THE DAILY COLLEGIAN
Cultural Conversations to
talk 'War Against Women'
By Hannah Rishel
COLLEGIAN STAFF WRITER
Cultural Conversations wants
to start a dialogue about the ele
phant in the room.
"We have created a reputation:
What people don't want to talk
about, that's what we put on," said
Susan Russell, artistic director
for the group. "It's important for
the audience to talk back and
engage."
The theme of this year's
Cultural Conversations is "The
Global War Against Women."
Topics range from the various
forms of violence against women
that take place across the planet
to women's empowerment.
Thefestival will take place Feb.
22-27, 2011 at the Penn State
Downtown Theatre Center, 146 S.
Allen St.
This is the fifth season for the
organization and the first year it
has had a clear-cut theme.
"I think that's what will make
this year interesting," said
Hannah Cranville (senior-public
relations and theatre). Cranville
is the public relations spokes
woman for the organization.
Over the course of the five-day
Movie revenue up, attendance down
By David German
ASSOCIATED PRESS WRITER
LOS ANGELES Hollywood
is finishing its summer with
reord revenue but the lowest
aaual movie attendance in five
yers.
)omestic receipts from the
firt weekend in May through the
upoming Labor Day weekend
shuld come in at about $4.35 bil-
Holt-- $lOO million more than the
recrd set last year, according to
Pat Dergarabedian, box-office
anWst for Hollywood.com.
Etendance is down because of
a step rise in ticket prices, heav
ily ne to a surge in 3-D screen
ings which cost a few dollars
mor than regular movie admis
sion
Dough Labor Day, the actual
numer of tickets sold during the
sumier season is expected to
comb. at 552 million, the lowest
sinc€s63.2 million tickets were
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The lolly Collegian is looking for enthusiastic students to serve
as grahic artists and - page designers. Experience is not required
Thos interested should come to a brief information session at
7 p.rr, on Tuesday, Sept. 7, at the Collegian office in the James
Building on South Burrowes Street.
Applicantshust be full-time Penn State students to be eligible. Students who cannot make
to the information session can email Heather at hrsso29@psu.edu.
festival, 10 plays are performed.
Five plays have been written by
students and five by professional
playwrights.
"We're the only play festival m
the country like this," Russell
said. "It's very hard for a play
wright to have a place where they
can come and explore."
The professional guest artists
who visit Penn State to take part
in the festival are fully supported,
spending their nights in student
apartments.
This allows students to have
the opportunity to see the plays
develop.
"We have open submissions,"
Reagan Copeland (senior-theatre
and English) said. "We don't tell
people what to write about. It's a
workshop setup, so we help them
develop their plays."
After every play is performed,
the audience takes part in a dia
logue with the actors and the
director about the issues raised
by the play.
"We usually spend as much
time talking afterward as we do
watching the performance," said
Russell, also a Penn State theatre
professor. "We don't approach art
as entertainment; we approach
sold in
Dergarabedian
Monday.
Ticket prices this year are aver
aging $7.88, according to the
National Association of Theatre
Owners. That's up 38 cents, or 5
percent, from 2009.
"To have record revenue built
on the back of much higher ticket
prices, in a way, it's kind of a shal
low victory.
You want to see attendance go
up every year, not down,"
Dergarabedian said.
The summer delivered some
huge crowd-pleasers, led by
Disney's "Thy Story 3," which fol
lowed "Shrek 2" as just the sec
ond animated film to top $4OO mil
lion at the domestic box office.
Paramount's "Iron Man 2" shot
past $3OO million, while Summit
Entertainment's "The Twilight
Saga: Eclipse" has almost hit that
mark
Topping $2OO million were the
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art as citizens. Every scene in the
festival is an important social
theme, locally and globally"
Russell came up with the idea
for the theme of the women's
genocide after reading "Half the
Sky" by Nicholas D. Kristof and
Sheryl WuDunn.
"They're comparing the mod
em women's genocide to geno
cides of the past," Copeland said.
"It's a discussion to recruit the
everyday modern reader."
Russell said the theme is very
important because females have
a different world perspective not
always taken into consideration.
In addition to the festival,
Russell is putting out a book
about young women's body
image, which will be available
online in September.
An academic journal of all the
plays that have been performed
by Cultural Conversations is also
being published so the play
wrights have the opportunity to
have their work in formal print.
The journal will be on sale dur
ing the festival. Proceeds from
the sale of both texts benefit the
organization for years to come.
Warner Bros. release "Inception,"
Paramount and Dream Works
Animation's "Shrek Forever
After" and Universal's
"Despicable Me."
Sony had three $lOO million hits
with "The Karate Kid," "Grown
Ups" and "Salt."
Other releases failed to live up
to the hype of summer block
buster season, among them the
Warner Bros. sequel "Sex and the
City 2," Disney's "The Prince of
Persia: The Sands of Time" and
"The Sorcerer's Apprentice," and
20th Century Fox's "Marmaduke"
and "Knight and Day"
summer 2005,
estimated
"Audiences were under
whelmed, and they voted with
their absence," Dergarabedian
said.
"If you asked most people what
they thought of the quality of the
movies, it's kind of a so-so sum
mer. We could have done a lot
worse were it not for films like
`lnception' and 'Toy Story 3."'
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To e-mail reporter: hmrso27@psu.edu
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test Comedy.
winners
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glowing spheres representing
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[lance floor.
Partygoers dined on dunge
crab salad, rack of lamb with
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ilocolate decadence with
!nuked Fleur de sel on a chewy
aige brownie.
They washed it down with 4,416
isles of red and white wine,
nampagne, and vodka cocktails
Toughout the celebration.
Imong the 3,600 celebrities
!id other invitees dining in close
i,rt ers were Wanda Sykes, Lily
1 oiilin. John Lithgow, Glenn
' to,:e and daughter Annie Starke,
d Rainn Wilson of "The Office."
The musicians played such
assics as "Route 66" and "Girl
rom Ipanema" during dinner.
.!1 er, the musicians opted for
,u-rent hits including "Poker
:ice" and "I Gotta Feeling," both
which drew several partygoers
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