Under the baobab: Community comes together for events, performances across Happy Valley

Good luck in LA, Coach James Franklin and the unbeaten No. 4 ranked football team. We are ... with you.

Before that, the Penn State School of Theatre opened its 2024-25 season with “John Proctor is the Villain,” written by Kimberly Belflower and directed by Steve Broadnax III. The provocative dramedy, set in a high school in fictitious Appalachia, Georgia, explored issues of feminism, sexual abuse and teenage sexuality and relationship from a contemporary and historical perspective. It runs until Oct. 19 at the Pavilion Theatre.

On Tuesday, 40 of our neighbors rappelled from the heights of Beaver Stadium in the second annual Centre County United Way and Penn State’s Over The Edge event, which was sponsored by Seven Mountains Media, Hyatt Place, PSECU, Applebee’s, Pizza Mia and others. Each participant was asked to raise a minimum of $1,500 for the opportunity to be lowered in a lift. The oldest was 104-year-old retired PSU professor George Etzweiler.

Also this week, the Centre Film Festival held its sixth season film lineup reveal at The State Theatre. The festival will also be held at the Rowland Historic Theatre in Philipsburg, according to CFF artistic director Pearl Gluck. Several of the CFF films were winners at this year’s Sundance Festival, including opening night films “The Masterpiece” by Alex Lora and “Running on Sand” by Adar Shafran. The festival is scheduled to run from Nov. 11-17 at both theaters. Festival schedule and lineup will go live on centrefilm.org Oct. 15. Student passes are free.

The Center for the Performing Arts (CPA) was awarded a $50,000 National Endowment of the Arts grant to support the Sydnie L. Mosley Dances project. “What Does Purple Sound Like” focuses on and makes visible our adult neighbors and communities in central Pennsylvania. Continuing the two-year process, a nearly weeklong workshop was held at Eisenhower Auditorium with a dozen community volunteers and company dancers. CPA Artistic Director Sita Frederick said, “The program’s focus on Black joy and sharing experiences across generations is well-suited to our communities and values. As we celebrate the fiftieth anniversary of our building, we are excited to see its stage creatively transformed.” There will be free performance-exhibits on Feb. 4-6, 2025.

CPA also presented a wonderful sold-out performance of the national touring production of “Tina — The Tina Turner Musical” featuring Jayna Elise as Tina and Sterling Baker McClary as Ike Turner. The original production was directed by Phyllida Lloyd and executive produced by Tina Turner and Erwin Bach. Jayna Elise was spectacular as Tina. However, at the finale there were some technical problems. The sound went out. Jayna tried to fill the 2,500 seat theater with her a capella performance. The audience helped by singing along. It was no use, the talented young actress finally hurriedly exited the stage and the curtain dropped. It was not the end of the show. For 15 minutes the crowd applauded, demanding that the cast take their well-deserved curtain call, which they finally did. The evening concluded with a love fest ovation between a hard-working young cast and an appreciative audience.

We support each other in times of trouble. I was never so proud of our community as when they lifted up those young actors who had been mired and entangled in the morass of a technical mishap. At some point we have all been there. We are there now. There are less than four weeks before the most important presidential election of our lifetime. As I write this, the powerful Hurricane Milton is bearing down on the Florida Gulf Coast, a war for liberation rages in the Ukraine and a war for ??? continues in the Middle East.

Sisters and brothers, we need to stand in the darkness and applaud for the light. We love America but more importantly we must learn to love each other. We are all worthy of love. Stay strong. Stay joyful.