The Center for the Performing Arts in Carmel offers the following opportunities for educational experiences. Tickets and information are available at TheCenterPresents.org or by calling (317) 843-3800.
Center Presents season performances
Ben Folds: Paper Airplane Request Tour
With special guest Lindsey Kraft
7:30 p.m. Thursday, Oct. 10
The Palladium
Tickets from $46
Printing Partners Encore Series
Emmy-nominated singer-songwriter-composer Ben Folds has created an enormous body of genre-bending music that includes pop albums with Ben Folds Five, multiple solo albums, and many collaborative projects. For the past three decades, he has toured as a pop artist while also performing with some of the world’s top symphony orchestras. A New York Times bestselling author and podcast host, Folds also acts and composes for film, TV and theater and serves as the Artistic Advisor to the National Symphony Orchestra at the Kennedy Center. On this tour, fans are invited to launch their song requests to the stage via paper airplanes. Opening the show will be actress, singer, and composer Lindsey Kraft.
#IMOMSOHARD: Ladies’ Night
8 p.m. Friday, Oct. 11
The Palladium
Tickets from $35
Kristin and Jen of #IMOMSOHARD have been the voice and comedic relief for millions of women (and a few men) for nearly a decade. With more than 300 million views of their viral videos, an Amazon stand-up special, a New York Times bestselling book, a children’s book, a wine line, a podcast and a CBS pilot, these moms have been spreading the truth and the laughter about womanhood and motherhood. The OGs of the Internet, the original accidental influencers, the comedians with early bedtimes, Kristin and Jen cover the topics no one else will – with each other, with wine, with big, gummy, loud laughs. Recommended for ages 18 and older.
Renée Elise Goldsberry
With special guest Kyrie Courter
8 p.m. Saturday, Oct. 12
The Palladium
Tickets from $55
Hoosier Village & The Barrington Songbook Series
Actress and singer Renée Elise Goldsberry is perhaps best known for her role as Angelica Schuyler in the musical phenomenon Hamilton, earning a Tony Award, a Grammy Award and a Drama Desk Award. Other Broadway credits have included The Color Purple, The Lion King, and Rent. On television, she has appeared in One Life to Live and The Good Wife and currently stars in Tina Fey’s Emmy-nominated series Girls5eva on Netflix. In concert, Goldsberry and her backup singers have the audience on their feet stomping and clapping in a high-energy spiritual journey reminiscent of an old-fashioned revival. Opening the show will be Broadway performer Kyrie Courter, an alumna of the Great American Songbook Foundation’s annual Songbook Academy.
Australian Chamber Orchestra
7 p.m. Sunday, Oct. 13
The Palladium
Tickets from $45
Classical Series
Led by Artistic Director Richard Tognetti, the Australian Chamber Orchestra makes waves around the world with its explosive performances and brave interpretations, embracing classics alongside new commissions and adventurous collaborations. Its recordings of Bach’s violin works won three consecutive ARIA Awards, the Australian equivalent of the Grammy. Recent releases include Water/Night Music with Radiohead’s Jonny Greenwood, Beethoven 1, 2, & 3 Eroica, and ARIA Award-winning albums River and Indies & Idols. In this program, the ACO will perform its acclaimed presentation of The Four Seasons, interspersing Vivaldi’s beloved masterpiece with music by Egyptian-Australian oud virtuoso Joseph Tawadros.
Grand Funk Railroad
8 p.m. Saturday, Oct. 19
The Palladium
Tickets from $35
Katz, Sapper & Miller Pop/Rock Series
Marking 55 years since its 1969 formation in Flint, Mich., Grand Funk Railroad is “comin’ to your town (to) help you party it down.” In its ’70s heyday, the band packed arenas worldwide with its hard-driving sound and Top 40 hits including “We’re an American Band,” “I’m Your Captain/Closer to Home,” “The Loco-Motion” and “Some Kind of Wonderful,” which remain in regular rotation on classic rock radio. On this tour, celebrating the 50th Anniversary of the Gold single “The Loco-Motion,” original members Don Brewer (vocals and drums) and Mel Schacher (bass) lead a five-piece band of rock veterans whose credits include .38 Special, Robert Palmer, and Bob Seger’s Silver Bullet Band.
Space Oddity: The Quintessential David Bowie Tribute Experience
8 p.m. Saturday, Oct. 26
The Palladium
Tickets from $25
Katz, Sapper & Miller Pop/Rock Series
Space Oddity is a live, theatrically staged, elaborately costumed multimedia spectacle that transports audiences on a musical journey through the continually evolving career of the late David Bowie. Actor-musician David Brighton has played the lead role for two decades, performing throughout North America, Europe, China and elsewhere with the Space Oddity band. He also has portrayed Bowie in various TV and stage projects, including the Las Vegas show Legends in Concert, as well as George Harrison in a number of Beatles tribute productions.
Vitamin String Quartet: The Music of Taylor Swift, Bridgerton and Beyond
7 p.m. Sunday, Oct. 27
The Palladium
Tickets from $25
Katz, Sapper & Miller Pop/Rock Series
Long before Bridgerton ruled Netflix, Vitamin String Quartet had helped establish classical crossover as a force in contemporary music. Fresh off high-profile placements in Seasons 1 to 3 of the aforementioned streaming smash, VSQ has “reached a mainstream, global audience” (Variety) and “charmed the world with their classical covers” (Nylon). On its latest tour, VSQ has created fresh arrangements of the cultural phenomenon that is Taylor Swift, performing innovative renditions of Swift’s music alongside familiar hits from Billie Eilish, BTS, Bridgerton, The Weeknd, and Daft Punk. VSQ is one of the world’s most popular string ensembles, with over two billion streams and seven albums charting on Billboard’s Classical and Classical Crossover charts.
Dana & Greg Newkirk’s Haunted Objects Live
7 p.m. Sunday, Oct. 27
The Tarkington
Tickets from $35
Are you ready to uncover the chilling true stories behind the world’s most haunted objects? Join Greg and Dana Newkirk (Travel Channel’s Kindred Spirits, Amazon Prime’s Hellier) for an interactive presentation that will leave you on the edge of your seat. As full-time paranormal investigators, the Newkirks have spent their lives collecting and caring for cursed artifacts, possessed dolls and other creepy artifacts said to display supernatural activity. In this presentation, they will take you on a journey through history, folklore and true-life accounts of encounters with objects that seem to possess lives of their own.
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Other October events include:
Peanut Butter & Jam: Silly Safaris’ Not-So-Scary Scary Animal Show
10:30 a.m. Saturday, Oct. 5
The Studio Theater
Tickets: $10 per child, includes up to two free adult admissions
Just in time for Halloween. We all are taught to be afraid of snakes, spiders, bugs, birds and such, but meeting them up close makes them much more friendly. Come and see your favorite “scary” animals and see for yourself why they aren’t so scary after all. Designed for children aged 1 to 7, Peanut Butter & Jam sessions engage young children in the arts.
Live at the Center: Chad Mills Band
7:30 p.m. Wednesday, Oct. 30
Online and at the Palladium
Livestream: Free (pay-what-you-can, no minimum)
On site: $10 (pay-what-you-can, $10 minimum)
Chad Mills picked up a guitar for the first time as a college student and discovered a gift for songwriting. He has since released several independently produced albums of original folk and rock tunes, influenced by many great artists and inspired by his family, his faith, his travels and his rural Indiana upbringing. As a husband, father of three, and full-time civil engineer, he still manages to play an average of 100 live shows each year.