The BSR Weekly Arts and Culture Roundup, September 11-17, 2025
Philly AIDS celebrates 20 years, Philly Fall Arts Fest, and more
A new exhibit inspired by Toni Morrison opens at TILT, Philly AIDS celebrates two major milestones, and festivals light up the final days of official summer. Kyle V. Hiller rounds up.
Previews
3 minute read
Philly Fringe 2025: Nick Gillette presents Pennsylvania Semiconscious Liberation Army
Are we as polarized as we think?
An immersive theater experience from veteran Philly performer Nick Gillette and a large ensemble asks the audience pressing ethical questions about our American moment. Alaina Johns reviews.
Reviews
4 minute read
Philadelphia proves that no executive order can stop the arts, or our courage
Amy Sherald goes to Baltimore, and stays on Sansom Street
Amy Sherald’s American Sublime was supposed to open in DC this month, but she withdrew it rather than face censorship. Meanwhile, Philadelphians can see Sherald right at home. Anndee Hochman considers.
Essays
5 minute read
The BSR Podcast: IRC's Painting Churches and the world premiere of Dogberry and Verges Are Scared
Go behind the scenes of two popular Fringe shows with Darnelle Radford
SEASON 10(!) of the BSR Podcast continues with this deep dive featuring the artists behind Painting Churches and Dogberry and Verges Are Scared. Tune in today.
Podcast
1 minute read
Philly Fringe 2025: Carne Viva Dance Theatre presents Dame La Receta
Different “American Dreams”
Philadelphia/Miami art collective Carne Viva Dance Theatre brings Dame La Receta to the Philly Fringe, an interdisciplinary performance exploring immigrants’ experience of the American Dream. An Nichols reviews.
Reviews
3 minute read
Philly Fringe 2025: Chris Davis presents The Presented
A calling, not a choice
Performer Chris Davis is back with an updated version of his engaging solo show, The Presented, which is not a Curated show in this year’s Philly Fringe. Alix Rosenfeld reviews.
Reviews
2 minute read
Philly Fringe 2025: Clayton Lee presents The Goldberg Variations
Bach meets the WWE in the spirit of the Fringe
Performance artist Clayton Lee defies “model minority” stereotypes with The Goldberg Variations, a funny, vulnerable, interdisciplinary original show that explores the greater meaning within his romantic exploits. Krista Mar reviews.
Reviews
2 minute read
Philly Fringe 2025: Pier Players Theatre Company presents David Lee White’s Etiquette
The moment we all returned to the theater
With an incisive new satirical drama unfolding backstage at a nonprofit regional theater, Pier Players brings us back to the fall of 2021, when theaters were reopening in a whole new world. Stephen Silver reviews.
Reviews
3 minute read
Philly Fringe 2025: Taahira Teshi presents The Silent Struggle (There, I Said It)
One woman’s mental-health struggle tells an important story for everyone
A new Fringe show by interdisciplinary artist Taahira Teshi mixes monologues, sing-alongs, and bluesy ballads to explore one college student’s mental-health journey and racial inequities in care. A. Lewis reviews.
Philly Fringe 2025: Theatre by Development presents Daniel Burgess’s Urinal
Thrilling trials of adolescence
Theatre by Development, a new company founded by UArts grads, presents Urinal, a 2017 high-school period piece that thrills for its verisimilitude, even when it bites off more than it can chew. Kiran Pandey reviews.
Reviews
2 minute read
Slippery Trout Productions and Cincinnati Shakespeare Company present Dogberry and Verges Are Scared
Clowns in the spotlight
Part Shakespeare, part Stoppard, part Beckett, and part Dumb and Dumber, Philly Fringe offering Dogberry and Verges Are Scared is one of the festival’s must-see shows. Jill Ivey reviews.
Reviews
2 minute read
Philly Fringe 2025: Indecorous Theatre presents The Complete Works of William Shakespeare (Abridged)(Revised)(Again)
An enjoyable escape, Ren Faire style
Indecorous Theatre brings a mostly successful production of the popular Complete Works to a beautiful historic space with its Fringe production in the backyard of the Elfreth’s Alley Museum. An Nichols reviews.
