New Plays Festival 2026
2026-02-21 17:00, 2026-02-22 13:00, 2026-02-22 17:00 (America/New_York) | Kresge Experimental Theatre, Watson Fine Arts
Eleven longer form plays—written, directed and performed by Wheaton students—are showcased in our annual festival. The festival runs over two days with two seatings each day, each seating showcases a different set of plays.
Free or pay-what-you-can tickets are available through the Watson Box Office.

Opening Reception: And so... Claudia Fieo and Hand-Drawn
2026-03-19 17:00 - 20:00 | Watson Fine Arts – Beard and Weil Galleries, Norton, MA, 02766, United States
Opening Reception: Thursday, March 19, 5-8pm
March 17–April 11, 2026
Closing Reception: Friday, April 10, 1-3pm
And so… Claudia Fieo: Selected Works (1986-2026) highlights the arc of the artist’s visual investigations over the past four decades as she returns again and again to pondering the ineffable mysteries intrinsic to living a life: the inevitability of time passing; the capriciousness of memory; and the tensions that exist in relationships-with one’s self, with others, and with the natural world & built environment.
In honor of Professor Claudia Fieo’s retirement after 34 years of distinguished teaching in printmaking, graphic design, and foundations, Hand-drawn: Alumni Works from Wheaton College’s Collections celebrates the enduring creativity of her students. This exhibition features 25 years of acquisitions from the Friends of Art Student Art Collection, an initiative spearheaded by Professor Fieo and funded by the Friends of Art alumni organization to purchase exceptional work each year from the Senior Visual Art Exhibition.
Spanning prints, drawings, animation, and sculpture, the featured works are drawn from the Student Art Collection, the Wheaton College Permanent Collection, and the Marion B. Gebbie Archives & Special Collections. More than a historical archive, this collection stands as a testament to exceptional student achievement and serves as a vital, aspirational teaching tool for future Wheaton artists.
For more information visit bwgalleries.org
Gallery Hours: Tue-Sat 1-5pm, Thur 1-8pm
Closed during College holidays and breaks.

Readings by the Writer: Kate Colby
2026-03-25 17:00 | Mary Lyon Hall – May Room, Norton, MA, 02766
Kate Colby reads from her work including Paradoxx, her new collection of essays. “In Paradoxx, Colby applies her humor and exacting intelligence to teasing out tangles in relationships between memory, signification, and human perception. A one-hundred-day chronicle of a dark period in the author’s life, this tightly-wound lyric essay is also a memoir of growing up in the late 20th century and stumbling into the 21st.” (Essay Press) Colby was a founding board member of the Gloucester Writers Center in Massachusetts, where she now serves on the advisory board. She grew up in Massachusetts and currently lives in Providence, where she teaches at UPenn.

Object Lessons: Matisse and Art Education
2026-03-25 18:30 | Watson Fine Arts – Ellison Lecture Hall, Norton, MA, 02766
The Wheaton College Friends of Art proudly present the 18th Annual Mary L. Heuser Lecture in Art History featuring Camran Mani. Throughout his artistic career, Henri Matisse tried to be the teacher he had never had as an unhappy art student in late 19th-century Paris. In his talk, Camran Mani will explore the evolution of ideas about how to educate young people for careers in art by looking at a few of Matisse’s experimental teaching efforts from 1908-1948, including the art academy he briefly operated in Paris, his mural for an educational foundation in Pennsylvania, and the book Jazz.

Closing Reception: And so... Claudia Fieo and Hand-Drawn
2026-04-10 13:00 - 15:00 | Watson Fine Arts – Beard and Weil Galleries, Norton, MA, 02766, United States
Join us in the galleries to celebrate retiring faculty during the closing reception for And So… and Hand-Drawn.
And so… Claudia Fieo: Selected Works (1986-2026) highlights the arc of the artist’s visual investigations over the past four decades as she returns again and again to pondering the ineffable mysteries intrinsic to living a life: the inevitability of time passing; the capriciousness of memory; and the tensions that exist in relationships-with one’s self, with others, and with the natural world & built environment.
In honor of Professor Claudia Fieo’s retirement after 34 years of distinguished teaching in printmaking, graphic design, and foundations, Hand-drawn: Alumni Works from Wheaton College’s Collections celebrates the enduring creativity of her students. This exhibition features 25 years of acquisitions from the Friends of Art Student Art Collection, an initiative spearheaded by Professor Fieo and funded by the Friends of Art alumni organization to purchase exceptional work each year from the Senior Visual Art Exhibition.
For more information visit bwgalleries.org
Gallery Hours: Tue-Sat 1-5pm, Thur 1-8pm
Closed during College holidays and breaks.

2026 Creative Writing Senior Reading
2026-04-14 17:00, 2026-04-21 17:00 | Balfour-Hood – New Yellow Parlor
Seniors graduating with a major in Creative Writing and Literature read from their original work. Students will present readings over two evenings April 14 & 21, 2026.

