Join us in readings of stories and poems for International Kids Day on Saturday, November 20!

Tempest Productions will be kicking off the 2021-2022 StoryBook Theatre with virtual readings and poems on November 20! Followed up by an 8-day Festival of Lights as we celebrate and learn more about Hanukkah. And then it’s on to Holiday Tales debuting on Friday, December 10. From Boxing Day to Kwanzaa to International New Year’s Eve Celebrations and Christmas, we’ll be looking at the December holidays around the world. All Virtual, All Free. Save the dates and make sure to follow our Facebook Pages and YouTube Channels.

Central PA Theatre Facebook Page     Tempest Productions Facebook Page Central PA Theatre YouTube Channel   Tempest Productions YouTube Channel

“Shadows mutter, mist replies; darkness purrs as midnight sighs.”  Rusty Fischer

Put on your best costume, grab a mug of hot chocolate and curl up under your favorite blanket and listen to ghouls, ghosts, witches and things that go bump in the night.

Register Now!

It’s time for Tempest Productions’ free 6-hour Virtual Read-A-Thon, a night full of spooky stories. We’ve got all ages covered; come for one or come for all! 6pm-midnite (all times EST)

6pm – prek-grades 2

Bonaparte Falls Apart by Margery Cuyler,  Bone Soup by Cambria Evans, Click, Clack Boo! by Doreen Cronin and Betsy Lewin, Goodnight Goon by Michael Rex, Ies la Hora de los Esqueletos!/It’s Skeleton Time by Ana Galan and Rodrigo Lujan, J is for Jack-O-Lantern by Denise Brennan-Jessica Nelson, Room on the Broom by Julia Donaldson and Axel Scheffler, and Ten Timid Ghosts by Jennifer O’Connell

7pm – middle school

The Legend of Sleepy Hollow

8pm Classic Horror Stories for High School

The Monkey’s Paw, The Tell Tale Heart, The Lottery, and Occurrence at Owl Creek Bridge

10pm Fright Night Stories

by masters Stephen King, Joe Hill, Neil Gaiman, Ray Bradbury, Joyce Carol Oates, and others

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It’s Week 2 of our Dance Challenge! If you haven’t joined us yet, go back and review the video from Week 1 and then pick up Week 2. We’re on a countdown to the Festival, June 11-13! We hope you’ll join us and dance!
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It’s that time. Come dance with us. Each week, we will load a “class” video for you and your family to learn a routine. You can watch the videos over and over and then next week come back and learn the next part of the combo, all counting down to the festival June 11-13, where we can dance together (albeit virtually)!

Our challenges for Week 1 include the first combo for Belly Dance (Raqs Sharqi) and Modern.

Dance Out Loud! Act Out Loud! Words Out Loud!

Join us beginning Monday, May 17 as we move into our Community Challenges where you take the stage for the upcoming 5th Annual Central PA Theatre & Dance Fest!

Dance Out Loud – Join choreographers Shannon Bishop, Cynthia Mazzant, and Ann Van Kuren as you learn dance routines from belly dance to modern to jazz to pop –  a new video each week where you will learn one sequence a week in order to put them altogether during the June Festival. Watch for the coming videos.

Act Out Loud – Perform Shakespeare in Your Backyard, Stroll down your Sidewalk in a Costume or Hat for our Sidewalk Parades, or enter the Costume Design Challenge. Complete details announced May 17.

Words Out Loud – calling all PA Poets! Submit a poem for our poetry showcase, visit an Art Gallery and write a new poem about your visit – we’ll be playing with ekphrastic poems, cento poems, and even learn the new Golden Shovel Poem form. Poet Camille-Yvette Welsch will lead us through workshops beginning the week of May 17. Come write with us and help us bring the Words Out Loud.

Be a part of the festival, June 11-13, through our virtual programming!

June 11-13, 2021 marks the 4th Central PA Theatre & Dance Fest! We’ll be virtual again in 2020 but we’ve got 8 headlining performances, several local showcases, and some fun family and multi-generational workshops and activities!

Are you on our mailing list? Are you subscribing to the newsletter? Make sure to follow us and get all the latest information as we venture forward into summer 2021 and all things theatre and dance related in Centre County. Can’t wait to see you!

Amanda Silliker is a professional opera singer and vocal instructor in Central Pennsylvania. During the 2020 Central PA Theatre and Dance Fest, she will be hosting Broadway Karaoke on Friday, June 19 at 10pm and Community Sings Broadway on Saturday, June 20 at 6pm. For more about Amanda, go to www.facebook.com/silliker.mezzo/

1. What led you to singing? I didn’t have a choice, it chased me down! I grew up with singers in the family – my grandmother used to sing blues/jazz/music theater with me as a wee tot in her car. I was singing the Cabaret soundtrack when I was 4! I had no intention of being a singer, though I did want to be a musician. But my senior year in high school, Dr. Norman Spivey came to our school to give a masterclass. I wasn’t supposed to sing, but last minute a classmate got sick so I was put into the masterclass to fill up time at the end. I ended up studying with Dr. Spivey for many years, attending Penn State just to follow his instruction.
2. What has been your favorite performance to date? Hmm… I think I would have to say when I performed the Verdi Requiem in 2011 with the combined Penn State orchestras and choirs in Eisenhower. I had over 400 musicians behind me and a sold-out crowd in front of me (they turned people away). My other soloists were seasoned international singers…it was awesome! When it comes to musical theatre, I would have to say, “Musical of Musicals: the Musical!”. What a hoot!! The show lampoons major writers like Sondheim and AL Webber. I played the maternal/crone archetype, Abbey.
3. What advice would you give to a young vocal student? It totally depends on what they want! But it boils down to balance. We must train both our head and chest registers to work together. That’s the science. The art? Resist the urge to hold yourself back – follow your impulse. Be open.
4. What’s your approach to singing? My approach to singing is about moving people; bringing them on a journey with me. Move us through joy and sorrow, through hope and fear. Drawing threads of understanding and recognition through us.
5. What’s something you want everyone to know about singing? Singing is liberating. Freeing. Yet it creates bonds. It’s motivating. It’s calming. It speaks to our very core. It uses parts of the brain no other activity does. Singing can bring us to a deep contemplative peace, or it can whip us into a frenzy. It unites people and gives us strength to persevere together.