Events

Welcome to Bowdoin's Department of Theater and Dance events page. We hope you'll join us at an upcoming show!

Spring 2026

PRIOR DEPARTMENT EVENTS FROM THIS ACADEMIC YEAR:

A leopard with a grinning human face leaps towards two young women who are surpised and laughing.

Comedy in Performance - Class showing

Tuesday May 5th, 7:00 p.m. in Kresge Auditorium

The Comedy in Performance class presents their wildly popular end-of-semester public showing of work developed over the semester, from solo clowning pieces and group sketches to short blackout pieces and musical extravaganzas.
Moved from Wish theater this year to Kresge Auditorium to accommodate a larger crowd. No tickets necessary - just show up!

Floral sign with red flowers, with info about this show

Choreography for Dancers - Final Projects

Monday, May 4th at 7:00pm, Studio 210/Edwards Center for Art & Dance

Come enjoy this showcase of dance pieces designed and performed by students. Seating is limited; no tickets required.

Group of dancers on stage, each doing a different pose.

Spring Dance Concert

Three nights: April 29th and 30th and May 2nd (no show on May 1st)

7:30 p.m. in Pickard Theater.

You're invited to Bowdoin College's end-of-semester dance show! These shows are always creative, always fun - and have great music! Free and open to the public.

The classes Introduction to Caribbean Dances and Cultures (with Adanna "Dr. J" Jones), Intermediate Improvisation and Partnering (with Aretha Aoki), Introduction to Modern Dance and Advanced Repertory and Performance (with Gwyneth Jones) will perform.

Sponsored by the Alice Cooper Morse Fund for the Performing Arts and the June Vail Fund for Dance.

Person on suit on stage, wearing sad mask with big eyes — Photo by Alice Chacon Photography

New Voices by Lou Sydel '22

April 23th - 3:00 p.m. - Studio 108 in Memorial Hall

In 1939, scientists at The World’s Fair presented The Voder (Voice Operation Demonstrator), an instrument made to electronically produce human speech sounds. These days we carry intricate voice mimicry technologies around in our pockets.

New Voices peers into the history of technologically generated voices. One dancer embodies a range of characters, from the Voder to Alexa, pairing gestures with uncanny audio. This piece is a meditation on the connections between voice and gender, and the trans experience of building a new voice. There will be puppets, masks, big suits, and maybe a surprise appearance from a robot clown… What can we learn about ourselves by looking at how we interact with voice assistant technology?

The show is free and open to the public; no tickets needed.

Photo of rowboat in water along Maine coast with trees in background

Nicolestice, an original play by Colette Carrillo '26

April 10th - 7:00 p.m. - Wish Theater

Following their college graduation, Autumn and Sebastian receive a letter from their old friend Nicole, whom they haven't heard from since she dropped out and moved to a remote private island. She claims that she'd like to celebrate their accomplishment, but is this her only motive?

Come find out - reserve your free seat on our tickets link!

Honors Project by Colette Carrillo. Supported by the Ray Rutan Fund for the Performing Arts.

An Evening with Bowdoin alum George Ellzey '13

Chicago-based filmmaker, director, and producer known for award-winning shorts like Cottage Grove and SWITCHIN'. April 9th - 7:30 p.m. - Mills Hall - Room 129 Cinema

An Emmy-nominated filmmaker and Telly Award–winning director, George will screen his short films Cottage Grove and two works in progress, Accessories and Closed Mouths, followed by a Q&A session.

The screening/Q&A session is free and open to the public; no tickets needed - seating is first-come, first-served.

Presented by the Departments of Theater and Dance, English and Cinema Studies.

Bunk Beds

Performed by Big Boy Dance

April 3rd and 4th - 7:30 p.m. - Wish Theater

Bunk Beds is a new response in a series of choreographic works by Tristan Koepke | Big Boy Dance inspired by the creative and amorous relationship between Merce Cunningham and John Cage, social media thirst traps, queer melancholia, speculative masculinities, and romance novel tropes. Building on Big Boy Dance's recent performances, There’s Only One Bed (2023) and There’s More Than One Bed (2024), and drawing from Andie Nordgren’s manifesto for relationship anarchy, Bunk Beds asks what happens when creative process, love, and friendship accumulate and reverberate over time. Seeking to reframe and transcend conventional narratives of Cunningham and Cage’s twentieth century avant-guard collaborations, which often diminish their queer romance and radicalism, Bunk Beds catalyzes the ways in which LGBTQ+ artistic legacies are created, preserved, embodied, and reimagined.

Sponsored by the Alice Cooper Morse Fund for the Performing Arts and the June Vail Fund for Dance.

Sticky notes against background of colorful confetti.

Every Brilliant Thing

By Duncan Macmillan

With Jonny Donahoe

Directed by Lindsay Livingston

February 26 & 27 at 7:30 p.m. / February 28 at 2:00 p.m. and 7:30 p.m. / Wish Theater in Memorial Hall

Every Brilliant Thing is an exhilarating and heartwarming journey through one person’s life and the many reasons they find to remain hopeful. Told through a list of every beautiful, brilliant, joyful thing that makes life worth living, this is a theatrical experience unlike any other.

In each performance at Bowdoin College, the Narrator will be played by a different student actor, offering four distinct points of view of the same story. Performers are:
Eve Foley (’28)
Franceska Drejaj (’27)
Michael Bagnoli (’26)
Rithmaka Karunadhara (’26)

Content Advisory: Every Brilliant Thing contains themes of suicide and depression. The production has partnered with the Bowdoin Counseling Center and Active Minds to offer mental health resources and support.

Recommended for ages 12 and up

Sponsored by the Alice Cooper Morse Fund for the Performing Arts.

Group of dancers in white on stage, each doing a different pose.

December Dance Concert

December 4-6, 7:30 p.m. in Pickard Theater.

This show is a celebration of what our dance classes have learned and collaborated on during the semester, and is always a fun time! Our choreographers for this show are Aretha Aoki, Adanna Jones, Gwyneth Jones and guest choreographer Mariana Valencia.

Sponsored by the Alice Cooper Morse Fund for the Performing Arts and the June Vail Fund for Dance.

Large pink dice rolling against a blue background.

Guys and Dolls

A Musical Fable of Broadway - Based on a Story and Characters of Damon Runyon

Music and Lyrics by: Frank Loesser / Book by: Jo Swerling and Abe Burrows

November 6-8, at 7:30 p.m. in Pickard Theater

Directed by Dr. Jessica Pearson-Bleyer, Guys and Dolls is a Golden Age musical that has been called the “perfect musical comedy.” This production reimagines this classic show for the 21st century.

Sponsored by the Alice Cooper Morse Fund for the Performing Arts.

Guys and Dolls was presented through special arrangement with Music Theatre International (MTI). All authorized performance materials are also supplied by MTI. (mtishows.com)