As part of its 2025-26 season, the Weis Center for the Performing Arts is hosting a series of programs including performances, creative projects, walks and lectures centered on the theme of trees.All events are FREE except where noted.
The Trees Series brochure is available at the Weis Center, online at go.bucknell.edu/TreesSeries or by calling 570-577-3727.
The Weis Center has curated an online creative space about Trees. Community members are encouraged to share a creative expression of your favorite tree with a selfie, poem, or artwork.
View current submissions on the Weis Center’s blog: https://weiscenter.blogs.bucknell.edu/2025-26-trees-series/
Submit to WeisCntr@Bucknell.edu. One entry per person, please.
SPRING 2026 EVENTS
Sunday, February 1, 1:30-3 p.m.
Trees Storytime with Bucknell students
Join the Weis Center’s amazing student employees as they read trees-themed storybooks to children of all ages. Several reading groups will be offered. Light refreshments will be served.
FREE!
Weis Center Atrium
Tuesday, February 3, 7 p.m.
Bucknell Film Series: Uncle Boonmee Who Can Recall His Past Lives
Director: Apichatpong Weerasethakul. Dying of kidney disease, a man spends his last, somber days with family, including the ghost of his wife and a forest spirit who used to be his son, on a rural northern Thailand farm. Part of Bucknell’s weekly film series and open to all.
FREE!
Campus Theatre, downtown Lewisburg
Monday, February 9, 6:30-8 p.m.
Story Circle: Trees
Join us for a tree-themed Story Circle, facilitated by Susquehanna Valley Mediation. Story Circles create an opportunity for people in our community to connect with one another and be heard through story telling.
FREE!
Public Library for Union County, Lewisburg
Thursday, February 19, noon
Dr. Christophe Golé – Do Plants Know Math? Unwinding the Story of Plant Spirals, from Leonardo da Vinci to Now
Dr. Christophe Golé is a mathematics professor at Smith College, whose research explores the intersection of math, biology, and dynamical systems. He is a leading expert in phyllotaxis – the study of plant patterns – and has collaborated across disciplines to understand the mathematical rules that shape nature. His work brings rigorous mathematics into the heart of natural beauty. Hosted by the Bucknell Mathematics Department.
FREE!
Weis Center Atrium
Thursday, February 26, 7:30 p.m.
Performance: Pilobolus
Pre-show talk from 6:45-7:15 p.m., Weis Center Atrium. FREE!
Journey into the astonishing universe of Pilobolus’s Other Worlds Collection, traversing the landscape of the human experience with heart-stopping grace, acrobatic power, and breathtaking artistry. Explore the multitudes of the human condition as Pilobolus fuses sensuality, humor, and extraordinary physical prowess in a spellbinding performance.
Tickets: Bucknell.edu/BoxOffice or 570-577-1000
Weis Center Concert Hall
Sunday, March 1, 2 p.m.
Performance: Bang on a Can All Stars featuring Bucknell Choir
Pre-show artist talk from 1:15-1:45 p.m., Weis Center Atrium. FREE!
The ensemble will perform David Lang’s before and after nature, which is based on The End of Nature by Bill McKibben and After Nature by Jedidiah Purdy. Both books discuss humanity’s relationship to nature. The performance will feature the Bucknell Choir under the direction of Professor Caleb Hopkins and Bang on a Can All-Stars will provide instrumental support.
Tickets: Bucknell.edu/BoxOffice or 570-577-1000
Weis Center Concert Hall
Tuesday, March 3, 6:30-8:30 p.m.
Game Night
Enjoy trees-themed games (with refreshments!) with fellow Bucknell students and community members.
FREE!
Weis Center Atrium
Wednesday, March 18 through Friday, May 8,4:30-7 p.m.
Forest Fridays at Bucknell Farm’s Friday Farm Volunteer Hours
The Bucknell Farm offers public volunteering on Wednesdays and Fridays 4:30-7 p.m., March 18th through May 8th. On Fridays, volunteers get to tend the Orchard and Food Forest, two agroforestry projects at the Farm, by weeding, planting, mulching and more! Sign up on Engaged Bucknell: https://bucknell.givepulse.com/group/770406.
FREE!
Thursday, March 26, 12:00 p.m.-5:30 p.m.