Reviews
3 minute read
Philly Fringe 2025: IRC presents Tina Howe’s Painting Churches
Absurdity is in the family
Reflecting on how to make absurd work in our absurd time, Idiopathic Ridiculopathy Consortium brings us home with its Philly Fringe entry, Tina Howe’s Painting Churches. Josh Herren reviews.
Reviews
2 minute read
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Philly Fringe 2025: Without a Cue Productions presents And Then They Were Dead
Choose-your-own-murder
Without a Cue’s interactive And Then They Were Dead is more fun than it is good—which is, itself, a good thing. Jill Ivey reviews.
Reviews
3 minute read
Philly Fringe 2025: Rennie Harris presents Beautiful Human Lies: Chapter 4
A truthful partnership of hip-hop and modern dance
North Philly native and street dance pioneer Rennie Harris returns for this year’s Curated Fringe with his Beautiful Human Lies: Chapter 4, fearlessly danced by Megan Bridge. Eileen B. Fisher reviews.
Reviews
2 minute read
Philly Fringe 2025: ArtSake Theatre Company presents Malcolm MacKenzie’s Roadkill Bambi: A Vaporwave Play
In the headlights of the future
ArtSake, a new Philly theater company using the performing arts to inspire climate activism, presents Roadkill Bambi in this year’s Fringe. Emily Esten reviews.
Reviews
3 minute read
Philly Fringe 2025: Dan Kitrosser is KAREN TENDERNESS in QUEER WINDOW!
Queer cabaret meets a Hitchcock send-up
Dan Kitrosser’s QUEER WINDOW! welcomes Karen, a repressed suburban wife who discovers a window that reveals unexpected desires in this campy, tender, and funny Hitchcock-inspired cabaret. Josh Herren reviews.
Reviews
2 minute read
Philly Fringe 2025: Applied Mechanics presents Severin Blake’s Labyrinth of the Other
Who is the monster?
In this Fringe production from Applied Mechanics, Severin Blake explores a new take on the myth of the Minotaur, asking what we need to forget and remember to move past childhood trauma. Camille Bacon-Smith reviews.
Reviews
3 minute read
Philly Fringe 2025: Rushmore Labs presents The Waterfront Journals by David Wojnarowicz
Honoring one of America’s leading queer artists
A new production collaborative brings queer icon David Wojnarowicz’s opus, The Waterfront Journals, to the stage in an original adaptation for the Fringe. Evan Mitchell Schares reviews.
Reviews
3 minute read
Philly Fringe 2025: Jessica Fudim presents Venomous: a mythical dance for a modern world
“Why didn’t you help me?”
Solo dance theater artist Jessica Fudim’s Fringe entry offers a modern take on Medusa, challenging the tragedy and rewriting her script. Camille Bacon-Smith reviews.
Reviews
2 minute read
Philly Fringe 2025: Dr. Karen Moore presents Kindled by Nina: A Four-Women Requiem Multimedia Invocation of Black Womanhood
A love letter to Black women
Kindled by Nina is a new interpretation of Nina Simone’s iconic song “Four Women,” using spoken word, projected film, and music to honor historic and contemporary Black womanhood. A. Lewis reviews.
Philly Fringe 2025: John Miller Giltner and Gene Farbe present Family Vacation
A sly anthropology of family ties
A new multimedia Fringe show by John Miller Giltner and Gene Farbe mixes slideshow, singalong, and earnest confessions to explore the messy tenderness of belonging to a family. Josh Herren reviews.
Reviews
2 minute read
The BSR Weekly Arts and Culture Roundup, September 4-10, 2025
Fractured Lands, Every Brilliant Thing, Pyramid Club, and more
New exhibitions open for the fall from the Halide Project, Woodmere, Temple Contemporary; and a few shows and performances outside of Fringe introduce September. Kyle V. Hiller rounds up.
Previews
3 minute read