‘Penn State Presents’ airs nightly livestream featuring alumni, students
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John Simpkins, head of musical theater at Penn State University, was not happy at having to cancel the performances theater students would have put on this spring due to the coronavirus pandemic.
In an effort to continue bringing Nittany Lion students’ talents to the public, Simpkins is hosting “Penn State Presents: A Virtual Performing Arts Celebration” nightly through this Sunday.
Each night at 7 p.m., Simpkins is hosting a cabaret-style livestream featuring both notable Penn State alumni and current students.
The first livestream featured Joonas Suotamo, who plays Chewbacca in the “Star Wars” movie series, and Caroline Bowman, who currently stars as Elsa in the national tour of Disney’s “Frozen.”
“Like everyone these days, we’re all kind of searching for a way to help people understand and navigate what’s going on,” Simpkins said. “And those of us in the arts are often the people who are trying to understand and reflect the human condition anyway, in the work we do.”
“The thought was: what kind of work can we do that’s appropriate to this time, and then pair that with a little bit of conversation,” Simpkins said. “We’ll pose some questions to each of the people who are on with us and keep the conversation going about how we can support each other during this physical distancing time.”
Livestreams start at 7 p.m. at PennStatePresents.psu.edu, and run through Sunday night.