News & Media
Every semester at Smith features mainstage and studio theatre performances, faculty and student dance performances, new play readings, new works of choreography by grad dance students, and a large assortment of faculty and student music performances, including a series of informal concerts at lunchtime.
A Beethoven Cycle II: The Complete Sonatas for Piano and Violin
The Sage Chamber Music Society of Smith College presents A Beethoven Cycle II: The Complete Sonatas for Piano and Violin, featuring pianist Jiayan Sun and violinist Elizabeth Chang in a series of three Thursday concerts on September 21, October 19 and November 9 at 7:30 PM in Sweeney Concert Hall. The artists will also present the world premieres of three new works reflecting on Beethoven by Five College faculty composers. The concerts are free and open to the public.
Celebrating Pianos! Rachmaninoff at 150
Smith College Department of Music presents Celebrating Pianos! Rachmaninoff at 150, a weekend festival celebrating the 150th anniversary of Rachmaninoff’s birth, with three concerts of all-Rachmaninoff programs on Saturday, April 22 at 2 and 7:30 p.m. and Sunday, April 23 at 3 p.m. in Sweeney Concert Hall. Saturday’s events are free and open to the public. Masks are optional and welcome.
La Ruta
To the U.S.-owned factories in Ciudad Juárez, Mexico, La Ruta is just a bus. But to the hundreds of women who live, work, and often disappear along the route, it symbolizes much more than that. Inspired by real testimonies, and using live music to evoke factory work and protest marches, La Ruta is a visceral unearthing of secrets buried in the desert and a celebration of the Mexican women who stand resiliently in the wake of loss.
Meet Me - 2023 Senior Dance Concert
The Smith College Department of Dance is pleased to present the 2023 Senior Dance Concert: Meet Me on April 6, 7 and 8 at 7:30 p.m. The performance features work by the seven graduating seniors and will be held in Hallie Flanagan Studio Theatre. Tickets are available at SmithArts.Booktix.com.
2023 Iva Dee Hiatt Memorial Concert
The Smith College Department of Music presents the 2023 Iva Dee Hiatt Memorial Concert on April 1 in John M. Greene Hall. The Smith College Orchestra presents the Second Symphony “Resurrection” by Gustav Mahler with soloists Rehanna Thelwell, mezzo–soprano and Katherine Saik DeLugan, soprano, with a chorus comprised of the Smith Glee Club, members of the Alumnae Chorus, the Amherst College Glee Club, the University of Massachusetts Chorale, the Penn State Glee Club and Concert Choir, and alumni. The concert starts at 4 p.m. and is free and open to the public. Masks are optional and welcome.
My H8 Letter to the Gr8 American Theatre
The Smith College Department of Theatre presents My H8 Letter to the Gr8 American Theatre by Diana Oh ’08 in Hallie Flanagan Studio Theatre on February 24, 25, March 2, 3, 4 at 7:30 pm. Tickets are $5–10 and are available online at smitharts.booktix.com.
MFA Dance Concert 2023
The Smith College Department of Dance presents the 2023 MFA Dance Concert, a performance of thesis research by the department’s MFA candidates on February 9, 10 and 11 at 7:30 p.m. in Theatre 14 featuring work by Alexander Davis and Chloe London. Full details and tickets are available at SmithArts.booktix.com.
Fall Faculty Dance Concert 2022
The Smith College Department of Dance presents the Fall Faculty Dance Concert, featuring a Five College Dance guest artist project by Passion Fruit Dance Company; new work by critically acclaimed choreographer Bebe Miller and long-time collaborator Angie Hauser; and new choreographies by guest artist Sarah Lass and faculty artist Rodger Blum. The concert runs three nights, November 17, 18, 19 at 8 p.m., in Theatre 14, part of Smith College’s Mendenhall Center for the Performing Arts.
Our Dear Dead Drug Lord
The Smith College Department of Theatre presents Our Dear Dead Drug Lord by Alexis Scheer in Hallie Flanagan Studio Theatre on October 26, 27, 28, 29 at 7:30 p.m. with a 2 p.m. matinee on October 29. A gang of teenage girls gathers in a backyard treehouse in Miami to summon the ghost of Pablo Escobar. Are they messing with the actual spirit of the infamous cartel kingpin? Or are they really just messing with each other? Directed by Daniel Elihu Kramer, the award-winning play explores teen angst in both hilarious and terrifying ways.
Celebrating Pianos! Pianos and Piano Music 1750–1850
Smith College Department of Music presents Celebrating Pianos! Pianos and Piano Music 1750–1850, a weekend festival of concerts, lectures and workshops devoted to historical pianos on October 15 and 16, 2022. Two magnificent examples of pianos of the time will be featured on the stage of Sweeney Concert Hall: an 1835 Joseph Simon piano made in Vienna, courtesy of Cornell Center for Historical Keyboards, and a replica of Viennese Anton Walter pianos, c. 1803, made by Paul McNulty in 2000, courtesy of Smith College Professor Emerita Monica Jakuc Leverett.
