Welcome to the latest exclusive monthly tips for our subscribers!

It’s time for our monthly BSR in the Wild update!

These exclusive tips for subscribers let you know where our team is heading on the Philly scene this month. There are three sections: FIND US, Neil’s Nod of the Month, and Recommended Reading. If you’d like to step up and support our work, a donation of $10 or more helps us pay our writers. Friends of BSR and Local Media Champions receive an additional monthly newsletter with insights on our coverage and exclusive recommendations from our team. Friends of BSR sign up for an automatic monthly donation of $5 (or make a one-time donation of $60). We think $5 a month is a pretty sweet price to keep Philly arts journalism alive! Local Media Champions support us with an automatic donation of $20/month.

Kyle, Neil, and Alaina joined writers for BSR Office Hours in February.

FIND US!

FIND ALAINA

The 2025 Philadelphia Flower Show
WHEN: March 1-9, 2025
WHERE: The Pennsylvania Convention Center, 1101 Arch St., Philadelphia
WHY: One of my best friends is a gardener, so we enjoy hitting the Flower Show together. The show-stopping displays and stunning life-size dioramas are always a big draw, but I enjoy seeing the individual prize-winning plants (especially the orchids) just as much. And the art section is my favorite. Last year I lingered over the kids' entries and the breathtaking collage art made from all-natural plant substances. This year's Flower Show theme is "Gardens of Tomorrow", exploring the future of horticulture.

FIND NEIL

The 2025 Philadelphia Flower Show
WHEN: March 1-9, 2025
WHERE: The Pennsylvania Convention Center, 1101 Arch St., Philadelphia
WHY: I will also attend the Flower Show! My in-laws have been attending for decades, and I’m a latecomer to the tradition. My first year was outdoors at FDR Park, so I’m still wrapping my head around how all the hard work comes together inside the Convention Center.

FIND ALAINA

Irish Heritage Theatre's The Beauty Queen of Leenane
WHEN: Running March 7-23, 2025
WHERE: Plays & Players, 1714 Delancey St., Philadelphia
WHY: In 2021, BSR critic Cameron Kelsall said that "over the last decade, Irish Heritage Theatre has emerged as one of Philadelphia's most consistently interesting small companies." I have seen a few of their shows over the last several years and can tell the praise is well-deserved. I'm looking forward to their staging of this play by Martin McDonagh, a contemporary master of tragically twisted dark comedy (IHT is Philly's only company focusing exclusively on Irish and Irish American works). Bonus: in their pitch to us, the company notes that they join BSR in a commitment to DEI. We all need to look out for the companies and organizations who are not backing down on this.

FIND NEIL

Electronics Faire
WHEN: March 13 & 14, 2025
WHERE: Charles Library, Temple University, 1900 N. 13th St., Philadelphia
WHY: Though I am Extremely Online in some ways, I love a good low-tech experience and admire folks who can tinker and hack, especially with a creative angle. This “efaire” mixes workshops and exhibitions, retro devices, and a "low tech" theme.

Study Hall
WHEN: March 22, 2025
WHERE: SideQuest Theater, 2030 Sansom St., Philadelphia
WHY: Crossroads Comedy Theater puts on shows in a range of formats. Study Hall features regional experts giving lectures, which then inspire improvised comedic scenes. The performers enjoy riffing on the source material and relating to niche topics however they can.

The 2024 Philadelphia Flower Show featured a dinosaur diorama. What will we discover this year?

FIND ALAINA

August Wilson's King Hedley II
WHEN: Running February 27-March 30
WHERE: The Arden Theatre Company's F. Otto Haas Stage, 40 N. 2nd St., Philadelphia
WHY: I like any local chance to catch a play from August Wilson's Century Cycle, and have enjoyed productions of Fences, The Piano Lesson and Radio Golf at the Arden. King Hedley is set in the 1980s and follows a recently incarcerated man and his wife trying to plan a new future. The cast features a few of my favorite local artists, including Akeem Davis, Taysha Marie Canales, and Kash Goins (who in the past has consistently wowed me as a director). And the show is directed by James Ijames. Do you have your tickets yet?

Local actor/director Kash Goins will join the cast of the Arden's King Hedley II

Neil’s Nod of the Month

Writer Adryan Corcione is doing a Q&A with Sav Rodgers, the director of the new documentary Chasing Chasing Amy. I watched Kevin Smith's films dozens of times in the early 21st century and have gone through several levels of my own personal analysis with them, as social norms evolve and so do I. Chasing Chasing Amy follows Rodgers through his own queer journey, weaving in the Smith movie along the way. Look out for the story in March.

Recommended Reading

I've watched with interest what's happening to the buildings that made up the physical footprint of the University of the Arts. Scout, the local firm that developed South Philly's Bok school into an arts and commercial hub, is on track to purchase Hamilton Hall and Furness Hall. I wonder how it will feel for faculty and students to walk through these buildings again, given the opportunity? Back in June 2024, UArts creative writing professor Elise Juska wrote movingly about her final moments at Terra Hall.