Make plans now to attend the Paterno Fellows springtime Big Event:  a performance of the Broadway musical “The Color Purple” in Eisenhower Auditorium–an evening that includes a pre-show dessert reception featuring Professor Keith Gilyard and Sue Paterno.

We have reserved sixty tickets for this event, so secure your ticket now by coming to Billie Moslak in 119 Sparks Building.  The cost of each ticket is just $10; Fellows may also bring one non-Fellow guest if they wish; but all ticket-holders must also commit to attending the pre-show. The pre-show begins at 6:15 in the Conference Room within Eisenhower Auditorium (you’ll easily find it after presenting your ticket at the door), and “The Color Purple” begins at 7:30.

“The Color Purple” is an amazing show, an unforgettable musical based on the classic Pulitzer Prize-winning novel by Alice Walker and the film by Steven Spielberg. Nominated for eleven Tony Awards (!), the play is both a landmark theatrical event and musical achievement, featuring a Grammy-nominated score that draws from jazz, gospel, and blues. Check out the Center for the Performing Arts website for more information about the show.  

But “The Color Purple” is also a controversial work, for reasons that Keith Gilyard will explain in a short, informal pre-show presentation that will contribute mightily to your enjoyment of the show. One of the nation’s leading experts on African American culture, Dr. Gilyard is Distinguished Professor of English and was recognized as the 2006 Faculty Scholar medalist for his research, scholarship, and poetry.  You can read his faculty profile on the English Department’s website. 

Sue Paterno attended the Fellows springtime event last year–a lecture by Nobel laureate Toni Morrison–and she is planning to attend once again this year. This will give Fellows a chance to meet her personally, and to thank her for her family’s support of the Fellows Program.  And it will give Sue Paterno a chance to thank Fellows for their service in support of the 5K Run for Special Olympics that she is so passionate about.