What’s happening at Penn State? Here’s a look at some of the cultural events — both in-person and virtual — taking place across the University:
Performances
“Sweeney Todd: The Demon Barber of Fleet Street” – Through Nov. 22, Playhouse Theatre, University Park campus. Stephen Sondheim’s classic twisted story of Sweeney Todd is coming to Centre Stage. With a razor-sharp thirst for vengeance, Todd’s path converges with the cunning pie shop owner Mrs. Lovett. Together, they form a macabre partnership, crafting meat pies that satiate more than just hunger. But the relentless pursuit of justice takes a turn as Todd’s razor weaves a chilling narrative. Directed and choreographed by Zack Steele, with music directed by Ann Van Steenwinkel.
The Martha Redbone Roots Project – 7:30 p.m., Nov. 15, Kulkarni Theatre, Harrisburg campus. The Martha Redbone Roots Project will perform at Penn State Harrisburg in honor of National Native American Heritage Month.
Other Arts Ensemble – 7:30 p.m., Nov. 15, School of Music Recital Hall, University Park campus. Penn State’s new 14-piece experimental music group will present an evening of music by two giants of Black American music, Sun Ra and Julius Eastman. The program will include a suite of original arrangements.
Ivyside Dance Ensemble Fall 2024 Performance — 7:30 p.m., Nov. 14-15, Wolf Kuhn Theatre, Misciagna Family Center for Performing Arts, Altoona campus. The performance will consist of seven dances from director KT Huckabee, choreographer and instructor Jaye Mackinson, and returning guest choreographer Ana Rossi-Lanzendorfer.
Julia Trintschuk masterclass and recital — Nov. 15-16, Recital Hall, University Park campus. The Penn State School of Music will host internationally acclaimed classical guitarist Julia Trintschuk for a two-day residency featuring a masterclass and recital that are free and open to the public.
Cody Johnson – 7:30 p.m., Nov. 16, Bryce Jordan Center, University Park campus. Platinum recording artist Cody Johnson is bringing “The Leather Tour” to State College, joined by Texas native Braxton Keith and Grammy Award winner Ashley McBryde.
“Much Ado About Nothing” – Nov. 16-22, Pavilion Theatre, University Park campus. Centre Stage presents William Shakespeare’s classic play, where audiences follow along as Count Claudio falls in love with Hero, the daughter of his host, and Beatrice and Benedict, often at odds with each other, are each duped into believing the other is in love with them.
University Choir – 1:30-3 p.m., Nov. 17, School of Music Recital Hall, University Park campus. The University Choir will feature premieres from its K12 composer commissioning program and a joint project with Wildflower Composers from Philadelphia. Alongside these new works, the choir will perform works from around the world.
Oriana Singers – 4-5 p.m., Nov. 17, School of Music Recital Hall, University Park campus. Oriana Singers’ Fall Concert will feature music that explores the depth of human connection through folk tunes, lullabies, sacred music, and love songs.
Concert Choir: Between Earth and Sky – 6:30-8 p.m., Nov. 17, School of Music Recital Hall, University Park campus. The Concert Choir presents contemplative and affirming music addressing themes of place, community, environment and aspiration.The performance will include instrumentalists and special lighting for imaginative use of space.
Trans-Siberian Orchestra: “The Lost Christmas Eve Tour” – 7 p.m., Nov. 21, Bryce Jordan Center, University Park campus. Multi-platinum rock group Trans-Siberian Orchestra brings their monumental winter tour to Penn State to celebrate 20 years of their beloved rock opera “The Lost Christmas Eve.”
Events
Penn State Military Appreciation Week — Through Nov. 17, Multiple events and locations. Penn State will recognize military service members, veterans and their families with a series of military appreciation events for both the University and local communities.
Centre Film Festival — Through Nov. 17, Multiple events and locations. The six-year-old Centre Film Festival returns this year to screen more than 200 films in a variety of genres at Centre County theaters and online in mid-November.
Poetry Reading: Mike Simms — 12:05 to 1:20 p.m., Nov. 14, Titelman Study, Misciagna Family Center for Performing Arts, Altoona campus. Simms is a poet, novelist, essayist, political activist, editor and publisher. His most recent collections of poetry are “Strange Meadowlark” and “Jubal Rising.”
