The 2020–21 Season

Spanning eras, countries, and cultures, the 2020–21 season offers a diverse selection of dance, music, theater, and art. There is sure to be something for everyone.

Due to the frequently changing nature of this season, please visit our Events Calendar for the most up-to-date information on which events are available for streaming or will be live.

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Find an event to attend by type, or browse the different series, below.

View the Events Calendar for Lively Arts.

Johnstown Symphony Orchestra Principal String Quartet:
Sing America

An Ovations Event

On-Demand Virtual Performance begins
Thursday, April 15, 2021

After a well-received and dynamic performance of Handel’s “Messiah” in 2018, the Lively Arts is delighted to invite the Johnstown Symphony Orchestra for a return visit to perform “I Sing America,” a patriotic salute highlighting the contribution of female composers.

Designed to complement a gallery of women artists, this program from the Johnstown Symphony Orchestra Principal String Quartet showcases the melodic and energetic works of women composers, including famed suffragette Ethel Smyth, award-winning American composers Gabriela Lena Frank and Jessie Montgomery, as well as the evocative music of George Walker. The program concludes with a youthful quartet of Beethoven.

All spring 2021 Ovations events are Pay-As-You-Can.

Dreamers’ Circus

An Ovations Event

On-Demand Virtual Performance begins
Saturday, April 17, 2021

This young driving force in Nordic world music draws inspiration from folk and traditional Scandinavian music and reshapes it with an endlessly innovated and contemporary approach. 

The Dreamers’ Circus trio musicians Nikolaj Busk (Denmark, piano and accordion), Ale Carr (Sweden, cittern), and Rune Tonsgaard Sørensen (Demark, violin)—display inventiveness and talent in their approach to performances. Based in music from Denmark and Sweden as well as Iceland, Finland, and the far reaches of the windswept Faroe Islands, they view these traditional roots merely as a point of departure from which to expand. In playing, they seek to unlock imaginations and allow the mind to wander to a place where stories unfold.

The name of the band is no accident. The magical feel upon entering the circus tent, surrounded by vividly colored memories… Dreamers’ Circus strives to engage your senses and invoke a place of freedom, somewhere for our imagination to play in and a space for dreaming. 

All spring 2021 Ovations events are Pay-As-You-Can.

Ordinary Days

IUP Department of Theater, Dance, and Performance and IUP Department of Music

Theater-by-the-Grove and IUP Music Theater 

Scheduled Virtual Performances
April 22–25, 2021

Written by Adam Gwon, Ordinary Days tells the story of four young New Yorkers whose lives intersect as they search for fulfillment, happiness, love, and cabs. It is an original musical for anyone who’s ever struggled to appreciate the simple things in a complex place. With equal doses of humor and poignancy, it celebrates how 8.3 million individual stories combine in unexpected ways to make New York City such a unique and extraordinary home.

theater simple presents Caravan Chronicles: ReUnion

An Ovations Event

Outdoor and Virtual Performances
Noon, Saturday, April 17, 2021, Downtown Indiana
5:30 p.m., Wednesday, April 28, 2021, The Oak Grove

Caravan Chronicles: ReUnion is an interactive public art event, where audience members become part of the “family” at a semi-traditional yet highly idiosyncratic reunion. Become part of the art by contributing to the family myth with stories, memories, and haiku of our own.

A relaxed and inclusive collection of both live and digital events, culminating in this gleeful faux-family reunion, Caravan Chronicles kicks off with a pop-up event during the inaugural Art Walk in the Park on April 17, collecting interviews for Park Bench, an award-winning documentary podcast. 

Crafted in collaboration with IUP’s Lively Arts, theater simple, IUP students, and Indiana participants, Caravan Chronicles will amuse and inspire “family” of all ages, shapes, and sizes, both in person or online. So, come play a game, write haiku, and hang out—its time to add more stories to the family mythology.

All spring 2021 Ovations events are Pay-As-You-Can. 

Shana Simmons Dance: Take the Air

Outdoor and Virtual Performance
Saturday, May 1, 2021, The Oak Grove 

The IUP campus will serve as your outdoor stage for this dance and music collaboration of Shana Simmons Dance with members of the IUP Dance Theater Company, Amanda Morrison (clarinet), IUP musicians, and Pittsburgh Ballet Theater grad students with music submission from Mumph (hip-hop artist). 

Take the Air is a walking tour with site specific performances at five locations on the IUP campus. You can start at Station A or Station E and work your way through the tour, or you can happen upon the artwork at your own leisure. Either way works. Stay and watch the performances or wander off and find the next one… this tour happens on your own time in your own way.

Choreographed pieces will be performed at each station starting at at 2:00 p.m., then again every 20 minutes, ending at 4:00 p.m. All pieces were inspired by famous IUP students and alumni and run five to seven minutes. In between these works, improvisational performances will occur. These are in-the-moment inspirational responses to what’s happening in the crowd, exploring the sites in new ways, and with have elements of play.

• Station A: Staircase between Ruddock Hall and Suites on Maple, Pittsburgh Ballet Theater grad students
• Station B: Sprowls Hall, Shana Simmons Dance
• Station C: Cogswell Hall, IUP musicians
• Station D: Fisher Auditorium, IUP Dance Theater Company
• Station E: Stone Bench (Oak Grove), Shana Simmons Dance/Amanda Morrison (clarinet), and Mumph (hip-hop artist)

Visit Shana Simmons’ website for more details.

All spring 2021 Ovations events are Pay-As-You-Can.

Sound Choices: 20th Annual IUP Jazz Festival

IUP Department of Music

7:00 p.m. Saturday, May 1, 2021

The 20th annual IUP Jazz Festival, featuring the IUP Jazz Band and the IUP Jazz Ensemble. The IUP Jazz band is led by James Flowers, as Kevin Eisensmith directs the IUP Jazz Ensemble.  Dr. Flowers, professor of saxophone, will be the featured soloist for the event. 

A live audience of IUP community members only will be permitted. The number of seats available will be based on current covid guidelines. This event will be streamed on the IUP Department of Music's YouTube channel.