W&L’s Lenfest Center for the Arts Presents 35th Anniversary Season Tickets for the 2026-2027 season will be available to purchase online beginning Aug. 17.

The Lenfest Center for the Arts
August 12, 2026

Washington and Lee University’s Lenfest Center for the Arts announces its 2026-2027 season, “Your Gateway to Global Experiences,” featuring artistic collaborations and performances that celebrate creativity, connection and community. Tickets for the entire season will be available for purchase online beginning Aug. 17, or in person at the Lenfest Box Office starting Sept. 8.

A continuation of last year’s theme, “Your Gateway to Global Experiences” celebrates 35 years of the Lenfest Center sparking curiosity and fostering meaningful connections between the W&L community, local residents and artists from around the world.

The anniversary season opens with “In Honor of Jean-Michel Basquiat,” a solo theatrical performance created and performed by Obie Award-winning actor and playwright Roger Guenveur Smith, at 7:30 p.m. on Sept. 28 in the Keller Theatre. Smith draws upon his real-life friendship with Basquiat to craft a raw, intimate portrait of the legendary painter’s life, the counterculture of the 1980s New York art market and the systemic racism he encountered.

This year’s program will once again offer unique and engaging opportunities to connect with the artists on stage through the Lenfest Center’s Outreach & Engagement (O&E) Series. The O&E series is focused on fostering immersive and collaborative university-community interactions, and audiences will have the opportunity to interact in open dialogue and conversation with artists and speakers during several events presented in conjunction with the performances. The series kicks off with a screening of “Basquiat” at 7 p.m. on Sept. 15 in Stackhouse Theater in Elrod Commons. Directed by Julian Schnabel, the biopic is a tribute to his friend and fellow painter and is a sensory immersion into the much-mythologized world of art in 1980s New York.

Four performances comprise W&L’s Concert Guild season this year, bringing professional performing artists to campus for concerts and master classes. Soprano soloist Penelope Shumate will open the series with “Baroque to Broadway” at 7 p.m. on Oct. 31 in Wilson Concert Hall. Shumate has performed internationally and throughout the United States and can be heard as a soloist on professional opera and concert recordings. She will be joined by Lise Keiter, lecturer in music at W&L, on piano in a performance illuminating timeless favorites from classical and Broadway repertoires.

W&L’s SonoKlect Series, a program dedicated to bringing modern music to local audiences in Lexington, will open with a performance from saxophonist Jeff Coffin at 8 p.m. on Oct. 17 in Wilson Concert Hall. Best known for his work with Dave Matthews Band and Béla Fleck and the Flecktones, Coffin is a three-time Grammy Award winner and one of the most distinctive saxophone voices of his generation.

The Lenfest Center’s National Theatre Live series returns this year, bringing the world of London’s professional theater and entertainment to Lexington. A screening of “All My Sons” will be held at 7 p.m. on Sept. 22 in Stackhouse Theater in Elrod Commons, featuring Bryan Cranston and Marianne Jean-Baptiste. The Lenfest Center’s special screenings will also expand to include two matinee screenings from the Metropolitan Opera, beginning with “Carmen” on April 17 in Stackhouse Theater.

Other events this season include Ailey II: The Next Generation of Dance, Australian circus troupe CIRCA, Mamadou Diabaté and his Percussion Mania ensemble, an immersive performance of “A Teen Odyssey,” the JACK Quartet and a student performance of “Mean Girls,” this year’s Bentley Musical. Performances by the university’s student ensembles will round out the season.

For a full list of performances, visit the Lenfest Center’s website.

The Lenfest Center for the Arts, home of the Department of Theater, Dance and Film Studies, the Department of Music and Department of Art and Art History is a multi-use facility designed and equipped to accommodate a broad spectrum of the performing arts, including theater, musical theater, opera and operetta, choral and band music, dance and performance art in one energizing complex.