Simple Is Best: A recipe that’s small on time, big on taste.

August 30, 2019 | by Rosemary Ruggieri Baer

As readers of this column know, I love to cook and I love to cook for friends. But as time has passed in my culinary life, I am taking advice from one of my favorite cookbook authors and TV chef, Ina Garten.

While Ina makes beautiful food, she is a strong proponent of making entertaining easy—fun to do and not drudgery. She suggests easy nibbles before dinner like nuts and olives and simple desserts like a fruit-and-cheese tray or chocolate-dipped strawberries. She insists that, if a weekday dinner takes more than 30 minutes to prepare or a dinner party more than two hours, she is just not doing it.

I like that. Gone are my days of roasting veal bones for a demi-glace, making a lemon soufflé with candied violets on top or a molded tomato aspic. (Does anyone actually know what these things are anymore?)

So, I gathered together a few recipes from here and there: the salmon from a “Taste of Home” cooking magazine (it has quickly become a favorite), roasted cherry tomatoes (no idea where I got this one), and wasabi mashed potatoes (inspired by Café Fresco in downtown Harrisburg.) These three, combined with a green vegetable, have “rescued” me for quite a few company dinners. All are easy to prepare (even for a weeknight) and make a lovely presentation on the dinner table.

FIRECRACKER SALMON, ROASTED CHERRY TOMATOES AND WASABI MASHED POTATOES

Ingredients (salmon)

2 tablespoons balsamic vinegar
2 tablespoons reduced-sodium soy sauce
1 green onion, thinly sliced
1 tablespoon olive oil
1 tablespoon maple syrup
2 garlic cloves, minced
1 teaspoon ground ginger (sometimes I use the ginger paste I find in the grocery store)
1 teaspoon crushed red pepper flakes
½ teaspoon sesame oil
¼ teaspoon salt
4 salmon filets (6-8 ounces each)

Ingredients (mashed potatoes)

4 very large yellow gold potatoes
3-4 tablespoons unsalted butter
12 ounces half and half or 1 12-ounce can whole evaporated milk
Wasabi powder (I start with about 1 tablespoon and then add more to taste. It can get hot.)
Salt to taste

Ingredients (tomatoes)

2 pint boxes cherry tomatoes (I look for “fat” ones and choose the mixed variety of red, yellow, and orange if I can find them.) Remove stems.
Olive oil
Coarse sea salt
Handful of chopped fresh basil

Directions

In a small bowl, combine the first 10 ingredients for the marinade.
Pour ¼ cup marinade in a large Ziploc plastic bag. Add the salmon, seal bag and turn to coat. Refrigerate for about 30 minutes along with the remaining marinade.
Drain the salmon and discard the marinade in the bag.
Place salmon, skin side down, on a greased sheet pan with sides.
In a bowl, toss the cherry tomatoes with olive oil to coat. Sprinkle a little coarse sea salt and the chopped basil over them.
Arrange the cherry tomatoes on both sides of the salmon on the baking sheet.
Place the salmon and tomatoes in a 375-degree pre-heated oven and roast for about 30 minutes. But watch carefully. Remove when the salmon is nicely browned and tomatoes softened and slightly collapsed.

While the salmon is roasting, cook the yellow gold potatoes in boiling salted water until soft. Drain, mash and beat in the butter, cream or milk, and wasabi powder to taste. Taste and add more salt if needed.

Arrange the roasted salmon in a long row on a platter and place the roasted tomatoes on both sides. A few fresh basil leaves tucked here and there looked pretty. Sprinkle the sliced green onion over all.

Serve the salmon and tomatoes with the wasabi mashed potatoes and a green vegetable. Broccoli, green beans or asparagus work well.

So now, as the weather begins to cool this month, you have a lovely, easy to prepare meal for company. No need to roast veal bones. Invite everyone!

The Painted Word: As you gear up for Gallery Walk, come meet the Art Association’s Carrie Wissler-Thomas.

August 30, 2019 | by Bob MacGinnes

Many people begin their journey with ideals to change the world, and, for the rare few, that happens. Central Pennsylvania has one of these people in its midst—Carrie Wissler-Thomas, who is starting her 40th year at the helm of the Art Association of Harrisburg (AAH).

Wissler-Thomas knew her life was destined for the world of art as a student at Ephrata High. When she married her high school sweetheart, Scott Thomas, and moved to Harrisburg, the dream began—a life of art unfolded as a publicist and copywriter at AAH. That stint grew into her becoming the main catalyst at the association, and, in 1980, she was elected president.

Later, Wissler-Thomas became the CEO and steered the vaunted institution from its 1926 humble beginnings to achieve its gold standard reputation today. When one enters the halls of the Art Association, it is like being ushered into a private club, without the pretense of pressure to fit into a certain niche. This state of mind is achieved through Wissler-Thomas, who is an expert in all facets of art through the ages.

Over a storied, four-decade career, Wissler-Thomas breathed fresh life into an association that relies on strong leadership across many settings. From art administrator to fundraiser to grant-writer, she does so many things well.

Her duties encompass full responsibility for the 500 students enrolled in the year-round art classes and in maintaining an art membership that now boasts 600 members. In addition, she supervises a part-time gallery staff of five and relies on 20 faculty educators. In fact, she is the first to recognize that the association is only as strong as every cog in the wheel and is quick to praise not only staff, but students and association members alike.

Gracious, genteel and gifted are but a few of the words that come to mind immediately upon meeting Wissler-Thomas. She welcomes you like an old friend of the family. And being in her presence is like taking a history lesson in the world of art.

