'aMUSEment' set to premiere in Centre Hall

The debut performances of "aMUSEment," a musical theatre work written to celebrate the Garbrick brothers and their century-long history in Brush Valley, will take place in September in Centre Hall. Performances are scheduled for Sept. 3 at 7:30 p.m. and Sept. 4 at 7:30 p.m. Admission is free, but a $10 donation can be made at the door. The hourlong performances will be presented in Vernon Garbrick’s Workshop, located at 375 N. Pennsylvania Ave. in Centre Hall, which was designed by Vernon Garbrick (1907-1987) and was the place where he invented the collapsible Ferris wheel. Poet and Professor of Liberal Arts Julia Spicher Kasdorf and Professor Emeritus in the School of Music Bruce Trinkley wrote the show to celebrate Garbrick’s inventions and his family’s decades of providing carnival rides and food to fairs throughout the region including the Centre County Grange Fair. Open Music, a local avant-garde band, will provide music for the event and filmmaker Pearl Gluck will offer film interludes about the carnival and the fair. James Kalsbeek, an artist and architect will be providing the sets and special effects. Singers for the show include Professor of Music Jennifer Trost, soprano; Amanda Silliker, mezzo-soprano; Professor Emeritus of the School of Music Richard Kennedy, tenor; and Carter Houston, baritone. The performances are supported by grants from the Pennsylvania Council on the Arts, the Awesome Foundation, the Bellefonte Historical and Cultural Association and the Penn State Humanities Institute.