AUDIO STORY: Cowan Center Announces New Season

By NATHAN WITT/Editor in Chief

Broadway musicals, live performances and a celebrity football commentator round out the 2023-2024 season for the UT Tyler Cowan Center. Cowan Center’s Susan Tomae-Morphew shares the details and hopes for this year’s season. This story was made in collaboration with UT Tyler Radio.

 

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Nathan Witt: For UT Tyler Radio, I’m sophomore Mass Communication student Nathan Witt. You might not wanna sit down for this. UT Tyler Cowan Center has just announced its 2023-2024 season, calling it “Get on Your Feet,” inspired by the musical of the same name, chronicling the story of Emilio and Gloria Esteban.

“Get on your feet. On your feet.”

Nathan Witt: I spoke with Susan Tomae-Morphew, the executive director of the Cowan Center. She says Tyler has always wanted it all.

Susan Tomae-Morphew: We’re always told that they can’t believe the caliber we bring, and we bring icons. We bring amazing, well-known talent and things people haven’t seen yet anywhere. Not Dallas, not anywhere.

So we’re always trying to bring new artists out. We want Tylerites to know that they can have everything right here at home.

Nathan Witt: New this year is an incentive program. For a limited time, anyone who subscribes for the next season is entered for a chance to win a $500 gift certificate redeemable for shows.

They’re also giving away a $100 gift certificate to current subscribers every single day until the event ends on June 23. Tomae-Morphew said with Tyler growing so much, this is the way of getting the word out to new Tyler residents. She added it’s not just an incentive program.

Susan Tomae-Morphew: It also is just fun to get people buzzing about it.

What’s coming? We’re telling everybody. Just invite about a few hundred of your closest friends to come to the Cowan Center and subscribe and let’s fill the house. That’s our motto this year.

Nathan Witt: Cowan Center aims to raise the bar year over year. And with this season, they think they’ve landed in the end zone, Texas being the heart of American football. What better icon to be this year’s distinguished lecturer than sports and TV personality Terry Bradshaw? Cowboys fans know him as a nemesis from his years as a Steelers’ quarterback. But most now know him as co-host of Emmy Award-winning pregame show, “Fox NFL Sunday.”

Terry Bradshaw is stepping off the field and making his way back to Tyler to talk humble beginnings, the journey of a Super Bowl champion and how he made it through it all.

Terry Bradshaw: If I could do anything in my life, if God says, Terry, I’m gonna start you over. What would you do? This is a story about my NFL career and life. When I was born in 1948, God made me a football player, and he gave me a strong arm. I like to throw that sucker deep.

Nathan Witt: It’s the season of powerful voices for UT Tyler’s Cowan Center. The crown jewel of this year’s big series is the legendary Rock and Roll singer Anne Wilson of Heart, joined on stage by Tripsitter.

Timeless legends and rising stars are taking the stage. This 2023-2024 season at the Cowan Center, the acapella music collective Voctave started as Disney employees and now racks up millions of views on covers of the most popular Disney songs.

Voctave: Look at the world around you right here on the ocean floor, things around you. You looking for the sea, the sea, darling.

Nathan Witt: The Kids at Night series is back this season at the Cowan Center, and if you’re not on your feet yet, “Madagascar The Musical” might be able to help you get it moving.

“I like to move it, move it. She likes to move it, move it.”

Nathan Witt: Celebrating 50 years of performances, the award-winning musical “Jesus Christ Superstar” takes the stage at the Cowan Center in a brand new way. The script and music are the same, but the set and wardrobe have a completely new modernized look: hoodies, tank tops and tennis shoes instead of robes and sandals.

The schedule also includes “The Barricade Boys,” a musical mashup group, “Sing & Swing, A Jazz at Lincoln Center Presents Production,” Illuminate, which is a dance group in the dark with light-up costumes. “Come From Away,” an emotional true story about planes in the air during the 9/11 attacks. Craig Morgan with his memoir, “God, Family, Country”; Kenny Wayne Shepherd Band, most known for his hit song, “Blue on Black”; “A Charlie Brown Christmas,” based on the animated TV special, and “Pete’s Big Hollywood Adventure,” a musical inspired by the children’s book series, Pete The Cat, and “CharlottePho’s Web” based on E.B. White’s book of the same name.

There was a sense of excitement in the room present during the announcement, not just about the new season, but about the growth of Tyler in general. Susan Tomae-Morphew says the city is getting behind the arts community, and she hopes to see the Cowan Center be at the forefront of that effort.

Susan Tomae-Morphew: It’s just a really good time to be at UT Tyler. We’re really going to grow and have more presence as an arts community in Tyler. And I think that’s gonna make a difference long term, especially as we grow with our medical school and grow with just all the people moving to town. Tyler is happening.

Nathan Witt: This is the Cowan Center’s 27th season of live performances and third season back since returning from the COVID-19 lockdowns. Susan Tomae-Morphew says she feels like it was just yesterday. There is still some hesitancy for people returning to large events, but Tomae-Morphew says the crowds are growing and things are going back to normal.

You may have noticed the next season only has one distinguished speaker instead of the usual two. That’s a response to the community according to Tomae-Morphew. She’s the one who fields all the suggestions and donors, and fans seem to want more musicals and dynamic performances. You can find out more about the Cowan Center’s upcoming season and purchase . Or check out our Events page to see what events are coming up at the Cowan Center. And while you’re at it, invite a hundred of your closest friends. For UT Tyler Radio, I’m sophomore Mass Communication student Nathan Witt.

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