Wheaton College Dance Company presents Paradigm
2026-04-16 19:30, 2026-04-17 19:30, 2026-04-18 14:00 | Watson Fine Arts – Weber Theatre, Norton, MA, 02766, United States
The ensemble performs under the direction of Artistic Director Andrea Taylor-Blenis.
Pay-what-you-can tickets may be purchased via the Watson Box Office.

Five-Minute Play Festival
2026-04-19 14:00 | Kresge Experimental Theatre, Watson Fine Arts
Original five-minute plays—written, directed, and performed by Wheaton students—are showcased in our biannual festival.

Taking Up Space: Stories of Being
2026-04-21 13:00 - 17:00, 2026-04-23 13:00 - 20:00, 2026-04-25 13:00 - 17:00, 2026-04-28 13:00 - 17:00, 2026-04-30 13:00 - 20:00, 2026-05-02 13:00 - 17:00, 2026-05-05 13:00 - 17:00 | Watson Fine Arts – Beard and Weil Galleries, Norton, MA, 02766, United States
2026 Senior Visual Art Exhibition
This exhibition highlights the work of our graduating Visual Art majors. It features animation, illustration, painting, photography, and sculpture. Featuring work by: Claire Berman, Charlie Black, Shaye Cox, Cali Griffin, Anjonelys Grullon, Tessa Hammond, Ben Massouda, and Olivia Price.
Exhibition runs: April 21–May 9, 2026
Commencement/Reunion Weekend: May 15 & 16

Gallery Opening
2026-04-23 17:00 - 19:00 | Watson Fine Arts – Beard and Weil Galleries, Norton, MA, 02766, United States
Taking Up Space: Stories of Being
2026 Senior Visual Art Exhibition
Join us as we celebrate our 2026 Senior Visual Art majors. This exhibition highlights the work of our graduating Visual Art majors. It features animation, illustration, painting, photography, and sculpture. Featuring work by: Claire Berman, Charlie Black, Shaye Cox, Cali Griffin, Anjonelys Grullon, Tessa Hammond, Ben Massouda, and Olivia Price.
Exhibition runs: April 21–May 9, 2026
Commencement/Reunion Weekend: May 15 & 16

The Mary Bloor Loser '42 Concert Series presents Powerful Voices: We Shall Overcome
2026-04-28 19:30 - 21:00 | Cole Memorial Chapel, Norton, MA, 02766, United States
Powerful Voices: We Shall Overcome
Democracy through Black American Music

Renowned guest conductor Donnell Patterson, founding director of Boston’s Millennium Gospel Choir, joins the Wheaton Chorale and Chamber Singers, led by Alexandra Lutkevich, for an electrifying and powerful evening of music celebrating the contributions of Black American composers. The program will include gospel, spiritual, and classical music, and feature vocal soloists David Joyner, Laura Vecchione, Sayida Farmer, and Anthony Clayton.

Pay-what-you-can tickets are available via the Watson Box Office

Student Recitals
2026-04-29 17:00 | Cole Memorial Chapel, Norton, MA, 02766, United States
Wheaton students studying voice and various instruments showcase their skill performing work from their studies this semester.

Wheaton College Jazz Band
2026-04-29 20:00 | Watson Fine Arts – Weber Theatre, Norton, MA, 02766, United States
The Wheaton College Jazz Band perform under the direction of Diamond Centofanti. The Ensemble will perform works by Horance Silver, Benny Goodman, Luiz Bonfa, Duke Ellington and more.

Wheaton Steelband
2026-04-30 19:30 | Kresge Experimental Theatre, Watson Fine Arts
The Ensemble performs a selection of music for steel pan under the direction of Jason Roseman.

Pay-what-you-can tickets will be available via the Watson Box Office.

2026 Design Capstone poster display
2026-05-05, 2026-05-06, 2026-05-07 | Haas Concourse and Lobby, Watson Fine Arts
The design capstone is a chance for senior design majors to apply their knowledge and skills to a topic of their choice. Posters show and explain what students investigated and why, the steps they took to add depth to their understanding and how they responded with design concepts through sketches, diagrams, prototypes and mockups.
Projects will be on display May 5–May 16, 2026

2026 Design Capstone opening reception
2026-05-05 17:00 - 19:00 | Haas Concourse and Lobby, Watson Fine Arts
Join the senior design majors as the celebrate opening of their capstone project poster display. The design capstone is a chance for senior design majors to apply their knowledge and skills to a topic of their choice. Posters show and explain what students investigated and why, the steps they took to add depth to their understanding and how they responded with design concepts through sketches, diagrams, prototypes and mockups.
The posters will be on display May 5–May 16, 2026

Student Film Screening
2026-05-05 19:00 - 20:30 | Watson Fine Arts – Weber Theatre, Norton, MA, 02766, United States
Join the Film, Media & Communications Department for their spring 2026 student film screening. Student work from the following courses will be shown: Production I, Animation I, Cinematography, Video Art, Stop Motion Animation, Digital Editing, Media Workshop, and FNMS senior seminar.
