Arts and Entertainment

Things to Do at Penn State: Feb. 15-22

A selection of cultural events happening on campus this weekend and next week

The annual IFC/Panhellenic Dance Marathon, or THON, kicks off on Feb. 16 at the Bryce Jordan Center at the University Park campus. Credit: Madison WhiteAll Rights Reserved.

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

"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.

Faculty Artist Series12:10 p.m., Feb. 15, Eisenhower Chapel, University Park campus. School of Music faculty member Amy Petrongelli will present a full voice recital. Free.

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.

Guest MasterclassFeb. 16, various locations, University Park campus. University of Maryland faculty member Katherine Murdock will present two masterclasses. Free.

Guest Masterclass3:30 p.m., Feb. 16, 115 Music Building I, University Park campus. National Symphony Orchestra of Argentina member and Penn State alumnus Marcos Vives will present a cello masterclass. Free.

Faculty Artist Series4 p.m., Feb. 17, Eisenhower Chapel, University Park campus. Faculty saxophonist David B. Stambler will perform a recital. Free.

Rodgers and Hammerstein's "Cinderella"7:30 p.m., Feb. 20 and 21, Eisenhower Auditorium, University Park campus. The 2013 Tony Award-winning Broadway musical fairy tale comes to Penn State. 

Percussion Ensemble I and Mallet Ensemble7:30 p.m., Feb. 21, 128 Music Building II. Free.

"the terrible girls"Feb. 21-24, Perkins Student Center Auditorium, Penn State Berks. The Penn State Berks theatre department presents this dark comedy of friendship, obsession and Southern sensibilities. Free.

Viva Kultura 12:20 p.m., Feb. 22, Black Box Theater, Slusser/Bayzick Building, Penn State Hazleton. The international performing arts troupe brings its "Discover India" show to Penn State Hazleton. Free.

Luke Bryan7 p.m., Feb. 22, Bryce Jordan Center, University Park campus. Country music star Luke Bryan brings his "What Makes You Country" tour to Penn State.

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.

IFC/Panhellenic Dance Marathon (THON)Feb. 16-18, Bryce Jordan Center, University Park campus. The nation's largest student-run philanthropy's efforts to raise money for children with pediatric cancer culminate in the annual 46-hour dance marathon. Free.

"Zero Weeks"6 p.m., Feb. 20, Freeman Auditorium, HUB-Robeson Center, University Park campus. A screening of the documentary that makes the case for guaranteed paid leave for every American worker, followed by a panel discussion. Free.

Candlelight Lounge: Roaring our way into the Modern Twenties — Feb. 20, Cafe 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 Cafe Laura restaurant. Reservations required.

Nouvelle: A Night in New Orleans — Feb. 21, Cafe 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 Cafe Laura restaurant. Reservations required.

Once Upon a Dream: A Taste of Disney cuisine — Feb. 22, Cafe 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 Cafe Laura restaurant. Reservations required.

"Divide in Concord"7 p.m., Feb. 22, Flex Theatre, HUB-Robeson Center, University Park campus. A screening of the feature-length documentary that follows the tale of banning bottled water in small-town America, followed by a panel discussion. Free.

Lectures

"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.

"Studying a Foreign Language in a Globalizing World: The Case of Hindi-Urdu" 3 p.m., Feb. 16, Hosler Building, University Park campus. Richard Delacy, preceptor of Hindu-Urdu studies at Harvard University, will discuss the study of language in a globalizing world. Free.

"What makes a planet habitable?" 11 a.m., Feb. 17, 100 Thomas Building, University Park campus. James Kasting, Evan Pugh Professor of Geosciences, will discuss the list of essential ingredients for a planet that could be a good home for life as we know it on Earth, as part of the annual Penn State Lectures on the Frontiers of Science. Free.

2018 Marker Lectures in Evolutionary Biology Feb. 19 and 20, Berg Auditorium, 100 Huck Life Sciences Building, University Park campus. Anne Stone, Regents' Professor in the School of Human Evolution and Social Change at Arizona State, will present the lectures. Free.

"Trump is a Joke: Why Satire Makes Sense When Politics Doesn't"3 p.m., Feb. 20, 302 Pond Laboratory, University Park campus. Sophia McClennen, professor of comparative literature and international affairs, will discuss how satire and comedy provide resources for making arguments that have greater impact than other types of political dialogue. Free.

Radical Justice Speaker Series 7 p.m., Feb. 20, Heritage Hall, HUB-Robeson Center, University Park campus. Janet Mock, author and transgender activist, will be featured. Free.

Center for Global Studies Brown Bag Lecture Series12:15 p.m., Feb. 21, 157 Burrowes Building, University Park campus. Ran Zwingberg, assistant professor of Asian studies, history and Jewish studies, will discuss his first book, "Hiroshima: The origins of Global Memory Culture" and his recent research. Free.

Matt Burdette 12:30 p.m., Feb. 21, 232A HUB-Robeson Center, University Park campus. Matt Burdette, UnitedHealthcare Global's chief of intelligence, will discuss the firm's international risk analysis and overseas operations. The company serves as Penn State's international emergency medical and evacuation provider. Free.

Rolling Reading Series7:30 p.m., Feb. 21, Foster Auditorium, Paterno Library, University Park campus. Author Mary Gaitskill, this year's Fisher Family Writer-in-Residence, will give a public reading of her work. Free.

"Too Close for Comfort" 4 p.m., Feb. 22, Sutliff Auditorium, Lewis Katz Building, University Park campus. Steven Brodner, a caricaturist and self-described "equal opportunity insulter" will speak on democratic dissent. Free.

"Tentacles of Opioids: Reaching Far and Wide"6 p.m., Feb. 22, Perkins Student Center multipurpose room, Penn State Berks. The Berks County district attorney's office will discuss the effects of opioids on families and communities. Free.

Roger Reeves and Yogita Goyal 6 p.m., Feb. 22, 160 Willard Building, University Park campus. The award-winning poet and African-American scholar will read from and discuss their works on contemporary human rights crises through the historical lens of slavery. 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.

 

Last Updated February 15, 2018