SPOTLIGHT PROGRAMS
JENNIFER EGAN
Thursday, March 19, 7:00 PM, Commonwealth Auditorium, Free
Reception & Book Signing to Follow
Jennifer Egan is the author of several novels and a short story collection. Her 2017 novel, Manhattan Beach, a New York Times bestseller, was awarded the Andrew Carnegie Medal for Excellence in Fiction, and was chosen as New York City’s One Book One New York read. Her previous novel, A Visit From the Goon Squad, won the 2011 Pulitzer Prize, the National Book Critics Circle Award, and the Los Angeles Times book prize, and was named one of the best books of the decade by Time Magazine, Entertainment Weekly, and several others. Also a journalist, she has written frequently in the New York Times Magazine. She recently completed a term as President of PEN America. Her latest novel is, The Candy House, a sibling to A Visit From the Goon Squad.
HUMOR MAGAZINE LIVE
Thursday, March 19, 7:30 PM, Kimball Theatre, $20, Tickets
You’ve seen their work on Saturday Night Live, The Late Show with Stephen Colbert, The New Yorker, and beyond. Now’s your chance to see them live for one night only. Join a cast of award-winning comedy writers for a laughter-filled evening of short comedy pieces, cartoons, audience interactions, and more!
Katie Rich is an Emmy-nominated and Peabody award-winning writer, actor, and producer. A former Second City mainstage performer, Katie spent seven seasons writing for SNL. She co-created, starred in, and executive produced Chicago Party Aunt for Netflix. You can hear her on animated shows like HBOMAX’s The Batman Audio Adventures, The Flash: Midnight Circus, and more. She has written for and consulted on many award shows such as The Emmys, The Academy Awards, The Golden Globes, and more. She is the co-showrunner of the hit animated show Harley Quinn.
Aaron Jackson is an actor/writer/comedian based in New York City. Most recently he was seen starring Off Broadway in Messy White Gays. He is the co-creator, co-writer and co-star of the A24 film Dicks: The Musical. His novel, The Astonishing Life Of August March (HarperCollins) is available wherever books are sold. Other selected TV/film credits include: Las Culturistas Culture Awards, Fantasmas, The Opposition w/ Jordan Klepper, The Detour, Crashing, Broad City. Aaron was a longtime performer at the Upright Citizen’s Brigade Theater in NYC and their touring company.
Asher Perlman is a comedian, a writer, and a cartoonist, based in Brooklyn. Currently he is a writer for The Late Show with Stephen Colbert and a cartoonist for The New Yorker. He has won a WGA Award and a Peabody Award, and has been nominated seven times for an Emmy Award. A best-selling collection of his cartoons, Well, This Is Me, was published in 2024, and a second collection, Hi, It’s Me Again, has just been released.
Jen Spyra is a former staff writer for The Late Show with Stephen Colbert and The Onion. A frequent contributor to The New Yorker, her writing has also appeared in The New York Times, New York Magazine, Air Mail, Glamour, McSweeney’s and elsewhere, and she has written and developed television and film for HBO, MAX, Universal, WB, and Peacock. The title story from her debut short story collection Big Time is being adapted as a feature comedy, and her forthcoming debut novel will be published by Random House in 2026. She is proud to be the announcer for The Late Show with Stephen Colbert.
Steve Waltien is a Peabody Award–winning, five-time Emmy–nominated writer for The Late Show with Stephen Colbert and a performer with the Improvised Shakespeare Company. An alum of Second City Mainstage and iO Theater, his TV and film credits include Don’t Think Twice, The Opposition with Jordan Klepper, The Second City Project, and Chicago PD. He voices Prince Tomblaine Belaroth on Hello From the Magic Tavern and co-created Phish’s Sci-Fi Soldier.
A CONVERSATION WITH LESLIE DAVID BAKER
Friday, March 20, 7:00 PM, Kimball Theatre, $35, Tickets
Mr. Baker starred as Stanley Hudson for nine seasons on the Emmy Award-winning NBC/Universal Television series The Office. His other film and television credits include: The Happytime Murders, Wish I Was Here, When Duty Calls, Road to Redemption, Scrubs, Just Shoot Me, That 70’s Show, Malcolm in the Middle, The Guardian, Puppy Dog Pals, Doug Unplugs, Tom & Jerry, Vivo, and numerous national commercials.
