Interview: Kravis Center's Lee Bell Talks Kravis @ Home

Until the curtain rises again, the Kravis Center for the Performing Arts in West Palm Beach is entertaining its patrons with Kravis @ Home featuring a curated selection of virtual concerts, lectures, dance performances and arts educations activities, as well as original programs and presentations.

Lee Bell, Senior Director of Programming at the Kravis Center, talks to BroadwayWorld about this virtual initiative!

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Why did you decide to create Kravis @ Home?

Kravis @ Home is our way of staying engaged with the community while we are officially closed to the public. After our closure due to the pandemic, our staff personally called ticket holders and their feedback has been so positive and supportive. We are thankful to our loyal patrons and want to continue to stay engaged with them until we are able to welcome them back to the Center for live performances. Kravis @ Home allows us to offer free entertainment to anyone in the world that they can enjoy from the comfort of their own couch!

What offerings are being shown on the digital stage?

We have something for everyone, including children. Our Kravis @ Home line-up features a selection of curated virtual concerts, lectures, original performances and arts education activities. We update our digital stage every Friday, so the content is always changing! The best part is they are free and can be accessed anytime from anywhere.

Can you give us some examples?

A few of the performances and concerts have included Alvin Ailey American Dance Theater, Jazz at Lincoln Center, the Chicago Symphony Orchestra, guitarist Gyorgy Lakatos and Japanese dance troupe Enra. From the Kravis Center's Lunch & Learn Series, we have lectures featured HAMILTON: THE MAN, THE MYTH AND THE LEGEND, presented by historian Dr. Robert Watson; as well as SEXUAL HEALING: AN INTIMATE CONVERSATION WITH Dr. Ruth Westheimer. Many of these were past Kravis Center performances, so it's a great opportunity for those who might have missed the original live event. Guests can wear their pajamas and grab a front row seat on their couch, if they like!

What options do you have for children?

We are featuring an array of engaging experiences for children including DOG MAN: THE MUSICAL, based on the bestselling books series by Dav Pilkey; THE HAMILTON EDUCATION PROGRAM, an in-depth journey back to the founding era while learning how to create your own Broadway's HAMILTON inspired piece; and for children 12 and older, we have the study guide for the Broadway sensation WICKED. Coming in June, we will have LEARN & PLAY, a Kravis professional storytelling series catered to 3 to 5-year-olds. These are just a few of the family-friendly options available.

What do you have coming up?

We continuously update the content for Kravis @ Home so there's always something new to experience. We are so excited to have two concerts coming up that are exclusive to the Kravis Center. The first is pianist Bill Mays, who will be performing from his home in New York City. For Kravis @ Home he will be teasing some of his songs that he will perform at the Kravis Center next season. The other is from Latin pop musician Gina Chavez who performed as part of our PEAK series this past season. Check our website for more details.

How can Kravis @ Home be accessed?

All of our Kravis @ Home virtual offerings can be found on our website at kravis.org/athome We look forward to welcoming everyone to the Center again in the future. In the meantime, we hope this brings many smiles in the midst of such a difficult and trying time.

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