Community Calendar

Arts Council of the Valley invites you to join in the arts-focused fun on the First Friday* of EVERY month! Throughout Harrisonburg and Rockingham County, 38 venues offer a variety of new art exhibitions, live performances, poetry, comedy, music, artmaking activities, food, and so much more. You can find a list of venues, online map, and details for all First Fridays of the Valley events – all updated monthly – at valleyarts.org/first-fridays-of-the-valley/! Thanks to Kathy Moran Wealth Group, Exclusive Sponsor for 2025 First Fridays of the Valley.

*In 2025, July's "First Friday" arts programming will be held on THURSDAY, July 3 (NOT JULY 4)

The winner of six Tony Awards, including Best Original Score, this lush romance unfolds with what The New York Times calls “the most intensely romantic score of any musical since West Side Story.” Mother-daughter duo Margaret and Clara tour Florence in search of the city’s wonders. A fateful moment sparks an intense romance between Clara and a handsome local, Fabrizio. Audiences are swept along a winding road filled with love and longing, where paths twist and diverge to discover new opportunities and a secret kept in the shadows for far too long. Features students from JMU’s School of Theatre and Dance. THE LIGHT IN THE PIAZZA is presented by arrangement with Concord Theatricals. www.concordtheatricals.com. Produced by arrangement with Turner Entertainment Co. Owner of the original motion picture “Light In The Piazza.” Based on the Novel by Elizabeth Spencer. Contains adult content, adult language, and sexual content. Recommended for ages 13 and up.

The winner of six Tony Awards, including Best Original Score, this lush romance unfolds with what The New York Times calls “the most intensely romantic score of any musical since West Side Story.” Mother-daughter duo Margaret and Clara tour Florence in search of the city’s wonders. A fateful moment sparks an intense romance between Clara and a handsome local, Fabrizio. Audiences are swept along a winding road filled with love and longing, where paths twist and diverge to discover new opportunities and a secret kept in the shadows for far too long. Features students from JMU’s School of Theatre and Dance. THE LIGHT IN THE PIAZZA is presented by arrangement with Concord Theatricals. www.concordtheatricals.com. Produced by arrangement with Turner Entertainment Co. Owner of the original motion picture “Light In The Piazza.” Based on the Novel by Elizabeth Spencer. Contains adult content, adult language, and sexual content. Recommended for ages 13 and up.

The winner of six Tony Awards, including Best Original Score, this lush romance unfolds with what The New York Times calls “the most intensely romantic score of any musical since West Side Story.” Mother-daughter duo Margaret and Clara tour Florence in search of the city’s wonders. A fateful moment sparks an intense romance between Clara and a handsome local, Fabrizio. Audiences are swept along a winding road filled with love and longing, where paths twist and diverge to discover new opportunities and a secret kept in the shadows for far too long. Features students from JMU’s School of Theatre and Dance. THE LIGHT IN THE PIAZZA is presented by arrangement with Concord Theatricals. www.concordtheatricals.com. Produced by arrangement with Turner Entertainment Co. Owner of the original motion picture “Light In The Piazza.” Based on the Novel by Elizabeth Spencer. Contains adult content, adult language, and sexual content. Recommended for ages 13 and up.

The winner of six Tony Awards, including Best Original Score, this lush romance unfolds with what The New York Times calls “the most intensely romantic score of any musical since West Side Story.” Mother-daughter duo Margaret and Clara tour Florence in search of the city’s wonders. A fateful moment sparks an intense romance between Clara and a handsome local, Fabrizio. Audiences are swept along a winding road filled with love and longing, where paths twist and diverge to discover new opportunities and a secret kept in the shadows for far too long. Features students from JMU’s School of Theatre and Dance. THE LIGHT IN THE PIAZZA is presented by arrangement with Concord Theatricals. www.concordtheatricals.com. Produced by arrangement with Turner Entertainment Co. Owner of the original motion picture “Light In The Piazza.” Based on the Novel by Elizabeth Spencer. Contains adult content, adult language, and sexual content. Recommended for ages 13 and up.