Born and raised in Chicago, Mr. Baker holds a B.S. in Applied Psychology from Loyola University Chicago, and an M.S. in Human Services Administration from Spertus Institute Chicago. He has worked as an Administrator for the City of Chicago’s Departments of Health AIDS Programs and Policies, and Office of Cable Communications. He also worked as an Educator for the City of Chicago’s Board of Education. Mr. Baker has worked as a Mental Health Therapist at 3 Psychiatric Hospitals, and has served as a Program/Project Consultant for a number of projects, including The Playwrights Center of Chicago; U.S. Department of Public Health and Centers for Disease Control, the Academy of Educational Development, Washington D.C.; Illinois States Attorneys Office, Health Task Force; University of Illinois School of Public Health; Cook County Hospital, Chicago; and American Red Cross.
SARAH JAROSZ
Friday, March 20, 7:30 PM, Concert Hall,
General Admission $35, VIP Meet & Greet $50, Tickets
The seventh full-length from four-time Grammy Award-winner Sarah Jarosz, Polaroid Lovers is an album-long meditation on those strangely ephemeral moments that indelibly shape our lives. “What I love about a Polaroid is that it's capturing something so fleeting, but at the same time it makes that moment last forever,” says the Texas-born singer/songwriter/multi-instrumentalist. “It made sense as a title for a record where all the songs are snapshots of different love stories, and there's a feeling of time being expansive despite that impermanence.” Thanks to the rarefied alchemy that infuses all of Jarosz's output—her finely wrought lyricism, ravishing vocal work, virtuosic yet unfettered musicality—Polaroid Lovers performs the much-needed magic of leading us toward a heightened sense of presence, all while casting a lovely spell with her timelessly powerful songs.
VIP MEET & GREET
A limited number of VIP tickets are available for an exclusive meet-and-greet with Sarah Jarosz and the band after the event.
Presented in partnership with Arts at William & Mary.
POETRY SHOWCASE
Saturday, March 21, 11:00 AM, Kimball Theatre, Free
This event celebrates spoken word poetry and its impact on the arts landscape, and culture as a whole. Featuring performances by youth and adult poets and musicians, the showcase exhibits the intergenerational nature of the art form, and how spoken word poetry unites people from all walks of life.
Lacroy “Atlas” Nixon, Williamsburg’s inaugural Poet Laureate, will host this showcase. Nixon has been writing and performing spoken word poetry for over eight years and is the founder of Slam Connection, a local slam poetry-based organization that uses poetry as a means for community action. He also serves on the Executive Board for the Writers Guild of Virginia and is a current member of the Poetry Society of Virginia.
Presented in partnership with Slam Connection, The Artist Garden, and The Williamsburg Tiny Desk
A CONVERSATION WITH CECILY STRONG
Saturday, March 21, 8:00 PM, Kimball Theatre, $35, Tickets
Cecily Strong is an actress and author known for her work as a cast member on Saturday Night Live from 2012-22, where she received Emmy nominations in 2020-21 for Outstanding Supporting Actress in a Comedy Series.
Strong produced and starred in Apple TV+’s hit musical series, Schmigadoon. Her memoir, This Will All Be Over Soon, was released in 2021. That same year she made her New York stage debut at the Shed in The Search for Signs of Intelligent Life in the Universe, and returned to star in the production at the Mark Taper Forum in Los Angeles. She recently finished appearing in the Broadway Comedy All Out.
Strong voiced characters in the hit animated features Leo and Garfield. Strong starred in the John Patrick Shanley play Brooklyn Laundry at the Manhattan Theatre Club. She has appeared in films such as The Female Brain and Paul Feig’s reboot of Ghostbusters. Strong emceed the 2015 White House Correspondents’ Dinner.
HIGHLIGHT PROGRAMS
Monday, March 16
5:00 PM Prix Fixe Dinner at Blue Talon Bistro
7:00 PM Film at Kimball Theatre
This program features a screening of Sentimental Value, preceded by a prix fixe dinner at Blue Talon Bistro. Tickets for the film only are also available.
ABOUT THE DINNER
The Blue Talon Bistro prix fixe dinner offers a three course menu. While the exact menu is still under development, choices will include Norwegian Smoked Salmon, a lassis Norwegian meatball dish, roasted fish, and “The World’s Greatest Cake.” The ticket price includes the meal, meal taxes, gratuity, and a film ticket.
