Fall 2025 Highlights
Thank you for joining us for a wonderful start to our 25/26 season: America Unfinished. As we head into the new year, we’d like to take a moment to reflect on some of the highlights from the past few months. Between outstanding artists making their Philadelphia debut, new works taking the stage, impactful engagement with audiences and construction progress on our new venues, it’s already been such a rewarding season.
PHILADELPHIA DEBUTS
Jorge Luis Pacheco
One of the first big successes of the season was when jazz artist Jorge Luis Pacheco, who made his Philadelphia debut in early Oct, sold out our Prince Theatre. Luckily, we were able to move his performance to our Zellerbach Theatre to accommodate everyone who wanted to attend.
Audiences gushed about Pacheco, one audience member sharing, “The performance was brilliant! Please bring him back.” We are so pleased to have introduced Philadelphia to this outstanding artist.
Aakash Odedra Company
Later in October, we had the privilege of presenting international dance star Aakash Odedra in Songs of the Bulbul. His Philadelphia debut was much overdue, and we were so excited to be the ones welcoming him to our city for the first time. Naturally, the audience adored his performances, resulting in prolonged standing ovations. One audience member even shared, “Songs of the Bulbul is one of the most exquisite performances I have ever seen! And I see a lot of dance.”
Choir! Choir! Choir!
Choir! Choir! Choir!’s Philadelphia debut in early Nov was another standout hit. With the help of a 6abc feature leading up to the performance, there were nearly 700 people at this massive, electric sing-along. Even better, the audience and performers alike seemed to have a fantastic time. Some patrons even said to our ushers, “Please do this every season. This was a lot of fun.”
NEW WORKS SEEN HERE FIRST
Each season, we offer several artists resources and support through our Accelerator Program, helping them finish and bring new works to the stage. Last season’s world premiere commission, American Street Dancer, by artist-in-residence Rennie Harris, benefited from this program, wowing Philadelphia audiences before performing the work across the country. The work has since received high praise from The New York Times in a review and inclusion on the “Best Dance Performances of 2025” list for recent performances at the Joyce Theater.
This season, Accelerator artists include several featured as part of our America Unfinished series, which reflects on our country in light of the upcoming 250th anniversary. In Oct, we enjoyed in-progress plays by Colm Summers and C.A. Johnson with New York Stage and Film, giving audiences a unique peek at the creative process behind shows destined to become Broadway hits. In Nov, we commissioned the world premiere of Shadow Cities, a work by choreographer Ephrat Asherie and jazz composer Arturo O’Farrill. Broad Street Review applauded the work, highlighting how it “synthesized virtuoso music and dancing into a performance greater than the sum of its parts.”
STANDOUT ENGAGEMENT EXPERIENCES
In Sep, we received rare insight into jazz legend Branford Marsalis’ creative process. Between an interview on WURD radio and a pre-show talk with Christopher Gruits, our Executive & Artistic Director, audiences were treated to a deeper understanding of Marsalis’ work and commitment to future generations of jazz musicians.
Similarly, several events in our dance series expanded the conversation with the artists through post-show talks and free masterclasses led by company members.
Our youngest audiences also benefitted from engagement opportunities through our Student Discovery performances from Ephrat Asherie Dance and MOMIX. Prior to the field trip to our theatre, teaching artists visited several classrooms for a lesson on the work the students were about to see, fostering a greater appreciation of the art form and topics explored on stage. As we’ve expanded our in-classroom outreach this season, we’ve received such positive feedback from participating teachers, noting that it’s beautiful to witness how the students are all so engaged before, during and after the show.
One of the other facets of engagement we encourage is students’ interest in careers within the arts. Through our Arts & Entertainment Career Connections program, funded arts internships are available for Penn students each summer. Interns who have benefited from the program have been eager to share about the impact of their experiences. At the start of the semester, Penn Today highlighted Bea Hamman’s two summer internships with companies in the film industry, both founded by Penn alums. Additionally, 2024 alum Evan Golinsky reached out to us to share how his internship experiences shaped the first steps of his career.
SIGNIFICANT GIFTS FOR OUR NEW VENUE
This semester alone, our team supported 21 student productions across theatre, comedy, dance and a cappella music, which represents only a fraction of the student performing arts events at Penn. To meet the critical need for more dedicated performance and rehearsal spaces on campus, our new student performing arts center is under construction at the corner of Chestnut and 33rd Streets. The center will offer us additional venues to present more of the professional music, theatre and dance artists as well.
This fall, several generous donors made significant commitments supporting this exciting new addition to Penn’s campus. A landmark gift from Julie Beren Platt and Marc E. Platt will name the Platt Student Performing Arts Center. Additionally, Ed Kane and Marty Wallace made a $5 million gift to support and name the proscenium theatre.
The 38,700 square foot Platt Student Performing Arts Center will open in early 2027 with the 326-seat Edward W. Kane Theatre, a 125-seat studio theatre, five rehearsal studios, a student lounge and more.
Thank you again for joining us for a memorable 2025. We are exceedingly grateful to all our patrons who make everything we do possible, from loyal subscribers to those who joined us for the first time. We have a lot in store for the rest of the season and can’t wait to see you back in our theatres soon.
SanyaGrace Kunicki is the Associate Director of Marketing & Communications at Penn Live Arts.