The winner of six Tony Awards, including Best Original Score, this lush romance unfolds with what The New York Times calls “the most intensely romantic score of any musical since West Side Story.” Mother-daughter duo Margaret and Clara tour Florence in search of the city’s wonders. A fateful moment sparks an intense romance between Clara and a handsome local, Fabrizio. Audiences are swept along a winding road filled with love and longing, where paths twist and diverge to discover new opportunities and a secret kept in the shadows for far too long. Features students from JMU’s School of Theatre and Dance. THE LIGHT IN THE PIAZZA is presented by arrangement with Concord Theatricals. www.concordtheatricals.com. Produced by arrangement with Turner Entertainment Co. Owner of the original motion picture “Light In The Piazza.” Based on the Novel by Elizabeth Spencer. Contains adult content, adult language, and sexual content. Recommended for ages 13 and up.

The winner of six Tony Awards, including Best Original Score, this lush romance unfolds with what The New York Times calls “the most intensely romantic score of any musical since West Side Story.” Mother-daughter duo Margaret and Clara tour Florence in search of the city’s wonders. A fateful moment sparks an intense romance between Clara and a handsome local, Fabrizio. Audiences are swept along a winding road filled with love and longing, where paths twist and diverge to discover new opportunities and a secret kept in the shadows for far too long. Features students from JMU’s School of Theatre and Dance. THE LIGHT IN THE PIAZZA is presented by arrangement with Concord Theatricals. www.concordtheatricals.com. Produced by arrangement with Turner Entertainment Co. Owner of the original motion picture “Light In The Piazza.” Based on the Novel by Elizabeth Spencer. Contains adult content, adult language, and sexual content. Recommended for ages 13 and up.

Béatrice et Bénédict
Music and libretto by Hector Berlioz
Featuring the JMU Opera Theatre

Join JMU Opera Theatre for the operatic adaptation of Shakespeare’s Much Ado About Nothing. When a military regiment returns from war, Hero will marry Claudio! However, Hero’s cousin, Béatrice, is annoyed that this also means her nemesis, Bénédict, is back. As Béatrice and Bénédict bicker, everyone can see their banter is a symptom of love. What will it take for Béatrice and Bénédict to recognize it, too? Premiering in 1862 as an opéra comique, this musical gem was French composer Hector Berlioz’s love letter to the Bard. Written at the very end of his life, Béatrice et Bénédict defiantly celebrates love, hope, and the people who really get under our skin. Sung in French with English surtitles and dialogue.

What if you took Bach out of the museum and infused it with equal parts tradition, funk, whimsy, and fun? In Fly the Coop! Emi Ferguson and Ruckus join forces to take audiences on a wild technicolor romp through some of J.S. Bach’s most playful and transcendent works reimagined and realized for 21st century fans of 18th century performance practice. Bach’s three flute and continuo sonatas, BWV 1033, 1034, and 1035, distill his most wonderful musical qualities down to just a two-line texture: treble (flute) and bass, and in Fly the Coop! audiences will experience these works transformed into a rainbow of possibilities with “the world’s only period-instrument rock band” (San Francisco Classical Voice), Ruckus, a shape-shifting, collaborative baroque ensemble with a visceral and playful approach to early music. The ensemble aims to fuse the early-music movement’s creative spirit with the grit and groove of American roots music. And in collaboration with the “dazzling” (The New York Times) flutist Emi Ferguson, a recipient of the prestigious Avery Fisher Career Grant (2023), the result is magical! Experience a unique sound that is “achingly delicate one moment, incisive and punchy the next” (The New York Times).

The winner of six Tony Awards, including Best Original Score, this lush romance unfolds with what The New York Times calls “the most intensely romantic score of any musical since West Side Story.” Mother-daughter duo Margaret and Clara tour Florence in search of the city’s wonders. A fateful moment sparks an intense romance between Clara and a handsome local, Fabrizio. Audiences are swept along a winding road filled with love and longing, where paths twist and diverge to discover new opportunities and a secret kept in the shadows for far too long. Features students from JMU’s School of Theatre and Dance. THE LIGHT IN THE PIAZZA is presented by arrangement with Concord Theatricals. www.concordtheatricals.com. Produced by arrangement with Turner Entertainment Co. Owner of the original motion picture “Light In The Piazza.” Based on the Novel by Elizabeth Spencer. Contains adult content, adult language, and sexual content. Recommended for ages 13 and up.