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The Shea Center Celebrates Its 60th Anniversary

William Paterson University’s Shea Center for Performing Arts, which has hosted thousands of concerts, lectures, and university-wide events since it opened, is celebrating its 60^th 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 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.”

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.

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 52^nd Street. The band is comprised of musicians who were members of Billy’s 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.