13th Annual Sustainability Symposium
Tree Networks: Trees as Social, Ecological, and Technical Beings
Various Locations – see website
Hosted by the Bucknell Center for Sustainability & the Environment
Featured speaker: Dr. Beronda Montgomery, author of When Trees Testify, as she uses trees to weave together black history and botanical knowledge. The event will include a panel to discuss different efforts to integrate trees into our communities and study their ecology followed by campus themed tour options and a Sustainability Expo. Registration is required. Visit the website for details and locations:
https://sustainabilitysymposium.scholar.bucknell.edu/
FREE!
Friday, March 27, 7:30 p.m.
Performance: Artemis
Pre-show artist talk from 6:45-7:15 p.m., Weis Center Atrium. FREE!
Founded by pianist and composer Renee Rosnes, Artemis is a powerful ensemble of instrumental virtuosos. Along with Rosnes, the quintet includes trumpeter Ingrid Jensen, saxophonist Nicole Glover, bassist Noriko Ueda and drummer Allison Miller. Fresh off its second consecutive win for Jazz Group of the Year in the DownBeat Readers Poll, Artemis returns with its third Blue Note album Arboresque, a vibrant eight-song set that presents original compositions by each of the band members as well as arrangements of pieces by Wayne Shorter, Burt Bacharach and Donald Brown.
Tickets: Bucknell.edu/BoxOffice or 570-577-1000
Weis Center Concert Hall
Wednesday, April 1, noon
The Art of Bonsai with Carl Achhammer Jr., NEPA Bonsai Society
Carl will discuss the art of bonsai, a unique combination of art and horticulture. Learn about the common misconceptions of bonsai, proper care, the many varieties of bonsai styles, and much more.
FREE!
Weis Center Atrium
April 1-April 22
Wednesdays, 10 am-noon
Bucknell Institute for Lifelong Learning (BILL) course: Wellness Naturally 3.0: Let’s Get Back Into the Woods
Led by Suzann Schiemer and Ronald Haas
This class will explore four new themes of nature-based wellness connection supported by research and practical experience. Each class will consist of an indoor classroom segment (presentation and discussion) and outdoor experiential learning activities. New class themes will include: Awe in the Woods, Gratitude in the Woods, Reciprocity in the Woods, and one mystery theme to be determined at a later time. Course requires BILL membership. Contact BILL for more information.
April 6-May 11
Mondays, 10:30 a.m.-noon
Bucknell Institute for Lifelong Learning (BILL) course: Looking at Trees and Forest
Led by Irmgard Seidl-Adams
This course will delve into the biology of trees, trying to answer questions like: How do white pines, oaks and date palms differ from one another?, How does a tree form a branch, and why do palm trees have no branches? Why could one build a tunnel through a giant Sequoia in Yosemite’s Mariposa grove without killing the tree? What happens in the fall when leaves change their color? What are the advantages of different bark types? What makes a forest? Are all forests “created equal”? What is an urban forest? How were trees incorporated into city planning and why? Course requires BILL membership. Contact BILL for more information.
Saturday, April 11, 3-5 p.m.
Earth Day at the Farm hosted by the Bucknell Farm
FREE!
Friday, April 17, 7:30 p.m.
Performance: Orchestra of Indigenous Instruments and New Technologies
Pre-show artist talk from 6:45-7:15 p.m., Weis Center Atrium. FREE!
Hailed by the international press as “a shamanic orchestra for a technological age”, the Orchestra of Indigenous Instruments and New Technologies (OIANT) brings to life long forgotten indigenous instruments. Its show Hidden Sounds of the Americas is a musical journey across the continent that blends traditional music and contemporary works. Through an immersive audiovisual experience, the performance melds ancient sounds to cutting-edge technology, featuring replicas of pre-Hispanic instruments alongside indigenous masks and dances.
Tickets: Bucknell.edu/BoxOffice or 570-577-1000
Weis Center Concert Hall
Thursday, April 30, noon
Dr. Morgan Furze, Assistant Professor of Botany and Plant Pathology and Forestry and Natural Resources, Purdue University: “Understanding forest tree resilience in a changing world”
Morgan Furze, plant biologist and Bucknell alumna ‘12, will share her research on how trees respond to environmental stress and what this reveals about the future of forests. Hosted by the Bucknell Biology Department.
FREE!
Weis Center Atrium
For more info: go.bucknell.edu/TreesSeries and Bucknell.edu/WeisCenter