Story by By Gary Warren, Adam Fogle, Tammy Kitchen, Jamie Martin, Kristin Miller, and Ashley Dahl

By Gary Warren, Adam Fogle, Tammy Kitchen, Jamie Martin, Kristin Miller, and Ashley Dahl

STATESBORO, Ga. – The arts are alive and flourishing in Statesboro. With the emergence of local cultural venues such as the Georgia Southern University Performing Arts Center, the Georgia Southern theater department, and the Averitt Center for the Arts in the Emma Kelly Theater, the community has become a vibrant source of entertainment.

“The events that take place at each venue leave a cultural mark on the community,” says Katherine Thomason, a Georgia Southern vocal performance student. “That can’t be taken for granted.”

The Georgia Southern Performing Arts Center, or PAC, located on the Georgia Southern University campus at the corner of Chandler Road and Plant Dr., offers five distinct series that cover the spectrum of the performing arts.

“We plan to give our community a journey through entertainment that would otherwise take years and miles to accomplish,” says the Center’s Director Albert Pertalion. “The Performing Arts Center will give our audience the world, one season at a time”.

This is the Center’s fifth year at GSU. During the 2005-06 school year, the PAC’s Broadway Series included the plays Hamlet and Oklahoma. Next year’s announced lineup includes Jesus Christ Superstar and CATSI.

This year’s Music Series featured a September performance by legendary entertainers the Nitty Gritty Dirt Band. Performances by Kathy Mattea and the Preservation Hall Jazz Band rounded out the series.

The Family Series, the Dance Series and the School Matinee Series comprise the remaining features at the PAC. The center’s 2005-06 season has come to a close, but look for individual tickets to go on sale in August.

The Averitt Center for the Arts, located on East Main St., Statesboro, offers another option for a variety of entertainment. The center hosts yearlong community-based music, theater and poetry. Recent performances have included the Statesboro-based Dave Pfeiffer Quintet, and a performance of Little Red Riding Hood in March. The next major event at the center will be a May 12 performance of Thumbelina.

The theater is named after Statesboro musical legend Emma Kelly who was influential in bringing local music to a national audience. Kelly was born in 1918 and was known as the “Lady of 6000 Songs.” She died in 2001.

Another contributor to the thriving Statesboro arts scene is GSU’s theater program. Host to a multitude of student plays and puppetry, the department offers a largely untapped entertainment outlet.

“Many people don’t know about the shows put on by the department,” says Rachael Rabinovitz, a theater major at Georgia Southern. “I guess that’s because they don’t know a lot about the theater in general.”

Gary Dartt, professor of Theatre at GSU for more than 40 years, told a gruop of journalism students recently that although Georgia is not a theatrical mecca, there is real talent and interest here. Stay invovled and show your support because theatre needs an audience, he said.

Dartt said the arts are booming in Statesboro. He is “terribly optimistic” about its future at GSU.

While the theater program is small by modern standards, it continues to grow. Construction will begin this year on the new Black Box Theater, a larger site for theater department productions.

“I think it’s great that there are performing arts in Statesboro,” said Lindsey Messer, 20, a student at GSU. “I just wish they were better advertised because I’m quite interested.”

“This theater will be an amazing thing for our department,” added Rabinovitz. “We don’t have the largest program or the most money, but our theater program is unique.”

While each of these organizations works independently, there are occasions in which they come together. The Emma Kelly Theater and the Georgia Southern theater department recently teamed up for the production of Prisoner of Second Avenue, the first play produced entirely by students.