December 2007
As a unit of Penn State’s College of Arts and Architecture, the Center for the Performing Arts strives to be student-centered. One of our strategic plan goals calls for complementing and supporting University academic programs. Whether it’s organizing University Park campus residencies with visiting artists, supporting the classroom work of faculty, helping to make curriculum connections, providing students hands-on work experience, offering internships and advisory council memberships, or providing high-quality performances, the Center for the Performing Arts is significantly engaged with Penn State students.
The Center for the Performing Arts has an ever-growing network of University partnerships. We appreciate the commitment by our academic colleagues to partner with us. Faculty have engaged with the Center for the Performing Arts to make curriculum connections, open up their classrooms to visiting artists, and participate in panels and seminars. Administrators have stepped up with funding for these endeavors, which enrich the academic experiences of our students.
We saw an excellent example of a cross-campus project recently when Actors from the London Stage visited to perform Shakespeare’s Macbeth. In addition to their performances and off-campus residency activities, company members worked with students in theatre and English courses. They engaged with faculty in a WPSU-hosted lobby talk and gave a workshop for Schreyer Honors College students. These activities were supported by partnerships with the Institute for the Arts and Humanities, the College of the Liberal Arts, the Office of Undergraduate Education, the Schreyer Honors College, and the Department of English.
We encourage faculty to utilize our presentations as resources for their classes. Our publication Curriculum Connections provides faculty with information each semester about Center for the Performing Arts presentations that link to their curricula. Our group sales coordinator helps to facilitate discounted tickets for students and faculty to attend the related performances. Curriculum Connections becomes an online publication for spring 2008. Faculty with related courses will be notified and provided an access link via e-mail when the publication is available. The publication, available via the Center for the Performing Arts Web site, will be a user-friendly connection to their courses.
We work closely with the Department of Integrative Arts to support courses that utilize our performances as the focus of the curriculum. Faculty guide students, who attend a variety of performances, through materials that help them better understand and appreciate the experience. Follow-up discussions and exams round out the process.
Many students work in various units of the Center for the Performing Arts. Our Events Department employs students to assist our production and front-of-house staffs. Students can learn production and house management skills alongside our professional staff members and visiting artists and crews. As they attain increasingly higher levels of responsibility, students gain real-life learning. The Arts Ticket Center also employs students as sales representatives and clerical assistants for our three ticket locations. All student employees—about 175 annually—are trained and evaluated on their performances. Without them we would have a difficult time supporting all our events. But most importantly we view their participation as vital to being student-focused in our operations.
The Center for the Performing Arts makes its staff and resources available for student internships. We usually have interns in several of our units each semester. Students spend one or two semesters working closely with staff, assisting with specific tasks, and getting a close-up look at our operations. Many of these students have gone on to careers in arts administration, marketing, communications, and related fields.
Our Community Advisory Council always has at least one student member. We have been fortunate to have exceptional students involved with this important advocate group and currently we have three students serving.
We also engage with student organizations that use Eisenhower and Schwab auditoriums. Our staff members provide professional advice and support at all stages of student project development and execution.
Increasingly, we are reaching out to student groups to engage them with our programs and operations. Through our efforts we have forged terrific relationships with students who previously were not involved with the Center for the Performing Arts. I see this as vital to contributing to the student-centered environment of Penn State. We have found individual students and student organizations receptive to becoming involved with us.
Finally, we are proud to have significant student attendance at our presentations. In our most recently completed season, students constituted 25 percent of the total audience. That is quite high compared to peer organizations. We are grateful for a significant allocation from student activity fees, which supports reduced-price student tickets for most Center for the Performing Arts presentations. Students help to create a special atmosphere in our audiences. Until coming to Penn State, I had never experienced the appreciation for performances that only students can express.
The Center for the Performing Arts provides an array of possibilities for student engagement. We value being student-centered as a whole, while also reveling in the chance to work with each individual student. I’m reminded that there are countless daily interactions with students. The opportunity for us to engage and work with students enriches our work, and we hope it provides them with experiences they will remember and draw from throughout their lives.
And now, here are some thoughts about our December presentations.
I’m so pleased our Body Language series kicks off December 1 with Ronald K. Brown’s Evidence dance company. The company has been high on our wish list for some time, so I’m excited to finally be bringing this exciting choreographer’s work to our stage—especially with the connection to Pennsylvania in Brown’s latest work. We’ll see an extended section from One Shot, inspired by African American photojournalist and Pittsburgh native Charles “Teenie” Harris, along with two of Brown’s signature works, Come Ye and Upside Down. Brown is one of the hottest choreographers around with work that blends African, modern, ballet, and hip-hop dance styles. Following the performance the audience will have an opportunity to participate in a moderated talk with Brown and his talented dancers.
We thought the musical ANNIE would be perfect for the holiday season. After all, it’s set in December—as the orphan Annie begins her quest to find her parents, aided finally by billionaire Oliver Warbucks—and comes to a conclusion on Christmas. This heartwarming tale for the whole family was a big Tony winner when it opened in 1977. Productions have been mounted around the world, and we welcome the national touring company to State College December 4.
George Trudeau
Center for the Performing Arts director