SPECIAL Events

PAST EVENTS

It’s The Most Wonderful Time of the Year, so come celebrate the season with music. Shelia Jackson & Friends annual Christmas concert will bring jazz, Broadway, & classic Christmas songs to Opelika on Saturday, December 9, at the Opelika Center for the Performing Arts.  Throughout the years Shelia has gathered the community of Troy to participate, both on stage, and in the audience, in this beloved event. This year East Alabama Arts is helping you get into the Holiday Spirit by hosting the annual Christmas Concert here in Opelika.

Tickets are $15 in advance and $20 at the door. You may purchase tickets online or over the phone with a credit or debit card, or at various local churches with cash or check. You can also visit us at our office, 1103 Glenn Street, to buy tickets.

We’ll Meet Again 2023 Southern Tour

This new musical theater sensation features 1930’s and 1940’s era music, including many of the most popular songs and swing dances of WWII with such classics as “Boogie Woogie Bugle Boy,” “I’ll Be Seeing You,” and “Juke Box Saturday Night,” while also incorporates several lovely Jewish and Hebrew songs intimately integrated into the story, including the favorite “Hava Nagila.”

A patriotic and life-affirming story, WE’LL MEET AGAIN is inspired by the life of Henry Stern and his family’s remarkable odyssey and narrow escape from Germany, their immigration to America, and their integration and settlement in Alabama. In 1937, then 5-year-old Heinz Stern, and his family escaped Nazi Germany, leaving behind family, friends, and everything familiar.

They were welcomed with open arms to the small town of Opelika, Alabama. Henry’s family found love and acceptance and, in return, Henry became a true American original. He even earned the title “Mr. Opelika.” For more than 60 years, Henry Stern continued to search the United States for other family members who survived the Holocaust.

“Our hope in creating this show is to capture the essence of what America has meant to the world in our best moments – love of family, love of country, welcoming others into our culture, and striving and succeeding together as a community,” said playwright Jim Harris. WE’LL MEET AGAIN is the second musical written by the team of Harris and Hayes. 

Their first collaboration was CIVIL WAR VOICES, which was created and written by Alabama playwright James R. Harris, with music arrangements and orchestrations by Mark Hayes. Vocal arrangements and orchestrations for WE’LL MEET AGAIN are created by Mark Hayes, who is an award-winning concert pianist, composer, arranger, and conductor of international renown.

Barter Theatre, Abingdon, Virginia, with Richard Rose as Producing Artistic Director, helped to develop and premiere CIVIL WAR VOICES and successfully produced the National Tour, with several performances in Alabama. The show has had celebrated productions in New York and at regional theatres around the U.S.

WE’LL MEET AGAIN was developed, in part, by the world-famous Barter Theatre, the State Theater of Virginia.  It received its world premiere, directed by Richard Rose, in 2022 at Historic Savannah Theatre in Savannah, Georgia and as part of the East Alabama Arts Performance Series in Opelika, Alabama.  The initial run was highly successful, with enthusiastic audiences cheering with standing ovations at every performance.

This Southern Tour of WE’LL MEET AGAIN is made possible by highly renowned Auburn basketball Coach Bruce Pearl and his wife, Brandy, who experienced the premiere at the Opelika Center for the Performing Arts.

“That night, we were treated to something we really weren’t expecting,” enthusiastically stated Coach Pearl. “We laughed and we cried. We enjoyed the music and the dancing. We were filled with great pride and happiness about the greatest country in the world that we love so dearly.”

Saying, “’WE’LL MEET AGAIN,’ is a uniquely entertaining, uplifting, and edifying experience,” Director Richard Rose shared his favorite quote about the show from a patron, who called the show, “A great beam of light shining on the beauty and potential of the American spirit.

”To purchase tickets to the preview performance in Opelika on August 28, call 334.749.8105 or click the button below to purchase from our secure online store.

To support “We’ll Meet Again” with a tax-deductable contribution please click the “support” link below.

To read more at the Official “We’ll Meet Again” website, click the button below.

Current Tour Dates

Opelika, AL | August 28, 2023 | (334) 749-8105 | Buy Tickets button above
Opelika Center for the Performing Arts at Opelika High School

Auburn, AL | August 30 & 31, 2023 | SOLD OUT
Gogue Performing Arts Center

Decatur, AL | September 6 & 7, 2023 | 256-350-1745 | Buy Tickets
Princess Theatre

Florence, AL | September 8, 2023 | 256.765.4559 | arts@una.edu
Buy Tickets | Norton Auditorium

Mountain Brook, AL | September 9 & 10, 2023 |Buy Tickets
Mountain Brook Fine Arts Center

Athens, GA | September 14, 2023 | 706.357.4444 | Buy Tickets
The Classic Center

Enterprise, AL | September 19 & 20, 2023 | 334.406.2787 | Buy Tickets
Enterprise Performing Arts Center at Enterprise High School

Brewton, AL | September 21, 2023 | 251.363.0176 | Buy Tickets
Woodfin Patterson Auditorium

Mobile, AL | September 22 & 23, 2023 |Buy Tickets button above
Davidson High School

Montgomery, AL | September 26, 2023 | 334.481.5100 | Buy Tickets
Montgomery Performing Arts Center

“From Page to Stage”

EAA OPen Book hosts a conversation and Q&A with playwright and director

East Alabama Arts Open Book is hosting a special interview and Q&A with Playwright James Harris and Director Richard Rose exploring how ideas became words on paper, dialogue for actors, and then works for the stage. The conversation, led by Open Book’s Melaine Bennett Jones, will focus particularly on the creative, research, and production processes that have culminated in a new musical theatre experience that is already resonating with so many people.

The even is free and open to the public.

• Tuesday, August 22

• Wine and Cheese reception begins at 5:30 pm

• Program begins at 6 pm

• Location at Southside Center for the Art5s, 1103 Glenn Street, Opelika.

To confirm attendance, email petrina@eastalabamaarts.org.