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Greenwood Lander Performing Arts Announces New Season at Annual Meeting

new GLPA board members
Greenwood Lander Performing Arts welcomed new board members Joyce Nickles and Tom Wood at its annual meeting. From left: David Lorenzatti, board president; Nickles; Wood and Dr. Robert Kelley, vice president/president elect. The third new board member, Dr. Sung Jae Park, is not pictured.

Greenwood Lander Performing Arts (GLPA) has announced its 2012-2013 season, which will include an appearance by the China National Symphony Orchestra in Lander University's Josephine B. Abney Cultural Center Auditorium.

That was one of the highlights of the GLPA's annual meeting on May 7 when the Board of Directors seated three new members. Greenwood residents Joyce Nickles, Tom Wood and Dr. Sung Jae Park, dean of International Programs at Lander, were named to the board succeeding two departing members and filling one vacancy.

Louise Robinson, day program director at Burton Center in Greenwood, completed two three-year terms on the board and, according to GLPA bylaws, could not be reappointed without remaining off the board for a year. Tom Nelson, assistant vice president for Academic Affairs at Lander, served one term and declined renomination.

The board also elected officers for the coming year. David Lorenzatti, of Savannah Lakes Village in McCormick, was re-elected president. Dr. Robert Kelley, associate professor of music at Lander, was elected vice president/president-elect and George Brockenbrough of Greenwood was re-elected treasurer. The position of secretary is still to be filled.

Lorenzatti reported that the just-concluded GLPA season was successful, but that ticket sales were somewhat sluggish. He said it might have been the result of the economic slowdown and other factors. He expressed gratitude to GLPA sponsors, donors and advertisers for their financial support that allows ticket prices to remain at reasonable levels. GLPA is also looking for new sponsors, and any company or organization that is interested can contact the office for more information.

Lorenzatti thanked Lander University for permitting GLPA to use the Abney Cultural Center Auditorium for its productions, and the university's technical crew, which handles lighting, sound and other technical needs of the performers.

Executive director Cecily Ferguson announced that GLPA will open its 66th season on Oct. 8 with a performance by bluegrass artists Dailey & Vincent. They will be followed on Nov. 19 by Ball in the House, a five-man a cappella vocal group, and the China National Symphony Orchestra in an exclusive South Carolina performance on Friday, Jan. 18, 2013.

Franc D'Ambrosio, who is best known as the longest-running star of Broadway's "Phantom of the Opera," will perform on Feb. 7.

The season will conclude with "Pirates of Penzance," performed by the New York Gilbert & Sullivan Players, the nation's pre-eminent Gilbert & Sullivan repertory company.

Ferguson said GLPA has begun selling season passes, which will include priority seating at all five shows, and an insulated Tervis Tumbler for each pass purchased. Passes are priced at $165 each; $150 for seniors and $140 for youth 18 and younger.

Season passes and tickets for individual shows can be obtained by calling Greenwood Lander Performing Arts at 864-388-8326.