The premiere season includes: The Passing Zone on January 17, 2008, Man 1, Bank 0 on March 12, 2008, and The East Village Opera Company on April 8, 2008. All three shows will be presented at the Victoria Theatre. “The Universal 1 Variety Series represents something entirely new for us and is an exciting chance to reach new audiences,” says Dione Kennedy, President & CEO of Victoria Theatre Association. “Each performance will be a one-of-a-kind, one-night event, and the mood will be informal, with a style that is casual and off the cuff.”

The new series is made possible in part through the support of series sponsor Universal 1 Credit Union. Universal 1 Credit Union was founded in 1937 in Dayton and prides itself on being a community-minded organization.

“Universal 1 Credit Union is proud to sponsor the new Universal 1 Variety Series,” says Loren Rush, President and CEO of Universal 1 Credit Union. “As the largest Dayton-based credit union, this is a great opportunity to bring the people of our community together through the arts.” Kicking off the Universal 1 Variety Series, The Passing Zone comes to Dayton on January 17, 2008. Take two guys with chainsaws, put them in tights, throw in a Garden Weasel, and what do you get? They’re called The Passing Zone, and they will amaze you and make you laugh. Since 1988, Jon Wee and Owen Morse have been performing all over the world – wearing tights while tossing gasoline-powered destruct-o-devices at each other! The Passing Zone was a finalist on the first season of “America’s Got Talent,” where the duo got to “hassle The Hoff.” The Passing Zone has also been seen on “The Tonight Show,” “CBS This Morning,” “The Today Show,” “MADtv,” “ESPN’s Amazing Games,” “Penn & Teller’s Sin City Spectacular” and in The Addams Family movie. On top of that, the duo holds five Guinness World Records and has won 18 gold medals from the International Jugglers Association.

On March 12, 2008, Patrick Combs presents his outrageously funny true story and Off- Broadway hit, Man 1, Bank 0. This is the amazing-but-true story of how Combs deposited a $95,093.35 junk-mail check marked “non-negotiable” – hoping to spread a little banking cheer to tellers - and how it erupted into a staggering and funny David vs. Goliath-like adventure that still continues today. What happened after the bank cashed the ridiculous check? Angry banking officers threatening “jail time” and “death,” astonishing legal twists, and worldwide media coverage, including The Wall Street Journal, The New York Times and “Good Morning America,” to name just a few! The show’s tour has been sold out in venues from New York to New Zealand and was an official selection of HBO’s US Comedy Arts Festival and a Critic’s Choice for the 2005 Spoleto Festival.

Rounding out the first season, you’ve heard opera, and you’ve heard rock – but you’ve never heard opera rocked like The East Village Opera Company. April 8, 2008, The East Village Opera Company – a powerhouse five-piece band, a string quartet, and two outstanding vocalists – brings the towering emotion and timeless musicality of opera into the 21st century at the Victoria Theatre. This 11-person group takes opera classics and respectfully turns out majestic rock anthems. By embracing what they call “the pomposity of rock and the pomposity of opera” without demeaning or satirizing either form, The East Village Opera Company flies where countless other “classical-crossover” efforts have failed. -- www.victoriatheatre.com