Each year, the Tobin Center for the Performing Arts holds a gala event to announce its forthcoming season, open to its VIP members, donors and sponsors.
To celebrate its 10th anniversary season, the Tobin Center invited members of the public to join the festivities. The performance hall’s innovative automated auditorium floor was leveled, standard seating replaced by tables covered in linen tablecloths, cushy sofas and chairs in a spacious arrangement to accommodate guests enjoying snacks and cocktails.
Tobin Center President and CEO Mike Fresher opened the evening at the onstage podium, addressing the crowd of several hundred attendees.
“A decade ago, we opened our doors with a vision of transforming San Antonio’s cultural landscape,” Fresher said, detailing the economic impact of the performing arts center, a $150 million expansion to the former San Antonio Municipal Auditorium.
Fresher said the center has contributed more than $200 million to the local economy, supporting 650 full-time-equivalent jobs every year. He extolled the virtues of the Generation Next education initiative started in 2015, which reaches 20,000 students annually in 24 school districts across Bexar County.
“I think we’ve done our job,” Fresher said.
Theater, dance and Broadway
The Tobin Center’s own theater production company 100A Productions started off the new season announcements with three stage productions and five staged Industry Night readings.
The Lifespan of a Fact will run Sept. 4-8, with Talley’s Folly taking the stage Feb. 12-16 and The Revolutionists May 14-18. The slate of staged readings includes Thornton Wilder‘s The Long Christmas Dinner (Dec. 16), Isaac Gómez’s La Ruta (March 16) and Richard Greenburg’s The Violet Hour (June 16).
The Tobin Dance Series followed with Twyla Tharp Dance on Sept. 24, Argentine dance group Malevo on Oct. 10, Ballet San Antonio’s Don Quixote on Oct. 19, Ballet Folklorico de Mexico on Feb. 7 and Momix dance troupe’s Alice on Feb. 25.
The Frost Bank Signature Series will bring six Broadway in San Antonio shows to the Tobin Center: Shrek the Musical (July 23-24), Dear Evan Hansen (Sept. 6-7), Ain’t Too Proud: The Life And Times Of The Temptations (Jan. 25-26), The Addams Family (June 10-11), Menopause 2 (Feb. 8) and the R.E.S.P.E.C.T. tribute to Queen of Soul Aretha Franklin (Feb. 11).
‘There’s always more’
Interspersed through these series are new and familiar Tobin Center events, from Ghost Hunters (May 21) and Ancient Aliens Live (Sept. 20) to frequent visitor Neil de Grasse Tyson (June 20) and a tour stop by Donny Osmond (Aug. 1).
Featured music acts include The Cher Show (June 12-13), George Thorogood and the Destroyers with the Robert Cray Band (June 20) and trumpeter Chris Botti on Sept. 14.
Among the Generation Next school time and sensory-friendly performances announced by Kimberly Stephenson, Tobin Center director of education, are Jazzreach: Miles Davis and the Blue Flame Incident (Nov. 18-19), Momix’s Alice (Feb. 26) and Jazz at Lincoln Center’s New Orleans Songbook (March 31).
Fresher’s refrain during his introduction encompassed the Tobin Center’s 10 years of cultural programming and its promise of a lively future. “At the Tobin, there’s more, because there’s always more.”
The full season schedule is available on the Tobin Center website.
