(PRINCETON, NJ) -- Princeton University's programs in Creative Writing, Dance, Theater & Music Theater, Visual Arts and the interdisciplinary Atelier form the Lewis Center for the Arts. In February, events presented by the Center include theatre, books, film, dance, and art.
No One is Forgotten: An Immersive Opera Drama, presented by the Lewis Center for the Arts' Program in Theater at Princeton University - February 7 at 7:00pm and February 8 at 2:30pm at Wallace Theater at Lewis Arts complex on the Princeton University campus. No One is Forgotten: An Immersive Opera Drama is a story of intimacy, surrender and the will to survive.
A soundscape of foley arts, actors, electronics, instrumentalists, and classical vocalists creates a world where the audience can experience storytelling through psycho-acoustic sound design techniques and their imagination. The work tells the story of Lali and Beng, who are being held captive. No one knows where they have been taken or if they are alive. All they have is each other.
Co-composed by Paola Prestini and Sxip Shirey with a libretto adapted by Winter Miller from her original play, inspired by the plight of captured and detained journalists and aid workers. Designed in immersive sound design, the audience is enveloped within the action. Miller was compelled to write the original play because she observed how much more dangerous the world has become for journalists over the last 20 years. A panel discussion on "What Art Reveals Beyond Factual Reporting" will follow the February 8 performance moderated by Eliza Griswold, Director of Princeton's Program in Journalism. This is a Princeton Humanities Council Magic Project funded through a David A. Garner '69 Magic Grant.
Admission: Free and open to the public, however tickets are required, available online at tickets.princeton.edu. The Wallace Theater is an accessible venue. Guests in need of access accommodations are asked to contact the Lewis Center at [email protected] at least one week prior to the event date.
Reading by Hala Alyan and Creative Writing Seniors, presented by the Lewis Center for the Arts' Program in Creative Writing and Labyrinth Books - February 10 at 6:00pm; Labyrinth Books, 122 Nassau St., Princeton, NJ. Award-winning novelist, poet and memoirist Hala Alyan, winner of the Dayton Literary Peace Prize and the Arab American Book Award, reads from her work along with several creative writing seniors. The C.K. Williams Reading Series showcases senior thesis students of the Program in Creative Writing with established writers as special guests. Alyan's books will be available to purchase and have signed.
Admission: Free and open to the public; no tickets required. Labyrinth Books is an accessible venue. Guests in need of access accommodations are invited to contact the Lewis Center at least one week in advance at [email protected]
Fall 2025 Student Film Screenings, presented by the Lewis Center for the Arts' Program in Visual Arts - February 11, 16 & 18 at 7:30pm at James Stewart Film Theater at 185 Nassau St. on the Princeton University campus. The Program in Visual Arts presents 40+ short student films created in fall 2025 semester courses, including "Filmmaking: 16mm Analog Film Production" and "Making the Vampire Film" taught by Christopher Harris; "Representation in Documentary Filmmaking" taught by Bent-Jorgen Perlmutt; "Animation I" taught by Tim Szetela; "Alternative Fiction: Short Form Filmmaking" taught by Nicolás Pereda; and "Narrative Filmmaking I" taught by Moon Molson.
Admission: Free and open to the public; no tickets required. The Stewart Film Theater is an accessible venue. Guests in need of access accommodations are invited to contact the Lewis Center at least one week in advance at [email protected]
Liminality by Matthew Cooperberg '26, presented by the Lewis Center for the Arts' Program in Theater at Princeton University - February 13 & 14 at 7:30pm and February 15 at 2:00pm at Drapkin Studio at Lewis Arts complex on the Princeton University campus. In this new play by Princeton senior Matthew Cooperberg, Quinn Marion rebels against academia in their pursuit of proving quantum mechanics false.
Grace Sy navigates a gender crisis to find themself with the help of old friends. Meanwhile, a mysterious figure called Kit encourages both of them to experiment in increasingly dangerous ways. As they seek certainty in the unknown, their lives and their experiments in quantum mechanics and gender exploration collide. Cooperberg, who is also directing, is a physics major and theater minor experimenting through theater how quantum mechanics and gender exist beyond empirical determination. Audience members will be invited to take short pre-show and post-show quizzes and to participate in a 20-minute post-show talkback to learn more about the physics concepts and gender issues explored in the production.
