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
"Love in Hate Nation" — Feb. 13-24, Playhouse Theatre, University Park campus. Penn State Centre Stage presents this musical telling of the love story between two girls in a 1960's juvenile detention center.
"the terrible girls" — Feb. 21-24, Perkins Student Center Auditorium, Penn State Berks. The Penn State Berks theatre department presents this dark comedy of friendship, obsession and Southern sensibilities. Free.
Viva Kultura — 12:20 p.m., Feb. 22, Black Box Theater, Slusser/Bayzick Building, Penn State Hazleton. The international performing arts troupe brings its "Discover India" show to Penn State Hazleton. Free.
Luke Bryan — 7 p.m., Feb. 22, Bryce Jordan Center, University Park campus. Country music star Luke Bryan brings his "What Makes You Country" tour to Penn State.
Guest recital — 8 p.m., Feb. 22, 122 Music Building II, University Park campus. Bucknell University faculty member Sezi Seskir and guest violinist Lucy Russell will perform using historic instruments and historic performance practice. Free.
Penn State Philharmonic Orchestra — 7:30 p.m., Feb. 24, Eisenhower Auditorium, University Park campus. The orchestra will perform its first concert of the spring semester.
Guest recital: 4 p.m., Feb. 25, 122 Music Building I, University Park campus. Visiting guest hornist Anna Skrupky will perform a recital with Penn State interim horn professor Sarah Schouten.
"Songs of My Land" — 3 p.m., Feb. 25, Flex Theatre, HUB-Robeson Center, University Park campus. Celebrate the music and dance of India through performances by students, alumni and members of the Penn State community. Tickets required.
"ETM: Double Down" — 7:30 p.m., Feb. 27, Eisenhower Auditorium, University Park campus. Tap troupe Dorrance Dance will bridge the gap between technology and organic movement.
Events
Once Upon a Dream: A Taste of Disney cuisine — Feb. 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.
"Divide in Concord" — 7 p.m., Feb. 22, Flex Theatre, HUB-Robeson Center, University Park campus. A screening of the feature-length documentary that follows the tale of banning bottled water in small-town America, followed by a panel discussion. Free.
Global Health Film Festival — Various times, Feb. 23, 102 Paterno Library, University Park campus. The University Libraries will feature four films focused on inequities in health. Free.
Deliberation Nation — Various times, Feb. 19-March 2, various locations around University Park campus and State College. First-year honors students invite the community to join them in deliberative discussions of local, national and global significance and urgency. Free.
The Original Harlem Globetrotters — 7 p.m., Feb. 27, Bryce Jordan Center, University Park campus. The legendary Globetrotters return to Penn State to show off they ball handling wizards and basketball artistry.
A Night in España With a Flamenco Flair — Feb. 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.
The Godfather: Revenge is a dish best served here ... — Feb. 28, 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.
"Chasing Coral" — 6 p.m. Feb. 28, Foster Auditorium, Paterno Library, University Park campus. A screening of the film will be followed by a panel discussion by Penn State scientists. Free.
Comfort & Style: A modern journey down the Mississippi — March 1, 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
"Too Close for Comfort" — 4 p.m., Feb. 22, Sutliff Auditorium, Lewis Katz Building, University Park campus. Steven Brodner, a caricaturist and self-described "equal opportunity insulter" will speak on democratic dissent. Free.
"Tentacles of Opioids: Reaching Far and Wide" — 6 p.m., Feb. 22, Perkins Student Center multipurpose room, Penn State Berks. The Berks County district attorney's office will discuss the effects of opioids on families and communities. Free.
Roger Reeves and Yogita Goyal — 6 p.m., Feb. 22, 160 Willard Building, University Park campus. The award-winning poet and African-American scholar will read from and discuss their works on contemporary human rights crises through the historical lens of slavery. Free.
"How to Hunt for Signs of Alien Life" — 11 a.m., Feb. 24, 100 Thomas Building, University Park campus. Lisa Kaltenegger, associate professor at Cornell University and director of its Carl Sagan Institute, will discuss the most advanced telescopes being used to search for signs of alien life as part of Penn State Lectures on the Frontiers of Science. Free.
"Garvey's Muse: Chief Sam and the African Movement" — Noon, Feb. 26, 217 Willard, University Park campus. The Africana Research Center's "Food for Thought" series continues with a presentation by Ebony Coletu. Free.
"Misadventures of a Contemporary Naturalist" — 4:30 p.m., Feb. 27, Lipton Auditorium, Palmer Museum of Art, University Park campus. Artist Mark Dion will present a lecture about his work, as part of the "Plastic Entanglements: Ecology, Aesthetics, Materials” exhibit. Free.
"Behrend: A Musical Travelogue" — 8 p.m., Feb. 27, McGarvey Commons, Reed Union Building, Penn State Berks. The highlight of the program will be “Presque Isle,” written for the Concert Band by composer and pianist Beata Moon. Free.
"Crisis Management: Why Do Companies Keep Getting It Wrong?" — 6:30 p.m., Feb. 28, Freeman Auditorium, HUB-Robeson Center, University Park campus. Rob Britton, head of AirLearn, a consultancy focused on aviation and travel marketing and communications, will discuss crisis management. Free.
"The Fracking Debate: The Risks, Benefits and Uncertainties of the Shale Revolution" — 4 p.m., March 1, Sutliff Auditorium, Lewis Katz Building, University Park campus. Author Daniel Raimi will discuss the rise of the shale-gas revolution. 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.
"Books Undone: The Art of Altered Books" — Jan. 11-Feb. 28, Madigan Library, Pennsylvania College of Technology. The exhibit features visually stunning reinventions of the printed page. Free.
"Deconstructing the Dream: At Whose Expense?" — Jan. 15-Feb. 28, Sidewater Commons, Pattee Library, University Park campus. Student poster entries from the annual contest to represent the 33rd annual Martin Luther King Jr. Commemoration Week at University Park campus are on display. 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.
"Spilled Milk" — Jan. 22-March 12, Art Alley, HUB-Robeson Center, University Park campus. Penn State senior Elise Warfield's paintings will be on display. Free.
"Drawings and Prints by John McKaig" — Jan. 24-March 1, HUB Gallery, HUB-Robeson Center, University Park campus. McKaig's drawings and prints feature recognizable objects, spaces and figurative elements that are transferred and layered in order to depict his ever-changing identity. Free.
"Pedestrian Rules" — Jan. 25-March 3, Woskob Family Gallery, 146 S. Allen St., State College. Photographic and time-based works by Haigen G. Pearson, Tyson Washburn and Barbara Weissberger which explore commonplace sights to speculate about the viewers' relationship with ambiguity in everyday experience. Free.
"Plastic Entanglements" — Feb. 13-June 17, Palmer Museum of Art, University Park campus. Sixty works explore the complex story of plastic. Free.
"Graffiti Art" — Feb. 15-28, Friedman Art Gallery, Penn State Wilkes-Barre. The exhibit features a number of pieces and displays of artists from around the world. 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.
"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.