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
Che Malambo — 7:30 p.m., March 15, Eisenhower Auditorium, University Park campus. The all-male Argentinian dance company performs its dance and percussion at Penn State.
Blackbear — 8 p.m., March 15, Alumni Hall, HUB-Robeson Center, University Park campus. The Penn State Student Programming Association will present the California-based rapper and hip-hop artist. Free, but student ID required.
"Iolanthe" — March 16-18, State Theatre, 130 W. College Ave., State College. Penn State Opera Theatre will present the Gilbert and Sullivan opera about the British House of Lords and a band of magical fairies.
Penn State Trombone Choir — 7:30 p.m., March 18, 128 Music Building II, University Park campus. The choir will offer its spring performance. Free.
National Symphony Orchestra of Cuba — 7:30 p.m., March 20, Eisenhower Auditorium, University Park campus. The Caribbean orchestra makes its Penn State debut with a program including works by Manuel De Falla, Guido López-Gavilián and Antonín Dvorák.
"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.
Events
Afro-Brazilian samba and capoeira workshop — 3-5 p.m., March 17, HUB-Flex Theatre, HUB-Robeson Center, University Park campus. A free workshop about cultural traditions and basic movements of Afro-Brazilian samba and capoeira. Free.
"A Cuban Music Experience" — 8 p.m., March 19, Hintz Family Alumni Center, University Park campus. School of Music faculty and students will share their experiences, play music and provide reflections on Cuba. Free.
"Microbial Design Studio: Dough as Parametric, Computational and Biochemical Material" — 2-5 p.m., March 19, 16 Borland Building, University Park campus. Orkan Telhan, associate professor of fine arts, will introduce basic concepts of microbial design and explain how designers can work with living organisms to create new forms of materials combining their skills from parametric and computational design. Free, but registration is required.
"Revitalizing the Rust Belt: Lessons from Detroit" — March 19-20, Penn State Behrend. The campus will host a two-day public-policy forum to discuss the transformation of urban spaces. Free.
"Bag It" — 7 p.m., March 20, Flex Theatre, HUB-Robeson Center, University Park campus. The award-winning, feature-length film takes a closer look at America's dependence on plastic. Part of the "Plastic Entanglements" film series. Free.
Made in Manhattan: A Taste of the City that Never Sleeps — March 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.
California Dreamin': Cuisines Down the Golden Coast — March 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.
"Thank You for Your Service" — 7 p.m., March 21, Community Arts Center, 220 W. Fourth St., Williamsport. The acclaimed documentary focusing on the failure of U.S. military mental health policy to address the needs of veterans will be screened in this event presented by the Pennsylvania College of Technology, Lycoming College and the Community Arts Center. Free.
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.
Lectures
"We Matter: Athletes and Activism" — 5:30 p.m., March 15, 233A HUB-Robeson Center, University Park campus. Author, social justice advocate and former NBA player Etan Thomas will discuss his latest book, which includes interviews with people like Kareem Abdul-Jabbar, Mark Cuban and Soledad O'Brien, on the subject of race in America. Free.
"'Unsophisticated Buyers': Homeownership and the End of the Urban Crisis in the 1970s" — 6 p.m., March 15, 10 Sparks Building, University Park campus. Keeanga-Yamahtta, assistant professor of African-American studies at Princeton University, will speak about economic and racial inequality in urban housing. Free.
Stephen J. Dubner — March 17, Penn Stater Hotel and Conference Center, University Park campus. The award-winning author, journalist and radio and TV personality will deliver the keynote address at the 2018 Symposium for Teaching and Learning with Technology. Free.
Terrence J. Roberts — March 19, Penn State Altoona. Terrence J. Roberts, a member of the Little Rock Nine, a group of African-American students who were the first black students to ever attend classes at Little Rock Central High School in Arkansas in 1957, will speak at two events at the campus. Free.
"Breaking the Binaries: Gender and Faith" — 6:30 p.m., March 19, 129C HUB-Robeson Center, University Park campus. This interfaith panel in a series addressing various topics within faith, this panel discussion will explore how no matter how someone identifies within faith communities or identifies gender or sexuality, religious and spiritual beliefs are not so linear. Free.
"You've Got the Power: Personal Accountability in the Advertising Industry" — 6 p.m., March 19, 112 Kern Building, University Park campus. Kendra Hatcher King, vice president of marketing and consumer strategy for SapientRazorfish, will be the featured speaker in this year's Don Davis Lecture in Advertising Ethics. Free.
"New Mediums of Life" — Noon, March 20, 19 Borland Building, University Park campus. Orkan Telhan, associate professor of arts, will discuss a series of design experiments that interrogate life sciences at different levels, from the biosynthesis of endangered molecules to microbial prosthetics, and alternative design tools that network algorithms, organisms and people. Free.
"Gender Equity in Sports: Reality or Dream?" — 6:30 p.m., March 20, Freeman Auditorium, HUB-Robeson Center. Panelists include Sandy Barbour, director of athletics; Coquese Washington, head coach of Penn State women’s basketball; Erica Dambach, head coach of Penn State women’s soccer; Kristina Petersen, assistant director of Penn State athletic communications; and Amira Davis, assistant professor of history and women’s, gender and sexuality studies. Audience members may pose questions to the panel as part of the event. The panel will be moderated by Jonna Belanger, an instructor in the Department of Kinesiology and a U.S. paralympics track and field classifier. Free.
"A Discussion of Diversity on a College Campus" — 8 p.m., March 20, Alumni Hall, HUB-Robeson Center, University Park campus. A panel of speakers, including a hijab journalist, a leading social advocate and former official from the Obama administration, will be on hand to discuss in the Distinguished Speaker Series event by the Student Programming Association. Free, but tickets required.
"Planetary Health: An Upstream Approach to Addressing the Needs of Patients and Communities" — 4 p.m., March 21, 102 Paterno Library, University Park campus. Ruth McDermott-Levy, associate professor and director of the Center for Global and Public Health at Villanova University, will discuss planetary health as it relates to the health of patients and communities, the relationship between planetary health and environmental impacts on human health and ways to improve health from an ecological perspective. Free, but registration required.
"Evan Pugh's Penn State" — 5:30 p.m., March 21, auditorium, Penn State Shenango. Distinguished alumnus Roger Williams will present an illustrated talk about Penn State's first president's efforts to establish the first successful agricultural college in America. Free.
"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.
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.