On a black background, a woman at a table lifts a glass, and appears to sit beside another person in a projected image nearby

Philly Fringe 2021: Nichole Canuso Dance Company presents Being/With

Alone, but together, too
Performed for an audience of two, on opposite ends of the city, Nichole Canuso’s Being/With is less of a performance and more of an experience. Jill Ivey reviews.
Jillian Ashley Blair Ivey

Jillian Ashley Blair Ivey

Reviews 3 minute read
Vernal Belch, played by Pax Ressler in orange shirt and pink pants, intimidates three other characters on a stage in a park.

Theatre Exile Presents R. Eric Thomas’s The Ever Present

Baby’s first urbanism
Staged in several South Philly parks, R. Eric Thomas’s The Ever Present is a family-friendly look at the magic of South Philadelphia and what gets lost as gentrification moves in. Jill Ivey reviews.
Jillian Ashley Blair Ivey

Jillian Ashley Blair Ivey

Reviews 3 minute read
In black and white, three women, one girl, and a man, presumably Asian American, look down at the camera wearing sunglasses.

The Weekly Roundup, September 15-21

The return of the Women’s Film Festival, ‘Nanay,’ WEIRDO, and more
The Women’s Film Festival is back with in-person screenings, a Fringe show inspired by Filipino migrant stories, a poetic conversation at Blue Stoop, and WEIRDO returns to East Kensington. Kyle V. Hiller rounds up.
Kyle V. Hiller

Kyle V. Hiller

Previews 5 minute read
Actor Lawrence Stallings wears a shirt, pants, and suspenders on a smoky, red-lit stage with a wooden floor and backdrop

Lantern Theater presents Steve H. Broadnax III and Charles Dumas’s Me and the Devil

The tallest tale of American music
Lantern Theater’s Me and the Devil riffs on the classic Faustian bargain but adds little new insight. Cameron Kelsall reviews.
Cameron Kelsall

Cameron Kelsall

Reviews 4 minute read
Title in stylized black letters. Gears, a teapot, and Alice silhouetted around the title, colorful clock in the background.

Philly Fringe 2021: Gamiotics Studios presents Saving Wonderland

A puzzling sense of wonder
Saving Wonderland, an interactive experience, falls short with antiquated immersive theater mechanics and an uninspired narrative. Kyle V. Hiller reviews.
Kyle V. Hiller

Kyle V. Hiller

Reviews 3 minute read
A close-up on the calm faces of Jacinta Yelland, Jacqueline, Libby, and Christina Shaw, white women in their 20s and 30s.

Philly Fringe 2021: inFLUX Theatre Collective presents The Choice

How do parents decide?
Should you have kids? Is that a personal decision? In The Choice, inFLUX Theatre Collective’s 2021 Fringe offering, three women theater artists navigate questions of pregnancy and ask who else gets to weigh in. Alaina Johns reviews.
Alaina Johns

Alaina Johns

Reviews 3 minute read
A group shot of 25 smiling people who make up The Crossing choir, standing together outside next to a stone building.

The Crossing presents Returning: coming home to song

Times change, mastery remains
The Crossing celebrates a return to in-person performance by singing signature works from its past. Gail Obenreder reviews.
Gail Obenreder

Gail Obenreder

Reviews 4 minute read
A blurry photo of Jawn Wooders, a white drag king wearing a backwards baseball cap, black tank top, and rainbow suspenders.

Philly Fringe 2021: Jawn Wooders presents The Birth of Jawn

Meet Philly’s newborn drag king
Local drag king Jawn Wooders takes Fringegoers on an audio tour of LGBTQIA2+ Philly, with options for both digital and in-person experiences. Brad Rothbart reviews.
Brad Rothbart

Brad Rothbart

Reviews 3 minute read
Four musicians pose together, trees and bushes in the background, with a cello, viola, and two violins at hand.

1807 & Friends returns with the Wister and Dalí Quartets

Let the revels resume
With a series of chamber music events, 1807 & Friends resumes the musicmaking that ended just as the lockdown began. Tom Purdom previews.
Tom Purdom

Tom Purdom

Previews 1 minute read
Strokes of black stenciling make waves of vague figures on a white background. Ghost Town is written in the top right corner

Philly Fringe 2021: Mae River Waldron presents Ghost Town: The Musical

Living memories, sorrowful joy
Mae River Waldron’s new concept album captures the grief and joy of memories through musical vignettes as told by ghosts to Olive, a woman mourning the death of her mother. Kyle V. Hiller reviews.
Kyle V. Hiller

Kyle V. Hiller

Reviews 3 minute read
The show title is in large, purple type with Hotel Du Pont in the background. Flowers decorate the edges of the image.

Del Shakes brings A Midsummer Night's Dream to Wilmington

A midsummer dream right before the fall
It’s Midsummer in downtown Wilmington! Gail Obenreder previews Delaware Shakespeare’s latest production.
Gail Obenreder

Gail Obenreder

Previews 2 minute read
Actor Greig Sargeant, a Black man, plays James Baldwin. He wears a dark blazer and stands at a wooden lectern.

