WashU Performing Arts

05/13/2025

....that's a wrap 🎬

We are so grateful to everyone who made our 2024-2025 school year a fantastic one!

See you next season❤️💚

05/08/2025

“It's easy to look out and see what's going wrong in the world, but if we focus on the people standing by our side — whether that's on stage or in our community — we can make it through whatever life throws at us, together.”

PAD's Ellen Schaaf will be the Master’s Student Speaker at tomorrow's Arts & Sciences Graduate Studies Hooding and Recognition. When she stands before her fellow graduate students, she hopes to impart a message of perseverance, resilience, and the importance of community.

Introducing the speakers honoring 2025 doctoral, master’s degree recipients 5.5.25 Share During the Arts & Sciences Graduate Studies Hooding and Recognition Ceremony on May 9, students Jennifer Beatty and Ellen Schaaf will join alumnus Darrell L. Williams, MA ’86, PhD ’91, in addressing the Cl...

05/07/2025

🎓 Seniors - don't forget about our Handprint Ceremony THIS FRIDAY!

Any students who have been involved in a PAD dance or drama production (dancers, actors, designers, and crew members) during their time at WashU are invited to join us on Friday, May 9th from 12-2pm in the PAD hallway to leave their mark on the PAD!🖐️

04/30/2025

🎙️ Episode 15 of the PAD podcast is out NOW🎙️

This special episode features our first in-person podcast interview with recent PAD alum and director of the WashU production of 'The 25th Annual Putnam County Spelling Bee', Brenna Jones! Literally on the 'Spelling Bee' set, Rob talks with Brenna about all things 'Spelling Bee' comprised of an all-student cast, designers, and crew but also discusses her many outside projects that she managed even while a busy WashU student!

Asked to start a program for the local students to experience theatre Brenna (along with her business partner) created the Half Act Theatre Company, which has grown to a troupe of over 100 students ages 4-18 that continues to bring summer camp theatre to Hermann and change young lives in the process. She has also helped to kickstart the Riverside Theatre Project, which is a cross-community collaboration between St. Louis and Hermann designed to open up dialogue between rural and urban artists.

Don’t miss this inspiring episode interview of one of St. Louis (and Hermann’s) rising theatre stars ✨Brenna Jones✨

🎧 Listen now: https://pad.wustl.edu/news/pad-podcast-episode-15-brenna-jones

04/25/2025

The moment you've been waiting for! Our ✨2025-2026 Production Season ✨

📅 Students - mark your calendars for auditions 📅
Fall Drama Auditions: August 28 & 29 from 7:00-10:00 p.m. Callbacks August 30.
Dance Auditions: WUDT - September 2 from 7:00-10:00 p.m., WUDC - September 4 from 7:00-9:00 p.m.

Get additional season details on the PAD website: https://pad.wustl.edu/news/announcing-our-2025-2026-production-season

04/24/2025

PAD's “Retina Burn” is tonight at 7:30 p.m. in Edison Theatre!

Students from our digital media for the stage and advanced concert lighting technology classes have worked hard to put together lighting design and concert-style animations set to music by St. Louis blues band Uncle Albert. The FREE concert takes place tonight only - don't forget your sunglasses!

“Retina Burn,” the WashU Performing Arts Department's annual student lighting design and digital media concert, will take place at 7:30 p.m. Thursday, April 24, in Edison Theatre.

04/23/2025

Can you guess our 2025-2026 drama productions from the emojis? Let us know your guesses in the comments!

Keep an eye out for our full season reveal on Friday! 👀

04/23/2025

Retina Burn is back 😎Tomorrow night only at 7:30pm join us in Edison for a FREE concert! This year for the first time our Lighting Technology and Digital Media for the Stage classes have joined forces to create this awesome final project and you don’t want to miss it! Featuring the musical talents of Uncle Albert 🎶🥁🎸

Don’t forget your sunglasses 🕶️🔥
More info here: https://pad.wustl.edu/events/retina-burn-2025

04/21/2025

The PAD would like to extend a huge thank you to everyone who made 'The 25th Annual Putnam County Spelling Bee' a runaway success 🐝 We SOLD OUT every single show! We were so grateful to have alumni Brenna Jones (BA '23) and Jo Palisoc (BA '24) return to campus to direct and choreograph, respectively. Larry D. Pry also joined us as our music director, truly bringing the heartfelt yet comical score to life.

From the dedicated actors who gave us their time and talents, embodying the larger-than-life hilarity of these characters, to our fantastic production & design crew who made our set feel immersive and ensured that the show ran smoothly, we couldn't have done it without you. We would also like to thank our band for their amazing work. We are so thankful to all those who worked hard on the show as well as our terrific audiences who attended the show and shared their laughs with us!

📸: Danny Reise/WashU
Director: Brenna Jones
Music Director: Larry D. Pry
Choreographer: Jo Palisoc
Scenic Designer: Tina Zang
Lighting Designer: Zachary Cohn
Costume Designer: Heather Elaine Anderson
Sound Designer: Tab Birt (Dedicated to Alan Hiserödt)
Stage Manager: AJ Harness
Assistant Stage Manager: Margaret Fecko

04/20/2025

A quick snippet from the next episode of our PAD alumni podcast. PAD's Robert Mark Morgan sat down with Brenna Jones (BA '23) to talk about her work on 'The 25th Annual Putnam County Spelling Bee' (among many other things) 🎙️

Our final show this afternoon is sold out, but you can call the box office at 314-935-6543 and ask them to put you on the waitlist!

Stay tuned for the full podcast episode coming soon 👀

04/19/2025

We had a 🎶 very nice, very, very nice beginning 🎶 to our run of 'The 25th Annual Putnam County Spelling Bee'. The show runs through this weekend, but most of our shows are SOLD OUT, so make sure to get your tickets now!

We have four audience participant spots to fill - don't miss your chance to try your hand at being Putnam County's champion speller 🏆

🔗 Details a& get tickets here: https://pad.wustl.edu/events/25th-annual-putnam-county-spelling-bee
🎟️ WashU students get free tickets

📸 Danny Reise/WashU

📍 A.E. Hotchner Studio Theatre
📅 April 18, & 19 at 7:30 p.m. and April 19 & 20 at 2 p.m.

04/19/2025

Meet the student designer Heather Elaine Anderson! 🎨

Drama and Anthropology major Heather Elaine Anderson embraced her inner child to construct costumes that truly make the cast in 'The 25th Annual Putnam County Spelling Bee' embody their childlike characters.

This learning experience has challenged and enlightened Heather, and if you'd like to see how her creative journey has paid off make sure to catch one of our last showings of 'The Bee'.

Friday and Saturday night are SOLD OUT, but you can still get tickets to our Saturday and Sunday: Get more info at the link 🔗 https://pad.wustl.edu/events/25th-annual-putnam-county-spelling-bee?d=2025-04-17