Purdue Convocations announces virtual performances and at-home experiences, including return of Manual Cinema and illusionist Scott Silven

WEST LAFAYETTE, Ind. - Due to the global pandemic, live events’ standard operations around the world have been impacted. However, Purdue Convocations has made some adjustments so it can continue to present world-class performance experiences to the Purdue and greater Lafayette area audiences.  With this in mind, Convocations is delighted to announce the following virtual performances and experiences.

West Lafayette Global Fest Care Package

When it became apparent that hosting an in-person West Lafayette Global Fest of any kind was not going to be the way to celebrate the diversity in our community while keeping everyone safe, the organizing committee made a decision. The committee did not want the spirit of the West Lafayette Global Fest to be absent from the fall, so the idea was developed to help people have their own global experiences at home. The West Lafayette Global Fest Care Package will help any household create a global experience where they are while helping to support the event for the years of growth ahead.  The event will celebrate the unity in community. The care package will include a reusable tote bag, a yard sign, a civics lesson, music and more. These will be available for $20 each.

Manual Cinema’s ‘A Christmas Carol’

Dec. 4-5 and 11-13

The Purdue community will remember Manual Cinema’s remarkable production “Lula Del Ray,” which amazed and delighted audiences at Loeb Playhouse in March 2016. In this new world-premiere online event created for audiences of all ages, the interdisciplinary performance collective takes on Charles Dickens’ holiday classic, “A Christmas Carol,” with a visually inventive adaptation made specifically for the 2020 holiday season. Performed live from Chicago each night, “A Christmas Carol” will be performed using hundreds of paper puppets, miniatures, silhouettes, and a live original score in an imaginative reinvention of the cherished holiday tradition. Household tickets will range from $20-$28.

Scott Silven’s ‘The Journey’

Jan. 26-31

Following a critically acclaimed world tour, which included performances at Purdue in 2018, Scott Silven is back with a new show developed for this time.  If you witnessed Silven’s “At The Illusionist’s Table,” which was presented at the John Purdue Room in Marriott Hall, you’d remember how amazing the experience was all around. Silven is now performing an all-new magic experience live and online from his home in rural Scotland.  With a maximum of 30 households per show, this remarkable interactive experience will explore your own sense of home, connection and the power of place to transform us. Household tickets will range from $32-$40.

Tickets for all these events and experiences are available at the Stewart Center box office at 765-494-3933 or 800-914-SHOW.  The Friends of Convocations presale period will run through Sept. 14, with tickets going on sale to the general public on Sept. 28.  For information on how to become a Friend of Convocations, make your initial gift and have access to the presale, go to https://www.purdue.edu/convocations/support/.

Initiated in 1902, Purdue Convocations was one of the first professional performing arts presenters in the United States. Each year, Convocations offers the region 30-40 performances of widely varying genres: Broadway-style shows, theater, dance, children's theater, world music, jazz, and chamber music, along with rock, pop, country and comedy attractions. With a vision for connecting artists and audiences in artistic dialogue and for drawing in academic discourse, Purdue Convocations aims to promote frequent exposure to and familiarity with human cultural expression in a multitude of forms and media.

Source: Mike Armintrout, Purdue Convocations senior associate director, (765) 496-2913, mikearmintrout@purdue.edu

Related websites:

Purdue Convocations:  https://www.purdue.edu/convocations/

Manual Cinema: http://manualcinema.com/

Scott Silven: https://www.scottsilven.com/