The performing arts community in Louisville, Kentucky is undergoing a

renaissance The Renaissance ( , ) , from , with the same meanings. is a period in European history The history of Europe is traditionally divided into four time periods: prehistoric Europe (prior to about 800 BC), classical antiquity (800 BC to AD ...

The Kentucky Center The Kentucky Center for the Performing Arts, located in Louisville and currently branded as "The Kentucky Center", is a major performing arts center in Kentucky. It is one of three venues owned bKentucky Performing Arts Tenants include Broadway ...

, dedicated in 1983, located in the downtown hotel and entertainment district, is a premiere performing arts center. It features a variety of plays and concerts, and is the performance home of the

Louisville Ballet The Louisville Ballet is a ballet school and company based in Louisville, Kentucky and is the official state ballet of The Commonwealth of Kentucky. It is led by artistic and executive director Robert Curran, an Australian dancer and choreograp ...

Louisville Orchestra The Louisville Orchestra is the primary orchestra in Louisville, Kentucky. It was founded in 1937 by Robert Whitney (1904–1986) and Charles Farnsley, Mayor of Louisville. The Louisville Orchestra employs salaried musicians, and offers a wide ...

, Broadway Across America - Louisville, Music Theatre Louisville, Stage One, KentuckyShow! and the

Kentucky Opera The Kentucky Opera is an American opera company based in Louisville, Kentucky. The company is resident at the Brown Theatre, as part of Kentucky Performing Arts. The Louisville Orchestra is the accompanying orchestra for the company. Moritz von ...

, which is the twelfth oldest

opera Opera is a form of theatre in which music is a fundamental component and dramatic roles are taken by singers. Such a "work" (the literal translation of the Italian word "opera") is typically a collaboration between a composer and a libr ...

in the

United States The United States of America (U.S.A. or USA), commonly known as the United States (U.S. or US) or America, is a country primarily located in North America. It consists of 50 states, a federal district, five major unincorporated territori ...

. The center also manages the historic W. L. Lyons Brown Theatre, which opened in 1925 and is patterned after New York's acclaimed

Music Box Theatre The Music Box Theatre is a Broadway theater at 239 West 45th Street ( George Abbott Way) in the Theater District of Midtown Manhattan in New York City. Opened in 1921, the Music Box Theatre was designed by C. Howard Crane in a Palladian-inspir ...

. Actors Theatre of Louisville is another performing arts center that has become the cornerstone of the revitalization of

Louisville Louisville ( , , ) is the largest city in the Commonwealth of Kentucky and the 28th most-populous city in the United States. Louisville is the historical seat and, since 2003, the nominal seat of Jefferson County, on the Indiana border. ...

's Main Street. As the centerpiece of the city's urban cultural district, Actors Theatre has significant economic impact on a vital downtown life. Highly acclaimed for its artistic programming and business acumen, Actors Theatre hosts the

Humana Festival of New American Plays Humana Festival of New American Plays is an internationally renowned festival that celebrates the contemporary American playwright. Produced annually in Louisville, Kentucky by Actors Theatre of Louisville, this festival showcases new theatrica ...

each Spring. It also presents approximately six hundred performances of about thirty productions during its year-round season, composed of a diverse array of contemporary and classical fare. It has attracted one of the largest per capita subscription audiences in the country and logs an annual attendance of over 200,000. The Palace Theatre is an ornate theatre in

downtown Louisville Downtown Louisville is the largest central business district in the Commonwealth of Kentucky and the urban hub of the Louisville, Kentucky Metropolitan Area. Its boundaries are the Ohio River to the north, Hancock Street to the east, York and Jaco ...

's theatre district. The theatre shows popular movies, old and new, as well as concerts by popular artists. Located nearby is the Kentucky Theater, which was built in 1921 and operated for 60 years as a movie house, but was closed and was almost demolished in 1986. Ultimately it was saved by local arts advocates, and the newly renovated Kentucky Theater opened its doors in 2000 and has become a

community art Community art, also known as social art, community-engaged art, community-based art, and, rarely, dialogical art, is the practice of art based in and generated in a community setting. It is closely related to social practice (art), social practice ...

s center and

art film An art film (or arthouse film) is typically an independent film, aimed at a niche market rather than a mass market audience. It is "intended to be a serious, artistic work, often experimental and not designed for mass appeal", "made primarily f ...

house. Iroquois Park is the home of the renovated Iroquois Amphitheater which hosts a variety of musical concerts in a partially covered outdoor setting. Up through 2008, it also hosted the musical productions of Music Theatre Louisville, which moved to the Kentucky Center in 2009. The Jewish Community Center of Louisville is home to Center Stage, whose members have performed some of

Broadway Broadway may refer to: Theatre * Broadway Theatre (disambiguation) * Broadway theatre, theatrical productions in professional theatres near Broadway, Manhattan, New York City, U.S. ** Broadway (Manhattan), the street **Broadway Theatre (53rd Stree ...

