Lea Asbell-Swanger retires after 41 years at Center for the Performing Arts

UNIVERSITY PARK, Pa. — Exit stage left. After 41 years as a behind-the-scenes leader in events presenting in Happy Valley, Assistant Director Lea Asbell-Swanger will retire from the Center for the Performing Arts. 

“Lea has stewarded Eisenhower Auditorium for decades, and I almost expect the building to sigh in despair when she isn't tending to it daily,” Center Director Sita Frederick said. “She is a rock in our arts community.” 

She brought logic, wit and institutional knowledge to each encounter, “as should be expected from the occupant who chose to keep her office titled ‘Sacristy,’ from the early days when Eisenhower Auditorium hosted Catholic mass,” Frederick said. 

Asbell-Swanger started as a Penn State grad assistant in arts management — one of the few at the time for the new course of study. She quickly became responsible for general operations and event production crews for various venues across campus, including Schwab Auditorium and Rec Hall. When the Artists Series program merged with Auditorium Management in 1985 to create the Center for the Performing Arts, she landed in the supergroup of integrated, behind-the-scenes job roles. 

Over the years, she solidified many collaborative relationships with organizations on and off campus, including Penn State School of Music, Glee Club, Music at Penns Woods, Coaches vs Cancer charity and many more.

The whole package 

Bruce Trinkley, professor emeritus of Penn State School of Music and former director of Penn State Glee Club, described Asbell-Swanger as an “extraordinarily qualified theater person,” calling to mind her mastery of stage craft and events presenting, as well as the ability to work with a variety of organizations. 

“Lea has that very rare skill to navigate with careful attention and brilliance the intersection of the performer, the audience and the work being performed,” he said. 

Trinkley credited her with making his “rambunctious” Glee Club events manageable and magical. He called out her production design for his musical “The Diamond Child” — “where the depths of the ocean, the plains of Africa, the buzz of a Manhattan office and the urban liveliness of a skate-board park became vivid realities.” 

“Her vast knowledge — of University systems, of theater operations, of people — showed through time and time again in every production,” said Russell Bloom, Penn State School of Music assistant director of facilities, engagement and outreach. 

In 1991, Asbell-Swanger joined the United States Institute for Theatre Technology, a nonprofit that gathers art designers, tech professionals and educators to discuss industry insights. She served as president from 2012 to 2015 as well as on countless panels, boards, task forces and committees; and from 2022 to 2023 she served as interim executive director. In 2016, she received the institute’s Joel E. Rubin Founder’s Award, and in 2024, she received an Honorary Lifetime Membership Award. 

“Her encyclopedic knowledge, a superb sense of humor, a devilish twinkle in her eye, coupled with an unequaled streak of volunteerism, make her, as my very Southern grandmother would have declared, ‘the bee’s knees,’ ” said Mark Blackmon, director of engagement at USITT. 

Married to the job 

Bloom said he got to know Asbell-Swanger in 1989, when they collaborated on what would become Music at Penns Woods. The then four-week event made official the start of their decades-long journey "as 'work spouses' and best friends” and collaborators on thousands of projects. 

“Having Lea Asbell-Swanger on a production meant three things: It would be fun to work on, it would probably frustrate the living daylights out of her, and when it was all over — curtain down, set struck, budget reconciled and ghost light glowing — we would all walk away with a sense of confidence and assurance that only she could bring to us,” he said. 

Described by many of her colleagues as an advocate for the stage and a dedicated volunteer, Asbell-Swanger once was the winner in a “lively” bidding war for an autographed copy of “Entertainment Rigging for the 21st Century.” As interesting as the title may be to the average audience-goer, winning the book symbolizes her commitment to her craft and community. 

In her words:

Q: What are some highlights from your interactions and experiences? Forty-one years holds a lot of events. 

“The things I remember the longest are the unique opportunities with people that are here all the time,” she said. “And as I think about the people that were here when I started, some of them have passed away at this point. Some of them are still in the area, but I haven't seen them in a long time. It's just there's an arc.” 

Asbell-Swanger said she doesn’t recall geeking out over any particular visiting artist, but she admitted that working behind the scenes at a performing arts venue has its unique perks. Like the time when she struck up  rapport with Yvette Glover, the mother of choreographer Savion Glover: “She was the most joyful, energetic human being I’d ever met.” 

Or when that one performer visited and made things challenging: “Of course, there was a, I've blocked his name. … There was no way he was going to be happy with us.” 

Or when cellist Yo-Yo Ma couldn't go on stage without his cufflinks: “Couldn’t play without them. … I put him in the front seat of the cargo van, and this is probably half an hour before curtain, drove him downtown. He ran into the hotel. He got his cuff links. He ran back out. We drove back here.” 

She said lots of lessons were learned through years of lived experience and adaptability. 

“We always said to people, ‘Look, unless somebody’s been to this show …, no one out there knows how it’s supposed to go,’ ” she said. “Just do it. ‘It’s supposed to be this way.’ And everyone out there will think it’s supposed to be that way.” 

Q: As a woman leading in a male-dominated profession, even into the more progressive 1980s and ’90s, did you experience any animosity or awkwardness? 

Asbell-Swanger said she experienced her share of challenging artists and colleagues alike over the decades, but she noticed a consistent phenomenon of respect among her Penn State colleagues. She credited a prior organizational commitment to a culture of mutual respect that would come to define the space. 

“They didn't put up with any of those shenanigans,” she said. “They had a real respect for and they knew they were working with students. They knew that they were establishing a culture … It wasn't whether you were male or female. It was, could you do the job?” 

Q: What does retirement look like for you? 

Of the news things to concern herself with starting next week, Asbell-Swanger is really looking forward to not packing a lunch. 

“I will not have to pack my lunch anymore. That will be great,” she said. “Not having to think about what I'm packing for lunch, not having to pack my lunch. That'll be great.” 

Is she lowering the curtain on her production career? Don’t bet on it. 

“Just a week ago, I asked if she could chair a panel,” Blackmon said. “She wrote back, ‘Yes. I can do that.’ Still stepping up, still getting things done, still making certain others are taken care of. That’s Lea in a nutshell.”