Performing Arts

Announcing our 2023-24 Season
of plays, musicals & concerts!


Subscriptions are now on sale!
Click "Tickets & Subscriptions" for pricing and purchase.



Sonic art ensembleMutable Landscapes

Friday, September 29, 2023
Two performances • 7:00 and 8:30 pm
 

One concert stage. Acoustic instruments. Microphones. Electronic sound machines. Colorful lighting. And lots of things unfamiliar! Willamette Music faculty David Collins, James Miley and Ryan Biesack fuse live electronics and instrumental performance into an expansive and unconventional experience. Prepare for delight and surprise!

Please note: Due to facility upgrades, the location and times of the performances have changed to the following:

Performance  •  Mary Stuart Rogers Music Center
Two performances only!

Friday, September 29, 2023
 
7:00 pm and 8:30 pm

Hands reaching for each other over water

in the deep

Book and lyrics by E. M. Lewis ‘94

Music by Clarence Roscoe McDonald ‘23
 

October 26 - November 12, 2023

Directed by Carly Christensen '16

World premiere musical! On an ordinary day in a small college town, a storm strikes and leaves destruction in its wake. In its aftermath, a group of friends unites at a cabin in the woods to discover, “When the water is over your head, who can pull you up?”

In the Deep is a new musical about friendship, family, and surviving in unknown torrents. Written and directed by three generations of Willamette University alumni.

Performances • M. Lee Pelton Theatre
October 26 — November 12, 2023

Preview: Thursday, Oct. 26
Opening night gala:  Friday, Oct. 27 • Aftershow catering by Bon Appetit

Evenings shows: Wed – Sat at 7:30 pm
2 pm Matinees:

  • Sunday, Oct. 29
  • Saturday, Nov. 4
  • Sunday, Nov. 5
  • Sunday, Nov. 12
Please feel free to look at our CONTENT DISCLOSURE in advance of purchase.


Too much light makes the baby go blind

Too much light makes the baby go blind title

By Greg Allen

February 15 – 25, 2024

Directed by Jonathan Cole

The longest running play in Chicago theatre history! Each performance is different, an ever-changing menu of 30 short plays, all chosen at random by the audience. Sometimes with pizza! Created by the Neo-Futurists, the show is “a fusion of sport, poetry and living-newspaper” that pits the artists against a 60-minute timer and the whims of the audience. 

Performances • M. Lee Pelton Theatre
February 15 – 25, 2024

Preview: Thursday, Feb. 15
Opening night gala:  Friday, Feb. 16 • Aftershow catering by Bon Appetit

Evenings shows: Wed – Sat at 7:30 pm
2 pm Matinees:

  • Sunday, Feb. 18
  • Saturday, Feb. 24
  • Sunday, Feb. 25
Produced by special arrangement with Playscripts, Inc. (www.playscripts.com)

FETE DES FEMMES logo, silhouette of a woman

Fete des Femmes

 Performances by Willamette's award-winning music faculty and special guests

Sunday, March 17, 2024


Willamette’s Music program presents its third annual International Women's Month concert! Performing music from across the centuries and the globe, classical pieces to modern musicals, we celebrate the unique voices that have paved the path for future women artists. Special features this year include Irish female composers – Happy St. Patrick's Day!

Performance • Hudson Hall
Mary Stuart Rogers Music Center
Sunday, March 17, 2024 • 2:00 pm   

LUGHNASA logo, Irish landscape

Dancing at Lughnasa

By Brian Friel

April 11 – 27, 2024

Directed by Susan Coromel

One man’s childhood memories of his 1936 summer in Ballybeg, Ireland, unfold before us – the time of the festival of Lughnasa, which celebrates the pagan god of harvest with drunken revelry and dancing. His crowded home includes his mother and her four extraordinary sisters, all changed forever by a surprise visitor and their first radio. Widely regarded as Brian Friel’s masterpiece, this haunting play is Friel’s tribute to the spirit and valor of the past.

Performances • M. Lee Pelton Theatre
April 11 – 27, 2024

Preview: Thursday, April 11
Opening night gala:  Friday, April 12 • Aftershow catering by Bon Appetit

Evenings: Wed – Sat at 7:30 pm
2 pm Matinees:

  • Sunday, April 14
  • Sunday, April 20
  • Saturday, April 21
  • Saturday, April 27
Dancing at Lughnasa is presented by special arrangement with Broadway Licensing, LLC, servicing the Dramatists Play Service collection. (www.dramatists.com)

Willamette University

Theatre Box Office

Salem Campus

Address
900 State Street
Salem Oregon 97301 U.S.A.
Phone
503-370-6221

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