The BSR Weekly Arts and Culture Roundup, July 25-31, 2024
Clay workshops in Kensington, special orchestra concerts, and more
Music from Black Pearl Chamber Orchestra and the Philadelphia Orchestra, Guachinangos, and more arrive this week. Kyle V. Hiller rounds up.
Previews
4 minute read
Shakespeare in Clark Park presents As You Like It
A little taste of dystopia
Shakespeare in Clark Park presents As You Like It with a modern twist, transposed to near-future Delaware to explore themes of exile, love, and community. Kiran Pandey previews.
Previews
2 minute read
The art of lighting design with Alyssandra Docherty
Lighting up the space
Freelancer Alyssandra Docherty talks about her work as a lighting designer, how the light bulb got turned on for her, and how she manages to keep learning and growing. Melissa Strong previews.
Profiles
4 minute read
Pennsylvania Shakespeare Festival presents Alice Walker’s The Color Purple
Celie’s story comes to the Center Valley stage
Pennsylvania Shakespeare Festival mounts an excellent
production of The Color Purple with acclaimed local director Amina Robinson,
but the show glosses over some of the difficult moments so important to this
story. An Nichols reviews.
Reviews
6 minute read
Delaware Shakespeare presents Julius Caesar
This textual triumph is especially stirring in an election year
Delaware Shakespeare opens its 22nd year with a finely mounted production of Julius Caesar—one of the Bard’s shortest and darkest plays—in Wilmington’s atmospheric Rockwood Park. Gail Obenreder reviews.
Reviews
4 minute read
BSR Classical Interludes, July and August 2024
Black Pearl Chamber Orchestra, a piano festival, and music at Longwood Gardens
A list of late July and early August concerts, including performances by the Philadelphia Young Pianists Academy and new music from up-and-coming musicians from Black Pearl Chamber Orchestra’s Kaleidoscope Initiative. Gail Obenreder previews.
Previews
3 minute read
Arthur Ross Gallery presents David C. Driskell and Friends: Creativity, Collaboration, and Friendship
Proving Black art's place at the center of American history
Throughout his groundbreaking career, artist David C. Driskell laid the foundation for the academic study of Black American art, long ignored by the art world. A new exhibition at Arthur Ross honors him and his legacy. Pamela J. Forsythe reviews.
Reviews
4 minute read
PAFA presents Layers of Liberty: Philadelphia and the Appalachian Environment
The world’s oldest mountains get a gallery at last
PAFA’s new Layers of Liberty exhibition, a rare close-up on Appalachian art, continues a trend of museums exploring our complicated, often greedy relationship with the natural world. Gail Obenreder reviews.
Reviews
5 minute read
The hardest thing about stuttering isn’t stuttering at all: it’s how people react to it.
If I want your help, I’ll ask.
Samuel Dunsiger has a speech disability, but the hardest part about talking to others isn't his stuttering; it's the assumptions people make.
Essays
4 minute read
Disability Intimacy: Essays on Love, Care, and Desire, edited by Alice Wong
Our right to be loved, show love, and to love ourselves
Disability Intimacy, the second essay collection from editor Alice Wong, dives into the ocean of human connection with a disability lens, from dating, sex, and kink to caregiving, parenting, and art-making. Alaina Johns reviews.
Reviews
5 minute read
A UArts student speaks: “It’s clear that I’ll have to settle, no matter where I go.”
A young writer promises that his school’s demise won’t silence his craft.
Jay Clark was a rising junior at UArts and this year’s winner of the school’s Creative Writing Poetry Prize. On May 31, he got a tuition bill. The same day, news broke of the school’s closure. What’s next for him and hundreds of others?
UArts alums Keila Pérez-Vega and Meredith Rainey explain what the school’s closure means for Philly’s dance scene
“A loss for Philadelphia”
The
fallout from the June closure of UArts continues for students, staff, faculty,
and alumni, including artists who are central to Philly’s dance scene. Melissa
Strong talks to Keila Pérez-Vega and Meredith Rainey about what our city has
lost.
Features
4 minute read
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The BSR Weekly Arts and Culture Roundup, July 18-24, 2024
Trans World, Somewhere Over the Border, gothic science, and more
A pair of Goth-themed events in unusual places, People’s Light’s regional premiere of Somewhere Over the Border, and a Mannequin movie night. Kyle V. Hiller rounds up.
Previews
4 minute read
BalletX Presents its 2024 Summer Series
Three world premieres mark BalletX’s last show at the Wilma
BalletX says goodbye to the Wilma stage with its 2024 Summer Series, featuring eclectic world-premiere choreography by Stina Quagebeur, Loughlan Prior, and choreographer-in-residence Amy Hall Garner. Camille Bacon-Smith reviews.
Reviews
5 minute read
The BSR Weekly Arts and Culture Roundup, July 11-17, 2024
Barnes on the Block, Italian summer on Passyunk, and Astral Mixtape
Barnes on the Block returns, take an Italian summer stroll on Passyunk Ave, and a variety of offerings from DVAA, ICA, Astral Artists, and DANCE IQUAIL! Kyle V. Hiller rounds up.
Previews
4 minute read
Alamo Drafthouse theaters have a new owner. It’s time for them to come to Philly.
The need for screens
The popular Austin-based movie-theater chain Alamo Drafthouse (recently acquired by Sony Pictures Entertainment) has spread to cities across the country, but never to Philly. Stephen Silver asks if it’s time to change that.
Essays
3 minute read
The BSR Weekly Arts and Culture Roundup, July 4-10, 2024
Swiftly as a Thought, Entre Dos Palmas, Embodied Sound and The Earth Has A Fever
A handful of exhibits open in the city this weekend, along with outdoor summer concerts, First Friday at the Barnes, and more. Kyle V. Hiller rounds up.
Previews
4 minute read
The Barnes Foundation presents Matisse & Renoir: New Encounters at The Barnes
The OGS of their genres
A new exhibition from the Barnes draws on the best of the foundation’s extensive collection of works by Matisse and Renoir, and places them in conversation with each other. K.A. McFadden reviews.
Reviews
4 minute read
Pennsylvania Shakespeare Festival presents The Merry Wives of Windsor
Shakespeare did it first
Pennsylvania Shakespeare Festival brings a thrillingly modern tenor to The Merry Wives of Windsor, which comes to life with musical verve and comic effervescence. Kiran Pandey reviews.
Reviews
4 minute read
Anne-Marie Mulgrew and Dancers Company and Yu.S.Artistry present Two Worlds
Contemporary dance, worlds apart
A split bill from Anne-Marie Mulgrew and Dancers Company and Yu.S.Artistry titled Two Worlds offered strikingly different styles of contemporary dance, from folklore and fantasy to urgent real-world tragedy. Melissa Strong reviews.
Reviews
4 minute read
Philadelphia Dance Projects presents Lily Kind’s I’ve got a tape I wanna play
As much fun as you can have in an hour of dance
Lily Kind brought her puckish humor to the Philadelphia Dance Projects with a new hour-long show, I’ve got a tape I wanna play, which builds on the star quality and choreographic elements of her previous work. Camille Bacon-Smith reviews.
Reviews
3 minute read
The Barnes Foundation and Mural Arts Philadelphia present Visions
An exhibition for restorative justice
The Barnes and Mural Arts’s Visions opens this week featuring artworks from system-impacted young people in southeast Pennsylvania. Cass Lewis previews.
Previews
2 minute read