Café Laura Theme Dinner: Kentucky Derby: A Night at the Races — Nov. 14, Café Laura, Mateer Building, University Park campus. Students in HM 430 Advanced Food Production and Service Management prepare a series of themed dinners throughout the semester to be served in the student-run Café Laura restaurant. Reservations required.
WAR GAMES: Remote Warfare, Virtual Veterans, and the Ethics of Violence — 2:30-3:20 p.m., Nov. 18, Pond View Lounge, Slep Student Center, Altoona campus. A Common Read event showcasing game design and criticism as a humanistic enterprise serving as a key way of knowing in a gamified society.
Café Laura Theme Dinner: Palette and Plate: Gastronomy Meets Gallery — Nov. 20, Café Laura, Mateer Building, University Park campus. Students in HM 430 Advanced Food Production and Service Management prepare a series of themed dinners throughout the semester to be served in the student-run Café Laura restaurant. Reservations required.
Lectures
“Innovation Mission to Denmark: Review of Danish Biogas Models and Technologies” — 12 p.m., Nov. 15, via Zoom. Mike Roth, director of conservation and innovation at the Pennsylvania Department of Agriculture, will discuss models from Denmark to explore how Pennsylvania could adapt biogas as an innovative and more sustainable industry.
Gallery Talk: Fernando “Coco” Bedoya — 12-1 p.m., Nov. 15, Palmer Museum of Art, University Park campus. Artist Fernando “Coco” Bedoya will host a conversation about his work featured in the special exhibition “Re/Collecting the Andes.” As a Peruvian artist based in Argentina, Bedoya interrogates the global consumption of Andean culture via witty drawings, paintings, and sculptures using found objects.
Tommy Orange – 7 p.m., Nov. 15, The State Theatre, State College. Award-winning author Tommy Orange will visit State College in November for a meet-the-author event hosted by WPSU that focuses on his novel “There There,” which was a finalist for the 2019 Pulitzer Prize and won the American Book Award.
“Egypt: A Developing Nation in Search of an Identity” – 3:30 p.m., Nov. 18, Foster Auditorium, Pattee-Paterno Library, University Park campus and via Zoom. Professor Emeritus Arthur Goldschmidt will present a lecture examines Egypt’s complex identity struggle, touching on themes of Islamic unity, Arab leadership, and national development in the 21st century.
“Class of Her Own: What We Can Learn From a Rebel Teacher” – 12-1 p.m., Nov. 19, via Zoom. Award-winning filmmaker Boaz Dvir tells the stories of ordinary people who transform into trailblazers. “Class of Her Own” tells the story of an ordinary teacher who transforms into a classroom superhero after her high-need school fails the state standardized test.
In-person exhibits
“Liberty and Justice for All” — Nov. 18-Jan. 23, Ronald K. DeLong Gallery, Lehigh Valley campus. Three artists whose work examines the ideas of social justice, civic engagement and democracy will be featured in an exhibit exploring liberty and justice.
“Synergies in Art and Science” — Through Nov. 15, Borland Project Space, 125 Borland Building, University Park campus. The exhibition, curated by adjunct researcher Cynthia White, showcases collaborations at the intersection of microbial science and artistic innovation.
“Made in PA” — Through Dec. 1, Palmer Museum of Art, University Park campus. An ambitious show highlights post-1945 paintings, sculpture, mixed-media assemblages and installations by artists who hail from Pennsylvania or who have made their homes and sustained their careers in the Keystone State.
“Photography of Protest” — Through Dec. 3, Friedman Art Gallery, Wilkes-Barre campus. From 2016 through 2020, photographer Michael Mirabito had opportunities to photograph many protests, marches and other events and their participants; these are the main focal points of his exhibit. The photographs in the exhibit at Penn State Wilkes-Barre are focused mostly on marches in Pennsylvania.
