Thursday, October 1

Douglas Jurs, “This is 50: Music from 50-year-old composers on my 50th Birthday”

Whitley Auditorium, 7:30 p.m.

Program to include works by Erik Satie (Sonatine Bureaucratique), Ludwig von Beethoven (Sonata #31 in A-flat major, Op. 110), Claude Debussy (Selections from Preludes Book 2) and Franz Liszt (Mephisto Waltz #1). Sponsored by the Department of Music

Friday – Tuesday, October 2-6

Department of Performing Arts presents “Everybody”

Roberts Studio Theatre, Scott Studios at Arts West
Oct.2, 3, 5, 6 at 7:30 p.m., Oct. 3, 4 at 2 p.m.

Written by Branden Jacobs-Jenkins | Directed by Mya Brown

Branden Jacobs-Jenkins’ sassy updating of the Medieval morality play “Everyman”, presents the tale in a way that can appeal to…well, nearly Everybody. When Death arrives to tell the title character that it is time to make an accounting to God about how they have lived their life, Everybody gets Death’s consent to seek someone who will go with them to, in the words of Hamlet, “the land from which no voyager returns.” A finalist for the Pulitzer Prize for Drama in 2018, “Everybody” is a very funny exploration of a rather serious subject. Note: May not be appropriate for young children. Admission: Tickets are $15 or free with valid Elon ID and available beginning September 11 at

Sunday, October 4

Mass on the Grass

Belk Amphitheater, Lambert Academic Village, 5 p.m.

In honor of the Feast of St. Francis of Assisi (October 4), the patron saint of animals and the environment, Catholic Mass will be celebrated outside on amphitheater and lawn in the Lambert Academic Village. A Sunday Supper event will follow.

Monday, October 5

Kate Kinder: “Sometimes, Even Now”

Gallery 406 at Arts West, artist talk and opening reception, 5 p.m.
Exhibition runs through November 5

By reimagining familiar architectural markers and domestic artifacts, Kate Kinder invites viewers into a deeply personal, reconstructed landscape – one that asks us to consider the spaces we inhabit, the objects we hold onto, and the environments we build from memory.

Growing up in southcentral Kentucky rewarded Kinder with an ever-lasting appreciation for slow-made objects, glittering southern light, and nurtured her love of art. After growing up in rural America with an artistic family, Kinder found the effervescent Florida landscape crept into her work after relocating in 2014. Her work been exhibited at the Tampa Museum of Art, the Holy Art Gallery’s digital space in London, 621 Gallery in Tallahassee, Florida and others.

Kinder holds a Master of Fine Arts degree from the University of South Florida, a Bachelor of Fine Arts in studio art, a Bachelor of Arts in graphic design, and minor in art history from Western Kentucky University and currently lives and paints in Murfreesboro, Tennessee.

Monday – Friday, October 5-9

Humanities Week

Various events and locations to be announced

Join the Elon community and celebrate the humanities at Elon’s inaugural Humanities Week. Sponsored by Elon College, the College of Arts & Sciences

Tuesday, October 6

Meet Storybook Maze, the Radical Street Librarian

Whitley Auditorium, 7:30 p.m.
Liberal Arts Forum Lecture

Storybook Maze is increasing children’s access to books, beginning in Baltimore’s book deserts. She’s a tireless advocate for book equity and the creative mind behind the Storybook Maze social media channels. From Streetcorner Storytimes to pioneering free book vending machines, Maze’s innovative initiatives are transforming young minds through literature. Her trailblazing efforts have earned her recognition from Forbes magazine, “Good Morning America” and millions of viewers on TikTok. A 2023 Alumni of Camelback Ventures Fellowship and winner of the United Way Changemaker Challenge, her influence continues to reshape the narrative of equity in education and empowerment.

Wednesday, October 7

Humanities in Action: Turning Your Degree into a Career

Lakeside Meeting Rooms, Moseley Center, 6 p.m.

þ will explore how a humanities degree translates into real-world careers. This SPDC session highlights the in-demand skills already in hand and shows how to apply them across a wide range of industries.

Sunday, October 11

Camerata Fall Recital

Whitley Auditorium, 3 p.m.
Stephen A. Futrell, conductor

The Elon Camerata performs a variety of art songs from Brahms, Ravel, Arensky and Thompson. Sponsored by the Department of Music

Tuesday, October 13

Tectonic Plates: Alamance County’s Science Café with Johnny Randall, “Fall color: where, why, when and wow!”

Burlington Beer Works, 103 E. Front Street, Burlington, NC, 7 p.m.

Each month on 2nd Tuesdays, learn cutting edge science in a relaxed atmosphere without all the technical jargon. The series runs from September to December; information is available at . In October, Johnny Randall of the NC Botanical Garden (retired) will discuss Fall color.

