USAO awarded grant from Oklahoma Arts Council for performing arts series
The University of Science & Arts of Oklahoma has been awarded a $12,700 grant from the Oklahoma Arts Council for the 2024-25 Davis-Waldorf Performing Arts Series. The grant will directly support artist fees for this four-show season which features a mix of returning favorites and exciting new performances aimed at engaging audiences throughout the year.
The season opens on Sept. 19, 2024, with "One Night in Memphis," the #1 tribute show to Elvis Presley, Carl Perkins, Jerry Lee Lewis, and Johnny Cash. This high-energy concert, blending rockabilly, gospel and country classics, recreates the legendary Dec. 4, 1956, jam session at Sun Studios in Memphis. Often referred to as the "Million Dollar Quartet," this iconic moment in rock-and-roll history is brought to life in an all-ages performance led by singer/songwriter John Mueller. The show begins at 7:30 p.m. in USAO’s Te Ata Memorial Auditorium.
“The Davis-Waldorf Performing Arts Series is one of the most important projects of the USAO Foundation,”said Katie Davis, executive director of DWPAS and professor of theatre arts. “For many of our students, this show will be their first experience being in the audience for a professional performing arts event. The support from our community sponsors, from our season subscribers, and from organizations like the Oklahoma Arts Council makes it possible for us to make our shows affordable and accessible. Everyone should get the chance to enjoy this. I can’t wait to see this season opener, and I know it will raise everyone’s expectations for the season to come.”
Season tickets are available for $80, which includes admission to all shows, while individual tickets can be purchased for $25. K-12 students receive free admission to all DWPAS events thanks to an ongoing partnership with the Chickasha Public School Foundation. This year USAO’s partnership continues with Chisholm Trail Arts Council. DWPAS Season ticket holders will receive a FLEX pass that provides a ticket to one event of the CTAC Live Concert Series.
This season is the twenty-fourth consecutive season of this series, which included live, online delivery of concerts and performances while venues were shuttered during the pandemic. The DWPAS honors the memory of Francis Dinsmore Davis and Louise Waldorf, who were theatre and music faculty members at the Oklahoma College for Women. The mission of the Davis-Waldorf Performing Arts Series is to regularly present professional performing arts events, to facilitate student attendance at these shows as an important part of a liberal arts education, to provide affordable entertainment for our college family and our community, and to lead local arts education by creating access to high-quality, relevant, culturally diverse programming that broadens the aesthetic of each audience member.
For more information and to purchase tickets, visit usao.edu/dwpas.
About the University of Science & Arts of Oklahoma
As Oklahoma’s liberal arts college, the University of Science & Arts of Oklahoma provides a distinctive education in the liberal arts and sciences, supporting both its interdisciplinary core curriculum and major fields of study with superior teaching. USAO fosters diversity of thought and practice to help students realize meaningful, purposeful and productive lives as global citizens in a rapidly-changing world.