Seven performers in red and white full-body tights pose mid-performance on a table.

The BSR Weekly Arts and Culture Roundup, March 23-29, 2023

Down North Pizza, Rising Sun at AAMP and PAFA, Philly Theatre Week opens, and more
Music, poetry, films, and even a joint artist exhibition set up a robust week in Philly. Kyle V. Hiller rounds up.
Kyle V. Hiller

Kyle V. Hiller

Previews 4 minute read
A faded black and white portrait of Price

Bringing Florence Price’s lost music to the stage with Nicole Jordan

More than just recordings
The Philadelphia Orchestra’s principal librarian Nicole Jordan talks Florence Price, a Black woman composer whose work fell into obscurity. Jon Caroulis profiles.

Jon Caroulis

Profiles 2 minute read
Wilson’s image imposed on a greenhouse area. She wears a shirt with an ‘athletic toned male’ upper body printed on it

Philadelphia Dance Projects’ Dance Up Close continues

Spring performances promise rare moments
Philadelphia Dance Projects’ Dance Up Close series continues through early April, offering unique perspectives in its performances. Eileen B. Fisher previews.
Eileen B. Fisher

Eileen B. Fisher

Previews 3 minute read
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Ma, a Chinese woman in flowing blue & pink traditional garb poses smiling with a blue fan above her head outside City Hall.

Before international artists can hit the Philly stage, they face US immigration

The trouble with visas
Philly loves bringing international artists to our cultural scene. But whether they come from Brazil or China, England or Nigeria, they face a gauntlet of challenges from US immigration law. Camille Bacon-Smith gets an often-invisible story.
Camille Bacon-Smith

Camille Bacon-Smith

Features 7 minute read
Watercolor in gritty gray & brown tones: roof and chimney of an old stone house with a weathervane and birds flying overhead.

Brandywine Museum of Art presents Andrew Wyeth: Home Places

Wyeth’s most enduring legacy
This new exhibition studies the way Andrew Wyeth saw his favorite buildings, honoring the artist’s abstract work, as well as the better-known representational. Gail Obenreder reviews.
Gail Obenreder

Gail Obenreder

Reviews 3 minute read
Rendered in charcoal, a single flailing human figure falls horizontally through white space, knees facing the viewer.

Twelve Gates Arts presents Numb Images

Undoing the visual tools of oppression
Three artists with roots in Pakistan, the Philippines, and Iran offer reality checks on the stories we’re told in a powerful mixed-media exhibition at Twelve Gates Arts in Old City. Emily B. Schilling reviews.
Emily Schilling

Emily Schilling

Reviews 4 minute read
Crammed together in consternation, wearing a furry animal mask, Renaissance garb, Guy Fawkes mask, and pig nose, respectively

Curio Theatre Company presents Tim Crouch & Spymonkey’s The Complete Deaths

The rest is silence
Three years into the coronavirus pandemic, Curio Theatre Company’s production of The Complete Deaths shows us that sometimes death can be a laughing matter. Jill Ivey reviews.
Jillian Ashley Blair Ivey

Jillian Ashley Blair Ivey

Reviews 3 minute read
Gallery view: looking toward the end of a large room, set up as Mason describes in the text. Two people are sitting there.

ICA Philadelphia presents Carolyn Lazard’s Long Take

Somatic and spiritual
Carolyn Lazard examines accessibility, care, and interdependence, with an interdisciplinary installation at ICA that de-emphasizes sight in favor of many other senses. Hanae Mason reviews.
Hanae Mason

Hanae Mason

Reviews 4 minute read
Black & white photo shows the white family described in the article. There’s a high wall behind them with bushes at its base.

Philadelphia Museum of Art presents House of Photographs

In the eye of the collector
House of Photographs is a visual treasure that wraps visitors in the collectors' point of view, ranging from a microscope to a Brooklyn sidewalk, from French gardens to Chinese arbors to outer space. Pamela J. Forsythe reviews.

Pamela J. Forsythe

Reviews 5 minute read
A detail of the painting, showing a waterfall coming from a dark cave, is reproduced in large scale right on the gallery wall

UPenn’s Arthur Ross Gallery presents At the Source: A Courbet Landscape Rediscovered

One painting, many stories
A painting by Gustave Courbet, a fascinating 19th-century French artist, was lost in a Philly basement for decades. Now it gets its due at Arthur Ross Gallery. Emily B. Schilling reviews.
Emily Schilling

Emily Schilling

Reviews 4 minute read
Seen in profile, a little girl in a play dress and bobbed hair stands on the shore of a lake using a kid-sized fishing rod.

