The BSR Weekly Arts and Culture Roundup, November 21-27, 2024
Holiday cheer, VinylCon, Sip & Paint, and more
Holiday-themed events from NextFab, Ensemble Arts, and Hedgerow Theatre, a vinyl and recorded media event takes over the weekend, and a wellness workshop to get ready for the season. Kyle V. Hiller previews.
Previews
4 minute read
BSR's popular PR webinar for artists is happening again on November 21, 2024
Learn the basics of arts and culture PR with experienced editors and publicists
Everyone deserves a chance to learn the basics of good PR, especially artists and other independent creators and administrators. Join our November 21 HELP US HELP YOU webinar for tons of tips and a Q&A with PR experts.
Previews
2 minute read
At BSR, our values do not change based on elections.
Justice is not a self-improvement project.
We offer a huge range of opinions here at BSR from journalists who know what they’re talking about. But this diversity of opinion is built on the value of respect for our shared humanity. We will keep that respect no matter what. Will you join us?
Editorials
5 minute read
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Rashid Zakat and the Uses of the Ironic
How the spirit shows up
Multimedia artist Rashid Zakat’s exhibit at Asian Arts Initiative is a meditation on music, joy, and spiritual vitality. John Morrison profiles.
Profiles
3 minute read
Brandywine Museum of Art presents The Crafted World of Wharton Esherick
A rare gallery glimpse of iconic woodworks
Wood comes alive in The Crafted World of Wharton Esherick, now on view at the Brandywine Museum of Art. It’s a rare chance to see the interdisciplinary artist’s full oeuvre outside his historic home. Gail Obenreder reviews.
Reviews
5 minute read
Theatre Ariel presents Maya Arad Yasur’s Amsterdam
Layered narratives
The first mainstage production in over a decade for Theatre Ariel fronts an historic bill with contemporary perspective. Josh Herren reviews.
Reviews
2 minute read
The Center for Emerging Visual Artists presents Thesentür/The Thinker: Nina Simone and the Politics of Music
Lines of inquiry
A new solo exhibition by Philly conceptual artist and writer Theodore A. Harris, inspired by Nina Simone’s history with the Curtis Institute, questions the ways that art, artists, patrons, and money are bound together. Emily B. Schilling reviews.
Reviews
4 minute read
BSR Podcast, Season 9 Episode 5: Directors Seth Rozin and J Paul Nicholas on InterAct's Moreno
BSR Podcast host Darnelle Radford sits down with Seth Rozin and J Paul Nicholas, co-directors of the American premiere of Pravin Wilkins's Moreno.
Podcast
1 minute read
The African American Museum in Philadelphia presents Shared Vision: Portraits from The CCH Pounder-Koné Collection
Honoring Black women who look up and out
In an exhibition curated exclusively for AAMP, arts patron and prolific actor CCH Pounder opens up her significant and uplifting portrait collection for Philly audiences. An Nichols reviews.
Reviews
4 minute read
Lantern Theater Company presents Keith Hamilton Cobb’s American Moor
A fresh take on Othello and the racial politics of American theater
Keith Hamilton Cobb’s American Moor, which follows a Black actor reluctantly auditioning for an Othello helmed by a white director, gets its Philly premiere at the Lantern. An Nichol reviews.
Reviews
4 minute read
A new take on cooking with Margaret Eby's You Gotta Eat
Fluctuating energy culinary skills
Food writer and editor Margaret Eby's new cookbook lays out creative plans for when your energy may be running low. Anndee Hochman previews.
Previews
3 minute read
Brian Sanders’ JUNK presents Urban Scuba
A renewed dive
Brian Sanders’ JUNK presents a limited-run showcase of Urban Scuba featuring a new musical score. Melissa Strong previews.
Previews
3 minute read
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Also on BSR
BalletX presents it 2024 Fall Series with Matthew Neenan, Takehiro Ueyama, and Marguerite Donlon
A Fall Series for the future
BalletX kicks off its 19th season with more dancers, a new venue, and works by Marguerite Donlon, Matthew Neenan, and Takehiro Ueyama. The works showcase the quality and range of the company but lack programmatic cohesion. Melissa Strong reviews.
Reviews
4 minute read
The Academy of Natural Sciences presents The Ecology of Fashion
Getting thrifty with it
The new exhibition at the Academy of Natural Sciences of Drexel University explores how fashion impacts our environment and our everyday lives. An Nichols previews.
Previews
2 minute read
BSR Classical Interludes, more music in November 2024
From Italy to Delaware, the legend of Fairmount String Quartet, and more
LyricFest, Delaware Symphony, the Fairmount String Quartet and others close out November with classical offerings in the Philly area. Gail Obenreder previews.
Previews
4 minute read
The BSR Weekly Arts and Culture Roundup, November 14-20, 2024
The Coronation, Amsterdam, Making Strange, and more
Preserving art with Afromation Avenue, Theatre Ariel’s premiere of Amsterdam, PAFA opens Making Strange, and more. Kyle V. Hiller rounds up.
Previews
3 minute read
The BSR Podcast: season 9, episode 4: Simone Lawrence on The Coronation: An All-Black Drag King Show and Art Exhibition
Fine art, Black excellence, and the diversity of Philly's own Black drag kings
Podcast host Darnelle Radford sits down with Philly drag king Simone Lawrence about a Saturday, November 16, event at Prism Arts Philadelphia featuring fine art, drag, and the community we need.
Podcast
1 minute read
Resident Ensemble Players presents Tom Stoppard’s Rough Crossing
Choppy seas for a rare farce
Resident Ensemble Players at the University of Delaware takes on Tom Stoppard’s rarely produced Rough Crossing, but it’s choppy seas, despite a cast that is well-known for excellent farce. Gail Obenreder reviews.
Reviews
4 minute read
Media veteran Gabriel Coan’s next venture is a new record shop in Fairmount
A space for discovery and connection through music
Gabriel Coan has spent almost 30 years in the media business from coast to coast. Now he calls his new record shop in Fairmount, Records Forever, the best job he’s ever had. Emma Riverso visits.
Features
3 minute read
TILT Institute for the Contemporary Image presents Wherever There Is Light
Stunning photographs by formerly incarcerated men of color
Wherever There Is Light, a new exhibition combining portraits, landscape, and collage, starts a new conversation about imprisonment, identity, and justice with cameras in the hands of formerly incarcerated people. Anndee Hochman reviews.
Reviews
5 minute read
The Philadelphia Museum of Art presents The Time Is Always Now: Artists Reframe the Black Figure
A historic, absorbing exhibition
A new PMA exhibition curated by Ekow Eshun gathers 28 contemporary artists from across the Black and African diaspora in the US and UK, exploring Blackness as lived experience rather than social construct. K.A. McFadden reviews.
Reviews
4 minute read
InterAct Theatre Company presents Pravin Wilkins’s Moreno
Taking a knee, then and now
Moreno, getting its American premiere at InterAct, takes us to a 2016 NFL locker room in the aftermath of Colin Kaepernick’s famous field protest. The show still has plenty to say about our world eight years later. Krista Mar reviews.
Reviews
3 minute read