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Penn State College of Arts and Architecture
Center for the Performing Arts at Penn State

Event Slides Per Node 1415

En Garde Arts presents
WILDERNESS 

7:30 pm Wednesday, March 15, 2017

En Garde Arts, the company that brought BASETRACK Live to Eisenhower Auditorium in 2014, returns to Penn State with a documentary theatre production called WILDERNESS.

The new work is a multimedia piece about people in their teens and twenties grappling with addiction, depression, anxiety, and other mental health issues. When communication with their families has reached an impasse, these young people are sent to wilderness therapy programs. With pathos, humor, and irony, WILDERNESS shares the stories of six families, along with their therapists, on journeys to recovery. Documentary interviews on screens and a beautiful folk score accompany the actor-musicians on stage.

A New York Times critic calls WILDERNESS “a terrific, moving new multimedia theater piece.” A reviewer for The Village Voice describes the show as “a compassionate glimpse at the outer edge of teenage angst.”

WILDERNESS is a collaboration among writer-director Seth Bockley, co-adaptor and director of BASETRACK Live; writer Anne Hamburger; movement directors Devon De Mayo and Patrick McCollum; song composer Kyle Miller; and alternative folk composer Kyle Henderson, frontman of the band Desert Noises.

Hamburger, Bockley, and a local mental health professional will participate in a post-performance discussion with audience members.

This production includes adult language.

Adult $32
University Park Student $15
18 and Younger $22

Create your own Choice series, and save 10 percent, by purchasing tickets to four or more eligible events in one transaction.

sponsors
Sandra Zaremba and Richard Brown

support provided by
William E. McTurk Endowment
Sidney and Helen S. Friedman Endowment

Artist Websites: 

Secondary Events on Each Event

The Power of Dialogue and WILDERNESS:
A Mokita Dialogue at New Leaf Initiative

12:00 pm Thursday, February 23, 2017

Suite 337 State College Municipal Building
243 S. Allen St., State College

Free and open to the public

Sue Marshall, head counselor at State College Area School District, will facilitate a community discussion on the power of dialogue for mental, emotional, and social well-being, and for shared understanding, acceptance, and community action. The Center for the Performing Arts is the lead activator for community action, using examples from the March 15 presentation of WILDERNESS, which helps to put an end to shame surrounding mental health issues, promotes community conversation, and sheds light on the emotions between young adults and their parents in twenty-first century America. The event is one in a series of brown bag lunch discussions organized by Jana Marie Foundation.

Outdoor Mindfulness and Wilderness

5:00 pm Friday, March 3, 2017

Appalachian Outdoors
123 S. Allen St., State College

Free and open to the public

The Center for the Performing Arts at Penn State will share resources about the impact of the wilderness on well-being. The store visit, from 5–9 p.m., is spurred by the March 15 presentation of WILDERNESS, a new multimedia documentary theatre production that speaks to our collective search for connection and hope as families survive the pressures and complexities that accompany coming of age in the twenty-first century.

Wilderness Café: From Conversation to Action

12:00 pm Monday, March 13, 2017

New Leaf Initiative
Third floor of State College Municipal Building
243 S. Allen St., State College

Free and open to the public; RSVP required

RSVP required. Contact Medora Ebersole at mde13@psu.edu.

Join the cast and crew of En Garde Arts’ WILDERNESS, along with members of the State College area community, for an intimate discussion and exploration of how wilderness therapy is being applied and leveraged in Centre County. If you’re passionate about the role nature plays in promoting mental health, or if you’re curious about meeting others working on these issues, you’ll want to attend the two-hour café. We’ll exchange views and ideas around these themes and learn from one another about what interests and initiatives are being explored in the State College area. Leaders from mental health, nature and recreation, and community wellness organizations will participate. The event will be facilitated so that all voices have a chance to be heard. Lunch will be provided.

Artistic Viewpoints

6:30 pm Wednesday, March 15, 2017

Eisenhower Auditorium

Artistic Viewpoints—an informal moderated discussion featuring WILDERNESS co-writer and producer Anne Hamburger and co-writer and director Seth Bockley—will be offered in Eisenhower one hour before the performance and is free for ticket holders. Artistic Viewpoints regularly fills to capacity, so seating is available on a first-arrival basis.