Events and Entertainment

Sit back. Relax. Enjoy the show.

Elon University offers a wide range of academic, cultural, spiritual and entertaining programs and performances throughout the year. Take in a musical. Watch a dance performance. Learn from a wide range of speakers. Walk through an art installation. Listen to music.

Performing Arts

Elon’s Department of Performing Arts offers seven degree programs – acting, arts administration, dance performance & choreography, dance science, drama and theatre studies, music theatre and theatrical design and technology – and as a result other Elon students get to experience amazing musicals, plays and dance performances with extensive props and costumes.

  • Daniel J. Watts as Ike Turner playing a guitar in the "Tina: The Tina Turner Musical" and singing into a microphone. Another actor in a blue jacket plays the drums behind him.
  • Nicole Brydon Bloom playing the role of socialite Caroline Stuyvesant in the HBO series "Gilded Age." She is wearing a pink dress from that time period, a hat and carrying a pink parasol. She is walking with Blake Ritson, a British actor who portrays Oscar van Rhijn. He is wearing a suit and hat.
  • Jared Goldsmith playing the role of Jared Kleinman in the Broadway production of "Dear Evan Hansen." Jared is sitting on stage with a laptop looking at Evan Hansen who is wearing a striped blue shirt and has a cast on his arm.
  • Hannah Kevitt, who is wearing a flowing light blue chiffon dress, sits in a car on a red carpet with Back to the Future backdrop.

Many of Elon’s performing arts graduates go on to roles on Broadway, in movies and TV programs. Playbill has recognized Elon as one of the most represented colleges on Broadway. Our talented alums appearing on Broadway  include Michael Callahan ’13 (Aladdin), Tanner Callicutt ’19 (Parade), Kennedy Caughell ’12 (Paradise Square), Patrick Clanton ’14 (Moulin Rouge! The Musical), Jared Goldsmith ’18 (Dear Evan Hansen), April Holloway ’07 (Aladdin), Rob Marnell ’06 (Tina: The Tina Turner Musical), Nick Martinez ’15 (Moulin Rouge! The Musical), Paul HeeSang Miller ’10 (Aladdin), JJ Niemann ’17 (The Book of Mormon), Sayo Oni ’23  (Hadestown), Fergie L. Philippe ’17 (Camelot, Hamilton), Andrew Stevens Purdy ’20 (The Book of Mormon), Drew Redington ’18 (New York, New York), Nadia Thomas ’15 (SIX: The Musical), Taylor Trensch ’11 (Camelot), Tanner Ray Wilson ’13 (Hadestown), Chris Wood ’10 (Almost Famous) and John Yi ’11 (KPOP). In 2021, Broadway star Daniel J. Watts ’04, who played Ike Turner in “Tina: The Tina Turner Musical,” was nominated for a Tony Award.

Distinguished Speakers

Elon places students and the local community in the same room with world leaders and scholars to inspire, create bold ideas and motivate new perspectives. Past speakers include Buzz Aldrin, Maya Angelou, Anderson Cooper, George H. W. Bush, Gen. Colin Powell, Jane Goodall, Bill Clinton, B.D. Wong, Bob Woodward, Steve Wozniak, Kristin Chenowith and Walter Cronkite.

  • Former President Bill Clinton speaks to a crowd in front of Alamance Building. He is wearing a light suit and a red tie and is holding microphone.
  • BD Wong, dressed in a red sweater and black pants, stands on an Elon stage speaking with a black curtain with an Elon University sign and Speaker Series sign on it in the background.
  • Maya Angelou, dressed in a champagne-colored dress, laughs hard in front of microphone.
  • Kristen Chenoweth dressed in a long gray cardigan, jeans and boots speaks to a group of students in McCrary Theater.

Student Union Board/Late Night Elon events

Dedicated to providing students with a variety of programming, the Student Union Board (SUB) and Late Night Elon co-sponsor events and provides opportunities for students to get involved and participate and gain experience in responsibility, leadership and program planning and implementation. During the academic year, the SUB sponsors weekly events every Thursday, Friday and Saturday night. Past events include a variety movie showings, trivia, bingo, casino night, Elon Ball, March Madness watch party, coffee house performances, football tailgating fun and more.