In many ways, Wissler-Thomas was the progenitor of multi-tasking long before it came into vogue. She is an educator, painter, gallerist, author, mentor and the coordinator for the citywide Harrisburg Gallery Walk, which takes place on Sept. 8 for its 31st year. She also oversees 17 sites of rotating art installations found in select businesses, assisted in her mission by gallery Curator Rachel O’Connor.

Today, Wissler-Thomas whiles away any free time painting on the banks of the Susquehanna across from the association’s lovely building and on the wee shores of her beloved Scotland.

Wissler-Thomas is responsible in part for the Art Association’s new mission statement, “The AAH promotes the visual arts through education and exhibitions and enhances the wellness of area residents.”

Possibly the most fascinating chapter of the Wissler-Thomas/AAH relationship is the history captured in print by the CEO herself. Her book, “As the Paint Dries, the History of the Art Association of Harrisburg,” is more than a personal reflection on her life. It reads like a who’s who of both the association and the city that has supported the arts over the years. Rich in historical perspective, her lens lovingly recreates snapshots frozen in time from years predating her involvement with AAH and all the years since.

If longevity is a criteria for greatness, that box would be checked. If it’s the imprint one makes on a culture, then put an “x” in that box, as well. True greatness encompasses both and so much more. Greatness is measured on the tenets of enriching others’ lives and making the world a better place for all.

So, it is with a grateful heart that Harrisburg gets to acknowledge a veritable icon in the art world of central PA—Carrie Wissler-Thomas. Her orbit is as far-reaching as the number of lives she has touched throughout her career, equivalent to trying to count the stars in the sky.

2019 Gallery Walk is slated for Sunday, Sept. 8, 11 a.m. to 6 p.m. The Art Association of Harrisburg is located at 21 N. Front St., Harrisburg. For more information on both, visit www.artassocofhbg.com.

“The Painted Word” is an occasional column on the fine arts scene around Harrisburg.

Generation Now: For Julissa Morales, young people are the present and the future.

August 30, 2019 | by Maddie Conley

At the age of 11, Julissa Morales, the daughter of Mexican immigrants, stood on the state Capitol steps reciting her speech about her parents’ inability to get a driver’s license and the effect it had on her.

Her parents, Luis and Lorena Morales, had joined the Movement of Immigrant Leaders in PA (MILPA), doing advocacy work in the Harrisburg area, and Julissa quickly followed in their footsteps.

“As a kid, I didn’t even always know what I was talking about, but I wanted to help,” she said.

It’s been five years since her speech, and Julissa is now a 16-year-old senior at Harrisburg High School SciTech Campus. Most recently, she was named one of the two Pennsylvania Immigration and Citizenship Coalition’s (PICC) 2019 Youth Leaders.

Julissa hadn’t even known she was nominated. It was a shock that, out of all the youth across the state, she was chosen. MILPA’s Harrisburg coordinator, Maria Alejandra Hernandez, had nominated her.

But what came as a shock to Julissa was obvious to those from MILPA and PICC who knew her, as she has become so embedded and involved in the community on behalf of immigrants.

“She’s one of those people we need to look at,” said Maria Sotomayor, PICC’s deputy director. “I think she’s going to do big things.”

This year, Julissa joined the Harrisburg City Youth Council and networks with leaders in the community such as City Council members. She also has worked at the Latino Hispanic American Community Center, completing their LISTO program to enhance her leadership skills. She also was involved in the “Familias Separadas” mural.

Last year, Julissa attended the PICC Youth Convening, a weekend-long trip where 30 14- to 24-year-olds across the state meet to develop leadership skills, share their stories and connect with others like them. This is where she met Sotomayor.

“It is important to not just have young people in the front lines, but also making decisions and participating,” Sotomayor said. “Young people hold a lot for their families. Sometimes, we don’t talk about that.”

Julissa displayed the weight she carries as she has often thought, “This could be the last time my dad is coming home.”

Her parents never expected that she would become such a leader. She was always a shy child, but both explained how much they’ve seen her grow.

“Little by little, she started doing little things,” said Lorena, with Julissa translating her mother’s Spanish to English. “It’s really nice to see the young people standing up for things they believe in.”

Although her Capitol speech was five years ago, Julissa is still advocating for all immigrants to have access to driver’s licenses.

According to the National Conference of State Legislators, 13 states and Washington, D.C., currently allow “unauthorized immigrants to obtain a driver’s license.” In Pennsylvania, to get a license you must have certain identifiers such as a Social Security card or passport—documents some immigrants do not have.

Julissa sees this as especially challenging in central Pennsylvania, where mobility is a necessity.

However, when Julissa protests or participates in an advocacy event, she has a higher goal in mind than just persuasion.

“I don’t want to change your opinion,” she said. “I just want to get you to respect us and our community.”

Julissa attended the PICC Youth Convening again this year and hopes to continue to show people that the youth are not just the future, but the present.

“This is something that has to be done,” she said. “If I don’t, who else will?”

For more information on PICC visit, www.paimmigrant.org. To learn more about MILPA, visit www.milpaen-milpa.nationbuilder.com.

Pushing Each Other: At HARD, roller derby is used to empower, motivate.

August 30, 2019 | by Yaasmeen Piper

Photo by Ross Sieber | NRS Media Services.

I have to be honest—before going to the bout, my only knowledge of roller derby came from the 2009 film “Whip It.”

I remember watching the film and seeing elbow punches to the face and nose bleeds. So, when I walked into the Olympic Skating Center in Enola in July, part of me expected to see some bloodshed.

Well, that’s not roller derby at all. At least, not anymore.

Yes, of course, there was some shoving, but each move is practiced, like tackling in football. There are strict rules in roller derby, from what parts of the body are able to be hit or “checked,” down to how to fall properly.

