If the world feels a little too loud lately, you’re not alone, and you’re not without options.

“Solos in Solidarity: Performing an Ethics of Care” is coming to Penn State April 7–10, offering four days of workshops and performances centered on how to take care of ourselves and each other when everything feels like a lot.

Workshops will take place at 3 Dots Downtown and the Palmer Museum of Art, with a final showcase hosted at 3 Dots Downtown.

Through a mix of storytelling, theater, writing, and filmmaking, participants will learn how to create and perform their own solo pieces. The event is all about expression, processing, and being heard. Whether that’s through scripted scenes, improvisation, or creative experimentation. It doesn’t need to fit neatly into a box.

With ideas like Paulo Freire’s “conscientização” and Tarana Burke’s “empowerment through empathy” working as the foundation, the workshops lean into the belief that care can be a form of resistance. It echoes Audre Lorde’s assertion that self-care isn’t indulgent, but necessary for survival and for building something better.

The workshop is led by Penn State faculty Michelle Rodino-Colocino, Pearl Gluck, Karen Keifer-Boyd, and Teresa Hamilton, alongside actor and director Maggie Metnick and consulting counselor Christy Beck.

More information can be found on their website and Instagram.