Penn State Thespians
   HOME
*





Penn State Thespians
The Penn State Thespian Society is a student-run theatrical organization at State College, Pennsylvania State University. The stated goal of the organization is "to present theatrical entertainment and to provide the students of the Pennsylvania State University with educational experience in all phases of dramatic production; and in doing, hereby enhance the cultural diversity of its members and the University." In the fall of 2018, The Penn State Thespians changed their name to the Penn State Thespian Society to comply with university regulations. History The Penn State Thespian Society, previously known as The Penn State Thespians, is the oldest consecutive running organization on campus, the second oldest student-run organization on campus, after the Penn State Glee Club, and is the second oldest college theater organization in the country. The first Thespians meeting was called to order on October 22, 1897 by the founders, Dr. Fred Lewis Pattee (author of Penn State's †...
[...More Info...]      
[...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]  


picture info

Fred Lewis Pattee
Fred Lewis Pattee (March 22, 1863 – May 6, 1950) was an American author and scholar of American literature. As a professor of American literature at the Pennsylvania State University, Pattee wrote the lyrics of the Penn State Alma Mater. Pattee is sometimes labeled the "first Professor of American Literature", a position he held at Penn State from 1895 until 1928. Biography Fred Lewis Pattee was born on March 22, 1863, in Bristol, New Hampshire, to farmer Lewis Franklin Pattee and Mary Philbrick Pattee ( Ingalls). After attending public schools in Bristol and South Alexandria, New Hampshire, in 1881 he entered New Hampton School and completed the college preparatory course in 1884. Pattee enrolled at Dartmouth College, earning a Bachelor of Arts degree in 1888 and a Master of Arts degree in 1891. Despite an interest in becoming a journalist, Pattee entered the teaching profession, first at a New Jersey grammar school. He worked as a school administrator and journalist until beco ...
[...More Info...]      
[...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]  


Grease (musical)
''Grease'' is a musical with music, lyrics, and a book by Jim Jacobs and Warren Casey. Named after the 1950s United States working-class youth subculture known as greasers, the musical is set in 1959 at fictional Rydell High School (based on Taft High School in Chicago, Illinois and named after rock singer Bobby Rydell) and follows ten working-class teenagers as they navigate the complexities of peer pressure, politics, personal core values, and love.Woulfe, Molly" 'Grease' has deep, dark Chicago roots"''NW Times'', January 2, 2009, retrieved January 10, 2017 The score borrows heavily from the sounds of early rock and roll. In its original production in Chicago, ''Grease'' was a raunchy, raw, aggressive, vulgar show. Subsequent productions toned down the more risqué content. The show mentions social issues such as teenage pregnancy, peer pressure, and gang violence; its themes include love, friendship, teenage rebellion, sexual exploration during adolescence, and, to some ...
[...More Info...]      
[...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]  


picture info

The Lorax
''The Lorax'' is a children's book written by Dr. Seuss and published in 1971. It chronicles the plight of the environment and the Lorax, the titular character, who "speaks for the trees" and confronts the Once-ler, a business magnate who causes environmental destruction. Just like most Dr. Seuss works, most of the creatures mentioned are original to the book. The story is commonly recognized as a fable concerning the danger of greed causing human destruction of the natural environment, using the literary element of personification to create relatable characters for industry (as the Once-ler), the environment (being the Truffula trees) and environmental activism (as the Lorax). The story encourages personal care and involvement in making the situation better: a quote from the Lorax states, "Unless someone like you cares a whole awful lot, nothing is going to get better. It's not." It was Dr. Seuss's personal favorite of his books. He was able to create an engaging story addres ...
[...More Info...]      
[...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]  


