrange special residency Center has provided education and entertainment for hundreds of thousands of Nebraskans. programs that allow students and artists to spend an extended period of time working together. Over the years, Generations of students have experienced cultural education and enrichment thanks to the Nebraska students have had opportunities to connect with Yo-Yo Ma, Bill Cosby, Pilobolus, the Joffrey Ballet and Lied Center’s location on the University of Nebraska-Lincoln campus. I know I echo the the casts of countless Broadway shows including South Pacific, RENT and Fiddler on the Roof. sentiments of many when I express pride in claiming the Lied Center as an important part of the University. My congratulations to the staff of the Lied for enhancing the lives of so UNL STUDENTS DANCE WITH DRONES STREB RESIDENCY FUNDED BY: many Nebraskans by consistently presenting outstanding national and international talent In April 2014, students from the College of Architecture, on the Lied stage. Department of Computer Sciences & Engineering and ~ HARVEY PERLMAN, CHANCELLOR the Glenn Korff School of Music Dance Program joined forces with STREB, an internationally renowned dance company known for their gravity-defying choreography. Since January, the students had been studying the work PHOTOS: 1) UNL dance student Tayler Goertz performs with an unusual partner from UNL’s NIMBUS Lab. 2) Dr. Carrick Detweiler “The time that students spend at the University of STREB and collaborating to create an innovative shows STREB founder Elizabeth Streb an aerial robot’s capabilities. is a very formative time in their lives. Of exhibition combining architectural designs created by 3) STREB company members devoted many hours to teaching UNL students, choreography developed by UNL dancers UNL dance students what it takes to be an Extreme Action Hero, course we hope they acquire the academic namely how to fall down, run into walls and of course, how to fly. “In skills and the experience they’ll need to be and aerial robots from UNL’s NIMBUS Lab. A public order to fly, we have to learn how to fall,” said Extreme Action Hero successful adults. They also need to explore performance was held at the Lied Center on April 11 Cassandre Joseph. “I think it’s very exciting to see people tackle something that’s kind of uncomfortable at first and a little bit scary.” how their lives would be enriched by the arts, prior to STREB’s main stage performance. and which art form speaks to them and gives Fabio Tavares da Silva, Associate Artistic Director of them a broader view of what life is all about.” STREB said, “I can easily see those flying robots in our next show!” THE ARTS ON CAMPUS 6 | CELEBRATE LIED25 | LIEDCENTER.ORG UNIVERSITY UNIVERSITY 402.472.4747 | CELEBRATE LIED25 | 7 The Lied Center for Performing Arts opened in 1990, with world leaders and hear the insights of political and but construction on the building began in October of religious scholars, a setting where new artistic works are HISTORY OF THE LIED 1986. The Lied Center cost $20 million to build and was created and developed, a place where Nebraskans can 150,000 square feet (the addition of the Lied Commons relate to and learn from the greatest artistic minds of our in 2012 added 8,107 square feet). There are 2,259 total time and the site where thousands have experienced the In 1982, D.B. Woody Varner got an idea while reading seats in the hall, with 1,304 on the main floor and 955 arts for the very first time. Above all, the Lied Center is the newspaper that would lead to what was at the time “In time, some citizen might erect a lovely in the balcony. a place where lives are transformed. the largest grant in University of Nebraska-Lincoln (UNL) theater and auditorium for us . ” Today the Lied Center for Performing Arts is a spectacular, PHOTOS: 1) Martin Massengale, John Payne, Gov.