Performing Arts Center’s New Season: A Leap Forward

The Performing Arts Center at Purchase College (PAC) promises its audiences a significant leap forward into the post-pandemic world. That’s according to its Artistic Director, Ian Driver, who explains that the center’s new season begins and ends with shows that fully embrace the vast capabilities of its spaces. Everything in between falls in tow: “We’re moving into a different gear.”

The season kicks off on September 27 with the Orpheus Chamber Orchestra featuring Garrick Ohlsson, an event that perfectly aligns with the concert hall’s design, known for its superb acoustics. Driver explains that the hall that seats 1,300 was designed for orchestral use: “This event ties into its purpose beautifully.”

Throughout the season, the focus is on “bigger and better” within the concert hall, with events that feature renowned names like author David Sedaris (10/4) and Grammy Award-winning vocalist Samara Joy (11/9).

The season also highlights its intention to utilize the concert hall space to its fullest potential: “We’re bringing acts like the Dance Theatre of Harlem [11/15] and Paul Taylor Dance Company [2/14] to the concert hall, which means we can do bigger events, bigger names, and actually sell more tickets.”

In short, this season’s goal to provide audiences with groundbreaking, immersive experiences through a blend of traditional and innovative performances. The Rob Mathes Holiday Concert in the PAC’s PepsiCo Theatre from December 20-22, an annual mainstay for the PAC, represents the center’s tradition and the relationship between artists and the community.

This sentiment of community and artistic development is a recurring theme for the upcoming season, and is a thread that runs through performances in all four of the center’s performance venues. Driver explains: “When I talk about [being] a home of extraordinary experiences, I mean you can have an extraordinary experience as an audience member, but you might have it in a workshop; you might have it as an artist on stage; you might have it in those two things meeting and working together.”

Still, alongside annual fan favorites are performances that buck tradition, like the ingenuity of Manual Cinema’s multimedia Frankenstein event (10/20), also in the PepsiCo Theatre, which combines live performance with movie projections. Driver lovingly refers to the blend of live action and projected storytelling as “shadow puppetry on steroids”: live action people create shadow effects while the audience watches. The presence of cameras and these shadows meld into a story that is projected onto the screen.” This approach offers audiences a chance to witness the artistic process firsthand.

Family engagement is another cornerstone of this season at the PAC. For example, Flutter, a performance by The Treehouse Shakers (12/7) is designed for 18-month-olds to two-year-olds. The performance is a sensory-friendly production about the passing of the seasons, where families are invited to gather on Recital Hall stage with performers. This creates a shared experience that is as much about watching the children’s reactions as the performance itself. “It’s really an experiential piece…When I’ve seen it before, grandparents, parents, older siblings, and their babies all come and get involved. We’re looking to really engage with those families beyond just the performance.”

For those seeking a blend of the familiar and the new, the performance of well-known story-time books, Goodnight Moon & The Runaway Bunny (3/16) by the Mermaid Theatre of Nova Scotia and the UK-based Tall Stories Theatre Company’s production of The Gruffalo’s Child (2/2) promise to bring books to life on the stage for audiences of all ages.

One of the stand-out shows of this season, according to Driver, is actually the season’s final event – the dance company MOMIX’s Alice in Wonderland on May 3. This family-friendly performance promises dance and illusion: “We’re celebrating the scale and the ambition of our programming with this piece,” Driver explains while envisioning how the concert hall will be transformed to accommodate the grandiose vision of the production.

Photos: Top: MOMIX (photo credit: Sharen Bradford); Rob Mathes (photo credit: Mark Most), Treehouse Shakers (photo credit: Christopher Duggan)