Peace Center For Performing Arts

I do love a Peace Center experience. If you plan well enough, you can eat dinner or grab a drink at Genevieve’s within the Peace Center. Or, you can grab a drink and snack at one of the lobby bars. Remember though, that unless you are in a box, you can’t take anything but bottled water inside the theater. You can prepay for drinks and get them at intermission, too, which is an awesome time saver.
I don’t think there is a bad seat in the house and the Peace Center attendants are always willing and happy to get you there!

The Peace Center in downtown Greenville is an excellent place to see a show. A couple thousand seats, and they pull Broadway shows pretty regularly.
There are always a couple merchandise tables for the troupe to sell their gear in the center, lots of restaurants nearby to eat before the show, and they have a small bar in the show to grab a drink before you go in to sit down.
There are just two things holding back the fifth star in my opinion. One is the fact that you cannot take any food or drink into the theater with you. I understand that they don’t want to deal with spills or anything, but it would be nice to be able to take a beer in to enjoy during the show. The other is that the rows are very close together to accommodate more people, so getting into your seat if you are in the middle is a hassle, and expect to stand a lot or cramp yourself in order to let people by if you have an end seat.
A nice large stage with vibrant acoustics make for an awesome experience, whether you are there to see The Book of Mormon to laugh your ass off or enjoy the interesting improvised percussion of the Blue Man Group.
You will definitely be entertained!

The Peace Center performing arts complex is ONE JEWEL in Greenville’s crown an an arts destination! During December the Peace Center hosted several performances that surely enhanced the JOY of the season. We chose to attend the Greenville Symphony’s «Holiday at Peace» program. Kudos to Maestro Tchivzhel and the GSO for bringing an outstanding program together to add to our joy during the Christmas season.
Guest performers joining the GSO were Gary Mauer and Beth Southard (husband and wife) who have extensive credentials as star performers on stage… among other things both starred on Broadway in Phantom of the Opera, she as Christine. Their voices are wonderfully matched to give superb vocal performances together. And my wife thinks Beth is an absolute virtuoso with a most beautiful clear soprano voice. I’ll defer to her opinion… I just thoroughly enjoyed both of them. The symphony and guest vocalists were joined by ballet students from the local International Ballet Academy… good show!
Thank you all for making this Christmas season very special for us!

IT WAS EVERYTHING!!!
I thought that I would pass a kidney when I first realized that I might not get tickets to Rogers and Hammerstein’s Cinderella. However, the day before opening night we were able to score tickets and I was elated. Tonight’s performance was everything and it could not have been held in a more beautiful venue. The Peace Center is beautiful, large and dramatic. If you are visiting the city, you must plan to attend one of the performances especially at night.
Everything was perfect. Event parking across the street is $ 20, if you walk a block to the parking garage, you only have to pay $ 15 and if you are smart and lucky you can park on the street for free. We parked directly across the street for free. WINNING!
Downtown is a bit congested so it is really a good idea to be downtown at least an hour before the scheduled performance. This allows you time to get a snack, hit the ladies room and purchase momentos. The doors open 30 minutes prior to the show.
This show is phenomenal and I loved everything from the talent to the incredible music. My favorite moments were Cinderella’s clothing transitions, and the horse and carriage and of course the songs and music. It is a great performance that the entire family will enjoy along with women of ALL ages.
I want to give a special shout out to that tour tee. It is 100% cotton but feels like cashmere. It is worth every bit of that $ 30 price tag. It is the black uni-​sexed tee and it is the business!
Simply the best!

Just saw Wicked & I thought the theatre was very nice & classy. I enjoyed this venue very much & will not hesitate to go back.

Smack in the middle of downtown Greenville, this large performing arts center lays like a sleeping dragon. This place is seriously huuuuggeeeee. There are the regular lower floor seats (behind the orchestra pit) which are from rows A — X. Then there are the Founders Circle seats above that from rows A-​J. Then the upper balcony level from A-​K. AND there’s also Box Seating from A-​M. Each row holds from 37 – 50 people each. Needless to say, this place can hold something like thousands of people.
I can’t speak for the acoustics, because I was lucky enough to be seated within the first (!) five (!) rows (!), but the stage didn’t appear to be very big. The acoustic were fine that close up, and it was truly great being able to see so many things (versus being waaaaay out and not being able to see anything, which I imagine could end up being an issue if you’re in any seats from K back).
This theater also serves some beverages out in the lobby, but you aren’t allowed to bring them in the actual theater. When we saw Wicked, they had themed drinks. How cute. Only bottled water is actually allowed inside, which I believe they sell right outside the doors for $ 2 – 3. This place was also set up to form clean row seating, rather than breaking in the middle or the wings for separate group seats. It’s one big grid from seat 1 – 37, which makes it hard to leave once the show is actually over. You have to either exit on the left or right side, with several other hundred people at once. The rows are also narrow, but that’s a thing theaters do to maximize space. The seats weren’t particularly uncomfortable, nor were they luxurious. I could image someone curvier than I would find discomfort. This place is also wheelchair friendly, with ramps and minimal stairs.
PROS:
We had amazing seats! We were close enough to see even small details.
Acoustics were good (at least from where we were)
Massive space, but the audience was well-​behaved.
Cute Wicked-​themed drinks.
They really work with the stage limitations
Handicap friendly (if you wanted to know).
CONS:
Narrow seats. Even standing up to let people pass you, you’d get bumped.
Each row is a straight shoot, with only two potential exits (rather than breaking up in the middle) so if you’re in the middle row, you’ve got 20 people exiting on either side of you.
The stage seemed a bit smaller than I’m used to. I’ve been to smaller venues with larger spaces. I imagine things would be difficult to see if you were way further out.