I went into the bout knowing almost nothing about the sport, but by intermission, thanks to Danielle “De’Molish’Her” Moore, vice president of the Harrisburg Area Roller Derby or HARD team, I was less of a novice.

The game, or the “bout,” is broken down into two 30-minute periods. During each of these periods, there are smaller episodes called “jams.” During the jams, there is an average of five players from each team on the oval track. Only one person from each team has the ability to score—the “jammer,” who wears a big star on her helmet.

The other four players on the team are the blockers. The objective of the blockers is to make sure the other team’s jammer doesn’t pass them. If the jammer does pass the blockers, they score one point for each opposing player they pass.

On the rink, it was all focus and grave faces. But, during a time-out or intermission, you’d see players dancing or laughing with one another. There was even one player, “Razor De Rockefeller,” who pulled out her guitar and started playing a Misfits song.

“I don’t think it’s an angry sport at all,” said Khara Williams or “Rocky Galboa,” president of HARD. “I think that that’s a pretty common misconception about it. You see women playing a full-contact sport against one another and you assume that they’re trying to hurt one another, but it’s not like that at all.”

Sisterhood

Williams first heard about roller derby back in the 1980s. She had no clue the sport was still around until she found out her friend was part of a team in Japan. Before, she thought roller derby was just “wrestling on skates,” so when a Facebook ad for HARD popped up on her feed, she was hesitant.

“It took me three months to finally sign up,” she said. “I thought I was signing up for wrestling on skates. It’s very different now.”

Even though this modern version of roller derby has been around since the early 2000s, the women of HARD and other derby players still face stereotypes about who does and doesn’t play derby.

“A lot of people assume it’s a lot of angry lesbians,” Moore said with a laugh. “And I fit into that stereotype kind of. I mean, I’m not angry, but you know what I mean. We really do support the LGBTQ community, but I don’t want people to not come because they think we’re all a bunch of angry lesbians.”

People often questioned Williams’ decision to start playing derby. She is known as being a “gentle soul,” and playing derby to them seemed like the opposite of what a gentle soul should be doing.

“I don’t wanna hurt anybody, but I do enjoy the sport,” she said. “I enjoy the athleticism, I enjoy the challenge because it is a challenge. I also enjoy the sisterhood that goes along with it.”

Closer

In a little over a year, “fresh meat” Sorina Ly said HARD has become her family. Before going to her first recruitment night in August 2018, Ly hadn’t been on skates since she was 7 years old. It was the encouragement of her teammates that kept her getting back up every time she fell.

“It was so obvious that I was a disaster, but they were so kind and nice,” she said. “I think that it’s such a small community, and we’re all in it for each other. It’s so wonderful to see everyone empowering each other and looking out for one another.”

It’s undeniable how close this team is. Aside from spending two to three nights a week together practicing, they often go out for drinks as a team, volunteer or go to the gym together. They have become so close that, in the rink, some players can identify their teammates by the height of their shoulders, the way they move around the track, or by their skates.

Everyone I talked to said HARD has become a part of their family. Many players have developed new friendships, but two players have improved a relationship that was already in place.

Since joining HARD, spouses Arissa “Mad Thigh Moody” Brown and Stephanie “Grace HopHer” Leitch said that roller derby has brought some friendly and healthy competition to their marriage.

“We push each other in ways that we hadn’t necessarily pushed each other before,” Brown said.

Even though they challenge and push each other on the track, according to Leitch, the game has also brought them closer.

“I think having my spouse out on the track has been a really close bonding activity,” she said. “I mean, you’re literally out there fighting for each other.”

For HARD, being on the team is about more than just winning. A percentage of the proceeds from each bout goes to a local charity of their choosing. Some of the previous charities include Hounds of Prison Education, animal shelters and more. The team also volunteers at local food banks and animals rescues and participates in a quarterly clean up.

“You want to empower your community, you want to make your community better,” Williams said.“It is about awareness, but I think most of us just enjoy working in the places that we live and making it better.”

Along with empowering their community, HARD works to empower women.

“When most people think of women they think of us as the weaker sex,” Williams said. “I think that if these people jumped on the track with some roller derby players they’d… reassess.”

For more information on the Harrisburg Area Roller Derby and their upcoming bouts visit www.harrisburgarearollerderby.com.

Year of Living Symphonically: HSO opens its 90th season with a little madness, a lot of family.

August 30, 2019 | by Robert Naeye

Until I moved to the Harrisburg metro area in 2016, I had only attended concerts by globally celebrated symphony orchestras from big cities: Boston and Chicago.

So, when I attended my first Harrisburg Symphony Orchestra concert in 2017, I had modest expectations.

Like many first-time HSO concertgoers, my bar was set far too low. From my perspective as a classical aficionado, music Director Stuart Malina has performed miracles, transforming a regional orchestra into a first-class institution that also happens to play in a spectacular venue (the Forum).

“The Boston Symphony is the Boston Symphony, but we’re not that far below in terms of what we put out there,” said Malina, who jokingly calls the HSO “one of Harrisburg’s best-known secrets.” “I wish more people had a sense of how special it is to have this orchestra here.”

This coming season will mark Malina’s 20th year at the helm and the orchestra’s 90th anniversary. And it’s clear this season will be like none before.

“It’s an extra special year, and I really do feel like I have put together an extra special season,” he said. “Every concert really is a big event, and there are a lot of special things we don’t normally do.”

The Masterworks series kicks off with a bang on Oct. 5 and 6, with what the maestro calls “Malina Madness.” He will perform Mozart’s celebrated 26th Piano Concerto at the keyboard while simultaneously conducting the orchestra. He’ll close the show with Nikolai Rimsky-Korsakov’s “Scheherazade,” one of the most beloved pieces in the symphonic repertoire.