Admission: Free and open to the public, however tickets are required, available online at tickets.princeton.edu. The Drapkin Studio is an accessible venue. Guests in need of access accommodations are asked to contact the Lewis Center at [email protected] at least one week prior to the event date.
VIS Book & Poster Show, presented by the Lewis Center for the Arts' Program in Visual Arts - February 16-March 15. Gallery open weekdays 8:00am-8:30pm; weekends 9:00am-8:30pm. Hagan Gallery at 185 Nassau St. on the Princeton University campus. An exhibition of innovative poster designs and artists' books by the seniors and juniors in the Program in Visual Arts.
Admission: Free and open to the public. The Hagan Gallery is an accessible venue. Guests in need of access accommodations are invited to contact the Lewis Center at least one week in advance at [email protected]
Reading by Didi Jackson and Major Jackson, presented by the Lewis Center for the Arts' Program in Creative Writing and Labyrinth Books on February 17 at 6:00pm; Labyrinth Books, 122 Nassau St., Princeton, NJ. Award-winning poet Didi Jackson, a Poetry Society of America honoree, and acclaimed poet Major Jackson, recipient of a Pushcart Prize and a Whiting Writers' Award, read from their work as part of the 2025-26 Althea Ward Clark W'21 Reading Series. The writers' books will be available to purchase and have signed.
Admission: Free and open to the public; no tickets required. Labyrinth Books is an accessible venue. Guests in need of access accommodations are invited to contact the Lewis Center at least one week in advance at [email protected]
In relation to, a new dance work by Madalyn Mejia '26, presented by the Lewis Center for the Arts' Program in Dance at Princeton University - February 19, 20 & 21 at 8:30pm; Hearst Dance Theater at Lewis Arts complex on the Princeton University campus. In relation to, a new work choreographed by Princeton senior Madalyn Mejia, explores the creation of social meaning through interactions both with the material and relational world. The audience is immersed in a complex social environment that is iteratively constructed as the work unfolds.
Admission: Free and open to the public, however tickets are required, available online at tickets.princeton.edu. The Hearst Dance Theater is an accessible venue. Guests in need of access accommodations are asked to contact the Lewis Center at [email protected] at least one week prior to the event date.
Thomas Edison Film Festival Premiere Screening, presented by the Lewis Center for the Arts' Program in Visual Ars and Thomas Edison Media Arts Consortium - February 20 at 7:00pm with pre-screening reception starting 6:30pm. Films available to view online February 21-28. James Stewart Film Theater at 185 Nassau St. on the Princeton University campus, and online. The 45th anniversary season of the renowned Thomas Edison Film Festival (TEFF) will premiere with a pre-event reception and screening followed by a Q&A with filmmakers. TEFF is a designated Academy Awards® Qualifying Festival and a Canadian Screen Award Qualifying Festival. The Stellar Award-winning short films to be screened, representing animation, documentary, experimental, narrative and screen dance genres, will also be available to view online for one week, from February 21 through 28, on the TEFF website.
Admission: Free and open to the public, no tickets required. The Stewart Theater is an accessible venue. Guests in need of access accommodations are invited to contact the Lewis Center at least one week in advance at [email protected]
Manual for a Desperate Crossing by María Irene Fornés, presented by the Lewis Center for the Arts' Program in Theater at Princeton University - February 20, 21, 26, 27 & 28 at 8:00pm; Wallace Theater at Lewis Arts complex on the Princeton University campus. In the sea, six people have to think like one. Manual for a Desperate Crossing is an epic migratory montage that follows a group of Cuban rafters, or "balseros," fleeing to the United States in the mid-1990s.
Cuban-American playwright María Irene Fornés crafts this one-act with her distinctively stylized prose, which draws from real-life testimonies of balseros, to create a vast landscape of overlapping fears and dreams. The solidity and security of a home lost to a precarious raft, a better future conflicting with an unyielding past, the fight to exist within nature and against nature; these oppositions materialize on stage like narrative tableaus, memorializing the histories of the thousands who have undertaken these desperate crossings. Directed by Princeton junior Didi Vekri with lighting design and dramaturgy by senior Elena Milliken. In English with English and Spanish captions for all performances.