Philly Fringe 2021: Elevator Repair Service presents Baldwin and Buckley at Cambridge

The great debate
In Baldwin and Buckley at Cambridge, the performance-art collective Elevator Repair Service use a historical lens to scrutinize racism and civil rights in contemporary life. Cameron Kelsall reviews.
Cameron Kelsall

Cameron Kelsall

Reviews 3 minute read
A group of dancers pose, all in white. Everyone has umbrellas, one of them is open. The Ben Franklin bridge is behind them.

The return of AMM & DCO's The Umbrella Dance

Umbrellas, art, and dance at the Dickinson Square Farmers’ Market
Anne-Marie Mulgrew and Dancers Company (AMM & DCO) performs its signature Umbrella Dance this weekend. Melissa Strong previews.
Melissa Strong

Melissa Strong

Previews 3 minute read

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'The Ever Present by R. Eric Thomas' at the image's top. A hot air balloon carries a b&w building over a partly cloudy sky.

The Weekly Roundup, September 8-14

West Craft Fest, Sunny War and David Sickmen come to town, and ‘The Ever Present’ premieres
A crafter's delight hits West Philly, Theatre Exile hosts R. Eric Thomas's new play, and a doubleheader jams out at People's Light. Kyle V. Hiller rounds up.
Kyle V. Hiller

Kyle V. Hiller

Previews 3 minute read
Martinez, an Afro-Cuban man, sits before congas, cymbals, and microphones, with his arms out, his mouth wide as he's sings.

The Weekly Roundup, September 1-7

Tadaima 2021, Pedrito Martinez, Andrea Walls, 'POOL,' and 'A Saturday Jawn'
A festival celebrating Japanese Americans, a new exhibit from Fairmount Water Works, and Vinyl Tap returns to Amalgam. Kyle V. Hiller rounds up the week.
Kyle V. Hiller

Kyle V. Hiller

Previews 5 minute read
Michael Spyres and Lawrence Brownlee stand next to and face each other, slight laughing smiles, wearing suits.

The Weekly Roundup, August 26-September 1

An operatic Verzuz, plays for West Philly and Germantown, and Street Movies all over town
Philly shows up for itself with offerings in theater, opera, and film in various neighborhoods in the city. Kyle V. Hiller rounds up the week.
Kyle V. Hiller

Kyle V. Hiller

Previews 4 minute read
A colorful mixed-media collage of illustrating photographs of salsa dancers.

The Weekly Roundup, August 18-24, 2021

Summer flamenco Tablao, Streets Dept parade, A Thousand Fibers, and Salsa Shines Through
Artsi and Pasión y Arte bring back Tablao, Streets Dept parades for vaccinations, A Thousand Fibers honors a Philly resident, and a new Mural Arts project fuses salsa with self-expression. Kyle V. Hiller rounds up the week.
Kyle V. Hiller

Kyle V. Hiller

Previews 4 minute read
A still from 'Beans.' Two young Mohawk girls are in a wooded area, appearing to be yelling out of fear, concern

The Weekly Roundup, July 28-August 4

Picks for the tenth annual BlackStar Film Festival
A selection of films to check out for this year's BlackStar Film Festival. Kyle V. Hiller rounds up.
Kyle V. Hiller

Kyle V. Hiller

Previews 4 minute read
Three men dressed in black suits look towards someone or something off camera, in a densely wood-furnished room.

The August 2021 repertory movie roundup

'Black Panther', the reborn Lightbox, and the return of 'The Room'
A highlight reel of film screenings in the Greater Philadelphia area in August. Stephen Silver rounds up.
Stephen Silver

Stephen Silver

Previews 4 minute read
Against a black background, Greg Wood wears army-style fatigues. He has white hair, and raises his palms questioningly

Pennsylvania Shakespeare Festival presents Lisa Peterson and Denis O’Hare’s An Iliad

Homer, then and now
Pennsylvania Shakespeare Festival presents An Iliad, a modern-day adaptation of Homer's classic. David Block reviews.
David Block

David Block

Reviews 3 minute read
Colorful illustration with two people. Text reads: we're trans, we're survivors, we are joyful, we feel rage, we're universal

The Weekly Roundup, July 21, 2021

Illustrating Public Paint Day, folk music at People’s Light, and writing with Chet’la Sebree
Painting with Mural Arts, discovering folk with People's Light, and the Wilmington Writers Conference highlight the week. Kyle V. Hiller rounds up.
Kyle V. Hiller

Kyle V. Hiller

Previews 5 minute read
A drawing of a seated woman from the waist up. She looks tense but confident. She has bushy shoulder-length purple hair.

The Delaware Art Museum presents Collecting and Connecting: Recent Acquisitions 2010-2020

Artists unite
How does a museum add to its collection? And why? Delaware Art Museum’s Collecting and Connecting: Recent Acquisitions 2010-2020 has adventurous answers. Gail Obenreder reviews.
Gail Obenreder

Gail Obenreder

Reviews 4 minute read
Actors Mary Tuomanen, wearing white, and Lindsay Smiling, wearing black, crouch and plot gleefully over a purple flower

The Pennsylvania Shakespeare Festival presents A Midsummer Night’s Dream

Lovers, friends, and fairies
Pennsylvania Shakespeare Festival moves outdoors this season with an ebullient, endearingly goofing staging of A Midsummer Night’s Dream. Cameron Kelsall reviews.
Cameron Kelsall

Cameron Kelsall

Reviews 3 minute read