Athens may be miles away from the entertainment of big city lights, but Ohio University is still able to bring in national acts and theatrical performances to its concert halls.
With last year’s schedule of acts bringing in 26 performances, there’s a show for everyone’s own style.
Lee Brice, Gretchen Wilson, Thompson Square, Nick Offerman, Loni Love, Sara Bareilles and Kacey Musgraves are just a few well-known artists who have visited OU in the past year.
“The best way to describe the performing arts and concert series — it’s a very eclectic group of touring performers and artists,” said Andrew Holzaepfel, associate director of the campus involvement center. “It’s everything from classical to country to hip-hop to indie to Broadway and everything in between. We try to appeal to as many students as we can.”
National acts pop up not only at the university, but also at bars for annual spring events such as Blackout Fest hosted by The Union Bar & Grill and Lobsterfest hosted by ACRN.
These performances are often a hit, but some students have perks beyond the actual performance. Many are tapped to work sound and sell tickets at Templeton-Blackburn Alumni Memorial Auditorium during events.
“One of my favorite parts of working at MemAud would be finding out what new shows we were doing,” said Jocelyn Bateman, a junior studying communication studies. “Selling the shows is a nice rush also, and then being able to get into the shows without actually paying for them is cool too, and the people who I work with are great. I really enjoyed (the playwright shows) because they were so different. Sara Bareilles was my favorite well-known performance here for last year.”
Many students enjoy themselves during these spectacular performances. For some, each performance is special for them personally.
“I’ve been a country ... [fan] for a long time, so I was really excited that Lee Brice was coming to Ohio,” Kelly Cundiff, a junior studying nursing, said in a previous Post article. “I wanted to come because I’m a big country fan.”
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