REIMAGINE. RE-EMERGE. The fourth season of Pablo Center at the Confluence's performance programming features Rent, the legendary Broadway musical that will be performed at the RCU Theatre Nov. 22. (Photo by Amy Boyle)

Reimagine what literary, performing, and visual art performances look like with the Pablo Center at the Confluence’s upcoming season, Re-Imagine | Re-Emerge. 

This dazzling season consists of previously announced performances slated from season two and three (which were postponed as a result of COVID-19), as well as the addition of over 110 new performances and exhibits, totaling more than 400 performing, literary, and visual events. 

Nothing sums up the season quite like the words of Wisconsin Poet Laureate Dasha Kelly Hamilton, who penned the poem “By Definition” to mark the metamorphic occasion of the Pablo Center’s reawakening:

”

The movement of air is caused by difference 

The phenomenon of wind ensures the possibility of life 

Life is an accounting of exhales and held breaths 

Breaths we all push forward, push out, point skyward

Together.

STOMP AROUND.  STOMP is one of three Broadway specials slated to hit Eau Claire for the first time this season. (Photo by Steve Nicholas)

Highlights of the season include three Broadway productions: Rent, Waitress, and STOMP – the first Broadway specials to come to Eau Claire – as well as the Smithsonian Institute Traveling Exhibition, “The Bias Inside Us.” 

“Season 4 is the most ambitious undertaking for Pablo Center to date,” Executive Director Jason Jon Anderson said in a media release. “We are so excited to welcome everyone back as our guests this fall for what we do best: live, in-person events.”

BRINGING ARTS, MUSIC, AND CULTURE TO LIFE. Season four also features Them Coulee Boys, a local band that recently announced its new album release, Namesake. (Submitted photo)

Local and regional residents can enjoy spectacular shows like the Eau Claire International Film Festival on Oct. 1-3, hometown hero Phil Cook with Grammy winner Mavis Staples on Nov. 17, a concert by popular bluegrass band Them Coulee Boys (featuring music from their new album!) on Nov. 26, Wisconsin comedian and social media star Charlie Berens on Dec. 11-12, and former The Voice competitor Chris Kroeze on Dec. 17, among others. 

The list of top-notch performers include long-standing favorites such as Lorie Line, George Winston, Tonic Sol-Fa, Gaelic Storm, and John Mueller’s Winter Dance Party; tributes to legends such as Patsy Cline, John Prine, Steely Dan, Simon & Garfunkel, and Aretha Franklin; classical and jazz performances by the likes of Jazz at Lincoln Center with Wynton Marsalis, the Glenn Miller Orchestra, the Pro Arte Quartet, and Eunice Kim; comedy from the Found Footage Festival, Bill Engvall, and Whose Live Anyway?

Memberships, which guarantee early ticket access, are on sale now beginning at $55 a year. Contributions support the nonprofit’s dedication to the arts, as well as the Pablo Center’s community outreach, educational programming, and local creative economy. 

Tickets go on sale beginning on Aug. 4 at 10am through 715-832-ARTS (2787) or email info@pablocenter.org. More information is available at pablocenter.org.