Thelma Price has had a lot of kids.

The 82-year-old, who retired from her position as assistant vice president of Student Affairs in 1986, refers to all Penn State students as her "kids," which explains where her nickname "Mom" comes from.

"Without all of my kids, life wouldn't have been as full as it has been," she said.

But Price, who also started the free soup kitchen Mom's Kitchen (now called the Bread Basket Community Kitchen) in 2002 in the basement of the Wesley Student Center, 256 E. College Ave, said her service has never been about her.

"I'm here to help you walk your path," she said.

Her humility aside, a show this weekend, Women Hold Up Half the Sky, will pay tribute to Price and other African-American women.

The performance, which will combine singing, dance and spoken word, will be presented at 7 p.m. Sunday at the State Theatre, 130 W. College Ave.

Kikora Franklin, a dance professor and producer of the show, organized the event.

She said the night will include a performance by singer and professor Elaine Richardson, known as "Dr. E" on stage, and a tribute to Price, in addition to the presentation of Women Hold Up Half the Sky.

Franklin's mother, a short-term distinguished visiting professor with the Penn State Institute for the Arts and Humanities Terrie Ajile Axam, wrote the piece, which combines African music and dance, contemporary song and spoken word, in 1980.

Axam said the title of the performance comes from a quote by the Chinese leader Mao Tse-Tung and is "symbolic of the strength of the African-American woman."

Axam classified Women Hold Up Half the Sky as a "dancical" -- a production that has a story driven mainly by dancing, instead of a musical, which is driven by song.

Franklin said she first performed in her mother's work when she was 10 years old at The King Center in Atlanta and would have had an on-stage role in this production, but is unable because she is pregnant.

Franklin said the production, falling directly after Black History Month in February and in the beginning of Women's History Month in March,

commemorates black women's experiences through history, traveling from Africa during the slave trade and continuing through the Civil Rights Movement and into more modern times.

NOMMO, a student-run African dance ensemble at Penn State, is co-sponsoring the production and will perform at the event.

The cast of Women Hold Up Half the Sky will include about 15 to 20 performers, Franklin said, including a few professional dancers and a drummer from Atlanta.

Axam, a "cultural" artist, said she first began working on the piece as an undergraduate student at Princeton University and was inspired by her love of drumbeats, music and her heritage, especially after she met her great-grandmother, Ida.

"It was like Africa was in her, and I knew it was in me," Axam said.

The piece draws on research Axam did with original slave narratives that she found in plastic-covered, tattered volumes.

"I came closer to these details, which made my heritage less like a myth," she said.

Franklin said Women Hold Up Half the Sky is meant to raise awareness of African and African-American cultures, and embraces the State College community.

"It's an evening dedicated to promoting artistic expression and real-life people who make a difference," she said.

Price said she was looking forward to the performance, especially the dancing, but said credit for any difference she's made doesn't belong exclusively to her.

"It's easier to walk along a rough road when you're holding hands and walking together," Price said.

Many people that serve the community also deserve to be recognized, she said, and this performance helps recognize women in general.

"There are a lot of women on campus and in this town that hold up half the sky," she said. "It's about all of us."