Long Center for the Performing Arts: Opening the house before it opens

Sure, you could wait until the end of March to get your first taste of the Long Center for the Performing Arts, but why? – when the center is throwing wide its doors this weekend for four days of performances and tours of the facility, all free. Thursday through Sunday, the new cultural venue at Riverside and South First is inviting all of Austin down to see the center's 2,400-seat Dell Hall, 240-seat Rollins Studio Theatre, and open-air City Terrace facing Lady Bird Lake and to enjoy performances in all these spaces as part of its Sneak Peek Weekend. Grupo Fantasma, the Tosca String Quartet, Will Taylor & Strings Attached, and Mundi will perform as part of the festivities, as will the Austin Poetry Slam, Austin Shakespeare Festival, Refraction Arts, Austin Lyric Opera, Aztlan Dance Company, Teatro Vivo, Austin Classical Guitar Society, Tex-ARTS, Capital City Men's Chorus, Pollyanna Theatre Company, ProArts Collective, the Austin Symphony Woodwind Quintet, the Tami Wolfe Duo, the Brewery Troupe, the Chord Rangers, and Hanayagi Dance Academy. And special guests MASS Ensemble from Los Angeles will stretch extremely long strings across the City Terrace, transforming the center into a giant stringed instrument, an Earth Harp. A schedule for the open house follows. Note: Although all performances and tours are free, some events require tickets due to seating capacities in the performance halls.

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The Long Center for the Performing Arts Sneak Peek Weekend will take place March 6-9, Thursday-Friday, 6-10pm; Saturday-Sunday, 10am-12mid, at the Long Center, 701 W. Riverside. For more information, call 474-LONG or visit www.thelongcenter.org.

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Thursday March 6

6-10pm Building tours

8pm MASS Ensemble: Earth Harp (City Terrace)

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Friday March 7

6-10pm Building tours

8pm MASS Ensemble: Earth Harp (City Terrace)

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Saturday March 8

10am-noon Building tours

11:30am MASS Ensemble: Earth Harp (City Terrace)

Noon The Brewery Troupe's "Crowtations" (Dell Hall)

Austin Classical Guitar Society (Rollins Theatre)

12:15pm The Chord Rangers (City Terrace)

1:15-2:15pm Building tours

1:15 MASS Ensemble: Earth Harp (City Terrace)

2:15pm Austin Poetry Slam featuring NeoSoul (City Terrace)

2:45pm Ballet Austin II (Dell Hall)

ProArts Collective (Rollins Theatre)

3-5pm Building tours

4pm MASS Ensemble: Earth Harp (City Terrace)

4:45pm Tami Wolfe Duo (City Terrace)

5:30pm Austin Chamber Music Center featuring the Tosca String Quartet

Refraction Arts (Rollins Theatre)

6:45-7:45pm Building tours

6:45pm Capital City Men's Chorus (City Terrace)

8:15pm MASS Ensemble: Art Show (Dell Hall)

Aztlan Dance Company (Rollins Theatre)

9:15pm Will Taylor & Strings Attached (City Terrace)

10pm-12mid Building tours

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Sunday March 9

10am-noon Building tours

11:30am MASS Ensemble: Earth Harp (City Terrace)

Noon Hanayagi Dance Academy (Dell Hall)

Austin Lyric Opera Singers (Rollins Theatre)

1pm The Brewery Troupe's "The Crowtations" (City Terrace)

1:15-2:15pm Building tours

2:15pm Mice & Rifles (City Terrace)

2:45pm Austin Symphony Orchestra's Woodwind Quintet (Dell Hall)

Pollyanna Theatre Company (Rollins Theatre)

3:45pm MASS Ensemble: Earth Harp (City Terrace)

4-5pm Building tours

4:45pm Mundi (City Terrace)

5:30pm Tex-ARTS (Dell Hall)

Teatro Vivo (Rollins Theatre)

6:45-7:45pm Building tours

7pm MASS Ensemble: Earth Harp (City Terrace)

8:15pm Grupo Fantasma (Dell Hall)

Austin Shakespeare Festival (Rollins Theatre)

9:15-10pm Building tours