Thursday, October 22

“Aztec Batman: Clash of Empires (Batman Azteca: Choque de Imperios)), 2025, film screening with English subtitles

Directed by Juan Meza-León (Mexico/USA)
Koury Digital Theatre, Koury Business Center, 5:30 p.m.

Part of the film series, “En los márgenes del hogar/On the Margins of Home: Nation, Family and Identity in Contemporary Hispanic and Latin American Cinema.” Sponsored by the Department of World Languages and Cultures with screening rights provided through a Pragda Spanish Film Club Grant. Each screening will include a brief introduction and a post-screening conversation.

Friday – Saturday, October 23&24

Instant Laughter

Yeager Recital Hall, Center for the Arts, 7:30 p.m. both nights
Directed by Julian Stetkevych

Elon’s comic improv troupe, Instant Laughter, takes the stage performing scenes and sketches based on audience suggestions. Admission: Tickets are $15 or free with valid Elon ID and available beginning October 2 at

Wednesday, October 28

Ronald E. Purser, “The Wellness Bargain: From McMindfulness to the AI Reckoning”

LaRose Digital Theatre, Koury Business Center, 4:30 p.m.
The Annual Smith-Chase Lecture in Religious Studies

In McMindfulness, Ronald Purser exposed corporate mindfulness as the opening act of a now $8.8 billion industry that renders the socio-economic conditions invisible, installs the blame inside the individual, and celebrates this exploitation as “flourishing.” AI is rapidly fusing the surveillance apparatus and the spiritual sedative into a single platform, in plain sight, escaping our notice. At the same time, workers are asked to forfeit not just the politics of their distress but also their cognitive labor, agency and judgment. Can contemplative traditions, such as Buddhism, help us recognize what is at stake?

BIO:

Ronald E. Purser, Ph.D., is the Lam Larsen Distinguished Research Professor of Management in the College of Business at San Francisco State University and an instructor at Dharma College in Berkeley. The internationally recognized author of “McMindfulness: How Mindfulness Became the New Capitalist Spirituality,” his work sparked a global debate over the corporate appropriation of contemplative practice and established him as a leading critic of the mindfulness industry. His most recent book is “Mind Space: Discovering Meditation Without the Meditator.” A Buddhist practitioner for more than four decades, he writes at the intersection of management studies, contemplative philosophy and political change.

Wednesday, October 28

þ Percussion Ensemble Fall Concert

Yeager Recital Hall, Center for the Arts, 7:30 p.m.
Directed by McKayla Phillips

The þ Percussion Ensemble consists of student musicians, faculty and community artists that explores a vibrant spectrum of percussion instruments and genres representing composers from across the world. The fall concert program highlights evolving soundscapes by shifting pitch, space and grooves. Sponsored by the Department of Music

Thursday, October 29

Samhain (Witches’ New Year)

McBride Gathering Space, Numen Lumen Pavillion, 4:30 p.m.

Samhain, also known as the Witches’ New Year, marks the close of the harvest season and the transition into winter, the darker half of the year. Rooted in Celtic and Gaelic traditions, Samhain is widely observed across contemporary Pagan practices as a time when the boundary between the living and the spirit world is understood to be especially thin. It offers an opportunity for reflection, remembrance, release of old habits and attachments, honoring ancestors and the unseen. Sponsored by the Truitt Center for Religious and Spiritual Life

Thursday, October 29

“Zafari”, 2024, film screening with English subtitles

Directed by Mariana Rondón (Brazil, México, Perú, Venezuela)
Turner Theatre, Schar Hall, 5:30 p.m.

Part of the film series, “En los márgenes del hogar/On the Margins of Home: Nation, Family and Identity in Contemporary Hispanic and Latin American Cinema.” Sponsored by the Department of World Languages and Cultures with screening rights provided through a Pragda Spanish Film Club Grant. Each screening will include a brief introduction and a post-screening conversation.

Friday – Sunday, October 30-November 1
Thursday – Saturday, November 5-7

Department of Performing Arts presents “Come From Away”

McCrary Theatre, Center for the Arts
Oct. 30, 31, Nov. 5, 6, 7 at 7:30 p.m.; Nov. 1, 7 at 2 p.m.

Book, Music and Lyrics by Irene Sankoff and David Hein
Directed by Jacob Brent
Choreographer: Courtney Liu
Music Director: Haidee Dollak

Based on the true story of the time when the isolated community of Gander, Newfoundland, played host to the world. What started as an average day in a small town turned into an international sleepover, when 38 planes carrying thousands of people from around the globe were diverted to Gander’s airstrip on September 11, 2001. Undaunted by culture clashes and language barriers, the people of Gander cheered the stranded travelers with music, an open bar and the recognition that we’re part of a global family. Admission: Tickets are $15 or free with valid Elon ID and available beginning October 9 at .