Celebrating optimism and resiliency, finding wonder in the world around us and exploring nature are themes woven throughout the Brooks Center for the Performing Arts’ 2026–2027 Family Series.
Designed for young audiences and their adults, the Family Series offers high-quality performances in a comfortable, engaging and welcoming environment. Performances are shorter than most Brooks Center productions, typically lasting 45 minutes to an hour. Audiences are welcome to move around or come and go as needed. Wiggles and giggles are part of the experience.
“For many of our audience members, this might be their first-ever theatre experience,” said Sarah Edison, Managing Director of the Brooks Center. “We want to ensure that the memory is special and lays the groundwork for a lifetime of performing arts involvement.”
These performances are designed to engage the audience and often encourage interaction. Families can arrive as early as one hour before each performance to participate in activities. Tickets are intentionally priced lower than those for other Brooks Center series.
What Would You Do With a Problem?
The season opens September 27, 2026, with Inlet Dance Theatre’s dance-theater adaptation of Kobi Yamada’s award-winning children’s book What Do You Do With a Problem?
Featuring narration and a backdrop inspired by Mae Besom’s illustrations for the book, the production brings Yamada’s story to life through movement and visual storytelling. The Cleveland, Ohio-based Inlet Dance Theatre has its roots in American modern dance and previously adapted What Do You Do With an Idea?, the first book in Yamada’s What You Do Matters series.
The Brooks Center performance marks the first stop on the production’s national tour, which continues with engagements at the Gaillard Center, the Gogue Performing Arts Center, Playhouse Square’s Mimi Ohio Theatre and the University of Notre Dame, among others.
Paperhand Puppet Project
In January, the Brooks Center will welcome North Carolina-based Paperhand Puppet Project for a weeklong residency that includes a Family Series performance sponsored by Jim and Sue Null of Clemson Downs.
For more than two decades, Paperhand Puppet Project has created giant puppets, masks, shadow plays and other spectacles using materials like papier-mâché, cardboard, bamboo, house paint and cloth. The company will present A World of Wonder on January 24, 2027, featuring some of its best-loved puppets from across its history and celebrating the wild wisdom of the natural world.
Birds of a Feather
Photo courtesy of Arts on the Horizon. Photo by Ryan Maxwell Photography.
The series concludes May 15, 2027, with a special partnership between the Brooks Center and the South Carolina Botanical Garden. The Brooks Center will produce Joshua Rashon Streeter’s Birds of a Feather, with two performances at the Botanical Garden Amphitheater.
Told entirely through movement and music, without dialogue, the production is designed to engage even the youngest audience members. The story encourages audiences to explore the outdoors and learn more about the winged residents of the South Carolina Botanical Garden. The production features two Clemson Performing Arts alumni, Lauren French ’15 and Austin Taylor ’21, in lead roles.
“We are thrilled to welcome them back to the Brooks Center as professionals in the field,” said Sarah Edison.
Bill and Donna Eskridge sponsor the performances. Additionally, the Eskridges are benefactors of the Eskridge Tri-ART Series, which provides free and low-cost performances for K-12 students. Each Family Series performance this season is also presented as part of the Tri-ART Series.
Make Plans to Attend
For tickets and information about the 2026–2027 Family Series, please visit the Brooks Center website at clemson.edu/brooks. Tickets for the Family Series are $25 for adults and $15 for students and children. Tickets for Birds of a Feather at the South Carolina Botanical Garden are $10 for general admission. Current Clemson University faculty, staff and Emeritus faculty receive a 10% discount on Family Series ticket purchases with CUID.
