Center for Performing Arts 2023-24: Creating conditions for 'everyday awe'

UNIVERSITY PARK, Pa. — Penn State’s Center for the Performing Arts announces a variety of joyful, creative and community-building events for its 2023–2024 event season.

Tickets go on sale at 10 a.m. Thursday, Aug. 3, and are available for purchase online; by calling 814-863-0255; or in person from 10 a.m.-4 p.m. weekdays at Eisenhower Auditorium.

Programs include Grammy Award-winning classical ensembles and folk musicians; a new adventure starring the world’s favorite pup from Down Under; theater-based solo and group introspective opportunities; classic and modern jazz; upbeat international music; neu-classical Odissi and club-style dance performances; and more.

“Current research on awe highlights the regenerative power of wonder in our emotional and physical lives,” center Director Sita Frederick said. “Through our events, we aim to co-create experiences that design conditions for everyday awe, such as overwhelming beauty, tear-inducing laughter or an unexpected act of kindness from a stranger.”

Visit 2023–2024 Events for more event details about the events and free, related engagement programming.

Fall 2023 events

Bluey's Big Play

Fans of all ages of the iconic Australian Blue Heeler can ready dance mode for the live-stage Penn State debut of “Bluey’s Big Play.” The 6:30 p.m. Thursday, Sept. 7, event in Eisenhower Auditorium has an original story by “Bluey” creator Joe Brumm and new music by “Bluey” composer Joff Bush.

Move Mix Festival featuring Red Baraat

The free, outdoor Move Mix Festival featuring Red Baraat will provide space for playful town-and-gown mingling from 5 to 7 p.m. Tuesday, Sept. 12, at the Eisenhower Auditorium loading dock. Brooklyn-based ensemble Red Baraat melds brass-band jazz, northern Indian bhangra, hip-hop beats, and jam-band ethos for a bold, East-meets-West musical fusion. Local musician Ady Martinez Dance Party and Penn State dance ensembles Caliente Dance Company and Sher Bhangra also will perform. Registration is required for free entry.

Emmet Cohen Trio

New York-based Emmet Cohen Trio will mark the ensemble’s third performance at Penn State at 7:30 p.m. Tuesday, Sept. 19, in Eisenhower Auditorium. The artists’ straight-ahead jazz club aesthetic will feature the “full-bodied” vocal talents of Lucy Yeghiazaryan.

'A Thousand Ways: An Assembly'

“A Thousand Ways: An Assembly” — a modern, immersive theatrical experience written and created by Abigail Browde and Michael Silverstone, with Andrew Kircher — will make its Penn State debut with multiple performance sessions starting Sept. 30.

600 Highwaymen

The minimalist production by Obie Award-winning creators 600 Highwaymen explores “the fleetingness of an encounter,” Browde said in a recent Zoom conversation with the arts center staff. The one-hour event takes a group of no more than 16 strangers to construct a shared and moving life experience. There will be multiple, unmoderated patron-performances of this event in locations throughout Eisenhower Auditorium:

• 1:30, 3 and 4:30 p.m. Saturday and Sunday, Sept. 30 and Oct. 1
• 2:30, 4:30 and 6 p.m. Friday, Oct. 20
• 4:30, 6 and 7:30 p.m. Wednesday and Thursday, Nov. 8 and 9
• Noon, 1:30 and 3 p.m. Friday, Nov. 10

Las Cafeteras

The contemporary Chicano troubadours of Las Cafeteras mix roots music with Afro-Mexican rhythms and powerful rhymes for a “uniquely Angeleno mishmash of punk, hip-hop, beat music, cumbia and rock” (Los Angeles Times). The artists will perform at 7:30 p.m. Tuesday, Oct. 10, in Eisenhower Auditorium, a return performance since conducting a virtual storytelling workshop in the fall 2022 season.

Bijayini Satpathy

Odissi classical Indian dance master Bijayini Satpathy will make her Penn State debut at 7:30 p.m. Wednesday and Thursday, Oct. 18 and 19, in Eisenhower Auditorium. In her choreographic debut, ”Abhipsaa — A seeking,” Satpathy expands the parameters of the formal and representational norms of the Odissi tradition through both narrative and non-narrative dances — reimagining classical Odissi forms through modern interpretation. The general-admission event will feature limited seating on stage with the artist.

Rachmaninov Celebration

The Chamber Music Society of Lincoln Center returns to Penn State with “Rachmaninov Celebration” at 7:30 p.m. Wednesday, Oct. 25, at School of Music Recital Hall. Soprano Erika Baikoff, pianist Gilles Vonsattel, violinist Benjamin Beilman and cellist Clive Greensmith will celebrate the virtuoso pianist’s 150th birth anniversary with a performance of works by the Russian master, Rubenstein, Tchaikovsky, Balakirev, Glinka and Rimsky-Korsakov.

'Stomp'

Using anything they can get their hands on (and that travels well) to make noise, the artists of “Stomp” return to the Eisenhower stage with new percussive surprises, updates and additions. The performers will bang on hubcaps, matchboxes, wooden poles and more at the 7:30 p.m. Wednesday, Nov. 15, event.

Penn State School of Music: 'Mosaic'

Penn State School of Music will feature its popular “Mosaic” performance at 4 p.m. Sunday, Dec. 3, in Eisenhower Auditorium. The annual concert features the Penn State School of Music’s most talented ensembles and soloists.

