A new school year gives way to a new performing arts sched ule, and this year, Broadway favorites will stand among mu sicians and television stars as part of the Performing Arts and Concert Series.
This year, NBC television star Nick Offerman, a.k.a. Ron Swan son from Parks and Recreation, will visit for Dads Weekend as part of his stand-up tour “Ameri can Ham.” Also from NBC fame, Craig Robinson, The Office’s Da ryl Philbin, will perform during Homecoming Week.
Andrew Holzapfel, associate director of programming in the Campus Involvement Center, said that netting the two come dians was sure to be a big draw for this year’s series, judging from previous comedian’s sets.
“You know, we’ve had a lot of success (with comedians)” Holzapfel said. “Seth Meyers was hysterical, Aziz (Ansari) did a great set. It’s a celebrity off of TV, (students) want to be in that room.”
The two comedians are just some of the acts visiting Ohio University for the Performing Arts and Concert Series. There are musicals such as Mamma Mia (Nov. 26), and The Official Blues Brothers Revue (Oct. 16), as well as musical acts including Fitz and the Tantrums and Capi tal Cities (Nov. 13) and Thomp son Square (Sept. 8).
In all, there will be 15 shows in the Performing Arts and Concert Series, with two or three shows yet to be announced, Holzapfel said.
This year also marks the third year that The Second City, the Chicago improvisational com edy troupe, will once again be in town for OU’s Parents Weekend.
“The parents seem to respond well to it,” Holzapfel said. “Every year we bring it back, the feed back from parents and students is very positive, so it’s easy just to continue to do it for each year for Parents Weekend.”
This year, the Performing Arts and Concert Series will have a new series of shows taking place in Baker Center Theater, titled On the Edge. The series will fea ture classical music groups who will perform modern pop songs and apply a classical-music bent to them. On the Edge will include a show by Break of Re ality, a quartet that does classi cal covers of heavy metal songs, Holzapfel said.
The Performing Arts and Concert Series receives an an nual budget of $93,000.
“We have a $93,000 budget, but we do about $800,000 worth of programming,” Holzapfel said. “For every dollar the uni versity gives us, we essentially have to get seven dollars from ticket sales or sponsorships.”
Zackary Gilanyi, a junior studying media studies, said he was more than excited to see Of ferman, whom he said is one of his favorite characters on TV.
“He seems like an interesting person,” Gilanyi said. “I mean, he runs his own carpentry shop besides acting, which is amaz ing. Plus, he’s married to Megan Mullally … and I just think he’s hilarious.”
Rachel Lewis, a junior study ing video production and his tory, put her interest in seeing Offerman another way.
“I bought a ticket. Then I bought 10.”
