Hidden Brain: Perceptions Tour

ENSEMBLE ARTS PHILLY,
 IN ASSOCIATION WITH GATE52, PRESENTS
 HIDDEN BRAIN: PERCEPTIONS TOUR 
WITH PODCAST HOST SHANKAR VEDANTAM, 
MARCH 21, 2026

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE (January 28, 2026) – Ensemble Arts Philly, in association with Gate52, presents the Hidden Brain: Perceptions Tour featuring Hidden Brain podcast host Shankar Vedantam. This special event – at the Miller Theater on Saturday, March 21, 2026, at 7:30 p.m. – explores the unseen forces that shape how we think, feel, and behave.

Are there parts of our minds that are hidden from us? This question launched the Hidden Brain podcast ten years ago. Since then, Hidden Brain has helped millions of listeners accomplish their goals, improve their relationships, and develop a deeper understanding of their emotions. Now, host and creator Shankar Vedantam will bring seven key insights from the first decade of Hidden Brain to the stage. Whether you’re new to the show or a longtime listener, this evening of science and storytelling will change how you think about yourself and the people around you. Audience members can also share their own thoughts and ideas with Vedantam and fellow fans of the show.

“Ensemble Arts Philly connects audiences with world-class artists, opening its theaters and spaces to over a million guests annually for events that inspire dialogue and foster human connection,” said Frances Egler, Vice President of Theatrical Programming and Presentations. “With the Perceptions Tour, the renowned Hidden Brain podcast is embodied onstage, as Shankar Vedantam blends compelling storytelling with psychology and social science insights that are intriguing and at times comfortingly universal.”

Hidden Brain receives millions of downloads per month and is heard on more than 400 public radio stations across the United States. Shankar Vedantam is the host and executive editor of the Hidden Brain podcast and radio show. Exploring the science of human behavior for more than three decades, he was NPR’s social science correspondent between 2011 and 2020 and spent 10 years as a reporter at The Washington Post, where he also wrote the Department of Human Behavior column.

Vedantam and Hidden Brain have been recognized with the Edward R. Murrow Award and honors from the American Association for the Advancement of Science, the Society for Personality and Social Psychology, the International Society of Political Psychology, the Society of Professional Journalists, the National Association of Black Journalists, the Webby Awards, the American Public Health Association, and the Rosalynn Carter Mental Health Journalism Fellowship, among others. In 2009–2010, Vedantam served as a fellow at the Nieman Foundation for Journalism at Harvard University. He is the author of The Hidden Brain: How Our Unconscious Minds Elect Presidents, Control Markets, Wage Wars and Save Our Lives and co-author of Useful Delusions: The Power and Paradox of the Self-Deceiving Brain.

Other featured upcoming performances include Mae Martin: The Possum (March 27, 2026, Miller Theater); The Sound of Music (March 31–April 5, 2026, Academy of Music); Peppa Pig: My First Concert (April 4, 2026, Miller Theater); PHILADANCO! EXPLOSIVE: Bold New Works on the Rise (April 17–19, 2026, Perelman Theater inside the Kimmel Center); Christian McBride and Edgar Meyer (April 21, 2026, Miller Theater); Dog Man: The Musical (April 25–26, 2026, Miller Theater); Shucked (April 21–May 3, 2026, Forrest Theatre); and WXPN Welcomes Rhiannon Giddens (May 5, 2026, Miller Theater).

Tickets
Tickets can be purchased online at www.ensembleartsphilly.org, by calling 215-893-1999, or in person at the Academy of Music Box Office (240 S. Broad Street) daily from 10 a.m.–6 p.m. For more information, visit www.ensembleartsphilly.org.  

Hidden Brain: Perceptions Tour 
Miller Theater 
March 21, 2026, 7:30 p.m. 

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ABOUT ENSEMBLE ARTS PHILLY
For more information about ENSEMBLE ARTS PHILLY, visit www.ensembleartsphilly.org.      

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For photography, please visit www.ensembleartsphilly.smugmug.com/2025-2026-Season. 

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