The Penn State IFC/Panhellenic Dance Marathon, or Thon, has been a tradition at University Park for four decades. This weekend, hundreds of Penn State students will dance for two days without sitting or sleeping as a culmination of a year-long effort to raise funds and awareness in the fight against pediatric cancer.
In support of the cause, a student theater group at Penn State will be presenting an innovative show that is intended to entertain families and children.
No Refund Theatre, which produces and performs a weekly play during the fall and spring semesters, will present “Choose Your Own Adventure!” at 7 p.m. today and 2 and 6 p.m. Saturday in 111 Forum on the Penn State campus. The show, which is about 40 minutes long, was written by a group of NRT members in the style of a “Choose Your Own Adventure” children’s book, in which the reader is prompted at various points in the story to choose from multiple scenarios. Admission is free, although donations will be accepted, with all proceeds going to Thon.
The idea for the show was conceived by Ryan Bergman, a 2010 Penn State graduate who works for the university’s E-Learning Institute. His collaborators, who all act in the play, are Nicole O’Block, Rachel Sweeney, Bryan Keith, Brian Gutierrez, Natalie Weston, Luke Miller, Elaina Mercurio, Michelle Fontan and Kristen Yasenchak.
“Everybody in the show had a say,” Bergman said. “It was really a huge collaborative effort.”
The story outline of “Choose Your Own Adventure,” he said, involves an “average guy” named Brian who discovers a box in his basement that is filled with his favorite children’s books. As he reads the stories, the characters sort of come to life and escape into the real world, which starts out fun until the villain, Captain Eye Patch, comes out. It is up to Brian — with the help of the audience members — to track down the story characters and get them back into the books.
In addition to raising money for Thon, Bergman said, his intention in developing “Choose Your Own Adventure” was to provide an activity for families and friends of Thon dancers who will be visiting Penn State over the weekend.
“It’s a fundraiser at its core, but it’s really celebrating all types of kids and families,” he said.
For more information, contact Bergman at RyanCBergman@gmail.com or visit norefundtheater.wordpress.com.
Savvy local Robo Scholars
A few weeks ago, I wrote about the accomplishments of Robo Scholars, a team of students from Young Scholars of Central Pennsylvania Charter School that competed on Jan. 28 in Philadelphia in the state finals of the First Lego League Challenge, a robotics competition in which 52 teams were judged in several areas, including research project and presentation, robot design and programming, and robot performance.
I stated that Robo Scholars was the only team from Centre County that competed in the tournament. However, it was recently brought to my attention that Team S.C.A.R. (State College Area Robotics), a group of eight Catholic homeschoolers, not only participated in the competition, but also placed as the third overall grand champion.
The Robo Scholars also made an impressive showing at the Philadelphia Championship — they won the first place Innovation and Strategy award. These budding young inventors are doing Happy Valley proud.
Stephanie Koons writes this weekly column featuring news from the Centre Region. Contact her at 235-3927 or skoons@centredaily.com.
