State College loves theatre! With four theaters within a 1 mile radius of each other, State Collegians can’t get enough. Unfortunately, not many Centre County residents get to experience the other side of watching a great performance, the thrill of actually being on stage performing. So why not bring the stage to a larger audience and make performance more accessible and fun with, ‘Shake’ the Stage.

A fixed, one-person stage will be constructed and made available for anyone in Centre County to play an instrument, sing a song, dance, or perform! Participants will have the option to experience the thrill of performance with whoever they’re with or post and share 30-55 second clips of their performance with a community of other residents and visitors who also ‘Shake’ the Stage on our social media platforms. Don’t know what to perform? No worries! A web page dedicated to a mission of spreading the love of theatre and performance will have tons of challenges. From Pirouettes to juggling, participants will have a variety of performance challenges to 'Shake the Stage with. Maybe you want to recite a monologue, 'Shake' the Stage will have tons of monologues at your fingertips from some of the greatest playwrights in history such as: Eugene O’Neil, George Bernard Shaw, Tennessee Williams, August Wilson, and, of course, William ’Shake' speare!

I developed this Idea during the second year of pursuing my MFA in Acting at the Penn State School of Theatre. After traveling abroad to Europe, I fell in love with the hundreds of street performers I witnessed reciting poetry, playing instruments, performing magic, and much more! I could feel a powerful commitment to the arts and performance that seemed to liberate the souls of the people there. ’Shake’ the Stage wants to be that force in Centre County that gives participants a platform to overcome or challenge their fear of speaking or performing publicly and allow them to share those experiences with the world.