It's been another week of really, really rough news. In light of cruel and unconstitutional anti-immigrant sentiment flaming around the country, I'm going to keep recommending our recent piece on Philly music collective Son Revoltura. It's a beautiful reminder of how immigrants and their families and descendants enrich our country. We at BSR (a team that includes immigrants and children of immigrants) will continue to look out for their leadership in Philly's cultural life.
Thanks everyone who joined us for Book Week last week! The author panel was a great conversation, and a recording is available to anyone for a $20 donation to BSR. Contact Neil ([email protected]) if you'd like to access it. And anytime you need book recs, our Books channel is absolutely stacked with our writers' picks.
We have a lot of exciting stories this week. We're reviewing a historic adaptation of James Baldwin's Giovanni's Room: the first-ever stage version of his work approved by his estate. We're in South Philly for the East Coast premiere of our own R. Eric Thomas's Glitter in the Glass and in Center City for the Philly premiere of Inis Nua's Square Go. We head to AAMP for the stunning glass beadwork of Demond Melancon. PLUS: theater nerds rejoice! We've got a trio of BSR Podcast episodes taking you inside the new shows at Inis Nua, Exile, and PTC.
We're also continuing to celebrate Pride with Melissa Strong's piece about trans and nonbinary dancers and how they're challenging rigid gender norms in the dance industry. And this week I heard from arts leaders around the region about how SEPTA's proposed "doomsday" budget could destroy our arts scene--and what we can do about it before time runs out in Harrisburg.
We at BSR are proud to provide this depth of coverage week after week. If you want to keep us publishing in future, you know what to do.
Alaina Johns
BSR editor-in-chief