A Poet’s Love
The Smith College Department of Music presents A Poet’s Love: The Music of Thomas de Hartmann and his Contemporaries on Saturday October 1 at 7:30 PM in Sweeney Concert Hall. Katherine Saik, soprano and Elan Sicroff, piano present the Ukrainian-born composer’s settings of Pushkin and P.B. Shelley poems. The lesser-known De Hartmann embraced many evolutions of his composition style, including Romanticism, Impressionism, and Modernism. This program will contextualize De Hartmann’s music with the inclusion of songs by Debussy, Tchaikovsky and Rachmaninoff.
Music Mondays
The Smith College Department of Music presents Music Mondays, a series of free half-hour chamber concerts on the first Monday of the month starting at 1:00 PM in Sweeney Concert Hall. The series is a continuation of the popular Music in the Noon Hour concerts, rescheduled for a later start time on Mondays. The Fall 2022 performances on October 3, November 7, and December 5 feature works by Black composers in a number of different musical styles for piano, voice and strings performed by Smith College faculty and guest artists.
Senior Dance Concert: Etiquette
The Smith College department of dance is pleased to present the 2022 Senior Dance Concert: Etiquette on April 7, 8, 9 at 7:30 PM. The 6 graduating seniors, Sophia Botrán, Nicky Consales, Helen Danielson, Qingyang Gu, Sheena Kuhn, and Becca Soifer, examine the ways we choose to embrace or challenge cultural norms and what is considered polite. The concert is open to the public in Hallie Flanagan Studio Theatre on the Smith College campus. Masks and Smith IDs or proof of full vaccination required. Tickets available at SmithArts.Booktix.com.
Fun Home
The Smith College Department of Theatre presents the five-time Tony Award-winning musical Fun Home April 20, 21, 22, 23 at 7:30 PM and April 23 at 2:00 PM in Theatre 14, directed by Fiona King ’22. The play is adapted from Alison Bechdel’s best-selling graphic novel with music by Jeanine Tesori and book and lyrics by Lisa Kron. The musical follows Bechdel at three different ages in her life, as she sets out to unravel the many mysteries of her childhood through a series of memories and conversations — from her coming out, to her moving journey of acceptance.
George Walker Centennial Celebration
The Smith College Department of Music presents a series of concerts to celebrate the 100th birthday of George Walker, the critically acclaimed concert pianist and composer and the first African American to receive the Pulitzer Prize for composition. The series begins Sunday, March 6 at 3 p.m., with a chamber concert featuring violinist Gregory Walker and pianist Lori Walker, the composer’s son and daughter-in-law and continues on April 21 and 22 with two concerts and a panel discussion. All events are free and open to the public in Sweeney Concert Hall.
Twilight: Los Angeles, 1992
The Smith College Department of Theatre presents Twilight: Los Angeles, 1992 by Anna Deavere Smith in Hallie Flanagan Studio Theatre on March 3, 4, 5 at 7:30 p.m. with a 2 p.m. matinee on March 5. Smith’s powerful solo work of verbatim theatre about the violent aftermath of the Rodney King verdict has been expanded from a one-person show. Kyle Boatwright directs an ensemble of 12 actors to bring this remarkable play about race, class, justice, and ethnic identity to the Smith community. Open to the public.
Unsaid Prayers
The Smith College Department of Music presents the world premiere of Unsaid Prayers, a new song cycle for baritone, soprano and harp by composer Nicolas Gutierrez, set to the poetry of Jana Lillie, Sunday, February 27 at 3 p.m. in Sweeney Concert Hall. Filling out the program will be art songs by Black composers, reimagined for voice and harp. The concert is open to the public with masks and proof of full vaccination required for entry.
MFA 2022 Dance Concert
The Smith College Department of Dance presents sketches of being, a performance of thesis research by the department’s MFA candidates on February 17, 18, and 19 at 8 p.m. in Theatre 14 featuring work by Sarah Konner, Erin Kouwe, Chrissy Martin and Laura Osterhaus Rosenstone. The event is open to the public at 50% capacity with masks and proof of full vaccination required. Full details and tickets are available at SmithArts.booktix.com.
The Thanksgiving Play
The Smith College Department of Theatre presents The Thanksgiving Play by Larissa FastHorse on December 7, 8, 9 & 10 at 7:30 p.m. in the Hallie Flanagan Studio Theatre. Tickets are available to participants in the Smith and Five College asymptomatic testing programs. Masks and campus IDs required.
Fall 2021 Faculty Dance Concert
The Smith College Department of Dance presents the Fall Faculty Dance Concert, featuring Smith and Five College student dancers in a special repertory project: an excerpt of Batty Moves, which runs November 18, 19, 20 at 8 p.m. in the Hallie Flanagan Studio Theatre. The event is open to participants in the Smith and Five College asymptomatic testing programs. Masks and campus IDs are required.
Schubertiade: Celebrating the Music of Franz Schubert
The Sage Chamber Music Society of the Smith College Department of Music is pleased to presents Schubertiade, celebrating the music of Franz Schubert, with Monica Jakuc Leverett and Jiayan Sun on Sunday, November 7, 2021, at Sweeney Concert Hall, 3 p.m. Open to members of the Smith and Five College communities in the asymptomatic testing programs.
What the Constitution Means to Me: Screening and Discussion with Heidi Schreck
Stoop Pigeons
The Smith College Department of Theatre presents Stoop Pigeons by Christin Eve Cato on October 22, 23, 28, 29 & 30 at 7:30 p.m. in the Hallie Flanagan Studio Theatre.