KentuckyShow! is an exciting, emotionally compelling HD multi-media experience that captures Kentucky’s people, culture, history, music, spirit and more!

It is a first-see for visitors and a must-see for all Kentuckians!

KentuckyShow! began in the early 1980s as a dream of Sharon Potter, a transplanted native of New Orleans. When Sharon moved to Kentucky after marrying Louisville architect Henry Potter, she discovered that the state was one of the most interesting, beautiful and unique in the entire country. After viewing the Boston multi-media production Where's Boston?, she thought a similar production for the entire Commonwealth of Kentucky was needed. So, she took on the task of raising 1.2 million dollars in 1983 to present a 52-minute multi-media production using 40 slide projectors and 4,000 slides that opened in 1984 in downtown Louisville.

Critically and popularly acclaimed, KentuckyShow! ran for 6 years in downtown Louisville and then moved to Bardstown, Ky., where it ran for several additional years.

In 2003, the Louisville Convention & Visitors Bureau approached Sharon about possibly updating KentuckyShow! After researching this idea, she found that it would only cost a bit more to create an entirely new production using High Definition video, rather than trying to shoehorn the original KentuckyShow! into 21st Century technology.

Sharon and the current KentuckyShow! Board of Directors then raised 2.1 million dollars for the production, equipment and installation of the show; $400,000 from the Kentucky Commerce Cabinet for the construction of the theater (architectural services were donated by Potter and Associates Architects), and $370,000 from the Kentucky Department of Tourism for a future traveling version of KentuckyShow!

Sharon enlisted the services of Donna Lawrence, President and Creative Director of award-winning Donna Lawrence Productions located in Louisville. Donna and her production staff are veterans of numerous impressive multi-media installations including the Kentucky Derby Museum, the College Football Hall of Fame, the National Constitution Center, the William J. Clinton Presidential Library, the recently opened Gettysburg Visitors Center and the United States Capital Visitors Center (opening December 2008). When completed after traveling the Commonwealth for over 16 months, Donna and her crew will have amassed over 70 hours of HD footage and 125 hours of interviews that will be edited into a 30-minute production which will open September 12, 2008, in the 100-seat KentuckyShow! theater at The Kentucky Center for the Performing Arts.

World-renowned graphic artist Julius Friedman was enlisted to design KentuckyShow!’s theater entry, logo, graphics, poster, book, t-shirts, and billboards. The KentuckyShow! book and related merchandise will be for sale beginning with the September 12th Premiere.

KentuckyShow! will be open to the public Tuesdays through Saturdays and will show on the hour from 10AM to 5PM and Sundays Noon to 5PM. It is sure to be a “first-see” for visitors and a “must-see” for all Kentuckians!