MBU Signature Events
MBU’s Signature Events bring thought-provoking lectures, dynamic performances, and engaging community experiences to Staunton—entertaining, educating, and connecting us to the wider world.
Events are hosted by MBU’s live-and-learn undergraduate Neighborhoods. Learn more at marybaldwin.edu/signature.
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Fall 2025 Season Highlights
Brian Palmer, Journalist
Thursday, September 11, Time TBD
Francis Auditorium
Join MBU for a conversation with Brian Palmer, a Peabody Award–winning journalist based in Richmond. During his 30-year career, Palmer has photographed conflict, politics, activism, daily life, and more around the world and in his own backyard.
Recently, his work has been featured in the Richmond Free Press, PBS Newshour, and the Smithsonian Magazine, with a focus on giving voice to under-told stories of abolitionist events and civil rights activism.
Dorie Clark, ’97 Communications Coach
Thursday, October 16, Time TBD
Francis Auditorium
MBU welcomes distinguished alumna and renowned communication coach, Dorie Clark, to share for a Signature Event lecture. Clark has been named three times as one of the Top 50 business thinkers in the world by Thinkers50, and was recognized as the #1 Communication Coach in the world by the Marshall Goldsmith Leading Global Coaches Awards.
Come hear firsthand why The New York Times hails Clark as an “expert at self-reinvention and helping others make changes in their lives.”
Dr. Farah Karim-Cooper
Friday, October 24, 5 PM
Blackfriars Playhouse
Tickets required for the general public
Dr. Farah Karim-Cooper, director of the Folger Shakespeare Library in Washington D.C. and author of 2023’s The Great White Bard: Shakespeare, Race and the Future, visits MBU to speak about Shakespeare’s place in the modern world, and in the current moment.
Her lecture, “What are we allowed to say about Shakespeare?: Shakespeare in the public eye post-January 2025″ shares insights for all audiences, gathered throughout her extraordinary career.
MBU Theatre presents Big Love
November 6–8, 7:30 PM
November 9, 2 PM (Sunday matinee)
Fletcher Collins Theatre, Deming Hall
Tickets required for the general public
Mary Baldwin University is proud to present Big Love by playwright Charles L. Mee, brought to life and adapted by the MBU undergraduate theatre department.
Mee’s play reimagines an ancient Greek play, The Suppliants, about fifty brides who flee their home to avoid marrying their fifty cousins, for the modern audience. Reserve your seats to see how MBU’s student-performers interpret both Mee’s work and the ancient Greek influences for the present day.
Broman Concert Featuring Zhu Wang
Monday, November 10, 7:30 PM
Francis Auditorium
Tickets required for the general public
Considered one of the most sought-after pianists of his generation, Zhu Wang has been praised as “especially impressive” and “a thoughtful, sensitive performer” who “balanced lyrical warmth and crisp clarity” (The New York Times).
A first-prize winner at the 2020 Young Concert Artists International Auditions, he also won the Gold Medal at the 2024 New Orleans International Piano Competition.
Wait, Wait … Don’t Tell Me — That’s Science?!
Thursday, November 13, 6 PM
Francis Auditorium
What do lab-grown meat, microplastics in rainwater, AI doctors, and sleep as an anti-inflammatory have in common? They all sound totally made up — but, shockingly, they’re not (probably).
Join us for Wait, Wait … Don’t Tell Me — That’s Science?!, an offbeat quiz and on-point celebration of the most fascinating, confusing, and occasionally hilarious science making headlines. Featuring MBU students and faculty, as well as guest experts.
Signature Events Calendar
