Playbill for Curtains I’m not a big musicals person, though as I have seen (and performed in) more of them over recent years I have warmed up to them somewhat. But generally, I prefer straight theatre. That out of the way, I went to see State College Community Theatre’s production of Curtains (book by Rupert …
Romeo & Juliet: Defy the Stars—10 Jun 2026
Romeo & Juliet: Defy the Stars poster As part of the Central Pennsylvania Festival of the Arts, Tempest Productions performed Romeo & Juliet: Defy the Stars, a version of the Shakespeare play adapted by Cynthia Mazzant, founder and co-artistic director of Tempest. Most of the original Shakespearean language is there—though some is cut, often to …
Agatha Christie’s The Rats—14 June 2026
Program for The Rats Short plays like Agatha Christie’s The Rats are always both interesting and challenging because there are some practical limitations to the story-telling, the scope, and how much time one has as an author and/or performer to bring characters to life and give them enough depth to be interesting. Sock & Buskin’s …
Michael Druce’s Death of a Hot Sauce Salesman—18 Apr. 2026
Program for Death of a Hot Sauce Salesman In State College Community Theatre’s production of Michael Druce’s Death of a Hot Sauce Salesman, directed by Kerry Clancy Burns, the acting far outshone the script. The performances were generally strong, but the script really didn’t give the cast and crew much to work with, being full …
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Stefanie Austin’s Wheel of Misfortune–28 Feb. 2026
Wheel of Misfortune Program Wheel of Misfortune is Stefanie Austin’s latest murder-mystery dinner theatre play written for Sock & Buskin Theatre Company. Directed by Henry Morello, the individual performances were often quite good, with some excellent gags, but (due, in my opinion, to forces beyond the cast or production team’s control) the overall performance lacked …
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Stefanie Austin and Kari Williamson’s Death by Chocolate—5 Feb. 2026
Death by Chocolate poster Sock & Buskin Theatre Company’s 2026 Valentine’s Day murder mystery party was Stefanie Austin and Kari Williamson’s Death by Chocolate, which I saw as part of the dress rehearsal mock audience. This type of semi-scripted performance is difficult to do, especially with a smaller audience, since so much of the show …
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Kari and Stephen Williamson’s Last Night at Black Hollow—24 Oct. 2025
Promotional poster for Last Night at Black Hollow Kari and Stephen Williamson have written a murder mystery party scripts, a genre which has become a periodic fundraiser for Sock & Busking Theatre Company. Unlike a typical play, which is fully scripted and generally involves minimal audience interaction, the murder mystery parties have relatively brief scripted …
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Eugene Ionesco’s Rhinoceros—9 Oct. 2025
Rhinoceros program Apart from Shakespeare, one of the first genres of drama I really fell in love with was theatre of the absurd, and so when Penn State’s school of theatre announced that it was opening the 2025-26 season with Eugene Ionesco’s Rhinoceros, I was thrilled to see what they’d do with it. Under the …
Lucille Fletcher’s Night Watch—20 Sept. 2025
Night Watch poster I’ve seen a good amount of professional theatre and university theatre, and both seen and been involved in a good number of community theatre productions. But I don’t know that I’ve ever seen a show as well executed as Sock & Buskin’s production of Lucille Fletcher’s Night Watch, directed by Stefanie Austin. …
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Agatha Christie’s And Then There Were None – 13 Sept. 2025 by Andi Stout
And Then There Were None program This weekend I saw the State College Community Theatre’s (SCCT) production of Agatha Christie’s And Then There Were None directed by Eli Beers-Altman and assistant directed by Joe Appel. Our story begins with eight very different house guests, eccentric in their own ways, arriving at an isolated mansion situated …
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Phillip Zapkin 