The Clarice Smith Performing Arts Center at the University of Maryland, College Park
Located on the University of Maryland’s flagship campus in College Park, Maryland, the Clarice Smith Performing Arts Center combines student productions with professional companies. It features a wide variety of music, dance, lectures and plays; only the theatrical productions are listed here.
Website: http://claricesmithcenter.umd.edu/
Location: 3800 Clarice Smith Performing Arts Center
University of Maryland, College Park, MD 20742-2635
Ticket Office: 301.405.ARTS (2787)
Main Office: 301.405.7794
Upcoming Events:
Experimental Performance Series at the Clarice, Dec 6
UMD School of Theatre, Dance, and Performance Studies presents:
Experimental Performance Series
#3:
Sat, Jan. 31, 2026 | 2:00 pm
Sat, Jan. 31, 2026 | 7:30 pm
#4:
Sat, Apr. 4, 2026 | 2:00 pm
Sat, Apr. 4, 2026 | 7:30 pm
#5:
Sat, May. 9, 2026 | 2:00 pm
Sat, May. 9, 2026 | 7:30 pm
Venue: Clarice Smith Performing Arts Center.
The Experimental Performance Series is a collection of self-produced works from undergraduate and graduate students in theatre and dance, ranging from established works to brand new plays and choreography. This performance will feature works by Eitan Amster and Bre Seals.
Free, no tickets required. Click here.
Tags: Clarice Smith Performing Arts Center, University of Maryland, College Park Maryland, Experimental Performance Series, Eitan Amster, Bre Seals
Macbeth at the Clarice, Mar 6-10
Clarice presents:
Macbeth
by William Shakespeare
Fri, Mar. 6, 2026 | 7:30 pm
Sat, Mar. 7, 2026 | 2:00 pm
Sat, Mar. 7, 2026 | 7:30 pm
Tue, Mar. 10, 2026 | 7:30 pm
Wed, Mar. 11, 2026 | 7:30 pm
Thu, Mar. 12, 2026 | 7:30 pm
Venue: Clarice Smith Performing Arts Center.
In this bold retelling of Shakespeare’s masterpiece, Lord Macbeth and his wife will stop at nothing to fulfill a prophecy and ascend to power but the consequences of their ambition threaten everything.
Tickets: $35, Students/Youth: $15. Click here.
Tags: Clarice Smith Performing Arts Center, University of Maryland, College Park Maryland, Ammigone, Antigone, Sophocles, Adil Mansoor
Postcards from the Border at the Clarice, Mar 25-26
Clarice presents:
Postcards from the Border
by Carrie Rodriguez, Oscar Cásares & Joel Salcido
Wed, Mar. 25, 2026 | 8:00 pm
Thu, Mar. 26, 2026 | 8:00 pm
Venue: Clarice Smith Performing Arts Center.
Postcards from the Border is an empathic, multimedia piece at the intersection of music, spoken word and film that offers an intellectual and uniquely Latin American perspective on the lines bisecting both our maps and our hearts.
Oscar Cásares, an acclaimed novelist from the Rio Grande Valley, wanted to share his experience of growing up on the border with his 10-year-old daughter, Elena. To tell this story, Cásares and photographer Joel Salcido traveled the length of the Rio Grande, from El Paso and Juarez to Brownsville and Matamoros to reveal his roots and the subtle and profound details of those who live there.
Originally appearing in Texas Monthly, those words and images are now brought to life in a new stage production with music by celebrated singer-songwriter Carrie Rodriguez and her five-piece band, narrated by Cásares alongside Salcido’s stirring images. This is a story steeped in the rich and inspiring history of America. Here, in this corner of the country, kids are raised to cross fluidly into both cultures and languages, to listen to pop music as easily as they do polkas and rancheras, to speak to their teachers in English and their grandparents in Spanish, and to everyone else in both languages, often simultaneously. Together, these artists will illuminate the often-overlooked stories of generations of families at the edge of our country. This is the story of the border you’ve never heard.
Don’t miss a post-show conversation and Q&A with the artist immediately following the Wed, Mar 25 performance!
Tickets: $35, Students/Youth: $15. Click here.