But what sets this concert apart is the fact that Malina will have the rare experience of conducting a 16-minute “Suite for Orchestra” written by his son, Zev. Besides being an accomplished pianist, this Central Dauphin High School senior has twice won the National Young Composers Challenge.

“For me, that will probably be the highlight of the season,” said the proud father. “The idea that I get to conduct my son’s music is—I can’t even say it’s a dream come true because it’s something I never even dreamed. It’s overwhelming.”

Zev composed the three-movement piece between the ages of 15 and 17. He submitted the second and third movements for the Young Composers Challenge, and both won the award for that year. He wrote the first movement specifically to complete the suite for the HSO.

“In all honesty, I got the ideas for all three movements actually just by sitting at a piano and messing around until something stuck,” said Zev.

The heroic first movement, “Maiden Voyage,” will be followed by a slower, impressionistic second movement, “Dreamscape.” Zev said that the fast third movement, “Ballet for Fighter Jets,” was influenced by Shostakovich and other Russian composers.

Stuart describes the work as “a wonderful piece of music that is thoroughly accessible.”

Malina said it’s “the peak of insanity” to follow the heightened emotional experience of conducting his son’s piece by playing and conducting the Mozart concerto. He wonders if he’ll fall apart during the applause and not be able to come out for the concerto.

Concerts in November and January present long-time favorites such as Maurice Ravel’s “Bolero,” Claude Debussy’s “La Mer” and Gustav Holst’s “The Planets.” A film will accompany the latter work, with imagery from the Hubble Space Telescope and NASA interplanetary probes.

Malina particularly looks forward to the Feb. 8 and 9 performances of the great American folk opera “Porgy and Bess,” written by George and Ira Gershwin, along with DuBose Heyward.

“This is something that we’ve talked about doing for a while, but it’s a very big project, a very expensive project,” said Malina, who added that the HSO can afford to perform this massive production because of money raised through its “Let the Music Grow” campaign a few years ago.

The three-hour performance will include an all-star cast and chorus. Malina said that the highlighted vocalists, Laquita Mitchell and Gordon Hawkins, “have performed ‘Porgy and Bess’ all over the world at the greatest opera houses.”

A March 14 and 15 concert will include works by Béla Bartók, the modern composer Kevin Puts and Pyotr Illyich Tchaikovsky, followed, the next month, by a special Beethoven birthday bash. These concerts, on April 18 and 19, will feature the great master’s Violin Concerto and his 6th Symphony, known as the “Pastoral” due to its inspiration from nature.

HSO concertmaster Peter Sirotin will perform the concerto’s solo violin parts.

“It’s incredibly difficult in ways that are not obvious to a listener because it doesn’t include technical elements found in Paganini or Sibelius,” said Sirotin, who also directs Market Square Concerts with his wife, Ya-Ting Chang. “But it requires a very disciplined approach to execution and interpretation.”

Sirotin added that he can’t specify the number of hours he’ll practice before his performances, but it’s a piece for which he has prepared his entire life.

“What I love about the piece on a personal level is its spirit of optimism, celebration of life and humanity,” he said.

The Masterworks series closes on May 16 and 17 with performances of Johannes Brahms, the contemporary Maryland composer Jonathan Leshnoff and Sergei Rachmaninoff.

Malina is equally excited by the Pops Concert series, which adds an additional pair of concerts this season for a total of five. The opening and closing shows will serve as tributes to the great American artists Aretha Franklin and John Williams. Two others spotlight the critically acclaimed vocalists Michael Cavanaugh and Lisa Vroman.

Malina is particularly eager for the Jan. 25 and 26 performances of “South Pacific,” the great Rodgers & Hammerstein’s Broadway extravaganza. Like the HSO, this musical is experiencing its 90th anniversary. And Malina said that, like “Porgy and Bess,” it’s a huge production that can only be staged after sufficient funds have been raised.

“We will do the entire show, with an entire New York cast, and with casting from Broadway veterans,” Malina said. “It will be a great show.”

He hopes that these performances will draw big audiences.

“Each person exponentially increases the energy of the concert,” he said.

For more information about the Harrisburg Symphony Orchestra’s 2019-20 season, visit www.harrisburgsymphony.org.

Travels with “Charlie”: Harrisburg native Kara Grace Miller has a show, will travel.

August 30, 2019 | by Maddie Conley

Currently, Kara Grace Miller is travelling in and out of the country screening her new mini-series, “Cheer Up, Charlie.” However, it was only a handful of years ago that she was working her first job at Midtown Cinema.

“I can still say it was the best job I ever had,” she said.

As a high school senior at Capital Area School for the Arts (CASA), 17-year-old Miller would get out of school and walk the city streets leading to the cinema. She would typically work a half shift scooping ice cream or selling movie tickets and then close up for the night. The best part, though, came when she got to watch the films for herself. Here, she saw her first foreign film and documentary and was exposed to the indie film scene.

“It was an opportunity for me to explore something I didn’t know about before,” Miller said. “It’s funny because now I’m doing it.”

Hilarious

Growing up in Susquehanna Township, Miller remembers her freshman year of high school performing “Hairspray.” That was when she became serious about acting.

“I remember watching her going through the process of realizing how much she loved performing,” said Stuart Landon, producing artistic director of Open Stage.

Miller went on to performing and working with Landon at the Harrisburg-based theater company. She also made the switch from public to charter school at CASA to further her education in the arts.

Although she loved Harrisburg and often misses it, Miller wanted to go to acting school. After graduating, she packed up and headed to New York City to attend the Atlantic Acting School.

About two years out of school, Miller has already completed most of her first big project.

“We were waiting for people to hand us opportunities,” Miller said. “But we decided, ‘Let’s make our own opportunities.’”