's best musicals. The shows range from new, hip, modern music all the way to

Rodgers and Hammerstein Rodgers and Hammerstein was a theater-writing team of composer Richard Rodgers (1902–1979) and lyricist-dramatist Oscar Hammerstein II (1895–1960), who together created a series of innovative and influential American musicals. Their popular ...

classics. In the 2008 Season, they are introducing straight plays to their stage again with the first part of ''

Angels in America ''Angels in America: A Gay Fantasia on National Themes'' is a two-part play by American playwright Tony Kushner. The work won numerous awards, including the Pulitzer Prize for Drama, the Tony Award for Best Play, and the Drama Desk Award f ...

''. Louisville is home to a thriving

indie music scene An independent music scene is a localized independent music-oriented (or, more specifically, indie rock/indie pop-oriented) community of bands and their audiences. Local scenes can play a key role in musical history and lead to the development of ...

with bands such as the widely known Love Jones, Flaw,

Slint Slint was an American rock band from Louisville, Kentucky, formed in 1986. The band consisted of guitarist and vocalist Brian McMahan, guitarist David Pajo, drummer and vocalist Britt Walford, Todd Brashear (bassist on ''Spiderland''), and Etha ...

My Morning Jacket My Morning Jacket is an American rock band formed in Louisville, Kentucky in 1998. The band consists of vocalist/guitarist Jim James, bassist Tom Blankenship, drummer Patrick Hallahan, guitarist Carl Broemel, and keyboardist Bo Koster. The ...

Wax Fang Wax Fang is an American rock band formed in Louisville, Kentucky, United States, that combines elements of classic, psychedelic, progressive, and experimental rock music, as well as electronic and folk. The band consists of Scott Carney, Corey Mc ...

, VHS or Beta and The Villebillies. It is also home to the

post-grunge Post-grunge is a derivative of grunge that has a less abrasive or intense tone than traditional grunge. Originally, the term was used almost pejoratively to label mid-1990s rock bands such as Bush, Candlebox and Collective Soul that emulated th ...

band

Days of the New Days of the New is an American rock band from Charlestown, Indiana, formed in 1995. The band consists of vocalist/guitarist Travis Meeks and a variety of supporting musicians. They are best known for the hit singles "Touch, Peel and Stand", " ...

. On Fourth Street in downtown is the

Fourth Street Live! Fourth Street Live! is a entertainment and retail complex located on 4th Street, between Liberty and Muhammad Ali Boulevard, in Downtown Louisville, Kentucky. It is owned and was developed by the Cordish Company; it was designed by Louisville arch ...

outdoor entertainment complex, which features a wide variety of restaurants, stores and

nightclub A nightclub (music club, discothèque, disco club, or simply club) is an entertainment venue during nighttime comprising a dance floor, lightshow, and a stage for live music or a disc jockey (DJ) who plays recorded music. Nightclubs gener ...

s. The complex sponsors many free concerts, as does the popular Waterfront Park. The large performing arts community played a role in the relocation of ZFX Inc, the second largest theatrical flying special effects company in the world, from

Las Vegas Las Vegas (; Spanish for "The Meadows"), often known simply as Vegas, is the 25th-most populous city in the United States, the most populous city in the state of Nevada, and the county seat of Clark County. The city anchors the Las Vegas ...

to Louisville in 2006.

References

External links

Louisville Culture Vulture: Current Calendar of Fine Cultural Performances of Classical Music, Opera, Ballet, Theater, and Visual Art
{{Louisville *

Louisville, Kentucky Louisville ( , , ) is the largest city in the Commonwealth of Kentucky and the 28th most-populous city in the United States. Louisville is the historical seat and, since 2003, the nominal seat of Jefferson County, on the Indiana border ...

See also

References

External links