William Paterson University’s Shea Center for Performing Arts Celebrates 60th Anniversary with Concerts Recognizing Historic Venue Events


Marion Shea, the first female president of William Paterson, stands outside the building named in her honor in 1967

The Shea Center for Performing Arts, located on the campus of William Paterson University in Wayne, has been a mainstay of the arts community in Passaic County since November 1965, when the facility kicked off its programming with a concert by The Lettermen, whose harmonies defined the musical sound of the mid-1960s.

The venue, which has hosted thousands of concerts, lectures, and University-wide events since it opened, is celebrating its 60th anniversary during the 2025-26 academic year. To mark the occasion, the University’s WP Presents! series is staging a series of events that recognize the many historic acts that have graced the performing arts center during its history.

“For six decades, the Shea Center has served as a venue where the William Paterson community and our neighbors from around the region can engage with an incredibly diverse array of arts, entertainment, and ideas,” said President Richard J. Helldobler. “The Shea Center stage has hosted some of the greatest musicians, dancers, authors, artists, and thinkers, and we are looking forward to continuing that tradition in the coming season and the years ahead.”

Notable upcoming events include: 

  • October 11, 2025: Dead On Live! The Grateful Dead tribute band will recreate the set list from the Grateful Dead’s October 11, 1970 concert in Shea Center, 55 years to the day.
  • November 22, 2025: The Lords of 52nd Street. The band is comprised of musicians who were members of Billy Joel’s band in the 1970s, and who performed with him in Shea Center on May 3, 1977.
  • April 25, 2026: Harry Chapin’s Greatest Stories LIVE, Featuring The Chapin Family. Harry Chapin performed in Shea Center on April 29, 1973 and January 27, 1981. Members of the musical Chapin family, including his brothers Tom and Steve Chapin, the Chapin Sisters (his nieces Abigail and Lily), and his daughter Jen Chapin, who have also performed in Shea Center throughout the years, return to the stage for this performance. They will be backed by original members of the Harry Chapin Band.
  • May 17, 2026: The Lettermen. The first-known group to perform in Shea Center in 1965, the Lettermen will present the 2025–26 season finale concert.

For a full schedule and to purchase tickets, visit wpunj.edu/wppresents.

Historic Beacon newspaper photo, October 20, 1970
A photo that appeared in the October 20, 1970 issue of The Beacon, the University’s student newspaper

For six decades, WP’s Shea Center for Performing Arts has hosted a wide range of notable performers and public figures, including Dizzy Gillespie, Ella Fitzgerald, The Four Seasons, and Peter, Paul, and Mary in the 1960s, to Billy Joel, Procol Harem, Gordon Lightfoot, Frank Zappa and the Mothers of Invention, The Kinks, Don MacLean, Leonard Nimoy, Richard Pryor, Electric Light Orchestra, J. Geils Band, and the Alvin Ailey Dance Theatre in the 1970s, and more.

The University’s critically acclaimed Jazz Room Series has welcomed more than 500 jazz legends to the stage including Sonny Rollins, Wynton Marsalis, Wayne Shorter, Joe Williams, Marian McPartland, Slide Hampton, Kenny Burrell, Joe Lovano, Kenny Garrett, Clark Terry, Michael and Randy Brecker, Christian McBride, the Vanguard Orchestra, and current jazz studies director, the international acclaimed pianist Bill Charlap.

WP’s Distinguished Lecturer Series, established in 1980, has featured lectures by more than 180 luminaries, such as Jacques Pepin and Claudia Pepin, Daniel Levitin and Roseanne Cash, Harold Prince, Gloria Steinem, Diane Ravitch, Al Pacino, New York Yankees and Boston Red Sox general managers Brian Cashman and Theo Epstein, musical theatre composer Stephen Sondheim, former Secretary of State Colin Powell, former British Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher, film directors Oliver Stone and Spike Lee, performer Gregory Hines, and writers Alice Walker and Joyce Carol Oates, to name a few. More than 100,000 audience members have attended DLS since its inception.

In addition, each season the University Performing Arts-produced WP Presents! series hosts dozens of professional artists including musicians, theatre troupes, and family artists representing a wide variety of genres.

The Shea Center for the Performing Arts is the cultural heart of William Paterson University. Construction of the building was authorized by a 1959 statewide bond issue. Completed in 1965, Shea Center was built to support the institution’s then-growing programs in performing arts, music, and speech, featuring a nearly 1,000 seat auditorium, rehearsal and practice rooms, and offices and classrooms for the music and speech departments. Originally called the Auditorium-Music-Speech building, it was dedicated in 1967 in honor of Marion Shea, the first female president of William Paterson, who served from 1954 to 1966 and was a tireless advocate for creative, artistic, and academic excellence.

In 2014, the facility underwent a significant renovation, including new seating and retrofitted, energy-efficient lighting for the main auditorium, and a complete redesign of Shea Recital Hall 101 on the lower level. The auditorium today boasts a customized, state-of-the-art sound system, computerized lighting system, and a unique seating/stage configuration that ensures a close performer-audience connection.

09/18/25