WILL SEBERGER/Arizona Daily Wildcat Ken Foster, executive director of UApresents, announces the UApresents 2003-2004 lineup.

The U Theatre of Taiwan. "Jesus Christ Superstar." The Merce Cunningham Dance Company. Def Poetry Jam. Eugenia Le—n. "Riverdance."

You may never have heard of any of these performing acts. You may have heard of some and not others. If you do recognize a few, you also realize just how diverse these acts really are. You may wonder what they're even doing on the same page.

They are all part of the UApresents lineup for the 2003-2004 year.

UApresents is the company behind the performances at Centennial Hall throughout the school year. The company is part of the University of Arizona's Division of Campus Life, but actually only receives 7 percent of its funding from the university; the rest comes from ticket sales and outside donors.

Last Monday, UApresents revealed next season's calendar. Ken Foster, the director, took some time to chat about the company and its goals.

Wildcat: What was the most popular act this year so far?

Foster: "Mamma Mia" will no doubt sell the most tickets. Also, "Les Mis" and "Blast" were popular. Many shows had incredibly enthusiastic audiences with standing ovations and multiple encores.

Wildcat: Did you notice a difference in enthusiasm this year as opposed to previous years?

Foster: That is a really good question. Tucson audiences are always enthusiastic; it's kind of a running joke that they stand for anything and everything. Of course, I've never heard an artist complain about a standing ovation. It feels to me as if people are responding more intensely, not just like, oh that was nice. We had Urban Bush Women come a few weeks ago, and they (the audience) were just hysterical in their response. It seems like there have been more of those types of occasions this year. I think it has something to do with the world situation; people really want to be happy about something.

Wildcat: Do you go to every performance?

Foster: I go to every performance if I'm in town. Of course, I don't go to every performance of "Les Mis" and those type of things.

Wildcat: Could you describe the process of finding acts for a year?

Foster: Sure. The process is kind of a rolling one. One part is me always seeing artists, and always seeing work, and always knowing about them, even if they're not going to happen next year. Some of these artists I've known about for five years or more, and it's only now that it's been able to work out. Logistically, I go to three separate booking conferences, one in June, one in September, and one in January, and at each one of them, I find out who's going to be on tour; there's an opportunity for me to talk with their agents, find out who's coming to the West. At that point, I'm already knowing something about what I want for the year, what series we are going to do. For instance, next year we are doing a series called "Peace and Reconciliation." So I looked for artists who were more spiritually based and peace-based. So, when choosing, I'm like, "OK, you're doing ballet, which we're not going to do this year, but you're doing world music, which is something we're interested in." I start the process in June and begin to narrow it down until January, based on schedules, who I think is going to be good, who I think will sell tickets, who I think people will want to see · then it's a matter of doing all the contracts.

Wildcat: So, is it just you who has input on what is actually selected?

FOSTER: Dozens of people have input, in terms of I have a committee that meets every month of people who attend a lot of events; mostly what they do is evaluate what we're currently doing, saying this was good, this was not good, this is why, this is not why. And I get that feedback. And obviously the staff gives me a lot of feedback. I have an advisory board that gives me feedback, and people are always coming up to me and saying, "Oh, I think you should do this." So I get input, but I am the only one who makes the decision. It ultimately comes down to my decision.

Wildcat: Is there someplace or someway that the community can request specific acts?

Foster: They can always email me or send me a letter. But one of the things that we're trying to do · we haven't quite got it working yet · is a service provider on the Web site. We're going to try to get it set up so that there's a chat opportunity, or an input opportunity, where you can go in and say "Hey, I think that you should do this," "Hey, this was really a crappy show, I can't believe you brought it in there," or "This was the most amazing thing I've ever seen; please bring it back." We'd like to create more of that kind of a dialogue.

WILDCAT: Which act for next year do you expect to be the most successful?

Foster: Well, the big hit in there is "The Producers," the Broadway musical. We also have five other Broadway shows. But there is a lot of stuff in there that people will recognize and like.

Wildcat: What is the goal of UApresents in general?

Foster: Our mission really is to connect our community, and by community, I mean the campus community as well as the broader community, to a whole range of performing arts experiences, from Broadway musicals to classical music to performance art to contemporary dance to everything in between. Because we are on the university campus, we have a sort of real educational mission, in the sense that, what we do looks to a lot of people like the entertainment biz. I constantly hear, "Why don't you bring in this rap star, or that rock band, or this comedian?" And my answer is that, in general, although sometimes we'll sort of drift in that direction a bit, the educational aspect and artistic aspect of what the artist is doing is more important than how popular they are. We have a real strong sense of diversity that we uphold. Obviously diversity of culture within the states, but also international work, diversity of artistic expression, from classic to contemporary to traditional, and diversity of art form. We really have a mission to bring a whole world of performing arts to this community and this campus.