
The BSR Weekly Arts and Culture Roundup, June 12-18, 2025
Space Opera, TERRA, Table Sessions with Journey Arts, and more
Pride continues, spending three weeks in space, and dancing to reconnect with the earth. Kyle V. Hiller rounds up the week.

Previews
5 minute read

SEPTA’s “doomsday” cuts would be devastating to Philly arts and culture
Arts lovers must speak up now for public transit funding
A “doomsday” budget that would slash SEPTA service by 45 percent and raise fares by more than 20 percent poses an existential threat to Philly’s cultural sector. But if we all speak up now, we can save our city. Alaina Johns looks closer.

Editorials
5 minute read

Philadelphia Theatre Company presents Mickle Maher, Merel van Dijk, and Anthony Barilla's Small Ball
Foul ball
Small Ball, a fairy-tale musical about pint-sized basketball players, still needs a major assist. Cameron Kelsall reviews.
Reviews
3 minute read

Quintessence Theatre Group Presents James Baldwin’s Giovanni’s Room, adapted by Benjamin Sprunger and Paul Oakley Stovall
The first-ever stage adaptation of a James Baldwin novel comes to Mt. Airy
With exclusive rights to the first stage adaptation ever approved by the Baldwin estate, Quintessence Theatre Group delivers a steamy, affecting treatise on the politics of queer love and desire with Giovanni’s Room. nat čermák reviews.
Reviews
4 minute read

BSR Classical Interludes, June 2025
Serafin Summer Music, Chamber Orchestra at the garden, and The Sisters
Serafin Summer Music fills the air with a dozen performances this month, Dolce Suono returns to a 2012 performance, and Orchestra in the Garden blooms. Gail Obenreder previews.

Previews
4 minute read

Philly’s trans and nonbinary artists push the gendered boundaries of dance
Why is the gender binary so entrenched in dance?
Both locally and nationally, dance is benefitting from increased visibility and representation of openly trans and/or nonbinary artists, but dance still clings to stereotypes of gender more than other art forms. Melissa Strong considers.

Features
4 minute read

The African American Museum in Philadelphia presents Demond Melancon: As Any Means Are Necessary
Preserving culture, one bead at a time
New Orleans glass bead artist Demond Melancon, a modern icon of the Mardi Gras tradition of Black Masking, a confluence of West African, Afro Caribbean, and Indigenous cultures, gets his first solo museum exhibition. Pamela J. Forsythe reviews.
Reviews
5 minute read

Inis Nua and Tiny Dynamite present Kieran Hurley and Gary McNair’s Square Go
Two popular pub-style theater series collide
In their first collaboration, Inis Nua and Tiny Dynamite unite their popular pub-themed performance styles with the Philly premiere of Square Go, a about two Scottish teen boys facing a fight. Chhaya Nayyar reviews.

Reviews
3 minute read

Go behind the scenes of June theater on the BSR podcast with Square Go, Small Ball, and Glitter in the Glass
Artists of Inis Nua, Philadelphia Theatre Company, and Theatre Exile sit down with Darnelle
Dive deep into three shows closing out the 2024-25 theater scene. Darnelle sits down with the artists behind Inis Nua's Square Go, PTC's Small Ball, and Theatre Exile's Glitter in the Glass.

Podcast
2 minute read

Theatre Exile presents R. Eric Thomas’s Glitter in the Glass
Siblings face off under the legacy of a Confederate monument
R. Eric Thomas’s Glitter in the Glass gets its East Coast premiere at South Philly’s Theatre Exile in a hilarious and thought-provoking production directed by Ontaria Kim Wilson. Krista Mar reviews.

Reviews
2 minute read

BSR Book Week staff recommendations: Reading as resistance
Reading is a form of protest. Join us!
In honor of our third annual BSR Book Week, the BSR team offers book recommendations on a theme: reading as an act of resistance. These books inspire us, help us focus and understand the world, and even help us stay fed and rested.

Previews
7 minute read

The Arden Theatre presents Jonathan Larson’s Rent
Rent is still relevant
The Arden leans into the political urgency and community spirit of Rent’s roots with a new production featuring interactive couch seats available only with $20 rush tickets. Josh Herren reviews.

