Shelley Brown, State Theatre Center for the Arts President and CEO is not only looking forward to the star-studded 90th anniversary season, she’s ensuring the downtown Easton entertainment mecca will be there for another 90 years.

Noting that bookings for the theater are planned one year to one year and one-half in advance, Brown has booked several headliners, Patti Lupone, Brian Wilson, Rosanne Cash, Johnny Mathis, and Penn & Teller, to name a few, commensurate with what’s billed as “The 90th Season of Wow!”

“Ninety is very big for us. And it’s very important for us that it’s not only about being in business for 90 years. It’s a work in progress. We’re just getting started.”

That includes determining what’s in store for the State Theatre not only when the curtain rises.

“We’ve been talking about a strategic plan for the next two to three years about how the theater can be more than the main stage,” says Brown.

That’s because there are many more entertainment options for the region’s audiences.

“When I came to the theater and prior to my being there, we were one of the only indoor venues in the entire region. And now there are 18,” Brown said.

These venues are in a 50-mile radius of the State Theatre, from Reading, Jim Thorpe, Stroudsburg, Bethlehem, Allentown and Sellersville, each of which has concert, theater and entertainment venues ranging from those the size of the State Theatre’s 1,550-seat capacity to the PPL Center’s 10,000 seats.

“The market is on fire,” Brown said of the Lehigh Valley region.“ We cannot continue to do business as we have been doing it the past 25 years.” Brown has led the State Theater for 24 years.

“What it means is that for years now, people have bought tickets and put them on the bulletin board and planned for that for months. We want them to continue to do that.

“But we also want to have different sorts of events. We have a ballroom. We have a gallery. We have more intimate spaces. We want that elusive customer, the 30- to 40-year-old, and our members and patrons, to wonder what’s going on at the State tonight.

“We want more live nights than just the show nights. We also want to enhance what we do for the Freddy Awards, for what we do for more experiences for the students and more television.”

Brown says the challenges are not only faced by the State Theatre and entertainment venues: “Any business, right now in this day and age, is facing the same kinds of issues in their company.

“We need to continue to do great shows, what we’ve always done, but figure out how to get new audiences.

“That’s what’s going on concurrent with the 90th celebration. Where have we been? Where are we now? And what do we experiment with to move forward?

“We have to be nimble. And I think that’s hopeful and exciting.

“And as I looked at this season, to program, some of the great performers, Vince Gill, Brian Wilson, Johnny Mathis. Their evenings have been epic.” Brown says of their previous concerts at the State Theatre.

Concert-goers can purchase tickets for these and other State Theatre 2016-17 concerts soon.

Tickets for the State Theatre Center for the Arts’ 2016-17 season go on sale to State Theatre members at 6 a.m. Aug. 3 at the Box Office window, 453 Northampton St., and at noon Aug. 3 online, statetheatre.org, and by phone, 1-800-999-STATE, 610-252-3132.

There’s a limit of 10 tickets per member per performance during members-only sales. Membership to the non-profit State Theatre is for one year.

Tickets go on sale to the public at 10 a.m. Aug. 17.

Previously announced shows and outside promoter performances are on sale now.

The opening week of the 2016-17 season features Country Music Hall of Famer Vince Gill, 7 p.m. Sept 18; the 60th anniversary concert of Johnny Mathis, 7:30 p.m. Sept. 22, and Brian Wilson, celebrating the 50th anniversary of The Beach Boys’ “Pet Sounds,” 7 p.m. Sept. 25.

Season highlights include: Penn & Teller, 8 p.m. Oct. 28; Charles Krauthammer “Election Year Event,” 8 p.m. Oct. 6; “Rent” 20th anniversary tour, 7:30 p.m. Nov. 1; Patti LuPone, “Don’t Monkey with Broadway,” with Parkland High School Chorale, 7:30 p.m. Nov. 4; Fran Lebowitz, 8 p.m. Jan. 26; “‘Back to the Future’ with Christopher Lloyd,” 7 p.m. Feb. 25, and Roseanne Cash, 7 p.m. April 8;

Also: The Havana Cuba All-Stars’ “Cuban Nights,” 7:30 p.m. Oct. 7; The Capitol Steps, 7 p.m. Oct. 20; “Oh What A Night of Doo Wop & Rock ‘n’ Roll,” 7 p.m. Oct. 22;

Shanghai Acrobats of the People’s Republic of China, ”Shanghai Nights,” 7 p.m. Nov. 11; “American Portraits”: The Dallas Brass & Daniel Rodriguez, 7:30 p.m. Nov. 12; Tea with Lisa Robertson, Acopian Ballroom, 3 p.m. Nov. 13; The Midtown Men: Christian Hoff, Michael Longoria, Daniel Reichard, J. Robert Spencer, 7:30 p.m. Nov. 18; “Take Back Your Voice 2,” featuring Flintface, benefits Freddy Awards, 7 p.m. Nov. 19; “Mooseltoe: A New Moosical, 2 p.m. Nov. 26;

Also, “Broadway Christmas Wonderland,” 7 p.m. Dec. 1, 2; “The Piano Guys,” 7:30 p.m. Dec. 8; “The Spirit of Christmas with The New York Tenors: Daniel Rodriguez, Andy Cooney, Christopher Macchio, 8 p.m. Dec. 9; Moscow Ballet’s “Great Russian Nutcracker,” 3, 7 p.m. Dec. 10; The Wizards of Winter, 4 p.m. Dec. 11;

“Wicked Divas: Emily Rozek, Dee Roscioli, 2 p.m. Jan. 2, 2017; Craig Thatcher Band & Friends: “An Eric Clapton Retrospective,” 7:30 p.m. Jan. 14; The Orchestra: Former Members of ELO, 7:30 p.m. Jan. 28;

“We’ve Only Just Begun: The Carpenters Remembered,” 7:30 p.m. Feb. 10, 2017; “Annie,” 7 p.m. Feb. 24;

“A Tribute to John Denver with Chris Collins & Boulder Canyon, 7 p.m. March 3, 2017; The Five Irish Tenors, 7:30 p.m. March 10; The Fab Faux, 8 p.m. March 11; Red Hot Chilli Pipers, with Liberty High School Grenadier Bagpipers, 7:30 p.m. March 24; “Pippin,” 2, 7:30 p.m. March 26; “Once The Musical,” 8 p.m. March 29, 30;

“Late Night Catechism,” 7:30 p.m. April 1, 2017; 21st annual “Elvis Birthday Bash,” starring Mike Albert and Scot Bruce, 7 p.m. April 15; Jane Monheit: “The Ella Fitzgerald Centennial Celebration,” with Nicholas Payton, 7:30 p.m. April 22; “Dancing with the Lehigh Valley Stars,” benefits Freddy Awards, 7 p.m. April 27;

“Erth’s Dinosaur Zoo Live,” 1, 4 p.m. May 6, 2017, and the 2017 Freddy Awards, 7 p.m. May 25: Broadcast live on 69 WFMZ-TV