“Cheer up, Charlie” is a series of six 10-minute shows produced and co-written by Miller. Oh yeah, she’s also the lead actor.

“For a long time, I had this idea of this little adorable, Taylor Swift-like, white girl and then…she sells weed,” Miller said. “I thought that was hilarious.”

The series is about a 20-year-old aspiring music artist (played by Miller) who decides to sell drugs to pay for her mother’s medical bills for cancer treatments.

Although Miller doesn’t think she is too similar to her character Charlie, much of the emotion is familiar. When Miller was 14, her mother was diagnosed with breast cancer.

“What you see them going through is the true part of the show,” she said.

“Cheer up Charlie” was co-written by Anthony Holiday, one of Miller’s peers from Atlantic. There were five producers and 14 actors in the cast. Behind the camera, Miller had a very specific goal in mind—to have the crew reflect those the show is about.

Eleven out of the 12 days they were on set, Miller had an all-female crew. She also purposefully sought out a woman of color to direct the show.

“This story is about underrepresented groups, so that should be who’s telling it,” she said.

Back to the Burg

This past May, Miller returned to Midtown Cinema, not to scoop ice cream or pass out popcorn, but to host the premier of the pilot episode of her own show in the same room where her love for indie films began. It was an experience she wouldn’t forget.

“When a whole group of people laughs, I know we’ve done our job,” she said.

Getting to this point wasn’t necessarily easy for Miller. Landon explained how being an artist isn’t for just anyone.

“Being in the entertainment industry and being in the arts is very hard,” he said. “There are very few people who I’ve said, ‘You really have this, and you have a great idea.’ Kara was one of those people.”

In addition to Harrisburg, “Cheer up, Charlie” has premiered in New York, Toronto, London and Miami at various film festivals and screenings.

Miller plans to continue showing the world “Cheer up Charlie” while meeting with companies to discuss distribution of the show, allowing for the greater public to see it.

“It was a very big thing to take on,” she explained. “It has grown even bigger than what I thought I was getting myself into.”

To keep up with Kara Grace Miller and her work, you can follow her on her Facebook at www.facebook.com/kara.miller.184 or Instagram at www.instagram.com/karagracenyc.

Growth Stage: As Penn State Harrisburg has evolved and expanded, so has its theater space.

August 30, 2019 | by Yaasmeen Piper

Just over four years ago, Penn State Harrisburg’s student theater volunteers were struggling for room on stage.

At times, they had to seek theaters off campus because there just wasn’t enough space.

“Prior to this building, the theatrical offerings were very much based on—we have a small space and we only have this much room. We’re going to do a show specifically based on that,” said Adam Gustafson, musical director of the Kulkarni Theatre. “Now, I feel like it is the other way around.”

Penn State Harrisburg opened the doors to its Kulkarni Theatre in August 2016. Named after retired Chancellor Mukund S. Kulkarni, the theater features 355 seats (more than their previous two theaters combined,) a new lighting and sound system, upgraded backstage areas for the actors, and, yes, a bigger stage.

“There have also been massive changes on campus. On top of that, the programing is changing as well,” Gustafson said. “Our arts programs, in large part due to this space, have taken major leaps forward in what we’ve been able to offer both on the theater and music side.”

With the renovations came the theater’s most advanced lighting and sound system yet. The new LED lighting system allows whoever is in control to change the stage’s lighting scheme directly from an iPad. According to Matt Mitra, the theater’s technical director, the new advanced lighting and sound system is on par with Broadway and other high-end theaters.

Not only does this increase the theater’s production quality, but it gives students a chance to work and learn with an advanced system. Before, all the lighting, sound controls and costumes came from outside the theater. Now, the college offers a full experience for students, including lighting and sound control, set building, costume designing and more.

“We really are operating with state-of-the-art technology,” Mitra said. “Just to be able to learn on the equipment, and to use it, it’s an incredible opportunity for Penn State and also for the students.”

The first student production in the updated space was “Avenue Q,” which Maria Enriquez, Penn State’s theater professor, called a “rated R version of ‘Sesame Street.’” The show follows a puppet named Princeton who tries to find his purpose in life. Along the way, he meets a number of other puppet and human characters, gaining life experience from them.

According to Mitra, “Avenue Q” had one of their highest attendances. “It was quite the experience. We really hit a grand slam with it.”

Along with their student productions, the theater hosts lectures, orientations and the “Mukund S. Kulkarni Cultural Series,” a series of performances from national and international artists.

According to Teri Guerrisi, arts manager of the Kulkarni Theatre, the goal of the cultural series is to educate and entertain Penn State students through a blend of modern and traditional performances. Some of their past performances include Namaste India, a folk and classical dance group, Nobuntu, a female a capella group from Zimbabwe, and the Fitzgeralds, a Celtic fiddling and step-dancing family from Canada.

“I’m not trying to brag, but this has become the premier venue on campus,” Guerrisi said.

This year’s fall student production will be Oscar Wilde’s “The Importance of Being Earnest.” The production will be guest-directed by Robert Campbell, theater teacher at Capital Area School for the Arts. For the spring musical, the team is stepping outside its usual zone for Joe Masteroff’s “Cabaret.”

Even though the space is mostly used for Penn State students, Guerrisi wants community members to know that the theater is available to them, as well.

“I think we were a bit isolated at times,” she said. “We hope this brings community people here on campus—that they feel welcomed, not only to our venue but all parts of the campus.”

Enriquez is excited to continue high-quality productions on the Kulkarni stage.

“The work that we do at Penn State Harrisburg is comparable to the work that other universities are doing,” she said. “We’re no longer just a commuter campus. We’re able to offer high-quality productions and high-quality events to our students because they want that and they deserve that.”

