“Long sufficient have you dream’d contemptible goals, Now clean the gum from your eyes,
You should practice yourself to the dazzle of the light-weight and of each second of your lifetime.”
-”Song of Myself,” Walt Whitman
Like numerous this past 7 days, we ventured out into the sunny waking earth. We went to Reservoir Park in Harrisburg to see the Gamut Theatre Group’s “Hamlet,” directed by Clark Nicholson. It was a dazzling and entertaining production that includes Ross Carmichael and Erin Shellenberger. It was a good evening of theater — and it was free.
Centre County is not without having its personal theatrical extravagances. Generated by Elaine Meder-Wilgus and Cynthia Mazzant, the fourth annual Central PA Theatre and Dance Pageant was held over the weekend. The pandemic intended the performances have been virtual, but it was continue to a comprehensive and thrilling lineup. Tempest Productions introduced “Accidents of Being” and “Deranged Durang.” Other presentations bundled: “Heroes on Hand “by Adam Swartz Puppets “The LASTree Toy Theatre” by Laurencio Ruiz, “Listen to the Rain” by TrioArts Challenge “Seven Many years of FUSE “ by Fuse Productions “Worlds Collide,” Dmitry Myers with specific guest Kai Phoenix. Dance packages involved: “Nile Raqs,” by Black Cat Stomach Dance “Out of Isolation” by Allied Movement Dance Enterprise “Place of Stones and Dancing Waters” by VanDance Inc. Satisfied Valley Improv offered “An Improvised Evening on Zoom.” Loaves and Fish Theatre Organization revived “God’s Trombones,” which we 1st offered in 1995. It was one of the initially performs penned by an African American to be presented in Content Valley. It showcased numerous church sermons collected by James Weldon Johnson, the creator of “Lift Every Voice and Sing.” Three of the first forged members, Carla Hargrove, Cynthia Henderson and C. Dumas have been featured in this production.
There’s theater and film outdoors of Pleased Valley. Steve Broadnax, head of the MFA actors software at Penn State’s School of Theatre, will be directing the Broadway premiere of “Thoughts of A Coloured Guy.” He directed the world premiere at Syracuse Stage prior to the pandemic closed almost everything down. It is Steve’s Broadway debut.
The positively delightful new film, Lin Manuel Miranda and Quiara Alegría Hudes’ “In The Heights,” lit up the display screen this earlier weekend. It was outstanding and upbeat. Quiara bought her start off as a writer at Philadelphia’s Youthful Playwrights application. I was blessed to be in a position to direct a couple exhibits for them.
Tyler Perry’s most latest project for Bet is “All The Queen’s Adult men,” which is about … oops I can not convey to you. I’m in it and have signed an NDA. It will be dropping early this summer. The other TPS project I was in, “A Jazzman’s Blues,” will premiere in 2022. As an “insider” I can inform you that even although he mentioned he would not, Mr. Perry is likely to make an additional Madea film, No. 11 in the franchise.
Juneteenth, June 19, commemorates the day in 1865 when several enslaved African People in america uncovered that they had been emancipated Point out University will have two celebrations. Juneteenth Jubilee will be held at 6 p.m. Friday at Sidney Friedman Park and will be a advantage for Mama King, (the Rev. Donna King who handed lately) and the St. Paul African Methodist Episcopal Church. Then on Saturday from 1-2:30 p.m., the NAACP will hold a Juneteenth Commemoration at the Martin Luther King Jr. Plaza on Fraser Road. All are invited.
In athletics, the Spikes are back playing baseball at Medlar Discipline. It’s a exciting evening out. A few of neighborhood Point out Faculty guys are on the team, Kevin Karstetter and Mason Mellott. There will be are living fireworks on the Fourth of July and $2 beers on other nights.
The sweetest moment even though arrived when we ran into friends at the marketplace and the Satisfaction parade could not halt hugging. It is been a prolonged time, too lengthy.
Charles Dumas is a life time political activist, a professor emeritus from Penn Condition, and was the Democratic Party’s nominee for U.S. Congress in 2012. He life with his associate and spouse of 50 years in State College.