Admission: Free and open to the public, however tickets are required, available online at tickets.princeton.edu. The Wallace Theater is an accessible venue. All performances captioned in English and Spanish. Guests in need of access accommodations are asked to contact the Lewis Center at [email protected] at least one week prior to the event date.
How to Be Not Alone: A Princeton Playhouse Ensembles Concert, presented by the Lewis Center for the Arts' Program in Theater & Music Theater on February 21 at 7:00pm; Berlind Theatre at McCarter Theatre Center, 91 University Place, Princeton. Join the Princeton Playhouse Ensembles for a concert featuring new music theater arrangements of songs from Godspell, Evening Primrose, Kimberly Akimbo, In the Heights, Maybe Happy Ending, Next to Normal, Rent, and Waitress alongside world premieres by student composers and arrangers. The concert will also feature a special guest TBA.
This musical celebration will unite music theater storytelling, performance, composition, arranging, direction, and choreography while featuring the work, perspectives, reflections, and leadership of current Princeton students and alumni. The Playhouse Ensembles are directed by Princeton faculty member Solon Snider Sway, and this performance will be directed by Aaron Landsman, with lighting design by Tess James, sound design by Kay Richardson, and stage management by Milan Eldridge.
Presented by the Lewis Center for the Arts' Program in Theater & Music Theater and cosponsored by the Department of Music. The concert will also be the Ensemble's debut EP release event. Their new EP, supported by a grant from the Edward T. Cone '39 *42 Fund in Princeton's Humanities Council, will feature five musical compositions written or co-written by current and former students.
Admission: $20 adults, $10 students, available through the McCarter Box Office at mccarter.org. The Berlind Theatre is an accessible venue with an assistive listening system. The performance will be open-captioned. Guests in need of other access accommodations are invited to contact the Lewis Center at least one week in advance at [email protected]
An exhibition by seniors Dane Utley & Alvaro Machado Basso, presented by the Lewis Center for the Arts' Program in Visual Arts - February 23-March 6. Gallery open daily 10:00am-8:00pm; Hurley Gallery at Lewis Arts complex on the Princeton University campus. An exhibition of recent works by Princeton seniors Dane Utley and Alvaro Machado Basso.
Admission: Free and open to the public. The Hurley Gallery is an accessible venue with wheelchair access via elevator to the Mezzanine level.Guests in need of access accommodations are invited to contact the Lewis Center at least one week in advance at [email protected]
An exhibition by senior Zavier Foster, presented by the Lewis Center for the Arts' Program in Visual Arts - February 23-March 6. Gallery open Monday-Friday 9:00am-6:00pm; Lucas Gallery at 185 Nassau St. on the Princeton University campus. An exhibition of recent works by Princeton seniors Dane Utley and Alvaro Machado Basso
Admission: Free and open to the public. The Lucas Gallery is an accessible venue. Guests in need of access accommodations are invited to contact the Lewis Center at least one week in advance at [email protected]
Reading by Jordan Salama '19 and Creative Writing Seniors, presented by the Lewis Center for the Arts' Program in Creative Writing and Labyrinth Books on February 24 at 6:00pm; Labyrinth Books, 122 Nassau St., Princeton, NJ. Award-winning writer and Princeton alum Jordan Salama, who tells stories about migration, culture, and the environment across the Americas, reads from his work along with several creative writing seniors. The C.K. Williams Reading Series showcases senior thesis students of the Program in Creative Writing with established writers as special guests. Salama's books will be available to purchase and have signed.
Admission: Free and open to the public; no tickets required. Labyrinth Books is an accessible venue. Guests in need of access accommodations are invited to contact the Lewis Center at least one week in advance at [email protected]
Visit the Lewis Center website to learn more about this event, the Lewis Center for the Arts, and the more than 100 public performances, exhibitions, readings, screenings, concerts, lectures, and special events presented by the Lewis Center each year, most of them free.
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