Ehh. Our group made the mistake of getting balcony tickets, DON’T DO THAT. There is a metal bar on every row that is directly in front of your view. Guess we should have sprung for $ 50 or so more so that we had an unobstructed view (didn’t think the center of the balcony would have an obstructed view).

We watched The Book of Mormon there, and it was fantastic! Beautiful decorations and architecture decked the walls, and there was plenty of seating! I also love its location — right on the river!

What a great venue… Small enough that balcony seats in the second to last row were perfectly fine. There is a restaurant inside however make sure you make reservations or you’ll end up wandering with your drinks looking for seats. They have concession stands with snacks and drinks but remember you can only take water inside (unless you have the private balconies). I really enjoyed the venue and the show.

I grew up coming to/​playing at the Peace Center in Greenville.
On a visit with my parents, we came here to see Alton Brown Live. We had such a great night! Right as we entered, my boyfriend (from New York) said «wow, this place looks like it’s brand new!»
The facilities are always clean and well-​maintained, the theater is also beautiful and feels so grand.
The only comment I had, was that during the performance, Alton’s microphone kept cutting in and out randomly. I think it was corrected after the intermission, but it was something we definitely were aware of and a little annoyed by. Otherwise, sound was fantastic.

Get the box seats, they let you bring your drinks into them, whereas normal seats don’t allow that. Great views and acoustics for Alton Brown. Would love to come back here for Wicked!

This theater lends such pleasant ambiance to a production. Consistently impressive.

Saw Phantom of the Opera with my wife here. Very well designed theater with great sound and viewpoints in any part of the venue. Excellent and professional staff.

I love the Peace Center! They have really renovated their facilities to be top notch and brand new, and their location is unbeatable. They bring great performances into town and host local events, too. They have fantastic event spaces for hosting other events, too — weddings, concerts, and anything else you can dream of.
My only complaint is the parking situation — there aren’t a lot of options for parking near the facility so I wound up spending $ 20 for a spot one night. $ 20! In downtown Greenville! Ridiculous.

This was a really beautiful spot. Both outside and in was nice. I saw the nutcracker and got cheap seats and they were only like $ 15 a piece. For that price I was extremely impressed and would highly recommend this for a couple looking for a nice night out.

Most recently we attended the Greenville Symphony’s production The Greatest Revolutionary with five pieces by Wagner and Beethoven’s Symphony Number 7. The music was great and of course the venue is wonderful.
Parking in downtown can be quite challenging.

Beautiful facility. Love the box seats. Balcony has good views and good sound if you can’t be on the orchestra level. «founders circle»

Had only great things to say after seeing a show here. We sat in the balcony and couldn’t have been happier. Everything from the ushers, concessions, to the facility itself provided a great experience.
Situated in the fabulous, revitalized downtown Greenville, this was seriously a wonderful all-​day affair. We even stayed up a later than expected because walking around downtown was so surprisingly great even after dark once the show let out! Definitely make a point to see a show here if you get the chance!

The Peace Center complex is, along with the Hilton, basically what started downtown’s revitalization. If you ever wonder what transformed Main Street from a string of empty storefronts between a cemetery and a polluted creek called the Reedy River, you can look here for the answer. Most of what comes here is stuff like the traveling productions of Broadway musicals — pretty broad, bourgeoisie stuff, in other words. But the Greenville Symphony plays here, and coming here for their Christmas concert has become something of a tradition for my family. There are also occasionally off-​beat things here: I think Weird Al performed here when I was a kid, and one of the 2004 Democratic Primary presidential debates was held here. There’s a smaller theater on site where smaller potato productions play sometimes. Edwin McCain, who’s like Greenville’s permanent celebrity fixture, has played a couple of benefit concerts there, for instance, and the Children’s Theater has productions here sometimes. There’s also a restaurant on site which is supposedly pretty good, and an amphitheater and pavilion out back where summer festivals and private events are held from time to time. The whole thing is backed up against the Reedy River and connects to Falls Park and the River Walk development, so it really brings the West End together with downtown Greenville pretty well.

The Peace Center has great potential. Like what Arthur says, great venue with great sound but for me, just a personal thing, there isn’t a whole much for me to go ga-​ga over — programming wise. It appears it’s more catered to the a crowd that simply doesn’t jell with me — BUT that shouldn’t sway your opinion about the place. Greenville isn’t «hip» … yet, or at least what I consider «hip». Again, the Peace Center serves a great purpose for Greenville and if you do see something playing there that you’re interested in, definitely go.