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Performing Arts

Our favorite photos of the year
color powder on student's face during holi festival

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Our favorite photos of the year

Penn Today’s iconic photos of the 2023-24 academic year highlight the beauty, achievements, innovation, and celebration in the Penn community.

Penn Today Staff

Weitzman’s Sharon Hayes explores performance, identity, and history
Installation view of Sharon Hayes’ “Ricerche: four, 2024”

Installation view of Sharon Hayes’ “Ricerche: four, 2024,” at the Whitney Biennial.

Installation view of Sharon Hayes’ “Ricerche: four, 2024,” at the Whitney Biennial. (Image: Ron Amstutz)

Weitzman’s Sharon Hayes explores performance, identity, and history

The professor of fine arts is debuting the fifth installment of her video series “Ricerche” at the 2024 Whitney Biennial.

From the Weitzman School of Design

Curtains up on spring student shows
Members of a Penn performing arts group rehearsing in a studio.

Kate Fitzsimmons (center) a third-year student in the Nursing School warms up practicing with the dancers of Strictly Funk, a student club who perform hip-hop, jazz, contemporary, and free-style

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Curtains up on spring student shows

Hours of preparation go into dozens of student performances, a highlight of the thriving performing arts scene on campus.
Using theater and the arts to empower communities in the energy transition
Intersection of roads and railroad tracks in a small coal mining town.

Image: iStock/McIninch

Using theater and the arts to empower communities in the energy transition

The arts can be a valuable tool for facilitating dialogue around the energy transition and ensuring community perspectives are represented in policy arenas.

From Kleinman Center for Energy Policy

Who, What, Why: Gwyn Roberts, director of Penn’s Early Music Ensembles, on 18th century female musicians 
five musicians standing and playing wind instruments

Gwyn Roberts (fourth from right) for three decades has been the director of Penn’s Early Music Ensembles.

(Image: Courtesy of Tempesta di Mare)

Who, What, Why: Gwyn Roberts, director of Penn’s Early Music Ensembles, on 18th century female musicians 

A Penn student choir and Roberts’ baroque orchestra will perform a Vivaldi oratorio premiered by women and girls in Venice 300 years ago. 
‘Ladysitting’ on stage 
Nolen, Lorene Cary, and Finister speaking with each other at Kelly Writers House.

Lorene Cary (center) with actor Melanye Finister (right) and the Arden's Terry Nolen (left) at the Kelly Writers House. 

Image: Delaney Parks

‘Ladysitting’ on stage 

The new play “Ladysitting” at the Arden Theatre Co. is by Penn English faculty and alumna Lorene Cary, based on her memoir about caring for her grandmother in the last of her 101 years.
Ukrainian artistry and resilience
Dakhabraka posing by stone archway.

DakhaBrakha, a musical quartet from Ukraine, will perform on March 3 at the Annenberg Center for the Performing Arts.

(Image: Andriy Petryna)

Ukrainian artistry and resilience

Through “Ukraine: The Edge of Freedom,” Penn Live Arts presents performances that uplift the culture of a nation during a time of war.
‘Bartok’s Monster’ challenges conventions of theater
A cellist performing on stage.

“Bartok’s Monster” is a fusion of lecture, concert, and theater.

(Image: Courtesy of Penn Live Arts)

‘Bartok’s Monster’ challenges conventions of theater

In “Bartok’s Monster,” an interdisciplinary collaboration, Daedalus Quartet will perform Bartok’s String Quartet No. 3 and other string pieces mixed with acting, choreography, and an array of striking visuals.
On stage at Carnegie Hall
Soundworks Tap Factory performing on stage at Carnegie Hall.

Soundworks Tap Factory

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On stage at Carnegie Hall

More than 150 students were among nine performing arts groups that took to the stage at Carnegie Hall in New York City in the fifth “Toast to Dear Old Penn” showcase.