Student Matinees

School day performances of world-class artists bring young people and educators (Pre-K-12th grades) together from across Nebraska to share an unforgettable experiences. Presenting music, theater, and dance, the Lied’s student matinee performances enhance classroom learning, expand cultural awareness, and inspire creativity in all.
 

STUDENT MATINEES

The Phantom of the Opera 

Location: Lied Center’s Main Stage Theater

One Performance:

• Friday, October 25, 2019 – 11:00AM

Cameron Mackintosh's spectacular new production of Andrew Lloyd Webber's The Phantom of the Opera comes to Lincoln as part of a brand new North American Tour. This production, which retains the beloved story and thrilling score, boasts exciting new special effects, scenic and lighting designs, staging and choreography and has been hailed by critics as "bigger and better than ever before."

Based on the 1910 horror novel by Gaston Leroux, The Phantom of the Opera is a thrilling and romantic account of the legendary Phantom, a musical genius who dwells deep beneath a majestic opera house in Paris. The Phantom falls in love with the obscure chorus singer Christine, and privately tutors her while intimidating the rest of the opera house, and demanding that Christine be given lead roles.

Grade Levels: 6^th-12^th

CLICK HERE TO WATCH A PREVIEW VIDEO.

George Orwell's 1984 By Aquila Theatre

Location: Lied Center’s Main Stage Theater

One Performance:

• Wednesday, February 19, 2020 – 10:00AM

In the throes of unprecedented challenges to privacy, truth, and personal expression, Aquila Theatre brings 1984, George Orwell’s cautionary novel, to the Lied Center. Written in 1944 near the end of World War II, 1984 depicts a society controlled by a perfectly totalitarian government bent on repressing all subversive tendencies. “Big Brother” is always watching and technology is wielded as a weapon to inundate citizens with propaganda and to monitor thoughts and actions. Imagined before the existence of computers, this dystopian future explores the power of technology as a mental manipulator and source of curated information.

As our modern world grapples with the threats and benefits of technological integration, Aquila Theatre’s production of 1984 provides a space to appreciate the value of individual thought – an evocative and timely narrative of personal freedom against political repression.Today, Orwell’s prescient story resonates around the globe as individuals, systems, and governments clash.

Aquila is dedicated to theatre arts education and produces three major initiatives: Workshop America, a nationwide program that provides an opportunity for people to share in the art of Aquila; Theatre Breakthrough, which brings America’s schools to the stage; and Shakespeare Leaders, an after-school program that enables inner-city students to perform the classics at Frederick Douglas Academy in Harlem, NYC.

Grade Levels: 8^th-12^th

CLICK HERE TO LEARN MORE ABOUT AQUILA THEATRE AND 1984.

AirPlay 

Location: Lied Center’s Main Stage Theater

One Performance:

• Wednesday, April 15, 2020 – 10:00AM

Circus and science collide in a gorgeous homage to the power of air. Air Play is a circus-style adventure of two siblings journeying through a surreal land of air, transforming the ordinary into objects of uncommon beauty. Fabrics dance in the wind, balloons have a mind of their own, confetti turns into the night sky, and an enormous canopy of hovering silk brings to life the very air we breathe. Your students will gasp in wonder and laugh until it hurts. 

This creation by the husband and wife team Seth Bloom and Christina Gelsone, merges their expertise in circus and street theater performance art with the sculptural artistry of Daniel Wurtzel. With visual images seemingly sewn from the sky, this poetic ode to childhood will enchant and electrify everyone – the young, and the “young at heart.”

Grade Levels: Kindergarten/Pre-Kindergarten and up!

CLICK HERE TO LEARN MORE ABOUT AirPlay.

For more information about the student matinees and performance guides, please contact Nancy Engen-Wedin at 402-472-4707 or nengenwedin2@unl.edu.