‘What Does PURPLE Sound Like?’ on Feb. 4-6 a chance to ‘see’ yourself, others

UNIVERSITY PARK — A feeling with no name — “purple” — is inspiration for an interactive performance that celebrates the diversity and solidarity of our community.

“What Does PURPLE Sound Like?” is a multi-media art installation that focuses on and makes visible our neighbors of a distinctive age throughout central Pennsylvania. The program will highlight participants from the Centre County region in performance alongside Sydnie L. Mosley Dances artists, in excerpts from “PURPLE: A Ritual in Nine Spells.”

The audience will be seated on the Eisenhower Auditorium stage in one of three performance-exhibits at 7 p.m. Tuesday and Wednesday, Feb. 4 and 5; and 2 p.m. Thursday, Feb. 6.

No tickets will be issued for the general-admission program. The event is pay-what-you-wish, and registration is required. Call 814-863-0255 or visit “PURPLE” online to register for a performance or for more information about a free community Joyfull event.

Participants in “What Does PURPLE Sound Like?” are invited to take their time to browse and engage with an on-stage gallery installation featuring a peaceful presence of movement by SLMDances; quilts by Shani Peters and on loan by Kim F. Hall; short films produced by Orion Gordon and Veleda Roehl of RAH Productions; and photographs and additional video footage by Center for the Performing Arts multimedia specialist Michael W. Fleck.

SLMDances and the artists’ collection of projects is inspired by Alice Walker’s Pulitzer Prize-winning novel, “The Color Purple.”

“Walker talks about purple as this color that God has put here for us. And God wants us to enjoy it,” Mosley said in a Center for the Performing Arts interview. “It evokes this feeling that maybe can’t quite be named. It points us to the larger world, in the larger universe. And pointing us to that is also creating this feeling of connection and joy and sisterhood and all of that.”

Mosley said she hopes the event helps the participants find connection, closure and creativity.

“I want people to find and experience joy and maybe some permission and maybe some healing. I would really love for people to connect with folks that they've never met before. And I would love for people to walk away feeling like they have, experienced something in their body that they maybe didn't even know was there or that they could do,” she said.

In August, the National Endowment for the Arts awarded the Center for the Performing Arts at Penn State a Grants for Arts Projects award of $50,000 to support “What Does PURPLE Sound Like?”

“We are thrilled with our collaboration with Sydnie L Mosley Dances this year, thanks to support from the NEA multidisciplinary arts-projects grant,” Center Director Sita Frederick said. “As we continue the celebration of our building’s 50th anniversary, I'm excited to see our stage transform with an installation and performances by Sydnie L. Mosley Dances and community members. The creativity in our community is boundless and we are here to celebrate it.”

Free related engagement event

Ancestry and Invisible Communities Virtual Intergenerational Panel

3:15 p.m. Tuesday, Feb. 11, Virtual event

A Virtual Intergenerational Panel, focusing on themes of ancestry and invisible communities, will feature participating speakers to be announced. The free online Zoom webinar event is open to the public, but registration is required.

Acknowledgements

Support provided by the Hall-LeKander Endowment, Mary Ann O’Brien Malkin Program Endowment, George Trudeau Endowment for Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion. “What Does PURPLE Sound Like?” is supported by a grant from the National Endowment for the Arts.

Support for The Joyfull events provided by Dick Brown and Sandy Zaremba and the Penn State Equal Opportunity Planning Committee in the Office for the Vice Provost for Educational Equity.

FIND US: For more information about the season, visit the Center for the Performing Arts online, Facebook and Instagram.