Beaumont Current       Summer Special Edition | July 2, 2026

 Summer Special Edition 💠July 4th Weekend 💠 America's 250th

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Beaumont, You 

Showed Up.

Beaumont found its way to the Julie Rogers Theatre last weekend. And this weekend, the whole city gathers downtown to celebrate 250 years of freedom. This is what community looks like.

When the lights dimmed at Beaumont’s Julie Rogers Theatre on June 26, no one could have predicted the impact awaiting the audience. By the time the lights came back up, they did. And then they came back Saturday. Twice. 

The Jonathan Williams Center for the Performing Arts delivered a stirring rendition of The Wiz, transforming the stage with dazzling backdrops and unforgettable costumes. Performances from cast members who had been rehearsing since June 1 and arrived on that stage ready.

"This production gives our community an opportunity to come together, celebrate the arts, and experience the power of unity through storytelling."
— Candace Buckley, Glinda

Marshey Smith as Evillene commanded the stage and made the audience believe every second of it. The Scarecrow, Tin Man, and Lion brought the kind of energy that reminded everyone in the room why live theater exists. And then there was the moment that stopped people cold.

Tiauna Smith Smith stepped into her childhood dream as Dorothy on the Julie Rogers stage and delivered a performance that left no doubt about where she is headed. Charnele Brown, who began her own career on Broadway before the world came to know her as Kimberly Reese on A Different World, watched Tiauna perform and called it: Broadway-bound. Beaumont saw her first.

André Pitre played The Wiz. He is a triple threat — singer, actor, and director — who has built a career in Los Angeles, where he now lives in Marina del Rey, California. His resume includes touring productions alongside Morris Chestnut, Billie Dee Williams, Ellia English, and J. Anthony Brown. He has shared stages with Phil Perry, Jeffrey Osbourne, Najee, and Morris Day and the Time. He completed a Tyler Perry play. He has television credits and IMDB recognition. He and his business partner Charnele Brown wrote and produced The Black Man: A Mental Health Journey, an original work exploring mental health through the lens of Black male experience in which André played seven different characters.

All of that, and he came home to Beaumont to play The Wiz. His own words after the final curtain: "Full circle." Two words. Everything.

And Tra'Marion, playing an Emerald City Citizen, performed in his very first play ever. At the Julie Rogers Theatre. In front of a full house. That is the JWCPA story in one sentence.

Long before it became a downtown event centre, the Neches River was where Beaumont gathered to celebrate. The river has been the backdrop for this city's Fourth of July for as long as most residents can remember. Generations of Beaumont families have claimed their spots on the grass, faced toward the water, and watched the night sky light up. The celebration has grown and moved and evolved, but the river has always been the anchor.

The Symphony of Southeast Texas has been part of this tradition for years, performing at the Julie Rogers Theatre while the outdoor celebration fills the grounds around the corner. The timing is intentional. The symphony ends. The doors open. You walk outside just as the sky begins.

This year the celebration carries extra weight. America turns 250, and Beaumont is one of the cities that has lived the whole story. When the Declaration was signed in 1776, Southeast Texas was still Spanish colonial territory. By the time Texas joined the union in 1845, Beaumont was already a river town. Oil changed the world here in 1901. The city has been part of the American story ever since, on its own terms, in its own way.

This Friday, two stages, food trucks, the Symphony, and the largest fireworks display in Southeast Texas. All of it free. All of it on the Neches. Some traditions are worth keeping. See you downtown.