The Columbia Theatre has a mix of new and returning performances to thrill and entertain attendees.
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The Columbia Theatre for the Performing Arts prepares to show audiences a new season of performances. 

A schedule of events will be posted to the Columbia’s website within the next month. The Louisiana Philharmonic Orchestra, Opera Theatre Workshop and Wind Symphony will perform this season. The first main stage act, “Heart Behind the Music,” will be country music with two musicians from the group Alabama and Lauren Duski. The next main stage act will be the tribute show “Ultimate Michael Jackson.” 

“I’ve seen this show, and it is startling how much this guy was Michael Jackson,” said Executive Director of the Columbia Theatre Roy Blackwood. “You are convinced that it’s Michael Jackson. His singing, his dancing, costumes. It’s just uncanny, the resemblance to that. That’s gonna be a great show.”

The “Nutcracker Ballet” will return in December. The Aquila Theatre will return to perform “Hamlet.” 

“We haven’t done any pure Shakespeare for a while, so I’m excited about that,” said Blackwood. “The Aquila Theatre always has a little bit of a twist to their shows. The year before last we did the Adventures of Sherlock Holmes, and it was hysterical. It was so funny. The stagecraft was really creative and interesting.”

A performance by Mummenschanz, a Swiss mask theater troupe will close the main stage season. 

“The big unknown is Mummenschanz,” said Blackwood. “The opportunity to share the excitement of that show with the community and the campus, I think that’s probably going to be my favorite one in terms of it’s an opportunity to help people understand and broaden their perspectives.”

For a younger audience, the theatre will include Broadway Junior as well as Pajamas and Play. Pajamas and Play, done once in the fall and again in the spring, invites children to see a show then have cookies and milk in the lobby. The Upward Bound program at the university performs in June. Blackwood shared his thoughts on the program. 

“It’s an amazing experience for these young people who are mostly disadvantaged,” said Blackwood. “This past June, they did something that I thought was brilliant. They got people who’d come through the program, who had become very successful to come back and do testimonials, and it was amazing to see what some of these young people had gone on to do. It also served as a great inspiration for kids in the program to see what possibilities are out there through an avenue such as this.”

Rather than following a theme, the performances were chosen based on financial feasibility and giving audiences a high-quality show. Blackwood discussed the differences between a live performance and watching a video online. 

“Live audience is a shared experience,” said Blackwood. “If something’s happening on the stage, maybe you find it really funny and nobody else does. You laugh out loud. It affects somebody else over there, and maybe all of a sudden, they think maybe I didn’t look at that right, and they look at it. So, maybe you affect them in a positive way.