Arts and Culture

Northern Michigan University Theatre and Dance will host its annual Wildcat Theatre Follies Thursday-Saturday, Sept. 4-6, in the Panowski Black Box Theatre. The event will showcase a variety of creative performances by freshmen and sophomores in the program, including songs, scenes, monologues and dance pieces.

Editors: This has been revised to include an additional quote submitted by the co-director. Please use this version instead.Northern Michigan University Theatre and Dance will host its annual Wildcat Theatre Follies Thursday-Saturday, Sept. 4-6, in the Panowski Black Box Theatre. The event will showcase a variety of creative performances by freshmen and sophomores in the program, including songs, scenes, monologues and dance pieces.

Northern Michigan University will open the 2025-2026 Siril Concert Series with Deux Saisons (French for “two seasons”), a duo featuring soprano Keri Lee Pierson classical guitarist Christopher Schoelen and soprano Keri Lee Pierson, who perform a wide musical repertoire ranging from the Renaissance through the present day.

Anishinaabe Radio News, a program co-produced by Northern Michigan University's Center for Native American Studies and Public Radio 90, will soon mark its 200th episode. Since the first broadcast in 2016, host April Lindala has explored Native American history and culture and shared updates on Indigenous events planned across the Great Lakes region. 

The Beaumier U.P. Heritage Center at Northern Michigan University has brought back two of its most popular exhibitions for the months of July and August, “Remnants: Ghost Towns of the Upper Peninsula” and “The Polar Bears: U.P. Soldiers in the Northern Russian Expeditionary Force 1918-1919” are on display in the center's gallery in Gries Hall from noon to 4 p.m. Monday-Saturday through Aug. 30. Admission is free.

Northern Michigan University Theatre and Dance will host its Wildcat Performing Arts Academy Summer Dance Intensive for high school intermediate- to advanced-level dancers July 13-27. Participants will attend sessions led by prominent industry professionals from Giordano Dance Chicago, Ballet Project OC of California, a former Broadway touring company member and others. They will also perform alongside the two visiting ensembles and NMU CO/LAB Dance Company during the North Coast Dance Festival, which consists of a masterclass and two public performances.  

The inaugural "Summer Concerts at Reynolds" series at Northern Michigan University will kick off with guitar professor Christopher Shoelen at 5 p.m. Tuesday, June 24, in Reynolds Recital Hall. He will present a program that features some of the most renowned pieces for the Spanish guitar, and transport the audience to the streets of Spain with passionate Andalusian harmonies.

Northern Michigan University's DeVos Art Museum will host its annual "North of the 45th" exhibition June 20-Aug. 1. The juried show features artists who reside above the 45th parallel in Michigan, Wisconsin and Minnesota. A reception is scheduled at 6 p.m. Friday, July 25.

Northern Michigan University Theatre & Dance will present “Love Letters” by A.R. Gurney, a past nominee for the Pulitzer Prize for Drama. The play features two characters—Melissa Gardner and Andrew Makepeace Ladd III—whose 50-year correspondence chronicles their evolving relationship and shared confidences. It has been described as “a tender, tragi-comic and nuanced examination of the shared nostalgia, missed opportunities and deep closeness of two lifelong, complicated friends.” Showtimes are scheduled for 7:30 p.m. Thursday, June 26 through Saturday, June 28, in Forest Roberts Theatre.  

The Northern Michigan University Department of Music is launching a new series titled Summer Concerts at Reynolds, which will take place on Tuesdays in June and July in Reynolds Recital Hall. This year's series will highlight the department's faculty, all of whom are highly trained professional musicians, in addition to teaching full time. One or more faculty members will be featured during each performance.