Our fourth Live from Lewisburg Variety Show was another fantastic evening of performance and celebration of the arts in the Central Susquehanna Valley! Our house band, organist, and guest performers were all amazing, drawing cheers from the audience throughout, and our host, Monica Prince, had a great time leading it all and interacting with the crowd. Thank you to everyone who came out for this latest production!
As always, keep your eyes and ears open for news regarding the next show. More info to come!
Collaboration - The Arts - Community
At the heart of the Live from Lewisburg Variety Show is a message and ideal of community. We're drawing inspiration from the history of the arts and theatres, hearkening to a time when the community theatre was truly the center stage for news and entertainment. We firmly believe that even in the darkest of troubled times, arts and entertainment can be our guiding light to a better tomorrow, and we can all work together to lift that light up for all to see!
We are always looking for talent for our shows, so if you are interested, let us know! Contact Cynthia Peltier at peltiercynthia4@gmail.com.
Listening Room Series
We're excited to announce plans for a continuing series of Live from Lewisburg: Listening Rooms here at the CommUnity Zone! Our first and second events were great evenings of music. Our space in the Community Partnerships building is a fantastic one for intimate and focused nights of musical entertainment and togetherness, with a stage, lighting, and sound system to support any variety of artist who is interested in performing for an attentive audience.
Our next planned Live from Lewisburg: Listening Room event will feature Eric Ian Farmer and will be held on APRIL 23RD at 3 PM, here in the Community Partnerships building at 328 Market Street, Lewisburg, PA.
Born in State College, Pennsylvania and raised in North Carolina, Eric Ian Farmer has returned to his birthplace sharing his songs about relationships, social awareness, and finding one's path in life while keeping alive classics by artists like Marvin Gaye, Otis Redding, and Bob Marley. Eric learned how to become one with a song from Bonnie Carter and David Williams, singers in the church of his childhood just across the North Carolina state line in Danville, Virginia. Eric also draws inspiration as a singer from popular artists like Bobby McFerrin, Stevie Wonder, and Marvin Gaye. And his guitar playing is inspired by the percussive stylings of rock legend Bo Diddley.
There will be a $5 cover charge to help pay for costs of the event and refreshments for all in attendance, and we hope to see you there!
What is a Listening Room?
The idea of a listening room event is right in the name: To provide a space directly and exclusively for an audience to listen to an artist perform. Many musicians and other vocal artists find venues where they have to compete with other noise: the background chatter in a restaurant, patrons and orders in a bar, sports and even other music playing on TVs and over speakers. What a listening room provides is a space free from those distractions, and invites an audience who is present for one reason: to listen to the performance.
Listening rooms have grown in popularity for a wide range of artists, from acoustic singer-songwriters to spoken-word performances and more. They are typically held in relatively small spaces, and are often modeled to provide a more intimate experience than would be found in other settings. Refreshments may be available, but in all cases, the focus of the event is on the performance.
At the CommUnity Zone, our hope is to offer this deep listening experience for both local artists who want the chance to perform for a small, focused audience, and for the audience members who want to listen to the artist! We do plan on offering a selection of food and drinks at the events, and hope to have both curated events with established artists as well as 'open nights' when the stage might be open to anyone who wishes to perform.
These events are planned to have a nominal cover fee to help pay for the refreshments and operating costs, and will encourage donations or merchandise purchases to support the artists, as well.