For more information on the Kulkarni Theatre and upcoming shows, visit harrisburg.psu.edu/kulkarni-theatre.

Assessing the Past, Insuring the Future: Over a century, Penn National’s commitment to Harrisburg runs deep.

August 30, 2019 | by M. Diane McCormick

Call it an executive suite ah-ha moment.

Penn National Insurance officials brainstorming the words to describe their company produced “vibrant.” Also “innovative,” “personable” and “resilient.” Especially “resilient,” infused into a company always trying something new, “no matter how difficult the situation.”

That’s Penn National Insurance President and CEO Christine Sears talking. Around that same time, Sears and her team were preparing for Penn National Insurance’s 2019 centennial, excavating historical nuggets spanning the company’s agrarian origins to its position today providing property and casualty insurance in 11 states.

“We saw how it all came together, and we said that’s exactly right,” Sears said. “This is something that has been in our company for 100 years. We build trust, and we’re caring, and we build strong relationships. We’ve been rewarded by customers who have been loyal to us and continue to do business with us.”

Penn National Insurance is many things, all mirroring the milestones of Harrisburg and national history. It’s that building anchoring Market Square, a landmark in downtown Harrisburg’s turnaround that also leveraged historic preservation. It is a major supporter of education and civic needs. It stands among the top 10 percent of property-casualty insurers in the country.

The company dates to 1913, when enraged farmers created the Pennsylvania Threshermen’s and Farmers’ Protective Association to protest a state law limiting weights on the hulking shared equipment they drove from farm to farm.

After they won repeal in 1915, they turned their attention to workers’ compensation insurance—high on the nation’s agenda since the tragic 1911 Triangle Shirtwaist factory fire in New York. The feisty Threshermen’s Association balked at paying the exorbitant premiums charged by government and private companies. So, on Jan. 6, 1919, the Pennsylvania Threshermen’s and Farmers’ Mutual Casualty Insurance Company filed for a charter.

As the eventful decades of the 20th century unfolded, the company kept pace, branching into industrial coverage. By the 1940s, auto insurance was big. Home and fire insurance joined the lineup in the post-war building (and baby) boom. In 1967, the name changed to Penn National Insurance.

There were down times and crises, missteps and reorganizations. CEO Sears recalled that recovering from a ratings slide in the 1980s required raising additional capital while being transparent in a bid to retain the business of loyal agents.

“You constantly learn and constantly research,” she said. “You understand what’s going on and try your best to put the puzzle together.”

At Linglestown-based Enders Insurance Associates, Penn National Insurance has been “one of our team’s best partners for close to 70 years,” since the company took a chance on rookie agent Donald Enders, Sr., said grandson and Vice President Andrew Enders.

“If they make a promise, they keep it,” he said. “They communicate openly and honestly with us and their clients. They’re good community partners, and they don’t flaunt it.”

All for Harrisburg

Penn National Insurance has never strayed far from its first office in downtown Harrisburg.

By the 1990s, the company had outgrown its landlocked, three-building campus at 18th and Market streets (landlocked because the owner of Sorrento Pizza refused to sell his building, to the eternal gratitude of staff in what’s now Harrisburg school district’s Rowland Academy). The suburbs—parking, no flood plain, bigger footprint—beckoned.

Mayor Steve Reed had other ideas. His legendary persuasion, plus a $2.7 million sweetener from the state and the company’s hard-nosed negotiations for air rights and parking, convinced then-CEO Jim Taylor to build in Market Square.

Except that historic but largely gutted office buildings occupied the site. Perhaps the Senate Hotel’s brownstone façade could be incorporated into the new design. Then again, “that can be tricky, and sometimes you never know what you’re getting into,” said Historic Harrisburg Association Executive Director David Morrison, involved in the negotiations then in his first stint as HHA director.

“Lo and behold, it turned out it was a top-heavy building and didn’t have a lot of structural reinforcement,” he said.

A Penn National Insurance official said that saving the façade would cost $130,000, with no guarantee of success. Morrison counter-proposed. Why not commit $130,000 to historic preservation in the community and HHA would withdraw objection to demolition, “which may or may not be inevitable, anyway?”

The Senate façade came down. Revenue from salvage rights bolstered HHA operations. The $130,000 seeded creation of the Community Historic Preservation Fund, which now stands at more than $239,000. Trustees have disbursed $100,000 in grants and loans for historic preservation and advocacy.

“There’s not much historic preservation money out there anymore, and this is all for Harrisburg,” Morrison said.

That original deal also launched a fruitful relationship, with Penn National Insurance sponsoring HHA events, and employees serving on the HHA board and committees.

The 15-story Penn National Insurance Plaza opened in 1996.

“Local historians view our coming downtown in the late ‘90s as the turning of the tide that reversed the trend of businesses moving out of Harrisburg,” said company spokesman Christopher Markley. “Bringing 500-plus employees downtown saw revitalization of restaurants and other businesses.”

Fabric of Community

Since the days when Penn National Insurance employees volunteered at Melrose Elementary School next door to their 18th Street campus, the company has committed extensive financial and volunteer support to the Harrisburg Public Schools Foundation, the Joshua Group and Dauphin County Library System.

“They are focused on education, and not just traditional education, but all of those supplemental pieces that really make up the fabric of a community,” said Enders.

Penn National Insurance annually donates the maximum $333,333.33 allowed in earned income tax credits to the Harrisburg Public Schools Foundation, said Executive Director Chris Baldrige. Total contributions of $6.5 million have brought health education to students and families, boosted early learning, sent students to Messiah College summer camps, helped high school students earn college credits and backed STEAM learning.

