Pepperdine Center for the Arts Announces 2011-2012 Season

The National Acrobats of the People's Republic of China, touring for the first time in the US, kick off the exciting Pepperdine University Center for the Arts 2011-2012 season, which features music, dance, comedy, and family shows as well as art exhibitions at Pepperdine's ocean-side campus in Malibu.

Pepperdine welcomes back returning favorites Rockapella, the Reduced Shakespeare Company, the Blind Boys of Alabama (with an opening set by former Nickel Creek members Sara and Sean Watkins), George Winston, Tommy Emmanuel, Susan Werner, and Jim Brickman, as well as newcomers Dionne Warwick, Melissa Manchester, former Celtic Woman Orla Fallon, and Bruce Hornsby.

Also new to Smothers Theatre are folk musicians John Gorka, Eliza Gilkyson, and Lucy Kaplansky--collectively known as Red Horse, World Champion of Magic Jason Latimer, Canadian band the Good Lovelies, and singing sisters Liz Callaway and Ann Hampton Callaway.

Forbidden Broadway makes a stop in Malibu as part of its 30th anniversary tour, and dance companies River North Dance Chicago and Lizt Alfonso Dance Cuba make Pepperdine debuts.

Pepperdine's shows programmed especially for young and family audiences include ArtsPower's Are You My Mother?, TheatreworksUSA's Fancy Nancy and Other Story Books, and Imago Theatre's delightful ZooZoo.

The Stotsenberg Recital Series features four Sunday afternoon programs by several up-and-coming young artists, and the Parkening International Guitar Competition, in which some of the world's most talented young classical guitarists compete for $65,000 in cash awards, returns to campus after a three-year hiatus from May 29 through June 2, 2012.

The Pepperdine Fine Arts Division presents a diverse lineup of student performances and productions, including the pop musical Xanadu, theatrical dramas Rabbit Hole and The Kentucky Cycle, and the opera Die Fledermaus.

The Frederick R. Weisman Museum of Art, open six days a week and free of admission charge, presents California art from the Frederick R. Weisman Art Foundation, an exhibition of 19th-century academic realism from the Dahesh Museum of Art, and plein-air Malibu landscapes and seascapes by members of the California Art Club.

Please see the complete schedule, below, for more information about these and other Pepperdine Center for the Arts performances and exhibitions.

Tickets are available by calling (310) 506-4522 from 12 noon to 5 p.m., Monday through Friday, and two hours prior to shows. Tickets to all events are also available through Ticketmaster at (800) 982-ARTS (2787).

Parking is available next to the theatre for a $5 fee and in the lower lot with shuttle service at no charge. All programs and artists are subject to change.

Pepperdine University is located at 24255 Pacific Coast Highway in Malibu, CA. More information: http://arts.pepperdine.edu