Eloise (books)
''Eloise'' is a series of children's books written in the 1950s by Kay Thompson and illustrated by Hilary Knight. Thompson and Knight followed up '' Eloise'' (1955) with four sequels. Eloise is a young girl who lives in the "room on the tippy-top floor" of the Plaza Hotel in New York City with her nanny, her pug dog, Weenie, and her turtle, Skipperdee. History The character was developed by the author based on her childhood imaginary friend and alter ego, with a voice in which Thompson spoke throughout her life, according to her biographer, filmmaker Sam Irvin. Thompson's goddaughter, Liza Minnelli, was often speculated as a possible model for Eloise. The illustrator stated that the image for Eloise was based on one that his mother, Katherine Sturges Dodge, had painted, during the 1930s.Ba ...
[...More Info...]      
[...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]  


Schlow Centre Region Library
The Schlow Centre Region Library, formerly known as the State College Public Library and the Schlow Memorial Library, serves the State College, Pennsylvania State College is a home rule municipality in Centre County in the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania. It is a college town, dominated economically, culturally and demographically by the presence of the University Park campus of the Pennsylvania Sta ... area. History The library was named after local businessman Charles Schlow, who in 1957 donated space in a West College Avenue house for the original library. The library quickly grew and moved to a new location on South Allen Street. A new building opened in 2005, replacing the original. The new two-story building cost $10 million to construct. The public facilities include 66 computers. There were over 37,000 card holders when the new library opened in 2005. According to the 2005 Annual Report, Schlow had more than 291,000 visitors and 592,000 books in circulation. Schl ...
[...More Info...]      
[...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]  




The Addams Family (musical)
''The Addams Family'' is a musical comedy with music and lyrics by Andrew Lippa and book by Marshall Brickman and Rick Elice. The show is based upon ''The Addams Family'' characters created by Charles Addams in his single-panel gag cartoons, which depict a ghoulish American family with an affinity for all things macabre. Although numerous film and television adaptations of Addams' cartoons exist, the musical is the first stage show based on the characters. ''The Addams Family'' is also the first show produced by Elephant Eye Theatricals. After a tryout in Chicago in 2009, the musical opened on Broadway in April 2010. The original cast featured Nathan Lane as Gomez and Bebe Neuwirth as Morticia. The production closed on December 31, 2011, and a revised national tour of North America began in September 2011. ''The Addams Family'' won several awards during its Broadway run including a Drama Desk Award for Outstanding Set Design, an Outer Critics Circle Award for Outstanding Set De ...
[...More Info...]      
[...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]  


9 To 5 (musical)
''9 to 5: The Musical'' is a musical based on the 1980 film of the same name, with music and lyrics by Dolly Parton. It features a book by Patricia Resnick, based on the screenplay by Resnick and Colin Higgins. The musical premiered in Los Angeles in September 2008, and opened on Broadway in April 2009. It received 15 Drama Desk Award nominations, the most received by a production in a single year, as well as four Tony Awards nominations. The Broadway production however was short-lived, closing in September 2009. A national tour of the US was launched in 2010, followed by a UK premiere in 2012. It opened in the West End in February 2019 and then launched a UK Tour in 2021. Production history Development A reading of the musical was held on January 19, 2007, with a cast including Tracey Ullman, Allison Janney, Megan Hilty, Stephanie J. Block, Norm Lewis and Marc Kudisch. A revised draft was tested in a week-long workshop beginning on June 20, 2007, with an industry presentatio ...
[...More Info...]      
[...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]  


Little Women (musical)
''Little Women'' is a musical with a book by Allan Knee, lyrics by Mindi Dickstein, and music by Jason Howland. Based on Louisa May Alcott's 1868–69 semi-autobiographical two-volume novel, it focuses on the four March sisters— traditional Meg, wild, aspiring writer Jo, timid Beth and romantic Amy,— and their beloved Marmee, at home in Concord, Massachusetts, while their father is away serving as a Union Army chaplain during the Civil War. Intercut with the vignettes in which their lives unfold are several recreations of the melodramatic short stories Jo writes in her attic studio. Productions A workshop production was presented at Duke University in February 2001, directed by Nick Corley. This production followed a workshop reading in March–April 2000. The production next played another workshop at Duke University in October 2004. This version was directed by Susan H. Schulman. After 55 previews, the Broadway production opened at the Virginia Theatre on January 23, 2005, ...
[...More Info...]      
[...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]  


