Center for the Performing Arts at Penn State prepares for the return of live shows

The Center for the Performing Arts at Penn State has spent the last year offering virtual events after its offices closed in mid-March 2020, but now the organization is back with in-person, live performances that kick off on Sept. 16.

The change, audience and program development director Amy Dupain Vashaw said, is a welcome one, though the last year wasn’t without its benefits.

“After a lot of incredibly hard work and many of the staff learning new skills — because live performing arts is quite a bit different from virtual — we decided to create a season of up-close and virtual performances. ... And the cool thing is, in retrospect, it allowed us to do things that we otherwise would be hard-pressed to do given resources,” she said.

Now, as the CPA looks forward to its return to live performances, it plans to continue offering some of its virtual activities.

“We realize this is not a zero-sum game or an all-or-nothing situation,” Dupain Vashaw said. “(Virtual and live events) can both coexist together to reach even more audiences and keep us connected in different kinds of ways, to different kinds of people.”

To welcome audience members back to CPA live performances, the organization’s first event will be a free, outdoor concert at 7:30 p.m. Sept. 16, featuring returning multi-genre, jazz-funk-dance ensemble Mwenso and The Shakes. The concert will open with a performance from local dancers organized by Penn State dance faculty member Kikora Franklin. Ahead of the Sept. 16 concert, Mwenso and The Shakes will also appear at 3 Dots Downtown, as part of the venue’s Tuesdays on the Terrace program, with another free concert, Sept. 14.

Mwenso and The Shakes ensemble leader Michael Mwenso will likewise continue a virtual artist interview series called “Meeting the Moment with Michael Mwenso,” an offering created in conjunction with the CPA over the pandemic. Registration for the virtual series events is available on the CPA website. All CPA virtual programming continues to be free to community members and Dupain Vashaw said streaming options are still being explored for live events.

Other live performances on the CPA’s schedule for the 2021-2022 season include a theatrical presentation of En Garde Arts’ “Fandango for Butterflies (and Coyotes)”; a performance by British a cappella group VOCES8; a visual mapping and multimedia performance of “Cartography,” which previously debuted as a CPA school-time virtual event in spring 2020; and a performance by jazz pianist Christian Sands.

“All of the artists that we have coming up really speak to people’s hearts and not only to people’s hearts, but to this moment ... in terms of where we are as a society and as a people,” Dupain Vashaw said. “The human experience is front and center with all of these artists.”

The idea of getting back to presenting live events in “beyond exciting,” she added.

“None of us ... could be possibly more excited to be back to presenting live events. Just getting back to doing what we’re doing is truly the most gratifying feeling in the world. It’s what we do. It’s who we are,” Dupain Vashaw said.

At this time, there are no capacity restrictions in place for CPA events. However, patrons are requested to wear properly-fitting masks while attending indoor CPA events.

For more information on the Penn State Center for Performing Arts’ upcoming season, visit cpa.psu.edu.

This story was originally published September 9, 2021 at 10:52 AM.