Juanita K. Hammons Hall for the Performing Arts

Juanita K. Hammons Hall for the Performing Arts is the realization of a dream that began more than 25 years ago - to conceive, create and construct a state-of-the-art performing arts center to serve the needs of Springfield and the surrounding region. The Hall is named for the wife of well-known developer, entrepreneur and philanthropist John Q. Hammons, in recognition of their major donation to the venue’s capital campaign. Since its gala opening in October of 1992, Juanita K. Hammons Hall for the Performing Arts has met and exceeded the expectations of arts enthusiasts.

Located on the campus of Missouri State University in Springfield, Missouri, Juanita K. Hammons Hall regularly attracts patrons from southern and central Missouri, northern Arkansas, and eastern Kansas and Oklahoma. The venue features a 2,215-seat theatre including multi-level boxes and orchestra pit; spacious backstage facilities with individual, crew and chorus dressing rooms, cast lounge, green room, loading dock and break areas; expansive multi-level foyer-style lobby; public and private reception areas; full-service front-of-house, technical and support staff; on-site computerized box office; and 5-level parking garage adjacent to the building.

Hammons Hall presents a full season which includes touring Broadway musical productions, single performances covering the gamut of entertainment from classical music to jazz to dance to theatre, children’s shows, and an emerging concert artists recital series. In keeping with Hammons Hall’s mission to serve the student population, Missouri State University concerts, recitals and lectures are also a part of the season’s schedule. The Springfield Symphony Orchestra has presented their concert season in the Hall since the venue opened in 1992; other community arts organizations perform in the Hall and/or partner with the Hall to present performances by touring artists, and the Springfield Visual Arts Alliance and Springfield Public Schools have ongoing art exhibitions hanging in the Hall’s lobby gallery spaces. To complete each season, the Hall is available for rental to touring companies, for concerts, conferences and large-scale receptions.

The amazing variety of artists who have “trod the boards” at Hammons Hall include Broadway greats Robert Goulet, Carol Channing, Theodore Bikel and the casts of Cats Les Miserables, Miss Saigon, Riverdance and Hairspray; entertainers Marvin Hamlisch, Judy Collins, Gregory Hines, The Smothers Brothers, Bonnie Raitt, Hal Holbrook, Lou Rawls, The Chieftains, Jim Brickman, Ray Charles and Jerry Seinfeld; classical artists from the New York City Opera, the BBC Philharmonic, and the St. Louis Symphony; jazz greats Maynard Ferguson, Wynton Marsalis, John Pizzarelli and Diane Schuur ; a whole roster of talented dancers, rock stars, comics, children’s performers – and even the magic of David Copperfield!