The Bayou Theater’s 2017-2018 season brings variety to campus

UHCL’s Bayou Theater recently announced the schedule for the 2017 – 2018 performance season starting Aug. 31. The season features 10 different performances and three music spotlight series: classical, blues and bluegrass, and Texas music.

This year marks the first theater season organized entirely by Alex Malone, managing director of the Bayou Theater. Hired in October 2016, Malone hopes to draw in a larger and broader audience by offering a variety of performances.

“Last year I inherited the Mercury (Orchestra) season and tried to fill in some one-offs,” Malone said. “This year, I’m trying to do a concerted season with ticket sales starting at the beginning of the year.”

The Bayou Theater offers season passes for all 10 shows or spotlight series passes for the Mercury,

Blues and Bluegrass, and Texas Artist Spotlight series. Season passes cost $105 for students and $155 for non-students. Spotlight series passes will range from $35 – $49 for students and $50 – $69 for non-students. Individual tickets range from $10 – $12 for students and $15 – $17 for non-students.

The season kicks off Aug. 31 with a gala opening of the Bayou Theater and Friday Morning Continuing Education series. Mercury Orchestra will have its first performance of the season at the gala. Wine and light refreshments will be served.

Mercury: The Orchestra Redefined’s series returns to UHCL for its 14th year with two fall shows and two spring shows. Mercury’s first performance will be a concert presenting the works of Bach and Piazzolla at the opening gala Aug. 31. The second concert will exhibit Mendelssohn’s 5th Symphony Oct. 6. The series will continue in Spring 2018 with the “Italian Boroque Masters” concert April 13 and Vivaldi’s “Four Seasons” for Mother’s Day May 13.

The Texas Artist Spotlight series begins Oct. 21 featuring music composed and performed by Texas musicians. The Bayou Theater will partner with the Texas New Music Ensemble (TNME), to feature five new pieces of music from contemporary Texas musicians including the winner of TNME’s Student Composer Competition. On Nov. 3, the group Riyaaz Qawwali, based out of Austin, will perform a combination of traditional South Asian music styles. The Quebe Sisters will close the Texas Artist Spotlight series Feb. 14 with a classic American music concert.

The Blues and Bluegrass three-show concert series will start during the Spring 2018 semester. Bumper Jacksons begins the series Jan. 11 with a unique combination of Appalachian folk, New Orleans jazz and Texas swing music. There will also be a performance by the bluegrass duo Dailey and Vincent Feb. 21. The series will close with two-time Grammy winner Brave Combo April 27.

Brave Combo, a polka, blues and world music fusion band based out of Denton, TX, achieved notoriety early in its career when radio personality Dr. Demento played the band’s music on his show. The band initially built its following within the 1980s punk scene and hopes to introduce new audiences to the serious side of polka.

“We were perceived as being punk in the way that we were so obviously anti-establishment,” said Brave Combo lead singer Carl Finch. “The fact that we were playing polka music was thumbing our nose at the industry. We’re playing the music those guys have labeled as stupid and square, and we’re playing it loud, fast and hard.”

While Finch doesn’t have a set list for the Bayou Theater show yet, he said Brave Combo will have new music to perform.

Beyond the concerts offered this season, Malone hopes to add other events to the schedule, such as debates, lectures and comedy shows.

The theater will host a one-person show in October called “Game (Over) Life” performed by Jake Beck. From the perspective of a video gamer, the performance explores how the digital and physical worlds become intertwined in the lives of modern humans. The exact date for the performance is to be announced.

With unique and talented artists performing this season in the Bayou Theater, Malone is hoping to generate buzz in the community.

“I see the theater as a vibrant vehicle to let the community know about UHCL,” Malone said. “And if we can get them on campus, then we can excite them about what’s going on at the library, what’s going on at CADD and what’s going on with our new buildings on campus.”

To purchase passes or tickets for the 2017 – 2018 Bayou Theater season visit: https://www.uhcl.edu/bayou-theater/events-tickets/

For more information about the Bayou Theater, contact Alex Malone: MaloneAl@uhcl.edu or (281) 283-2065