Let's get started this week with an easy and important community action item. Our friends at LIFT Philly are working on a new campaign to help Philadelphia freelancers, including many independent artists and creators, get relief from a sudden and crushing change in the city's tax code: the end of the BIRT exemption for contractors or businesses making less than $100K/year. Philly's tax code is hard enough for low-income indie workers, and it just got a lot harder. Check out this petition for more info, consider signing it, and share it with any friends who are part of Philly's vital ecosystem of creative independent workers.
On to the reviews!
This week, we took in the world premiere of the new opera by composer Gregory Spears (alas, a short run of only one weekend). Gail Obenreder says Opera Philadelphia has scored another triumph with Sleepers Awake. Other writers headed to the national tour of Shucked (Josh Herren loves it; it's running at the Forrest through May 3) and the world premiere of Seng's Hair Salon at InterAct (Krista Mar says it's a must-see). Meanwhile, Pamela J. Forsythe saw an exciting new exhibition at TILT featuring photographs of 60 years of Philadelphia protests, right up to the strike at the PMA, the No Arena movement, and No Kings. Check out her review and get some inspiration for the many necessary protests ahead.
BSR Book Week author spotlight
Each week, from now until our BSR Book Week author panel on May 20, we'll spotlight one of the writers joining our event. Today we're introducing Emma Copley Eisenberg. But you probably know her already! She's the author of the bestselling 2024 novel Housemates, and her work has appeared in venues including The New York Times Review of Books, The Paris Review, TIME, and many more. She is a 2026 Pew Fellow in the Arts and the recipient of many grants, awards, and residencies. She's a cofounder of Blue Stoop, and she'll be joining our May 20 panel to chat with us about her newest book, FAT SWIM, which was published yesterday! You may have spotted Emma recently through appearances in Philly Mag, WHYY, and the Inquirer, including a provocative billboard she rented (that Inky link is accessible to all). FAT SWIM is "An electrifying collection of linked stories following a cast of characters navigating bodies, queerness, power, and sex—with radical results." I love her Substack, Frump Feelings.
We are so proud to welcome Emma to our 2026 Book Week panel! If you want to join the May 20 conversation (happening via Zoom), register now. (Friends of BSR, we'll be sending you your free access code soon! Friends attend most BSR events free.)
Looking to the weekend
Kyle will be with you tomorrow, sharing his weekend picks and some exciting previews, including Stephen Silver's May film screenings roundup. And look out on Friday morning for our May BSR in the Wild mailer, to find out which shows and events the BSR team is heading to.
Thanks for spending another week with us!
Alaina Johns
BSR editor-in-chief
