Laurie McCall: I’m from Lehigh Valley originally. I went to college to be a teacher, went to grad school to be a teacher, started out at York College and then came to Penn in 1992.
Street: How’d you first get involved in performing arts at Penn?
LM: Interestingly enough, I was working part–time and just managing some pre–orientation programs, mainly PennQuest. I became full–time eventually, and we brought pre–orientation in conjunction with performing arts under Platt House. I started working here in 2007.
Street: Has your time in the wilderness with PennQuest influenced your experience at Platt?
LM: Yes, well, in the broader sense: student leaders are student leaders, and managing PennQuest is much more difficult than managing student performing arts groups, because they sometimes even have no cell service out in the woods. So if you can handle anything that goes wrong with PennQuest out in the woods, you can handle anything that goes wrong with a performance.
Street: What is the space of Platt itself like?
LM: It’s a place to come to rehearse, to just bang on a piano, to sing, to dance, to get involved with groups already here or just to work and hang out and get coffee.
Street: What are some lesser–known groups based in Platt?
LM: Penn Duree is a Korean Drumming group that also has some choreography to it—it’s very interesting and colorful; Without a Net or Simply Chaos, our comedy groups; a dance group called Yalla. They’re Middle Eastern dance—you might not realize what belly dancing really is until you watch them.
Street: What can we look forward to in the upcoming weeks?
LM: Collaborative shows. One Acts Theater Festival and the Emily Dance Benefit—you can see a lot of people performing for good causes. We always welcome people to participate in community service, our after–school programs, ticket donations and workshops for schools. We’re also starting an alumni–mentoring program with alumni in the arts and entertainment industry.
Street: What are your long–term goals for the arts at Penn?
LM: We’re always looking for better ways to use our space. We just got a new dance studio for non–PAC groups. We’re looking to collaborate with as many other groups on campus as possible and to build those connections.