picture info

Cabaret (musical)
''Cabaret'' is a 1966 musical theatre, musical with music by John Kander, lyrics by Fred Ebb, and book by Joe Masteroff. The musical was based on John Van Druten's 1951 play ''I Am a Camera'' which was adapted from ''Goodbye to Berlin'' (1939), a semi-autobiographical novel by Anglo-American writer Christopher Isherwood which drew upon his experiences in the poverty-stricken Weimar Republic and his intimate friendship with nineteen-year-old cabaret singer Jean Ross. Set in 1929–1930 Berlin during the twilight of the Jazz Age as the Nazi Party, Nazis are ascending to power, the musical focuses on the hedonistic nightlife at the seedy Kit Kat Klub and revolves around American writer Clifford Bradshaw's relations with English cabaret performer Sally Bowles. A subplot involves the doomed romance between German boarding house owner Fräulein Schneider and her elderly suitor Herr Schultz, a Anti-Jewish legislation in prewar Nazi Germany, Jewish fruit vendor. Overseeing the action ...
[...More Info...]      
[...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]  


picture info

Spring Awakening (musical)
''Spring Awakening'' is a Coming-of-age story, coming-of-age rock musical with music by Duncan Sheik and a book and lyrics by Steven Sater. It is based on the 1891 German play ''Spring Awakening (play), Spring Awakening'' by Frank Wedekind. Set in late 19th-century Germany, the musical tells the story of teenagers discovering the inner and outer tumult of adolescent sexuality. In the musical, alternative rock is employed as part of the folk-infused rock score. Following its conception in the late 1990s and various workshops, concerts, rewrites and its Off-Broadway debut, the original Broadway theatre, Broadway production of ''Spring Awakening'' opened at the Eugene O'Neill Theatre on December 10, 2006. Its cast included Jonathan Groff, Lea Michele, and John Gallagher Jr. while its creative team comprised director Michael Mayer (director), Michael Mayer and choreographer Bill T. Jones. The original Broadway production won eight Tony Awards, including Tonys for Best Musical, Directi ...
[...More Info...]      
[...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]  


picture info

Avenue Q
''Avenue Q'' is a musical comedy featuring puppets and human actors with music and lyrics by Robert Lopez and Jeff Marx and book by Jeff Whitty. It won Best Musical, Book, and Score at the 2004 Tony Awards. The show's format is a parody of PBS's ''Sesame Street'', but its content involves adult-oriented themes. It has been praised for its approach to themes of racism, homosexuality and internet pornography. The musical premiered Off-Broadway in 2003 at the Vineyard Theatre, co-produced by the Vineyard Theatre and The New Group. In July of that same year the show moved to the John Golden Theatre on Broadway, where it ran until 2009, playing for over 2,500 performances. It then transferred to the off-Broadway New World Stages, where it played until 2019. Major productions have been staged in Las Vegas and the West End, and the musical has been staged and toured in several countries around the world. A school-friendly script has been produced. The principal cast includes four pup ...
[...More Info...]      
[...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]  


Rick Lyon
Richard Lyon (born February 25, 1958) is an American puppeteer, actor, and puppet designer and builder. He has worked for The Jim Henson Company as one of the operators of Big Bird. He appeared on Broadway originating the roles of Trekkie Monster, Nicky, the blue Bad Idea Bear, and other characters in the Tony Award-winning musical '' Avenue Q'', a musical for which he designed and created all of the puppets. In the fall of 2005 he reprised his roles in the production of the show in Las Vegas for eight months before returning to the Broadway cast. Rick was a puppeteer on Sesame Street for 15 seasons, from 1987 to 2002. He also worked with Nickelodeon on the Stick Stickly project and on the ''Me + My Friends'' pilot. He was a lead puppeteer for the first season of Comedy Central's television program ''Crank Yankers''. Rick has also appeared numerous times on ''The Late Show with Stephen Colbert'', for which he also provided the puppets he performed. Rick puppeteered a xenomorph ches ...
[...More Info...]      
[...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]