As a young trans woman, I honor my inner child by being true to myself today

Giving myself a girlhood
Joan Rittberg grew up as a boy, but from the time she was a teenager, she knew something wasn’t right. Now, instead of wishing she had transitioned earlier, she focuses on loving the woman she is today.
Joan Rittberg

Joan Rittberg

Essays 5 minute read
Onstage with chairs and tables, gray-haired Hargraves in shabby black suit & red-haired Quinn in beige blouse & green skirt

Irish Heritage Theatre presents Brian Friel’s The Bear and Afterplay

Chekhov with an Irish brogue
Brian Friel tackles the Russian master in The Bear and Afterplay, the latest double bill from Irish Heritage Theatre. Cameron Kelsall reviews.
Cameron Kelsall

Cameron Kelsall

Reviews 3 minute read
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Also on BSR

Sorey in a studio space. Standing, he’s surrounded by a variety of percussion instruments and microphones.

The BSR Weekly Arts and Culture Roundup, March 16-22, 2023

Macbeth, OperaPHL, Celtic music for St. Patrick’s Day, and Freedom Seder
Kyle V. Hiller rounds up the week, with events from Opera Philadelphia, Ritz Theatre Company, Uptown!, Asian Arts Initiative, and more.
Kyle V. Hiller

Kyle V. Hiller

Previews 3 minute read
The four players in all black pose outdoors on stone steps in front of a door, holding shawms and trombones

BSR Classical Music Interludes, March 2023, part 2

The Duenna, The Fasch Files, concerts by The Crossing, and more
Gail Obenreder previews more of the classical music offerings in and around the city in March.
Gail Obenreder

Gail Obenreder

Previews 4 minute read
Two ballet dancers in pas de deux, one in all black lifting the other in a leotard, against the Philly skyline at night

Philadelphia Ballet presents Dancing with Gershwin

A triple bill honoring George Balanchine
Camille Bacon-Smith previews the upcoming triple bill from Philadelphia Ballet, featuring three ballets from the late choreographer George Balanchine.
Camille Bacon-Smith

Camille Bacon-Smith

Previews 3 minute read
Koshoeva poses sitting by a piano, in all black, looking towards the camera.

Passion at the piano with Kairy Koshoeva

From Kyrgyzstan to Philadelphia
Linda Holt profiles Kairy Koshoeva, an award-winning pianist who hails from Kyrgyzstan, as she prepares for a recital this week in Philadelphia.
Linda Holt

Linda Holt

Profiles 3 minute read
On grass, colorful fabric circles a collection of papers with photographs and text about various herbs

Rosine 2.0 In Practice: a love letter to Philly’s organizers

Healing takes practice
Rosine 2.0 is a community-driven art project that invites grassroots organizers to explore and engage in collective practices of harm reduction and healing in Philadelphia. Olivia J. B. Baxter previews their celebratory event.
Olivia J. B. Baxter

Olivia J. B. Baxter

Previews 2 minute read
Ma, a single dancer in black on a dark stage, her face covered with a fan she holds in her mouth. She strikes an angular pose

Kun-Yang Lin/Dancers presents KyLin’s Garden

KYL/D celebrates 25 years
Kun-Yang Lin/Dancers celebrated its 25th anniversary with two world premieres by company artists, and four reimagined works by the founder, linking past, present, and future. Melissa Strong reviews.
Melissa Strong

Melissa Strong

Reviews 4 minute read
Two Black men pose outside, laughing, holding their violins

The BSR Weekly Arts and Culture Roundup, March 9-15, 2023

Lost Light Luv, Black Violin, Guess My Blood Sugar, and more
Music from Black Violin and TAK Ensemble, celebrate Women’s History Month with CultureFest! and Lost Light Luv, and more. Kyle V. Hiller rounds up.
Kyle V. Hiller

Kyle V. Hiller

Previews 3 minute read
A group of dancers in matching white sweats and flannel tops pose, singing emphatically on stage

Penn Live Arts presents Legacy on Broad

The next legends of Bollywood dance
Legacy on Broad, the east coast’s premier Bollywood-fusion dance competition, brings collegiate South Asian dance teams from across the country to Philadelphia to compete while celebrating culture and community. Melissa Strong previews.
Melissa Strong

Melissa Strong

Previews 4 minute read
Three actors conspiring in fanciful, somewhat creepy masks, two with hats and one with a wild gray curly wig.

Quintessence Theatre Group presents Shakespeare’s The Tempest

A well-masked effort
Quintessence Theatre Group combines creative casting, minimalistic design, and a whole lot of masks for its ambitious production of Shakespeare’s The Tempest. Jill Ivey reviews.
Jillian Ashley Blair Ivey

Jillian Ashley Blair Ivey

Reviews 3 minute read
Outside, in front of a pile of lemons, two mirrors capture Mukherji and her mother making a dual portrait.

The Print Center presents its 97th Annual International Competition

The Light Outside Home, and other works on trauma and memory
For its 97th Annual International Competition, the Print Center selected three artists out of 400 applicants. Each of them grapples with trauma, memory, and immigrant experiences. Pamela J. Forsythe reviews.

Pamela J. Forsythe

Reviews 5 minute read