Lainie Kazan, Patricia Ward Kelly, Eric Marchese and More Set for Segerstrom Center's 2014-15 Celebrity Series

The Crescendo Chapter of The Guilds of Segerstrom Center for the Arts has announced its popular 2014 - 2015 Celebrity Series that presents fascinating and informative lectures by notable personalities from the arts, entertainment, education, sports and literature.

The 2014 - 2015 Series features Chapman University President Dr. James Doti, entertainer Lainie Kazan, film historian and wife of late film legend Gene Kelly, Patricia Ward Kelly and theater critic, musician and composer Eric Marchese. The lectures will be held in the Norma Kershaw Auditorium at the Bowers Museum, located at 2002 North Main Street, Santa Ana.

Membership in the Crescendo Chapter is $130, which entitles members to one complimentary ticket to each lecture plus one guest pass to the Bowers Museum. Individual lecture ticket prices are $30 in advance and $35 at the door. Members of the Bowers Museum may purchase individual tickets for $25, with a limit of one ticket per member with proof of museum membership. To join The Guilds or the Crescendo Chapter, contact Mary Staton at (714) 544-5549.

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Dr. James Doti: "Marketing Chapman University"

September 11, 2014

Since Jim Doti became president of Chapman University, the school has become one of the nation's preeminent private universities. His management, marketing and scholarly successes are matched with a charismatic personality and multiple interests. In this unusual and revealing lecture, Dr. Doti will discuss much the goals he set for himself and the university and the path he has taken to raise Chapman to its now prestigious stature in the world of higher education.

Lainie Kazan: "Lainie Kazan: In the Groove"

November 13, 2014

The epitome of star - stage, screen, Broadway, television, film, nightclubs and cabaret - Lainie Kazan is one of the world's most celebrated and accomplished entertainers. She is unique, she is powerful and she is a presence wherever and whenever she performs. Her stories relate her own remarkable career and they include anecdotes with her friends and colleagues Francis Ford Coppola, Frank Sinatra, Bette Midler and many others.

Patricia Ward Kelly: "Gene Kelly: The Legacy"

January 8, 2015

Film historian, journalist, author and lecturer Patricia Ward Kelly will share professional and personal stories from her life as the wife of one of Hollywood's legends. She and Kelly met at the Smithsonian in 1985, when he was the host/narrator for a television special for which she was a writer. Soon after, he invited her to California to write his memoirs, a job for which she recorded his words nearly every day for more than 10 years, and they were together until his death in 1996. Her presentation has been called mesmerizing and covers the artistic genius of the artist and the very personal side of one of filmdom's most beloved and talented artists.

Eric Marchese: "Ragtime for All Time!"

March 12, 2015

Eric Marchese is one of Orange County's most distinguished reporters and theater critics. What his usual by-line doesn't reveal is that he is also one of the nation's foremost experts on ragtime. Marchese will explain - and demonstrate with captivating musical examples - the history and development of 'the rag.' Composer, connoisseur, author and critic Marchese has worked with the Friends of Jazz based in Fullerton, spearheaded RagFest 2000 - Orange County's first-ever festival of ragtime music, and he founded Orange County Ragtime Society.

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The Guilds of the Center - The Guilds of Segerstrom Center for the Arts is one of the largest and most prestigious support groups for a non-profit organization in Orange County. The Guilds, which is comprised of 24 chapters and nearly 2,000 members, is respected and admired for its contributions to Segerstrom Center for the Arts and is emulated by many other arts organizations around the country. Guilds members are Center ambassadors, spreading the word about the Center among their friends and neighbors and encouraging them to enjoy and use this great community resource.

The Guilds raises funds for the Center, Orange County's largest non-profit arts organization. Guilds members have contributed more than $14 million dollars in support of the Center since their organization was founded. Their support helps the Center to present its renowned performing arts series, which includes dance, Broadway shows, cabaret, jazz, classical music, family entertainment, cutting-edge theater and many free and low cost performances and events. Close to the heart of The Guilds is the Center's education programs that reach hundreds of thousands of young people and educators each year with performances and arts-in-education programs at the Center and on school campuses.

The Guilds sponsors the Children at the Center initiative, which provides volunteers who assist the Center's Education Department with bus-ins, the Family Series and other special events attended by young people. During the holiday season, The Guilds also holds its Toy Drive in conjunction with the U.S. Marine Corps' Toys for Tots®, which benefits deserving but less fortunate Orange County children. One chapter of The Guilds is Performing Arts Junior ("PAJ"). This chapter provides young people ages 11- 18 with opportunities to attend varied performance events and to learn about the performing arts. PAJ members are required to donate community service hours to an arts-service activity each year.

Members of The Guilds know that the arts can change lives, uplift and inspire, and represent and unite the community. Since opening in 1986, the Center has achieved national and international acclaim for the exceptional range and quality of its presentations, and members of The Guilds are proud to be part of the Segerstrom Center for the Arts family.

Segerstrom Center for the Arts is committed to supporting artistic excellence on all of its stages, offering unsurpassed experiences, and to engaging the entire community in new and exciting ways through the unique power of live performance and a diverse array of inspiring programs.

As Orange County's largest non-profit arts organization, Segerstrom Center for the Arts owns and operates the 3,000-seat Segerstrom Hall and intimate 250-seat Founders Hall, which opened in 1986, and the 2,000-seat Rene?e and Henry Segerstrom Concert Hall, which opened in 2006 and also houses the 500-seat Samueli Theater, the Lawrence and Kristina Dodge Education Center's studio performance space and Boeing Education Lab. A spacious arts plaza anchors Segerstrom Center for the Arts and is home to numerous free performances throughout the year as part of Segerstrom Center for the Arts' ongoing Free for All series.

The Center presents a broad range of programming each season for audiences of all ages from throughout Orange County and beyond, including international ballet and dance, national tours of top Broadway shows, intimate performances of jazz and cabaret, contemporary artists, classical music performed by renowned chamber orchestras and ensembles, family-friendly programming, free performances open to the public from outdoor movie screenings to dancing on the plaza and many other special events. It offers many education programs designed to inspire young people through the arts. These programs reach hundreds of thousands of students of all ages with vital arts-in-education programs, enhancing their studies and enriching their lives well into the future.

In addition to the presenting and producing institution Segerstrom Center for the Arts, the 14-acre campus also embraces the facilities of two independent acclaimed organizations: Tony Award-winning South Coast Repertory and a site designated as the future home of the Orange County Museum of Art.

Segerstrom Center for the Arts is also proud to serve as the artistic home to three of the region's major performing arts organizations: Pacific Symphony, the Philharmonic Society of Orange County and the Pacific Chorale, who contribute greatly to the artistic life of the region with annual seasons at Segerstrom Center for the Arts.

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