ABOUT THE FILM
Sisters Nora and Agnes reunite with their estranged father, Gustav, a once-renowned director who offers Nora a role in what he hopes will be his comeback film. Nora turns it down, but soon discovers he's given the part to an eager young Hollywood star. The two siblings must now navigate a complicated relationship with Gustav while dealing with an American actress dropped right into the middle of their complex family dynamics. An intimate exploration of family, memories, and the reconciliatory power of art.
DINNER & A MOVIE
THE BEST MAN SHOW
Wednesday, March 18, 7:30 PM, PBK Studio Theater, $12, Tickets
The Best Man Show is an interactive and darkly hilarious wedding reception where Mark Vigeant plays the Groom’s brother Paul, who has been asked to give the toast at an untraditional polyamorous commitment ceremony. It starts out fun and silly, with your typical masculine roasting and ribbing – and gradually devolves into a drunken chaotic mess where Paul tries to understand what it means to love, but can’t get over his own toxic masculinity to recognize his loneliness. Throughout the show, Mark recruits audience members to play various wedding guests.
Mark Vigeant is a high-energy, wildly inventive performer who blends clown, improv, and tech wizardry into unforgettable live shows. He’s currently touring his award-winning solo shows The Best Man Show and OUT THERE, around the globe, the former of which will be coming to Dropout.tv this year.
JENNY HAGEL GIVES ADVICE
Saturday, March 21, 3:00 PM, PBK Studio Theater, $12 General Admission, $25 VIP Meet & Greet, Tickets
Jenny Hagel loves two things: comedy and telling people what to do. And in her live show, she gets to do both at the same time.
She invites audience members to submit written questions about their relationships, careers, and families. Then Jenny and a special guest give their best, most professional (not professional at all) life advice. At the end of the show, Jenny invites a real live therapist on stage to tell her and her guest star if they did a good job - or if the audience should totally ignore all of the advice they just heard.
This performance is more than just a comedy show - it's a hilarious, interactive way to watch a skilled comedian fix and/or ruin a bunch of strangers' lives.
Jenny Hagel (W&M ’98) is an Emmy-nominated TV writer and comedy performer in New York City. She is currently a writer/performer on Late Night with Seth Meyers, where she created the recurring segment "Jokes Seth Can't Tell." Jenny also served as Head Writer/Executive Producer of The Amber Ruffin Show. She has been nominated for two GLAAD Awards for her work addressing LGBTQ issues on TV. Her debut essay collection, Advice No One Asked For, is available for pre-sale now wherever books are sold.
Jenny Hagel will also facilitate an Industry Summit workshop, Comedy Writing Q&A.
FESTIVAL RECEPTION
Saturday, March 21, 5:00 PM, Muscarelle Museum, $20, Tickets
Enjoy appetizers and an open bar with wine and beer selections while mingling with festival guests and attendees.
The festival reception is hosted by the Muscarelle Museum of Art and sponsored by the W&M Alumni Association.
PROJECT: A PERFORMANCE-LECTURE ON THE MENTAL ARCHITECTURE OF MAGIC
Sunday, March 22, 2:00 PM, PBK Hall Studio Theatre, $16, Tickets
A performance-lecture led by artist and magician Jeanette Andrews. Magic performance combines with live-drawn overhead projections and philosophical conversation to investigate how and why we perceive and believe.
Andrews creates interactive, surreal performance vignettes utilizing elegant, yet common items combined with sleight of hand causing viewers to question the dynamic nature of perception. This program combines interactive magic with Andrews' structural analysis of the scientific, social and philosophical underpinnings of why we believe in the seemingly impossible.
Jeanette Andrews is a magician, artist, and speaker and is hailed as one of the most innovative illusionists in the world today. Her work bridges the worlds of illusion, installation, and conceptual art, creating interactive vignettes and surreal, multisensory experiences that investigate perception, cognition, and the seemingly impossible. She invites audiences to co-create her illusory performances which function as live thought experiments. She has presented numerous commissioned works with the Museum of Contemporary Art Chicago, Boca Raton Museum of Art, as well as for the Quebec City Biennial. Andrews has also held residencies with the Institute for Art and Olfaction in LA, the Cynthia Woods Mitchell Center for the Arts at the University of Houston, and is a former National Arts Club Artist Fellow and Affiliate of metaLAB at Harvard. She was a 2024-2025 Visiting Artist for the Center for Art, Science and Technology at MIT. She is the current Visiting Artist for the Arts Institute at Brown University.