What's happening at Penn State? Here's a look at some of the cultural events taking place at the University this weekend and next week:
Performances
Faculty Artist Series — 12:10 p.m., Feb. 8, Eisenhower Chapel, University Park campus. Voice professor and soprano Jennifer Trost will perform Robert Schumann's iconic song cycle "Frauenliebe und-leben." Free.
Centre Dimensions — 7:30 p.m., Feb. 10, State Theatre, State College. Penn State's premiere jazz ensemble will perform its annual Mardi Gras concert.
"Mr. Popper's Penguins" — 4 p.m., Feb. 11, Eisenhower Auditorium, University Park campus. The live-action musical production, based on the 1938 award-winning book, tells the story of an Oklahoma house painter and his wife who find themselves the unlikely owners of a pair of penguins.
Faculty Artist Series — 7:30 p.m., Feb. 11, 128 Music Building, University Park campus. Trombone professor Mark L. Lusk will perform his 61st faculty recital. Free.
"Musical Thrones: A Parody of Ice and Fire" — 7:30 p.m., Feb. 11, Pullo Family Performing Arts Center, Penn State York. Composed by the mad men behind the long-running “Silence the Musical,” Jon and Al Kaplan, “Musical Thrones” brings the most beloved and be-hated characters to life as the show journeys through seven seasons of the Emmy Award-winning “Game of Thrones” series.
Nazu African Dance — 7 p.m., Feb. 13, Pullo Family Performing Arts Center, Penn State York. The Baltimore-based West African dance and drum ensemble will perform. Free.
Bill Charlap Trio — 7:30 p.m., Feb. 13, Schwab Auditorium, University Park campus. Jazz pianist Bill Charlap will lead his trio in concert.
"Love in Hate Nation" — Feb. 13-24, Playhouse Theatre, University Park campus. Penn State Centre Stage presents this musical telling of the love story between two girls in a 1960's juvenile detention center.
Wu Han, Philip Setzer and David Finckel — 7:30 p.m., Feb. 15, Schwab Auditorium, University Park campus. The trio will conclude its Beethoven program.
"Gobsmacked!" — 7:30 p.m., Feb. 15, Pullo Family Performing Arts Center, Penn State York. The a cappella and beatboxing show comes to the Pullo Center direct from sell-out seasons in London, Hong Kong and Edinburgh. This next-generation a cappella show redefines the limits of the human voice.
Events
"Blind Date with a Book" — Jan. 22-Feb. 16, Franklin Atrium, Pattee Library, University Park campus. Shelves will be filled with both fiction and non-fiction books available for students to take on a reading date. Free.
"FaceAge" — 4 p.m., Feb. 8, Wolf-Kuhn Theatre, Misciagna Center for Performing Arts, Penn State Altoona. Penn State Laureate Andrew Belser will discuss his award-winning multimedia video installation. His exhibit, "FaceAge," will play on a 56-minute loop from 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. in the Titelman Study in the Misciagna Family Center. Free.
"Ghosts of Amistad" — 8 p.m., Feb. 8, State Theatre, State College. A screening of the documentary "Ghosts of Amistad: In the Footsteps of Rebels" will be shown. Free.
Virtual sculpting workshop — Noon-3 p.m., Feb. 9, Stuckeman School of Architecture, University Park campus. The Arts and Design Research Incubator will host a workshop featuring the basics of virtual sculpting and object creation with a haptic arm and other virtual sculpting options in this hands-on workshop. Free.
26th annual Connoisseur's Dinner and Auction — 6 p.m., Feb. 10, Nittany Lion Inn, University Park campus. Renowned chef Nick Stallino will prepare a four-course meal as part of the WPSU fundraising event.
African American Read-In Chain — Feb. 12, various locations, Penn State Altoona. The campus presents its 29th annual event. This year's theme is "African Diaspora Writers in the U.S." Free.
Lectures
"International Law Under President Trump: A One-Year Assessment" — 4 p.m., Feb. 8, Sutliff Auditorium, Lewis Katz Building, University Park campus. John Bellinger, former legal adviser to the U.S. Department of State and the National Security Council under President George W. Bush, will be featured. Free, but registration required.
"Social and Behavioral Science Contributions to Climate Mitigation: A Law and Policy Perspective" — 4:30 p.m., Feb. 8, 124 Business Building, University Park campus. Michael Vandenbergh, co-author of "Beyond Politics" and the director of the Climate Change Resource Network, will discuss how the social sciences can help strengthen the private sector's role. Free.
