Performing arts in Louisville, Kentucky
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The performing arts community in Louisville is currently undergoing a bit of a renaissance. The Kentucky Center, dedicated in 1983, located in the downtown hotel and entertainment district, features a variety of plays and concerts. This is also the home of the Louisville Ballet, Louisville Orchestra, and the Kentucky Opera, which is the twelfth oldest opera in the United States.
Actors Theatre of Louisville is another performing arts center that has become the cornerstone of the revitalization of Louisville's Main Street. As the centerpiece of the city's urban cultural district, Actors Theatre has significant economic impact on a vital downtown life. Highly acclaimed for its artistic programming and business acumen, Actors Theatre hosts the Humana Festival of New American Plays each Spring. It also presents approximately six hundred performances of about thirty productions during its year-round season, composed of a diverse array of contemporary and classical fare. It has attracted one of the largest per capita subscription audiences in the country and logs an annual attendance of over 200,000.
The Louisville Palace, the official venue for the Louisville Orchestra, is an elegant, ornate theatre in downtown Louisville's so-called theatre district. In addition to orchestra performances, the theatre also features an array of popular movies, old and new, as well as concerts by popular artists. Located nearby is the Kentucky Theater, which was built in 1921 and operated for 60 years as a movie house, but was closed and was almost demolished in 1986. Ultimately it was saved by local arts advocates, and the newly renovated Kentucky Theater opened its doors in 2000 and has become a vibrant community arts center and art film house.
Iroquois Park is the home of the renovated Iroquois Amphitheater which hosts the productions of Music Theatre Louisville as well as a variety of musical concerts in a partially covered outdoor setting.
Also located in Louisville is Walden Theatre, the nation's leading theatre conservatory for young people. The company stages one of the few annual theatre festivals celebrating William Shakespeare in the annual Young American Shakespeare Festival. Many of the company's performances are presented at the Kentucky Center.
Louisville is home to a thriving music scene with bands such as the widely known Flaw, Musica Silentis Doloris (MSD), False, Incursion 502 and Evil Engine 9. It is also home to the former members of the once post-grunge band Days of the New.
On Fourth Street in downtown is the brand new Fourth Street Live! outdoor entertainment complex, which features a wide variety of restaurants, stores and nightclubs. The complex sponsors many free concerts, as does the popular Waterfront Park.