Reviews
3 minute read

The romantasy genre subverts women’s agency when we need it the most
Is romantasy regressive?
The new romantasy genre—a mashup of romance and fantasy wildly popular with women—is actually full of regressive themes that deny women’s agency and political stakes. Chhaya Nayyar considers.

Essays
5 minute read
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Also on BSR

Kayala’s Southern Thai Kitchen: A Cookbook, by Nok Suntaranon with Natalie Jesionka
An authentic yet accessible guide for home cooks inspired by Kalaya
In Kayala’s Southern Thai Kitchen: A Cookbook, acclaimed chef Nok Suntaranon shares the flavors of her award-winning Kalaya restaurant with home cooks who want to try their hand at authentic Southern Thai cuisine. An Nichols reviews.

Reviews
4 minute read

Philadelphia: A Narrative History, by Paul Kahan
Understanding our city’s history is key to grappling with America’s present
From the Delaware Valley’s earliest inhabitants to the “reform” movements and anti-urbanism of today, Philadelphia: A Narrative Historyis a window on the American experiment—especially as centuries-old attitudespersist. Pamela J. Forsythe reviews.
Reviews
6 minute read

Mendell Station, by J. B. Hwang
A touching story about grief, friendship, and working-class life in the pandemic
J.B. Hwang’s debut novel, out this July, follows a woman who upends her career as she grieves for her best friend, exploring female friendship and working-class lives in the early days of Covid. Krista Mar reviews.

Reviews
3 minute read

Theatres of the Body: Dance and Discourse in Antebellum Philadelphia, by Lynn Matluck Brooks
A charged history through the lens of dance
In Theatres of the Body, professor, editor, author, and dance scholar Lynn Matluck Brooks dives into a history of Philadelphia, and the America it influenced, through the lens of dance in the 19th century. Kimberly Haas reviews.
Reviews
3 minute read

minato sketches, by Sharon White
A tsunami of musings
Temple professor and multi-genre writer Sharon White’s latest work of fiction, minato sketches, takes the reader on a rich and poetic interior journey with a woman recovering from stroke. Crystal Sparrow reviews.

Reviews
4 minute read

The Griffin Sisters’ Greatest Hits, by Jennifer Weiner
No-one gets you like your sister
Jennifer Weiner’s latest
novel follows two sisters from Philly who achieve pop-music stardom in the
early 2000s that leads to an estrangement in the present day. It’s a relatable
story of sisters, mothers, lovers, and the search for self. Emily Savidge
reviews

Reviews
2 minute read

Thomas Sully’s Philadelphians: Painting the Athens of America, by Peter Conn
The painter who captured Philly at the center of American culture
Notable historian, professor, and author Peter Conn reflects on Philly as the Athens of America in his illuminating and rewarding new book exploring the work of 19th-century portraitist Thomas Sully, and the city he lived in. Gail Obenreder reviews.

Reviews
5 minute read

Trans History: From Ancient Times to the Present Day, By Alex L. Combs and Andrew Eakett
An illustrated history of trans lives, from pharaohs and emperors to the present day
A new graphic novel from Alex L. Combs and Andrew Eakett tackles the vast, varied, and longstanding history of trans folks around the world, combatting the ongoing erasure of trans lives. Rachel Bellwoar reviews.

Reviews
4 minute read

Ida B. Wells: Journalist, Advocate, and Crusader for Justice, by Erica Armstrong Dunbar and Candace Buford
Courage that inspires us today
Erica Armstrong Dunbar’s latest book (coauthored with Candace Buford) explores the life of another trailblazing Black woman of American history, Ida B. Wells, making her story accessible to young readers. Constance Garcia-Barrio reviews.

Reviews
4 minute read

True Hospitality: Lessons Learned from Behind the Concierge Desk, by Jamie Cooperstein
A real-life Rittenhouse Hotel concierge shares her unexpected career journey
Debut
Philly author Jamie Cooperstein started her career as a journalist before
grasping an opportunity in the hospitality field, and she never looked back.
Now she shares the journey to finding her own niche. A. Lewis reviews.