Loyola University Chicago’s 2025/26 Fine and Performing Arts Season Celebrates Human Connection

CONTACT 
Casey Vanwormer
Audience Services Manager
Cvanwormer@LUC.edu

CHICAGO—Loyola University Chicago’s Department of Fine and Performing Arts (DFPA) invites students, faculty, staff, and the public to experience its dynamic 2025/26 season. With five compelling theater and dance productions and more than 25 concerts, this season celebrates the essential power of human connection. 

“We are creating and presenting works this academic year that may react to and reflect on the world as we see it now; or they may serve to comfort, distract and entertain us with aesthetic power,” Professor of Theatre and DFPA Chair Mark Lococo said. “All of our performances and exhibitions celebrate both the joyful and the difficult reverberations of humans uniting together.” 

Theater and dance productions this season will explore the theme of interdependence, asking questions such as: What happens when individuals are cut off from society? How do communities come together in mutual support? Featured performances include: 

• The Neighborhood of the Loners
  Absurdist, comedic, and harrowing, this world-premiere translation explores how isolation impacts society. (October 23–November 2, Newhart Family Theatre)  

• Interdepen/dance
  In a world that seemingly fragments people and ideas into small components, this dance production reflects on the relation of parts to the whole. Our foundational interdependence on each other in society and on the health of our natural world provide living examples of connectivity. (November 20–23, Newhart Family Theatre) 

DFPA’s music series celebrates the richness of live performance, spanning genres and traditions. More concerts will be announced throughout the year. Highlights include: 

• Una Noche de Encanto / A Night of Encanto
  An award-winning musical program that seamlessly merges classical opera arias, piano, mariachi, and bolero traditions in a breathtaking celebration of Hispanic Heritage Month. (September 27, Jo Ann Rooney Hall) 

• In a Beginning
  The world-premiere from American Indian artist Jerod Impichchaachaaha’ Tate combines Western technique and Chickasaw folk music to explore indigenous ecology and creation. (April 22, Jo Ann Rooney Hall) 

Last season, DFPA welcomed over 10,000 attendees to its performances and exhibitions. Ticket prices range from $8 to $25 for the general public; $8 to $20 for Loyola faculty and staff; and $5 to $10 for Loyola students. The Loyola community is invited to visit the information desk on the first floor of the Mundelein Center during the first week of classes, between 8 a.m. and 4 p.m., for half-priced tickets.

Art lovers are also invited to visit free exhibitions in the Ralph Arnold Gallery throughout the academic year. Kicking off the season: 

• FNAR Fest
  A celebration of visual arts at Loyola with free food, interactive art activities, and the grand opening of Complimentaries, a new exhibit showcasing works by Loyola’s part-time Fine Arts faculty. (September 11, Ralph Arnold Gallery) 

The season runs from September 4 through April 25, 2026. For the full schedule and to purchase tickets, visit luc.universitytickets.com. 

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About Loyola University Chicago
Founded in 1870, Loyola University Chicago is one of the nation’s largest Jesuit, Catholic universities, recognized for its academic excellence, commitment to community engagement, and leadership in sustainability. A Carnegie R1 research institution, Loyola leverages its status as one of an elite group of universities with the highest level of research activity to advance knowledge that serves communities and creates global impact. With 15 schools, colleges, and institutes—including Business, Law, Medicine, Nursing, and Health Sciences—Loyola operates three primary campuses in the greater Chicago area and one in Rome, Italy, that provide students a transformative, globally connected learning experience. Consistently ranked among the nation’s top universities by U.S. News & World Report, Loyola is a STARS Gold-rated institution that is ranked as one of the country’s most sustainable campuses by The Princeton Review and has earned distinctions from AmeriCorps and the Carnegie Foundation for its longstanding record of service and community engagement. Guided by its Jesuit mission and commitment to caring for the whole person, Loyola educates ethical leaders who think critically, act with purpose, and strive to create a more just and sustainable world. 

About the College of Arts and Sciences
The College of Arts and Sciences is the oldest of Loyola University Chicago’s 13 schools and colleges. More than 150 years since its founding, the College is home to 20 academic departments, 31 interdisciplinary programs, and 7 interdisciplinary centers, more than 450 full-time faculty, and nearly 8,000 students. The 2,000+ classes that we offer each semester span an array of intellectual pursuits, ranging from the natural sciences and computational sciences to the humanities, the social sciences, and the fine and performing arts. Our students and faculty are engaged internationally at our campus in Rome, Italy, as well as at dozens of university-sponsored study abroad and research sites around the world. Home to the departments that anchor the university’s Core Curriculum, the College seeks to prepare all of Loyola’s students to think critically, to engage the world of the 21st century at ever deepening levels, and to become caring and compassionate individuals. Our faculty, staff, and students view service to others not just as one option among many, but as a constitutive dimension of their very being. In the truest sense of the Jesuit ideal, our graduates strive to be “individuals for others.”