Dear BSR Subscriber,
Welcome to the latest exclusive monthly tips for our subscribers!
It's time for our monthly BSR in the Wild update! The first Friday of every month we bring you our hottest tips on what's on our radar, through three sections: Find Us!, Neil's Nod of the Month, and Recommended Reading.
Find Us! is exclusive subscriber tips on which events and exhibitions our staff is heading to in the coming month. There's a lot happening, this month as always, and we love to provide these tips.
Neil's Nod of the Month is a look forward to the upcoming BSR story or review I'm most excited to read.
Finally, Recommended Reading is a quick, subscribers-only tip to contextualize the work we have coming up, placing upcoming articles in dialogue with past stories, because our arts and culture scene is an ongoing citywide conversation that you're a part of, too.
If you're enjoying this series, let us know! And don't forget, as a reader you can support our writers in multiple ways. Be sure to support our staff with a donation. Send an article to a friend. Follow our dynamic content on Instagram.
Read on for March's inside scoops.
Sincerely,
Neil Bardhan
BSR executive director
Find Us!
March is hot with options of all sorts: museums and galleries, libraries and bookstores, concerts and performances. As usual, you'll see some familiar names alongside new ones. We endeavor to cover a wide range of artforms in our region. Read on, and be sure to tell us what you're seeing this month.
FIND KYLE printPHILLY! Fair WHEN: Saturday, March 4, 10:00am-3:00pm WHERE: University of the Arts WHY: I need a refresh on my prints and zines! And I'm curious to see what people in the city have been drawing up lately.
FIND GABBY All Hands On Deck WHEN: Saturday, March 4, 7:00pm WHERE: Venice Island Performing Arts Center WHY: My kid Jeremy is part of Yes And! Theater. They are amazing, and we're headed to see this show. The show is a story of "recently dumped imaginary friends" and a mysterious captain who whisks them away to sail the seas and make mischief wherever they land. Doesn't that sound intriguing and fun?
FIND ALAINA The Black Violin Experience WHEN: Thursday, March 9, 7:30pm WHERE: The Kimmel Cultural Campus’s Miller Theater WHY: The Grammy-winning musical duo of Kev Marcus and Wil Baptiste is coming to Philly for just one night, and I love new takes on live string music. The Kimmel calls this tour “a mystifying musical fusion of exquisite classical sounds and exhilarating hip-hop beats” that bridges Mozart, Puccini, Marvin Gaye, Imagine Dragons, Kendrick Lamar, and more.
Curtis Opera Theatre’s The Elixir of Love WHEN: Friday March 10, 7:30pm WHERE: The Philadelphia Film Center WHY: Opera isn’t my usual bag, but that’s why I want to be sure to check it out from time to time. I enjoyed the Curtis concert I attended in February, so I’m looking forward to this staging of Donizetti’s bel canto opera about a peasant, a rich woman, a sergeant, and a traveling peddler all tangled up in a romantic comedy that Curtis promises will be “a sparkling delight.” It’ll be sung in Italian with English subtitles.
Cameron Kelsall and Alaina Johns attended 'Empathitrax.' Have you read their reviews?
FIND NEIL The N Crowd WHEN: Friday, March 10, 8:00pm WHERE: Sawubona Creativity Project WHY: You might not know this but I perform improv comedy! I've been part of Philly's N Crowd since 2016. We play short form games, like those seen in the TV show Whose Line Is It Anyway? Playing these in live spaces again has been incredibly fun for me, for my teammates, and for audiences as well. This will be my first time performing at a brand new venue in South Philly, Sawubona Creativity Project, which is a space for social emotional learning, character education, and theater arts.
FIND ALAINA Kun-Yang Lin/Dancers presents KYLIN’S GARDEN: A Space For Tending, Sharing & Imagination WHEN: Saturday, March 10 and Sunday, March 11 (three performances; catch me at the matinee) WHERE: The Mandell Theater WHY: I have always enjoyed checking in with KYL/D at their South Philly home in the Chi Movement Arts Center, so I’ll follow them to University City for their 25th anniversary performance. This program includes a mix of rarely seen early KYL/D works, a new solo, and world premieres from choreographers Evalina Wally Carbonell and Weiwei Ma. (The Saturday night performance will also be livestreamed.)
FIND ALAINA Studio Incamminati presents Rising Voices 2 WHEN: Opening reception on Thursday, March 16 from 5:00-7:00pm; show runs through May 14 WHERE: Studio Incamminati, on the 7th floor of the Bok Building WHY: This exhibition of 11 artists, celebrating Women’s History Month, features more than 40 paintings by finalists of the 2021 Bennett Prize, a national competition for women figurative realist painters. The show will be free and open to the public. The March 16 opening will include guest speakers Su Su and Lavely Miller, two of the featured artists.
FIND KYLE All The Right Places: Works by Rosa Leff WHEN: Now through May 13 WHERE: Philadelphia's Magic Gardens WHY: I'm Philly born and raised, but there are some "Philly" things I haven't gotten around to in my years here. Magic Gardens is one of them, but starting this week is Rosa Leff's new exhibit, and it has the allure to draw me in. I've been trying to go on more little adventures and day trips, and this is going to be a stop this month.
February 28 marked one month of Temple University grad students striking for a livable wage and benefits.
Neil's nod of the month:
The March editorial calendar has an essay from new-to-us writer Joan Rittberg. Her piece addresses the experience of trans girlhood. It's not a topic I have a direct connection to, and this is part of what I love about Broad Street Review's breadth: I get to learn about the world around me through approachable, thoughtful commentary.
Recommended Reading
The ferocity and joy of parenting
Anndee Hochman
View
Anndee Hochman's review of a family memoir, A Girlhood: Letter to My Transgender Daughter by Carolyn Hays, reminds me that a person's narrative is always one with layered contexts. This book is about raising a trans kid, but also discusses the relationships within that family, the culture(s) the family has connections to, and history as well. Add notions of gender and identity and shifting norms, and you've got a lot to unpack. We're working at BSR to elevate and support trans voices right now. This recommendation and the above nod are part of that effort.
Now that you've found us, fund us!
Stay in touch,
Neil & Alaina & Kyle
© 2024 Broad Street Review. All rights reserved. Support provided by the Philadelphia Cultural Fund.
View this email in your browser
|