Arts Season 2026–27

The season in brief

The 2026–27 season is 64 public events: 28 concerts and recitals (two of them by visiting artists), 30 performances of four theatre productions, and six exhibitions in the Furlong Gallery. For the first time it is published as one calendar and sold through one box office with one season pass (see the August announcement). Nearly all of it happens in one building: the Applied Arts Building, which holds three performance spaces and the gallery under one roof, plus the jazz nights across the quad in the Founders Ballroom at Founders Union.

• Heritage Auditorium — 900 seats, east wing. The large concerts and the spring musical.
• Thorsen Theatre — a 312-seat proscenium house. The fall play, visiting artists and the spring chamber showcase.
• The Black Box (Room 118) — flexible seating for 80 to 110. The winter drama and the devised piece.
• Furlong Gallery — ground floor, always free. Exhibitions, plus the chamber-music recitals among the art.

Porter students get in free to almost everything with a Porter Card. The box office page has the full price list, the accessibility services and the exchange policy.

Full calendar

Concerts begin at 7:30 p.m. on Fridays and Saturdays and 3 p.m. on Sundays unless noted. Theatre runs Thursday–Saturday at 7:30 p.m. and Sunday at 2 p.m. Prices are adult singles; seniors 65+ and youth pay $5, and Porter students are free. The table lists every production and exhibition and the main concerts. Student degree recitals and faculty recitals that make up the rest of the 28 concerts are posted on the events calendar as they are scheduled.

The Ironclad Pep Band is not on this table because it follows the athletics calendar instead; see the pep band page.

Theatre

The season the program announced in March (see the announcement) is built around work with Wesconsin roots:

• The Supper Club by Wesconsin playwright Joanna Fjelstad — three generations of a family on the last night of their lakeside supper club. October, Thorsen Theatre.
• What the Coulee Keeps by Ruth Ekdahl — a contemporary drama about a dairy family in a Driftless-region farm town. February, the Black Box.
• The Millrace Follies of 1911 — an original musical comedy about the week Porter Falls waited for its first train. April, Heritage Auditorium.
• Shift Change: Porter Falls in Its Own Words — built by a student ensemble from oral histories collected in town this fall. May, the Black Box.

Ensembles, gallery and visiting artists

Five ensemble programs perform this year, all open to any major: the Wind Symphony, the Jazz Orchestra, the University Choir, the Ironclad Pep Band and the chamber music program. The Furlong Gallery exhibitions page has the artists, opening receptions and gallery talks.

The two visiting artists each give a free afternoon masterclass the day of their concert, open to students in any ensemble. The Lantern Brass Quintet, a touring group, works with the Wind Symphony brass on November 19. Percussionist Adaeze Holloway, who plays marimba against live electronics, works with the percussion studio and the Introduction to Music Technology class on February 25. Writers visit through the separate visiting writers series.

Getting in

Students: show your Porter Card, or reserve a free seat online for the theatre. The public: buy single tickets, or the $48 season pass, which covers one admission to every ticketed event in the season. It is described on arts season passes. Want to be on stage rather than in the audience? Auditions for the musical and the winter drama are in November.