main content The Arts Come Alive at Watzek Library

Music, theatre, and dance might not be the first things you think of when you hear “library,” but Lewis & Clark’s Aubrey R. Watzek Library is much more than a place for quiet study. On the first Friday of every month, Arts@LC takes over the Watzek atrium to showcase student participation in the performing arts. The final events of the fall semester featured actors from the Main Stage theatre production Into the Woods and dancers from theatre’s contact improv class.

Photographer: Nina Johnson

  • Going Into the Woods is easy on Lewis & Clark's campus, where every view from the library features trees.
    Going “Into the Woods” is easy on Lewis & Clark’s campus, where every view from the library features trees.
  • “Welcome to Watzek. Outside voices will be used during this performance.”
  • Those high ceilings! Those acoustics! Said performer Tiani Ertel BA ’25, “I’ve learned that, truly, a big part of the magic of Into the Woods is the complexity of the music and how it tells the story with such intricacy and sensitivity. Becoming aware of those layers as an actor has been electrifying.”
  • Tiani Ertel BA ’25 and Ellen Whalen BA ’26 performed “Our Little World” from Into the Woods, which began its two-weekend run that very evening on the Fir Acres Theatre main stage.
  • The performance felt intimate and cozy within the open, airy library atrium.

  • Arts students at L&C receive close mentorship from their professors and conservatory-calibre training, whether they are arts majors or simply enthusiasts.
  • Look at that long list of arts-related events happening on campus! Check out our Fine Arts Calendar and join us! If you’re not local, note that some events are live streamed.

  • The geometry of dance meets the geometry of architecture.
  • Dance students put on two major showcases each year, Dance X in the fall and Dance Y in the spring. Dance X opened the night of this performance.
  • The average L&C student takes five arts courses during their time at the college.

  • First Fridays encapsulate many of the hallmarks of a Lewis & Clark education: collaboration, interdisciplinary study, community acces...
    First Fridays encapsulate many of the hallmarks of a Lewis & Clark education: collaboration, interdisciplinary study, community access and engagement, and student support.