Under the baobab: While Happy Valley is represented on Broadway, theater options abound locally

“The stage is not merely the meeting place of all the arts, but it is also the return of art to life.” — Oscar Wilde

Tours of Broadway shows come to Happy Valley. This past week Happy Valley went to Broadway. Keenan Scott II’s play, “Thoughts of A Colored Man,” opened at the Golden Theatre in New York. It was directed by our own Steve Broadnax, the director of graduate acting at Penn State School of Theatre (SOT). Scott’s play blends spoken word, poetry, rhythm and humor into a mosaic that illuminates the hopes, joys, fears and dreams of all people.

The cast features Tony-nominated actor Forrest McClendon, Luke James, Tristan Wilds, Dyllon Burnside, Esau Pritchett, Bryan Clark and Da’Vinchi. McClendon’s Tony nomination was for “The Scottsboro Boys,” which also featured SOT’s alum James Lane.

Broadnax is not the only Broadway director at the SOT. Susan Schulman, a member of the graduate faculty, directed “The Secret Garden,” “Little Women” and the revivals of “Sweeney Todd” and “The Sound of Music.”

SOT’s presence in New York has not been limited to directors. Many SOT actors have found their way to the center of the theatrical world. Alums like the award-winning Keegan-Michael Key, Ty Burrell, Carla Hargrove, Cynthia Henderson, Gil Bailey, Carly Hughes, Adam Jepsen, Lexi Rhoades, Nedra Gallegos, Marcus James and others have brought “glory to old State” in the Big Apple.

Recently Happy Valley had its own grand openings. SOT produced two shows — “The Curious Incident of The Dog in the Night-Time” and the musical “Fun Home” — both involving cross generational complexities. SOT’s next production, “The Wild Party,” book, lyrics and music by Andrew Lippa, opens on Nov. 2, directed by Allison Morooney. Opening Nov. 30, “A Midsummer’s Night’s Dream” will close out SOT’s fall semester.

The Center for the Performing Arts premiered two creative, devised pieces about the plight and life of immigrants. After En Garde Arts’ production of “Fandango for Butterflies,” CPA presented “Cartography,” a multimedia theater work conceived and created by Kaneza Schaal and Christopher Myers. It was rooted in the commonalities of migration and the metaphorical mapping at the center of worlds in motion. The show featured young actors and integrated multiple mediums — such as film and cellphones — to reflect the technological hybridity of our everyday lives.

Tempest Productions is gearing up to bring the Central PA Theatre & Dance Festival back this spring after having gone virtual this past season. On Oct. 23, The State Theatre will broadcast “Fire Shut Up In My Bones,” Terence Blanchard’s original opera about a young man’s journey to overcome a life of trauma and hardship. Blanchard’s adaptation of Charles Blow’s moving memoir was the first opera composed by an African American to be presented on the stage of New York’s Metropolitan Opera. The State College Community Theatre will present “Murder Arrr! Pirates of the Salty Dog: A Murder Mystery” on Nov. 4-6 at the Arena Bar & Grill.

The Centre Film Festival organized by Pearl Gluck will run Nov. 1-7 at the Rowland Theatre in Philipsburg. The feature presentation, “The Automat,” tells the story of the iconic restaurant chain Horn & Hardart, told from the perspective of former customers like Mel Brooks, Starbucks founder Howard Schultz, Supreme Court Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg, the Horns, the Hardarts, and key employees. The film’s director, Liza Hurwitz, will be available for a Q&A on Saturday, Nov. 6.

A closing night ceremony will honor Lancaster native Madeline Anderson, the first Black woman to produce and direct a televised documentary film, with the Lifetime Achievement Award. She was the in-house producer and director for “Sesame Street” and “The Electric Company” for the Children’s Television Workshop.

Art returned to life may rekindle joy to living.