Tags: Clarice Smith Performing Arts Center, University of Maryland, College Park Maryland, Ammigone, Antigone, Sophocles, Adil Mansoor
Fearless New Works Festival at the Clarice, Apr 10-12
Clarice presents:
UMD School of Theatre, Dance, and Performance Studies
Fearless New Works Festival
Fri, Apr. 10, 2026 | 7:30 pm
Sat, Apr. 11, 2026 | 7:30 pm
Sun, Apr. 12, 2026 | 7:30 pm
Venue: Clarice Smith Performing Arts Center.
The Fearless New Works Festival is back for a three-day exploration of new dance and theatre performances and works in process from TDPS students.
Tickets: $20, Students/Youth: $15. Click here.
Tags: Clarice Smith Performing Arts Center, University of Maryland, College Park Maryland, Fearless New Works Festival
If I Were You by the Maryland Opera Studio at the Clarice, Apr 18-26
Clarice presents:
Maryland Opera Studio
If I Were You
J. Bradley Baker, conductor
Corinne Hayes, director
Jake Heggie, composer
Gene Scheer, librettist
Sat, Apr. 18, 2026 | 7:30 pm
Wed, Apr. 22, 2026 | 7:30 pm
Fri, Apr. 24, 2026 | 7:30 pm
Sun, Apr. 26, 2026 | 3:00 pm
Venue: Clarice Smith Performing Arts Center.
Based on a novel by Julien Green, Jake Heggie and Gene Scheer’s If I Were You is a Faustian story that explores themes of love, power and gender roles in a modern setting. In the wake of a near-fatal car accident, the aimless young writer Fabian begins to reassess his life. After an unexpected encounter with his college crush, Fabian makes a deal with an enigmatic, shape-shifting demon, Brittomara, who gives him the power to move his soul from person to person for as long as he likes. Everything comes with a price, however: if he ever returns to his own body, his soul will be Brittomara’s to collect. On his precarious journey to win the heart of his beloved, he leaves a trail of despair and hollow shells. In the end, will he choose to live forever as someone else or die for love as himself?
Tickets: $35, Students/Youth: $15. Click here.
Tags: Clarice Smith Performing Arts Center, University of Maryland, College Park Maryland, Maryland Opera Studio, If I Were You, J. Bradley Baker, Corinne Hayes, Jake Heggie, Gene Scheer, Julien Green
Opera Scene Study by the Maryland Opera Studio at the Clarice, Apr 30-May 1
Clarice presents:
Maryland Opera Studio
Opera Scene Study
Thu, Apr. 30, 2026 | 7:30 pm
Fri, May. 1, 2026 | 7:30 pm
Venue: Clarice Smith Performing Arts Center.
First-year Maryland Opera Studio students demonstrate their talent in this showcase featuring scenes from a wide operatic repertory. First-year Maryland Opera Studio students demonstrate their talent in this showcase featuring scenes from a wide operatic repertory. To keep the focus on beautiful, pure sounds and vivid acting, the performance is accompanied only by piano and minimal props.
Free, no tickets required. Click here.
Tags: Clarice Smith Performing Arts Center, University of Maryland, College Park Maryland, Maryland Opera Studio, Opera Scene Study
El Ciclón at the Clarice, Apr 30-May 1
Clarice presents:
UMD School of Theatre, Dance, and Performance Studies
El Ciclón
by Yara Travieso
music by Sam Crawford
Fri, May. 1, 2026 | 7:30 pm
Sat, May. 2, 2026 | 2:00 pm
Sat, May. 2, 2026 | 7:30 pm
Sun, May. 3, 2026 | 2:00 pm
Venue: Clarice Smith Performing Arts Center.
Cuban-Venezuelan-American playwright Yara Travieso’s new musical El Ciclón is a unique and innovative musical production combining cinema with live theater, telling the story of a woman stranded with her car in the swampy south during a harsh storm. El Ciclón is a wild, neo-feminist saga within a 1950s B-movie psychological thriller, featuring singing, dancing and just enough alligators to keep things interesting.
El Ciclón tells the story of a woman stranded with her car in the swampy South during a harsh storm. With music from acclaimed composer, librettist and TDPS faculty member Sam Crawford, El Ciclón is a unique and innovative production that combines cinema with live theater for an immersive, original exploration of what it takes for us to connect with the land and with each other.
Tickets: $35, Students/Youth: $15. Click here.
Tags: Clarice Smith Performing Arts Center, University of Maryland, College Park Maryland, El Ciclon, Yara Travieso, Sam Crawford
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