Hancher Auditorium announces their first season in their new building, replacing the facility heavily damaged by flooding in 2008.
By Justus Flair
Eight years in the making, Hancher’s first season in its new auditorium is packed with big names, both people and shows.
Steve Martin and Martin Short, Yo-Yo Ma, The Book of Mormon, and the Joffrey Ballet will all break in the new stage during Hancher’s début season.
The first performers on the new stage will be Steve Martin and Martin Short on Sept. 24 in “An Evening You’ll Forget for the Rest of Your Life.”
Before that, though, Hancher will reach out to engage the community. On Sept. 9 and 11, Hancher will allow the public to see the much-anticipated new space before the free season-opener, the Preservation Hall Jazz Band and Trombone Shorty & Orleans Avenue, on the Hancher Green on Sept. 16. The band played on the original Hancher stage during its first season in 1972.
In October, Iowa City will welcome its first touring Broadway show since Hancher was forced to close its doors in 2008. The Book of Mormon will give eight shows Oct. 11-16. Broadway favorites The Sound of Music and Mamma Mia will also stop by, in January and February, respectively.
Non-musical theater enthusiasts, fear not; Hancher will also host a variety of classical music performance, dance pieces, contemporary works, lectures, and even a film screening. One dance performance, Tesseracts of Time, included input from architect Steven Holl, who designed Art Building West and the Visual Arts Building for the University of Iowa.
Hancher will finally be able to participate in Iowa City’s own Mission Creek Festival in April 2017, too, now that it has a venue to offer.
Tickets will be available for public purchase on June 10.
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HANCHER CALENDAR OF EVENTS
September
9, 11: Hancher Open Houses
16: Trombone Shorty & Orleans Avenue and Preservation Hall Jazz Band ·
24: Steve Martin and Martin Short, An Evening You’ll Forget for the Rest of Your Life
29: David Sanborn Electric Band
October
2, 5, 6: Puppet State Theatre Company of Scotland, The Man Who Planted Trees
8: Renée Fleming
11–16: The Book of Mormon
20: Step Afrika, The Migration: Reflections of Jacob Lawrence
27: Maya Beiser, The Day
28: Laurie Lewis and the Right Hands
November
5: Pomp, Brass, and Lunacy
Tomáš Kubínek, Wycliffe Gordon, Orchestra Iowa, and University Choirs
11: Chucho Valdés Joe Lovano Quintet
December
1–4: The Joffrey Ballet, The Nutcracker
6: Emanuel Ax
9: Asleep at the Wheel, Merry Texas Christmas Y’all
January
20: The Cleveland Orchestra
27: Kyle Abraham/Abraham.In.Motion
31: The Sound of Music
February
1–5: The Sound of Music
8–9: Soil
11: The Ying Quartet with Billy Childs
16: Tanya Tagaq in concert with Nanook of the North
25–26: MAMMA MIA
March
3–4: Circus Oz
5: Yo–Yo Ma
9: Las Cafeteras
23: Jessica Lang Dance
25: The Boston Pops Esplanade Orchestra
30: David J. Skorton
April
4–9: Mission Creek Festival collaboration
14–15: Fred Hersch Trio
May
4: /peh-LO-tah/ by Marc Bamuthi Joseph