Morris Performing Arts Center — Attraction in South Bend

Wheelchair seats are in the 9th row. You can only get these seats if you call. Why can’t I be like every other mom and order my seats online? Tyse loves Paw Patrol. Santa gave Tyse meet and greet tickets and front row seats! He can’t see when he sits in the 9th row especially when you have children standing up

OR NOT————see instead of it being flawless and having a good time....Morris Performing Arts took something from him and despite taking his wheelchair away from him they also forgot about us leaving us stranded and helpless. How was I to move when I have a long 11 yr old boy who can’t control his body? I was stuck in the seat. Thank goodness for 2 other Moms paying attention and getting help and demanding they bring my son’s wheelchair back. Let’s say you have glasses and you can only see with them. Well someone said “excuse me you can’t have those. We need to take them.” So you seat down and watch the show but you can’t see. You need your glasses and you sit there and pout and wonder why did they do this to you...well that was Tyse.

Tyse doesn’t have head control so his head was falling forward and then it was falling backward and I was doing the best I could to hold his spastic body. I couldn’t use the restroom the whole time we were there. We couldn’t go look at the merchandise and buy him something. We were on our own. Normally when we go to events like this I have to pay for 2 adults to go because the workers in places like this don’t care about your situation. Well this was a mommy/son date while my daughters were at a dance.

Last year we went to a different venue called Lerner in Elkhart and received a completely different response. There was only one adult and Tyse. Tyse had the time of his life. The difference was they let Tyse keep his wheelchair and sat Tyse close to the stage. He was on the side but who cares! He had a great time!

I was hoping to have that experience again but instead when we arrived a lady told me someone was sitting in our seats and that we would NOT be seated regardless if I paid for the seats. I had to go to the box office and complain. Then the lady argued with me that mobile tickets are NOT real tickets. So she ran off with my phone which locks automatically after a minute. Then another lady at the box office was completely rude and told me she needed to see my tickets and the other person’s tickets in order to determine who had the seats. I had to explain a worker ran off with my phone. She didn’t care. She argued she couldn’t help me. So I was looking for the lady with my phone. Then I found a group of ladies arguing that those seats are not wheelchair accessible and that he can’t seat there!

Fine I’ll take him out of his wheelchair and I did and they took it from us. We sat down and 5 minutes later intermission started! We missed the first part of the show all because of grown adults not wanting to handle this situation correctly!

Tyse will NEVER go back to the Morris Performing Arts. We will stay with the Lerner in Elkhart. The only thing we had to do was go to the box office and they took care of him. The Morris Performing Arts ruined what was supposed to be a great time all because he is uses a wheelchair. Life shouldn’t have to be like this for those who use wheelchairs. We need to change this. Please share so we can...

I am saddened to give this gorgeous, historical theater only 4 stars as I'm a lover of local history and downtown South Bend. I have read through the reviews, wondering if I'm not alone with the issues I encountered, and unfortunately I'm not. I seen complaints about fees, but I understand convenience fees and I'm all for a historic fee as I'm for preserving history. I do know Hamilton's towing are always looking to nail someone parking in one of "their" lots which could turn a great night into a nightmare, but we frequent downtown and know where to park. This is still an issue that needs to be corrected though. The building did have a hole on the ceiling and they had put a net up to catch falling debris which was a little disappointing as it took away from the beauty, but I hope that will be repaired soon out of the historic fees and other donations received. Yes, the seating is tight, but it did not bother us at all. Yes, the drink prices are high, but that was to be expected. I felt the temperature, sound, and lighting was just fine.

Now my only complaint is with the ushers. Yes, I understand they are volunteers, but that does not excuse the Morris from their terrible behavior. As the show was beginning to start an announcement was played to take this time to power off your phones as video and photography was prohibited. I am a highly respectful person and had absolutely no problem with this rule. So, I began to look at my phone to figure out how to power it down, not something I do often, and it took me a few seconds, yes just seconds, and I pushed the side button to power it down, which obviously took a few more seconds. The entire time from behind I was being yelled at loudly and embarrassingly by an usher to "Put your phone away now!" "Ma'am I'm not going to tell you again!" "Ma'am don't make me call security!" with no reprieve in between allowing me time to do so. All the while I'm telling her polititley that I'm putting my phone away and powering it down as I was informed to do. I do not appreciate being treated so rudely or disrespectfully for following orders.

It did not end there sadly. During intermission I went to get in line for the restroom and the line was beginning to wrap. I was the curve in the line. I was beyond shocked when the usher literally put her hand on me and physically moved me at the angle she apparently wanted me. That was highly uncalled for and in hindsight I should have said something, but I didn't want to ruin my night.

Volunteers or not, they are there representing your establishment and need to have better customer service skills. I really hope my review will help to improve. It concerns me that if things do not improve this theater will become just another place "that used to be around" in history as...

Went to the Stomp performance February 24. Show was great but after it was over my boyfriend went to get the car out of the parking garage and it took him over 45 minutes to get out! Ok, so the concert was sold out and traffic should be expected to be bad (I’ve read the other reviews on Facebook and that’s the Morris’ excuse). Problem is I stayed with my mom, as she has mobility issues, and couldn’t walk to the parking garage. Thank God I did stay with her. After 10 minutes we were kicked out of the lobby and had to wait outside. The temp was 25 degrees with a 5 degree windchill. We ended up waiting outside for over 35 minutes. In the freezing cold. Okay it was February in Indiana right Morris? I’m sure that will be your response. That’s fine. But after about 15 minutes a homeless man came up to us and started harassing us. It was terrifying. An employee came out to go home during that time and I tried to go grab the door before it closed so we could go in where it was safe but the employee said “I can’t let you back in” and pushed the door shut! So we had to stay out there being cold and terrified of being harassed. I know the employees there are volunteers (another excuse used by the Morris in Facebook reviews) but that does not mean that the Morris should allow them to treat PAYING concert goers badly. I read a lot of the reviews before posting mine and about half of the reviews mention rude ushers/workers. Just because they are volunteers does not mean that you can’t fire them. We have been to several shows there but last Sunday will be the very last time. Morris Performing Arts Center you should be ashamed...