Las Vegas Academy Theatre

This review will be about the Lowden theater located on the Las Vegas Academy campus. I attended the Advanced Orchestra Festival for all CCSD students in high school yesterday. My daughter has been part of high school orchestra since she was in the 6^th grade and this is her senior year!
The theater is absolutely gorgeous and the acoustics are spot on. I sat on the second row from the stage so I could easily view and video my daughter. The theater is large enough to hold 750 seats including permanently installed seats and additional seating. The theater opened in 2005 and is used primarily for the LVA orchestra and classes. My daughter did audition for this school and was accepted however she chose to attend school closer to home. Her orchestra put on a fantastic concert and they received a superior rating!
I plan on attending future concerts in this theater! The kids that attend this school are very lucky to have such great venues to perform in whether it be singing, dancing, playing in a band or orchestra or acting!

What a great venue. Came here for a training for CCSD so the experience wasn’t for the best reason but was still good. It was slightly warm in the theater and made it slightly uncomfortable.

This is a great program for kids with an interest in the performing arts. I had heard about their performances before so was curious when I saw they had a guitar Christmas show performing the Trans Siberian Orchestra.
The kids are pros and they had all grades performing in separate groups. So much potential, it’s great to see these types of programs still exist for those with the aptitude.
If you have the opportunity to see these kids in action. I highly recommend it.

Parking can be tight, so arrive early.
This review is for the old, original theatre not the beautiful new one.
I’m an alumni of the original LVHS on 7^th and Bridger, so I was looking forward to visit my old stomping grounds. I’d forgotten how few parking spaces there are and didn’t realize there was so much road construction. Good news is that it was a bright, sunny day and i have to admit I enjoyed walking the block.
Despite looking aged, I have good memories of this auditorium and am giving it a nostalgic 4-​stars. Go Wildcats!

This is a review for the LVA theatre itself, not the school in general.
Having been a pupil here for all 4 years myself (went here for art although I double-​majored into Japanese for one year during my junior year), I make it my goal to support my school as much as possible. I’ve seen a performing arts show at least once for every year that I attended LVA, and was perhaps one of the few non-​performing arts majors (especially art majors) to do so (half of the art kids somehow just didn’t care much for musicals). I continued seeing shows at this place long after graduation, simply because I enjoy the quality performances – plus they’re affordable, too!
I remember the ticket prices being $ 65+ to see Hairspray at the Luxor, back then when Hairspray was still here. However, at LVA, it costed less than 20 bucks to see the production with the same amount of quality. These kids perform at near Juilliard-​level, so that’s saying a lot.
With that said, for all the times I went, the theatre kids never disappoint. Their productions are always top-​notch and even rival those on the strip. They really are the best in the school district, so if you can, become a benefactor by signing up for their season subscriptions or so. But even without doing so, the prices are still dirt cheap compared to seeing a production in any of the Vegas strip hotels.
They’ve done a lot of big-​name productions in the past, including but not limited to:
Les Misérables (school edition)
Beauty & The Beast
Thoroughly Modern Millie!
Miss Saigon (school edition – and yes, they even included the infamous helicopter scene!)
Sweeney Todd
CATS
Elephant Man
etc.
And of course, let’s not forget the controversial ‘Laramie Project’, a play about a Wyoming college student who was brutally beaten to death for being gay. Westboro Baptist Church (yes, THOSE folks) actually came to LVA to protest. Yep. This all happened back in 2004, way before I became a student of LVA. But I heard that the student body handled it pretty well, and they were all over the news.
(Westboro Baptist Church game back to Vegas again a couple of years later, this time to protest at UNLV for… something. But that’s not relevant here.)
This just goes to show that LVA kids aren’t afraid to go big and get bold – not just only by headlining some of the most popular productions out there, but in also handling sensitive matters such as the Laramie Project or Elephant Man. These kids are mature for their age, and they will go far in the future and succeed in the business.
In short, every penny spent seeing any of their shows is worth it and helps in keeping the dying arts scene alive here in Las Vegas.
(P.S. sometimes the art department will do a collaboration with the theatre department. During intermissions, I highly recommend checking out the adjacent art gallery in the lobby. LVA did a Sweeney Todd-​themed art show once and it was awesome. However, I also suggest that you DO NOT touch any of the displays. This occurred before but it was during a different production, and the art department was doing their own thing at the same time. No faculty from the art department was there, and the gallery not yet ready to cleaned up until the next day. Yet the interference by theatre patrons made both the pupils and art teachers very upset that their artwork as well as gallery set-​up became ruined the day after. That’s just rude, and no one has permission to touch the fragile displays unless stated otherwise.)

I was lucky enough to go to LVA from 1994 – 98. It was an amazing experience and shaped my life moving forward. It was such a pleasant experience to go to a school where everyone can be who they want to be. No one is weird or outcast because everyone is accepted as who they are. I wish all schools had the same atmosphere.
I actually went to LVA for the or orchestra music program, so I spent a lot of time in the theater for rehearsals and concerts. It is a great theater and a good place for students to hone their craft, whichever it may be.

My good friend, Matt, has a son who’s an acting major at Las Vegas Academy. Yes, our fair city has its very own «Fame» high school for the performing arts. I had the pleasure of seeing «Our Town» last year and most recently, «Oklahoma!» Both productions were staged in the school’s theatre, which is just the right, intimate size for each patron to be able to see and hear the wonderful performances by the students. There is an art gallery adjacent to the lobby where guests can view pieces produced by the students, as well as a snack bar in the lobby for before the show and during intermissions.
Suffice it to say, the theatre would be nothing without the students who attend LVA. From the orchestra, to the set décor and lighting, to the performers themselves, these students will blow you away with the level of talent that they exhibit. With their dancing, singing, and acting, it’s not hard to imagine that these young adults are destined for big things. I highly recommend seeing a performance here if you get the chance and support the kids – I’m sure you’ll be as impressed as I always am. Bravo!
Shameless plug: «Oklahoma!» is still being performed for the next two weekends of Feb. 28 and March 7 – tickets are only $ 18. See «Surrey with the Fringe on Top» performed live! Much better than Billy Crystal’s karaōke version in «When Harry Met Sally» (although that is one of my favorite movies.)

this school’s JAZZ PROGRAM IS AMAZING! Grammy-​Award Winning FABULOUS!

The Las Vegas Academy Theatre is the performing arts wing of the Las Vegas Academy of International Studies, Performing and Visual Arts. The students have an excellent program of theatre and musical performances. The school has a national reputation. They have been asked to premier the high school version of such musicals as Miss Saigon and Sweeney Todd.
The school was established in 1993 and it has approximately 300 theatre and technical theatre majors. The Academy has three theatres – a black box, the Lowden Theatre for the Performing Arts, and the Las Vegas Academy Performing Arts Center.
The school in downtown Las Vegas is a magnet for students with an interest in pursuing a theatre career.
Check out the season offerings by looking at the website. They do a fine job!