“Penn National Insurance is definitely a leader in supporting Harrisburg and the foundation and supporting the students and the entire community,” said Baldrige. “They are a great example of doing good within your own neighborhood and your community.”

United Way of the Capital Region has benefitted from Penn National Insurance’s “time, talent and treasure” for decades, said Executive Director Tim Fatzinger. Dollar-for-dollar matches have generated $10.5 million in combined employee-employer donations in the last 10 years. Volunteers swing hammers and sling paintbrushes for United Way Day of Caring. Company officials serve on United Way committees, such as the IT security expert who “saves us a ton of money” by sharing his knowledge.

Charitable organizations have “fewer and fewer” local companies to call on for support, Fatzinger said.

“By choosing to stay local and to support local entities and be involved in the community, it improves quality of life for all of us,” he said.

Community involvement is “a part of our fabric,” said Sears. “If you’re at the theater or an arts event or a soup kitchen, you will likely find one of our employees volunteering. It is a good basis for what makes Harrisburg strong.”

Sears is a Steelton-raised, Bishop McDevitt-HACC-Penn State Harrisburg product who said that she has “never strayed far because I enjoy the Harrisburg hbg area.” She joined Penn National Insurance as a financial analyst in accounting in 1980 and, like many employees, grew her career from the inside up.

Today’s diverse workforce generates “different perspectives, (helping) us be able to be more agile, to have different thought processes,” Sears said.

She believes that Penn National Insurance has been a good, stable corporate citizen and employer, “and through that, we have contributed to the community both from an intellectual capacity, but as importantly, from a community and philanthropic opportunity.”

Her hope for the next 100 years?

“Absolutely more of the same,” she said. “That we just continue to be able to thrive and change and be resilient and continue to make a contribution.”

Penn National Insurance is located at 2 N. 2nd St., Harrisburg. For more information, visit their website.

TheBurg thanks Russ Banham, author of “Penn National Insurance: 100 Years of Helping People Feel Secure and Making Life Better When Bad Things Happen,” for historical background.

History Is for the Young: Not yet out of college, Cooper Wingert has published a dozen books.

August 30, 2019 | by Robert Naeye

Harrisburg residents may not realize that, during the Civil War, Confederate forces nearly captured their city.

On June 29, 1863, advanced elements of Robert E. Lee’s army reached modern-day 28th Street in Camp Hill. Then they received orders to march south to Gettysburg, a stroke of luck that probably spared the state capital and its inexperienced militia defenders.

“Harrisburg came within a day or two of a major Confederate assault,” said local historian Cooper Wingert.

Its loss, he added, “would have been terrible P.R. for Lincoln and the Union war effort.”

Wingert is in a position to know. He has published a dozen books on the Civil War-era history of south-central Pennsylvania. He has lectured widely, won numerous awards for historical research and recently signed books at Midtown Scholar and the Gettysburg Visitor Center.

This is despite the fact he’s only 21 years old.

This history wunderkind is starting his senior year at Dickinson College in Carlisle. But he had the rare experience of seeing his own works in the campus bookstore before attending a single class.

Go Write It

Wingert grew up in Enola. While attending fifth grade at East Pennsboro Elementary School, a field trip to Gettysburg triggered his fascination with Civil War history.

“It was a pretty amazing experience to learn about where a regiment was and then be able to stand in that same spot and then envision how the whole battle unfolded,” he recalled.

Inspired to do his own research, Wingert self-published his first book at the tender age of 12, titled “Virginian in the Vanguard.” He edited and annotated this diary of Confederate Lt. Hermann Schuricht, part of the force that approached Harrisburg in 1863.

Around the same time, the precocious author self-published a diary of a Union artilleryman who was defending Harrisburg.

Shortly thereafter, Wingert wrote the definitive account of a little-known skirmish called the Battle of Sporting Hill. This Union victory, the northernmost engagement of the Gettysburg campaign, flared up on June 30, 1863. The stone foundation of the barn that was center of the action can be seen from the overpass where route 581 crosses the Carlisle Pike.

Realizing that there was no recent book that summarized Confederate movements near Harrisburg, Wingert heeded the advice of acclaimed author Toni Morrison: “If there’s a book you want to read that doesn’t exist, then you can go write it.”

So, in 2012, at age 14, he published “The Confederate Approach on Harrisburg.” He estimates that sales exceeded 5,000 copies, his best-selling book to date.

Seen It Before

When researching a book, Wingert consults original sources such as diaries, newspapers and government documents. Living near the state archives in Harrisburg has been a big plus, as has his close proximity to Carlisle’s Army Heritage Center.

But Wingert also credits the internet as “an amazing way to find sources.” It makes the jobs of historians easier because of searchable digitized databases with tens of thousands of newspapers and other archival materials.

Besides military history, Wingert has written books about abolitionists and the Underground Railroad in south-central Pennsylvania. In them, he emphasized that most slaves escaped on their own and that the Underground Railroad basically served as “a reception committee for runaway slaves.”

His latest research has focused on Richard McAllister, the federal government’s notorious fugitive slave commissioner in Harrisburg. McAllister’s job was to arrest runaway slaves from the South so they could be returned to their masters. McAllister ruthlessly enforced the law with indifference to human suffering.

“He was taking advantage of his job for his own self-aggrandizement,” Wingert said. “That’s when Harrisburg’s white community turned against him.”

McAllister’s actions eventually triggered so much outrage that he was driven out of town in disgrace.

In late May, the California military publisher Savas Beatie released Wingert’s most recent book, “Targeted Tracks: The Cumberland Valley Railroad in the Civil War, 1861-1865.” He co-authored this volume with York County historian Scott Mingus.

This railroad ran from Harrisburg to Hagerstown, Md. The Union used it to transport troops and vital supplies.