"Blaxploitalian: 100 Years of Blackess in Italian Cinema" — 4 p.m., Feb. 12, 112 Borland, University Park campus. Fred Kuwornu, Ghanian-Italian documentary filmmaker, will be the featured speaker. Free.
"A Conversation with Deb Gelman" — 7:30 p.m., Feb. 12, Foster Auditorium, Paterno Library, University Park campus. A moderated question-and-answer session with an award-winning alumna who works for CBS Sports as a TV director and producer. Free.
"Marketing the Maya Mystique in Santiago Atitlan, Guatemala" — 2 p.m., Feb. 13, Foster Auditorium, Paterno Library, University Park campus and on MediaSite. Lucy Harbor, the 2017 M.G. Whiting Indigenous Knowledge Research Award winner, will present findings from ethnographic research funded by the Whiting Indigenous Knowledge Research Award. Free.
"Intersectionality 101: Race & Gender in Work, Life & Politics" — 6 p.m., Feb. 15, Foster Auditorium, Paterno Library, University Park campus. Kimerlé Crenshaw, civil rights activist and feminist, will present the Barbara Jordan Lecture. Free.
Exhibits
"Pop at the Palmer" — Jan. 9-May 13, Palmer Museum of Art, University Park campus. Prints from the museum's permanent collection by Pop Art notables such as Roy Lichtenstein, James Rosenquist, Andy Warhol and Claes Oldenburg. Free.
"Books Undone: The Art of Altered Books" — Jan. 11-Feb. 28, Madigan Library, Pennsylvania College of Technology. The exhibit features visually stunning reinventions of the printed page. Free.
"Deconstructing the Dream: At Whose Expense?" — Jan. 15-Feb. 28, Sidewater Commons, Pattee Library, University Park campus. Student poster entries from the annual contest to represent the 33rd annual Martin Luther King Jr. Commemoration Week at University Park campus are on display. Free.
"Dox Thrash, Black Life and the Carborundum Mezzotint" — Jan. 16-May 20, Palmer Museum of Art, University Park campus. The exhibit features Philadelphia-based artist Dox Thrash, who pioneered a new approach to printmaking known as the carborundum process in the late 1930s. Free.
"What Big Eyes You Have! Looking at the Wolf in Fairy Tales" — Jan. 16-May 13, Eberly Family Special Collections Library exhibition room, 104 Paterno Library, University Park campus. The exhibit takes a close look at historical depictions of the wolf in well-known and lesser-known fairy tales. Free.
"Spilled Milk" — Jan. 22-March 12, Art Alley, HUB-Robeson Center, University Park campus. Penn State senior Elise Warfield's paintings will be on display. Free.
"Drawings and Prints by John McKaig" — Jan. 24-March 1, HUB Gallery, HUB-Robeson Center, University Park campus. McKaig's drawings and prints feature recognizable objects, spaces and figurative elements that are transferred and layered in order to depict his ever-changing identity. Free.
"Pedestrian Rules" — Jan. 25-March 3, Woskob Family Gallery, 146 S. Allen St., State College. Photographic and time-based works by Haigen G. Pearson, Tyson Washburn and Barbara Weissberger which explore commonplace sights to speculate about the viewers' relationship with ambiguity in everyday experience. Free.
"Plastic Entanglements" — Feb. 13-June 17, Palmer Museum of Art, University Park campus. Sixty works explore the complex story of plastic. Free.
"Faster, Higher, Stronger: Winter Olympics in the Special Collections Library" — 3-5 p.m., Feb. 15, and 5-7 p.m., Feb. 21, 103A Paterno Library, University Park campus. The Eberly Family Special Collections Library will offer a special pop-up exhibit during this year's Winter Olympics in PyeongChang, South Korea. Free.
"Field to Front: Nittany Lions at War, 1917-1919" — April 23, 2017-April 30, 2018, the Penn State All-Sports Museum, University Park campus. The exhibit chronicles the contributions of Nittany Lion lettermen during World War I and follows their service from training in the U.S. to fighting in France and Italy. Free.
"Keith Lemley: A Theory of Everything" — Oct. 26, 2017-Sept. 30, 2018, Woskob Family Gallery, 146 S. Allen St., State College. Penn State alumnus and artist Keith Lemley will craft a new work that combines maple and neon and unify them through geometry and form. Free.