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
"Dirty Dancing: The Classic Story on Stage" — March 21-22, Eisenhower Auditorium, University Park campus. Adapted from the popular 1987 film, the touring Broadway musical appears at the University Park campus.
Miranda Lambert — March 23, Bryce Jordan Center, University Park campus. Grammy Award-winner Miranda Lambert will bring her Livin' Like Hippies Tour to Penn State.
"The Wolves" — March 27, 29 and 31, Penn State Downtown Theatre Center, State College. A 2017 Pulitzer Prize finalist, this play offers a thoughtful and eloquent fly-on-the-wall look at a girls' high school soccer team as they go through their warm-ups on the indoor soccer field.
"The Laramie Project" — March 28, 30, and 31, Penn State Downtown Theatre Center, State College. Based on a series of interviews, this play chronicles life in the town of Laramie, Wyoming in the year following the infamous murder of Matthew Shepard in 1998.
Star of Broadway musical 'Rent' to perform with students — March 29, Studio Theatre, Penn State Behrend. Wilson Jermaine Heredia, the actor who portrayed Angel in the original Broadway performance of “Rent,” will perform a special concert with students at Penn State Erie.
Events
Winter Olympics: A taste of competition — March 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.
Candlelight Lounge: Roaring our way into the Modern Twenties — March 27, 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.
"Storying through Movement: Walking, Sensing, and Making Places" — 3:30 p.m., March 29, 16 Borland Building, University Park campus. In this workshop led by professor Kimberly Powell at the Arts and Research Design Incubator, participants will learn more about the research project "StoryWalks" and how walking relates to storytelling and community identity.
"A Night of Chocolate: An Interdisciplinary Panel Discussion of Chocolate from Gene to Bean to Bar" — 6:00 p.m., March 29, Foster Auditorium, Paterno Library, University Park campus. Learn more about chocolate and the cocoa supply chain from leading experts. Free, but registration required.
Lectures
"The Art of Being a Wolf" — 4:30 p.m., March 22, 102 Paterno Library, University Park campus. The 2018 Charles W. Mann Jr. Lecture in Book Arts will present Debra Mitts-Smith, author, professor and expert on children's and young adult literature. Free.
Tarana Burke — 8:00 p.m., March 22, Heritage Hall, HUB-Robeson Center, University Park campus. Tarana Burke, the founder of the "Me Too" movement and social justice activist, will share the story behind the genesis of the viral 2017 TIME Person Of The Year-winning "me too" movement, and give strength and healing to those who have experienced sexual trauma or harassment. Free with student ID.
"The Lehigh Valley's Love for the Automobile" — 5:00 p.m., March 22, Penn State Lehigh Valley. As the first installment of Penn State Lehigh Valley's "Five @ Five" lecture series, David K. Whitlock, automotive industry consultant and volunteer with the America on Wheels Museum in Allentown, will discuss the valley's history with motorsport icons and auto industry heavyweights. Tickets required.
"Women and the Specter of Militarism" — 1:00 p.m., March 26, 217 Willard Building, University Park campus. As part of the Penn State Africana Research Center, professor Alicia Decker will discuss a gendered history of Uganda after military rule. Free.
Religion and Science — 2:30 p.m. and 7:00 p.m., March 27, Pasquerilla Spiritual Center and Nittany Lion Inn, University Park campus. Two lectures from Elaine Ecklund, the Herbert S. Autrey Chair in Social Sciences and professor of sociology at Rice University, will examine the relationship between science and religion. Free.
"Dis-labeled: You are not who they say you are" — 4:00 p.m., March 27, 22 Biobehavioral Health Building, University Park campus. Susan Robinson, business adviser, TED Talk speaker and Penn State alumna, will share her inspirational and humorous insights on curiosity, adaptability and fearlessness for successfully pursuing audacious goals. Free.
"Geographies of Injustice: Prostitution & the Last Girl" — 1:00 p.m., March 28, Stuckeman Jury Space, Stuckeman Building, University Park campus. Journalist, filmmaker and activist Ruchira Gupta will discuss human trafficking and her work pioneering laws, policies, protocols, and best practices for ending trafficking around the world. Free.
“Art, Environmental Activism, and Moral Repair: A (Not-So-) Modest Proposal for Our Times” — 4:30 p.m., March 29, Lipton Auditorium, Palmer Museum of Art. Pamela Longobardi, distinguished professor of art at Georgia State University, will present a lecture co-sponsored by the Rock Ethics Institute; the Department of Women’s, Gender, and Sexuality Studies; the Sustainability Institute; the Department of Art History; and the Friends of the Palmer Museum of Art. 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.
"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.
"Home: Contemporary Indigenous Artists Responding" — Feb. 26-Aug. 21, Walter and Dori Goldstein Music and Media Center, Pattee Library, University Park campus. A dozen indigenous artists feature their works in printmaking. Free.
"Plastic Entanglements" — Feb. 13-June 17, Palmer Museum of Art, University Park campus. Sixty works explore the complex story of plastic. 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.
"Depth of Field" — March 8-Aug. 14, Diversity Studies Room, Pattee Library, University Park campus. The exhibit offers an unfiltered look at war photography and assesses its impact on audiences. 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.