“It was a pretty crucial stretch,” Wingert stressed. “It was the target of three Confederate invasions.”

The southerners managed to tear up tracks all the way to Mechanicsburg during the Gettysburg campaign. But Union workers repaired the railroad within days of the Confederate retreat.

Wingert also has a fascination with Australian history. Last year, he spent six months at the University of Queensland in Brisbane and recently won an award for writing the best undergraduate essay.

Besides his passion for history, Wingert is a fan of the Baltimore Ravens and golfer Rory McIlroy. He said that golf is his biggest interest outside history and that he can occasionally break 80 on one of several local courses.

Wingert is currently applying to graduate schools and plans to earn a Ph.D. After that, he hopes to become an academic historian while continuing to write accessible books for the general public.

Like many historians, Wingert draws parallels between the past and present. Political commentators frequently cite the deep divide in modern America. But as a historian of the 19th century and slavery, Wingert can provide an informed perspective.

“It’s not something that completely astonishes me because I’ve seen it before in studying the 1850s,” he said. “Not that people shouldn’t be worried, but history shows that this is not entirely unprecedented.”

Bears on Film: A local naturalist shows us what’s walking around the woods.

August 30, 2019 | by Lawrance Binda

“Possum.”

“Deer.”

“Chipmunk.”

John Kelly quickly flipped through the files on his phone to separate the keepers from the discards.

The central PA woods, I found out one day last month, can be divided into two broad categories: interesting wildlife and not-so-interesting wildlife.

The less interesting includes anything run-of-the-mill—your squirrels, your groundhogs, most birds. The interesting: major ground fauna like bears and bobcats. Deer fall somewhere in the middle, depending on what they’re doing and, especially, whether they have cute little fawns with them.

The red-bearded Kelly let me tag along with him on a warm August day as he waded through brush, bounded over logs and darted through groves of trees to check on his six trail cameras—and install a seventh—in the woods around Peter’s and Broad mountains in northern Dauphin County.

For the past few years, he’s set up increasingly sophisticated cameras, usually strapped tightly to trees, on land where he has permission to roam. Once a week or so, he traipses through the woods, visits his cameras and eagerly downloads whatever they’ve captured since his last visit.

He pops the memory card into his phone and quickly reviews the dozens of images starring whatever unsuspecting creature may have triggered the shutter. Bears, bobcats and, even rarer, eagles almost always make the cut. For the opossums, insects and squirrels—sorry guys, but it’s usually delete, delete, delete.

He then posts the stills and videos to his Instagram and Facebook pages.

That’s how I ended up in the middle of the woods on a spectacularly beautiful mid-summer day. Years ago, I had digitally befriended Kelly, who’s otherwise known to me as the fishmonger at the Broad Street Market, the guy behind JB Kelly Seafood Connection. Then, one day, he began posting images of stalking bobcat, majestic bucks and endlessly curious black bears. I was immediately hooked.

Now, the forest isn’t my usual haunt, as regular readers of this column may know. I typically comment on life along the asphalt streets and concrete sidewalks of Harrisburg. City hall, not an old Indian trail, is where you’ll find me.

But I wanted to venture out with Kelly to find out what he does and why he does it. This is a dimension of life in central PA that I rarely experience, even though it’s so close by.

Put simply, Kelly is a modern-day naturalist. Like a lot of young men, he once blasted through nature on motorbikes and ATVs and blasted at nature from a stand high in a tree. But, now in middle age, he doesn’t hunt anymore.

“My son hunts,” he said. “I think it’s fine, but it doesn’t interest me.”

Today, Kelly’s shooting is confined to pictures and video. He still steps into the woods with a purpose and takes something out with him when he leaves. It’s just that his harvest now is not measured in bag limits, but in image files, which he uploads and shares with his friends, with other nature cam enthusiasts and with lurkers like me.

He also forages, especially for mushrooms. During our trip, he discovered a sprawling “chicken of the woods,” an orange-hued, edible mushroom so large that he gave chunks of it to his parents, some to a friend and still had enough to sauté for our lunch, which he mixed in with a few choice scallops he had brought from his seafood stand.

“This just shot up overnight,” he said, before taking out a small knife, harvesting it and stuffing it into his bag. “No bugs, no tears. It’s perfect.”

He’s still learning about mushrooms, he said, and, in fact, had just returned from the three-day MycoSymbiotics Mushroom & Arts Festival at Camp Reily. He’s also learning how best to film nature: which cameras work well, how to get good shots, how to bear-proof equipment after several cameras fell victim to teeth and claws.

He’s not opposed to making small adjustments to the environment. A few months back, he found a deer skull and set it on a pole to see if it would attract interest, which it did. Recently, he created a drinking area by loosely damming up a small stream with a few logs.

On the day I visited, the watering hole was a huge success. Numerous grateful animals had rewarded his efforts by stopping by in the mid-summer heat, getting caught on camera in the process.

“Well, this worked out,” he said, as we watched a thirsty bear cub and then its mama bend over for a drink, filmed two nights before.

I left the woods that day feeling refreshed, as only a long day in nature can do. But it also showed me something I rarely experience—a constructive use of social media.

As a news guy, my exposure to sites like Twitter and Facebook is generally not positive at all. My feeds are lousy with partisan food fights, calculated attacks and accusations posing as facts.

But wait a second. There’s a 15-second clip of a spotted fawn reaching up to nuzzle her mother or a lumbering bear making its way through a grassy meadow. For a brief moment, there’s peaceful distraction, and my day seems a little better for the break.

To see John Kelly’s wildlife images, visit his Instagram page at @jkelly2272.

Lawrance Binda is editor-in-chief of TheBurg.

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