Spring 2024 events

'A Choral Tribute to Dr. Martin Luther King Jr.'

Vocal ensembles from Penn State and regional high schools will raise their voices in song in “A Choral Tribute to Dr. Martin Luther King Jr.” The general-admission 4 p.m. Saturday, Jan. 20, concert in Eisenhower Auditorium will feature vocal and choral hymns and protest songs that celebrate the legacy of civil-rights champions.

Ephrat Asherie Dance

Harlem-based freestyle hip-hop ensemble Ephrat Asherie Dance will set to stage “Underscored,” a collaborative performance with New York City club legends, at 7:30 p.m. Wednesday, Feb. 7, in Eisenhower Auditorium. “Underscored” is inspired by generations of urban club dancers and how African and African-America diaspora-inspired styles of freestyle dance are part of a larger conversation.

'Johnny Cash — The Official Concert Experience'

“Johnny Cash — The Official Concert Experience” will use technology to bring the “Man in Black” to the Eisenhower Auditorium stage. The multimedia performance will be at 7:30 p.m. Thursday, Feb. 20, and will feature video of Cash from episodes of “The Johnny Cash Show” projected on a screen above the stage while a live band performs and sings in sync to Cash’s hits.

Time for Three

Future-forward musical thinkers Time for Three will perform in Eisenhower Auditorium at 7:30 p.m. Wednesday, Feb. 28, with a performance including songs from the string trio’s 2023 Grammy Award-winning album, “Letters for the Future.” The artists are keen on “utilizing every bit of technique, knowledge and practice that comes from playing the violin,” musician Nick Kendall said.

Rhiannon Giddens

Rhiannon Giddens — an eclectic, opera-trained folk artist musician, two-time Grammy Award-winning singer, reproduction instrumentalist, podcaster and one of NPR’s “Most Influential Women Musicians of the 21st century” — will make her Penn State debut with a musical event at 7:30 p.m. Tuesday, March 19, in Eisenhower Auditorium.

Dover Quartet

Dover Quartet, named one of the greatest string quartets of the past 100 years (BBC Music Magazine), and Van Cliburn International Competition Gold Medal-winning piano soloist Haochen Zhang will share the School of Music Recital Hall stage at a 7:30 p.m. Thursday, March 21, concert. The program will feature ensemble and solo performances by the composers Beethoven, Marc Neikrug and Schubert.

Terence Blanchard and The E-Collective, with Turtle Island Quartet

Multiple Grammy Award-winning jazz trumpeter and composer Terence Blanchard will lead his acclaimed electronic band The E-Collective along with Grammy-winning, genre-hybrid ensemble Turtle Island Quartet for “Absence.” The 7:30 p.m. Wednesday, April 10, concert in Eisenhower Auditorium will celebrate the legacy of Wayne Shorter, jazz saxophone legend and founder of fusion band Weather Report, and will showcase original works by Blanchard.

Coreyah

The sextet Coreyah (translated to “good luck whale”) will offer a window into the international folk music scene with a free performance of the artists’ psychedelic take on traditional Korean folk. The 8 p.m. Wednesday, April 24, event at the HUB-Robeson Center Alumni Hall, is free and open to the public. Registration is required for free entry.

Through June 2024

200 Acres solo walk app

The fully narrated 200 Acres app experience, a solo walk “through memories of wildness,” is available to download to a smartphone and to use at one’s leisure.

The walking-tour app, which offers fresh perspectives on the University’s original land, history and purpose, is a creative partnership between the Center for the Performing Arts and theater artist Marike Splint. 200 Acres leads the user on an introspective, prompted walk along an accessible one-mile route, leaving from the patio of Eisenhower Auditorium and ending at The Arboretum at Penn State.

Visit https://www.200acreswalk.com/ to download the app and for more information.

Accessibility

American Sign Language translation will be provided for several performances: “Bluey’s Big Play,” Emmet Cohen Trio, “Johnny Cash — The Official Concert Experience” and Rhiannon Giddens. Contact the Arts Ticket Center via email at artstix@psu.edu or by calling 814-863‑0255 to discuss ASL seating preferences. If ASL translation is needed for any event during the season, please contact the Arts Ticket Center several weeks in advance.

Audio Description is available for events upon request. Call the Sight Loss Support Group of Central Pennsylvania at 814-238-0132 to make a reservation at least two weeks before the event.

The center welcomes all patrons of with a range of sensory sensitivities. Upon request, patrons will be permitted to sign out a variety of sensory accommodations, including noise-reducing earmuffs, sunglasses and fidget toys.

Learn more about the center’s available Accessibility Services.

Arts Engagement Family Program

Families who meet the eligibility requirement of a household income of $60,000 or less are invited to complete the Arts Engagement Family Program application for reduced ticket prices to Center for the Performing Arts events. The “Bluey’s Big Play” VIP package meet-and-greet is not available for this offer.

Visit Family Program online for more information and to apply.

Parking

Patrons should be advised that parking for Center for the Performing Arts events has changed. This year, patrons can prepay for parking using the online portal Park Mobile. The fee, per event, will be $5.50 per car in advance and $10 the day of the event. Parking is assigned for a deck near the event and will be searchable by that event.

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