NATIONAL GEOGRAPHIC LIVE Speaker Series to Return to The Smith Center

The Smith Center for the Performing Arts has announced the next installment in its National Geographic Live speaker series – a premium-seat, three-show package for which will go on sale for just $99 on Friday, May 22, 2026.

The package will be available that morning starting at 10 a.m. at TheSmithCenter.com.

Caitie Barrett: The Ghosts of Pompeii

November 11, 2026 at 7:30 p.m.
Reynolds Hall

Even thousands of years after its demise, the Roman Empire captivates us, and the ancient city of Pompeii is the place to understand it all. Volcanic ash created an unparalleled glimpse into the lives of ancient people who lived, worked, and played in this coastal city. We go on assignment with archaeologist Caitie Barrett to the latest dig sites to uncover new stories that still lie buried in this special place.

Barrett studies everyday life and cross-cultural interactions in the ancient Mediterranean. She teaches at Cornell University as Associate Professor of Classics. She also co-directs an archaeological excavation at Pompeii: the Casa della Regina Carolina (CRC) Project, which explores the ways that Roman houses shaped their inhabitants' lived experiences. Her areas of specialization include Mediterranean and Egyptian archaeology, household archaeology, the archaeology of religion and ritual, and interactions between Egypt and the Greco-Roman world in antiquity. In addition to her current fieldwork at Pompeii, she has also excavated and surveyed a range of Bronze Age through early modern sites in Egypt, Greece, and the United States.

Dr. Heather Lynch: Penguins of Antarctica

February 9, 2027 at 7:30 p.m.
Reynolds Hall

Antarctica's name alone conjures imagery of the harshest environment on Earth, but the continent is more than its monochromatic color scheme of snow and ice. We go on assignment to the frozen continent with quantitative ecologist and National Geographic Explorer Dr. Heather Lynch. Meet the many species of penguins that waddle and swim through the freezing water, along with an abundance of other life, on a journey to the bottom of the world.

Lynch is a quantitative ecologist, dedicated to understanding the population dynamics of Antarctic wildlife, with a particular focus on Antarctic penguins. She has more than a decade of field experience on the continent. She is an Associate Professor at Stony Brook University with a joint appointment in the Department of Ecology & Evolution and the Institute for Advanced Computational Science. Lynch serves as the principal investigator for a large, multi-institution National Science Foundation award. She received an NSF Career Award for her work on the spatial dynamics of Antarctic penguins and was elected an early career fellow of the Ecological Society of America. Lynch has an A.B. in Physics from Princeton University, an M.A. in Physics from Harvard University and a Ph.D. in organismic and evolutionary biology from Harvard University.

Ben Mirin: Saving Nature's Symphony

April 21, 2027 at 7:30 p.m.
Reynolds Hall

The world is alive with sound, and acoustic biologist and National Geographic Explorer Ben Mirin makes sure we never miss a beat. From the sweet songs of morning birds to the chatter of howling lemurs to the conversation of whales, we'll go on assignment on an auditory adventure. We'll tune in to wildlife symphonies, discover what those voices tell us about our planet, and transform that science into music.