“Re/Collecting the Andes: Andean Art, Science, and the Sacred at Penn State” — Through Dec. 8, Palmer Museum of Art, University Park campus. “Re/Collecting the Andes” tells the story of more than 10,000 years of agricultural, cultural, intellectual and religious innovation in the Andes region of South America. It also narrates how the Incas and their surviving Andean subjects reclaimed that legacy after Spain’s invasion, through museums, science and art.
“Re(de)fining Landscape” — Through Dec. 13, Abington Art Gallery, Abington campus. Bonnie Levinthal’s work is rooted in the exploration and re-presentation of landscape, incorporating methods and mediums that connect process with content to create a visual record of her experiences in response to place. This exhibition showcases three bodies of work alongside artist’s journals, reflecting Levinthal’s response to place through a sampling of artworks completed at home and abroad.
“Symphonic Worlds” — Through Dec. 14, Sheetz Gallery, Misciagna Family Center for Performing Arts, Altoona campus. A body of work by Ivyside Juried Art Exhibition winner Kiki Gaffney exploring the natural environment through recognizable imagery in combination with conceptual and abstract ideas.
“Threads, Folds & Rabbit Holes” — Through Dec. 14, McLanahan Galler, Misciagna Family Center for Performing Arts, Altoona campus. A well-received interdisciplinary traveling exhibition featuring the paintings/textiles of Kristy Deetz and two books of ekphrastic stories of the artwork written by Edward Risden, whose pen name is Edward S. Louis.
“Stickloon Contemporary: Still Life” — Through Dec. 20, Art Space, Student Community Center, Schuylkill campus. An exhibit featuring artist and retired Penn State Schuylkill art instructor Robert Stickloon’s works.
“Caretelling: Stories to Sustain Ourselves” — Through December, Woskob Family Gallery, University Park campus. This interdisciplinary group exhibition explores the intersection of storytelling and caregiving through collaborative art-making, video installations and graphic narratives.
“Patterning with Heat and Water: Knitted Responsive Tension Structures” — Through December, Woskob Family Gallery, University Park campus. The exhibition showcases the responsive textile work of Felecia Davis, associate professor of architecture in the Penn State Stuckeman School’s Department of Architecture, and Delia Dumitrescu, director of the Smart Textiles Lab at the Swedish School of Textiles.
“Unknown Forest” — Through Jan. 27, Art Alley, HUB-Robeson Galleries, University Park campus. The exhibit features paintings and drawings by New York-based artist, Avani Patel, whose cultural background has had a profound impact on forging her identity as an artist. Indian culture is the starting point of her work.
“Myth, History, and the Written Word: Manuscript and Print Culture in Latin America” — Through Feb. 7, 2025, Special Collections exhibition space, 104 Paterno Library, University Park campus. The rare and distinctive Latin American collections held by the Eberly Family Special Collections Library are the focus of this exhibition, curated by Manuel Ostos, librarian and curator of Romance Language and Latin American Collections. Free.
“Reunion” — Through March 4, HUB Gallery and Art Alley, HUB-Robeson Center, University Park campus. The exhibit by New Mexico-based contemporary artist Cannupa Hanska Luger is an immersive, multi-disciplinary exhibition featuring sculpture, regalia and digital media. The selection of works presented in this iteration makes up a spectrum of possibilities and sheds light on historical truths to tell a narrative of complexity in the act of survival.
“Biomachine” — Through Spring 2025, Hite Lobby, Misciagna Family Center for Performing Arts, Altoona campus. A collaboration between Daryl Branford and Talley Fisher of Huck SciArts offers a glimpse into the microscopic world of viruses and is a reaction to how humanity must learn to coexist with them.
“I Am a Penn Stater: Nittany Lions in World War II” — Through June 2025, Penn State All-Sports Museum, Beaver Stadium, University Park campus. Timed to coincide with the 80th anniversary of the conflict, “I Am a Penn Stater” chronicles the contributions of Nittany Lion varsity lettermen and Women’s Recreation Association athletes during the conflict and follows their service from training in the United States, to fighting on battlefields around the globe, to their postwar occupations. Free.
Virtual exhibits
In addition to in-person events, a number of virtual exhibits are available through University departments. The Palmer Museum of Art and University Libraries offer a rotating selection of historical and artistic collections to view online.