The BSR Weekly Arts and Culture Roundup, November 20-26, 2025

American Mythologies
Now through December 20, 2025
Germantown Historical Society, 5501 Germantown Avenue

This free exhibition at the Germantown Historical Society showcases the work of a pair of Philly-based artists that draw parallel explorations of American myths throughout the decades through large-scale paintings, drawings, mixed media, sound, and immersive installations. Originally scheduled to close this weekend, the exhibition was extended to December 20.

The Wake
November 19-23, 7-10pm
Sugar Mom’s, 225 Church Street
The Wake: Step Beyond the Veil is a site specific immersive magic and music experience, returns to Sugar Mom’s Hideaway. The Wake poses a profound question: if the brain fires for longer than the heart beats, will anyone ever truly cross over or are we stuck in the seemingly eternal dream state of increasingly infinitesimal electric impulses? Profound, indeed; the week-long performance pops up in the working studio of mural artist Meg Saligman—and the studio was once upon a time the legendary Sugar Mom’s, the sister bar to Tattooed Mom’s on South Street.

The Pirates of Penzance
November 19-January 4, 2026
Quintessence Theatre Sedgwick Theatre, 7137 Germantown Avenue

Quintessence’s 16th season continues with the production of this comic opera by W.S. Gilbert and Arthur Sullivan that follows a band of pirates who go to battle with the British bobbies over the hearts of a bevy of beautiful Cornish maidens—with only a major general and Queen Victoria to stand in their way.

A Christmas Carol
November 19-January 4, 2026
People’s Light, 39 Conestoga Road, Malvern, PA

People’s Light reimagines the Charles Dickens classic through the eyes of a child as we follow Ebenezer Scrooge and a gathering of ghosts on a journey through time.

African Spiritualities Film Series
November 20-21
Scribe Video Center, 3908 Lancaster Avenue

Scribe and Third World Newsreel host a two-day festival showcasing two films capturing African spiritual traditions. In AI: African Intelligence by Manthia Diawara, the 2023 Senegalese film explores the contact zones between African rituals of possession among traditional fishing villages of the Atlantic coast while raising questions about the emergence and interference of AI. Voices of the Gods by Al Santana is an 1985 documentary that captures the legacy of ancient African religions practiced in the US.

Lost Cause
Friday, November 21, 3pm
Weitzman National Museum of American Jewish History, 101 South Independence Mall East

This meta-narrative art-pop musical film is about a Yom Kippur service that goes off the rails and transforms into an attempted therapy session for a powerful and controversial unelected bureaucrat. Lost Cause was screened in the Philadelphia Jewish Film and Media Festival earlier this month, and will have an afternoon encore at the Weitzman.

The Lost Tango
November 21-22, 7:30pm
Venice Island Performing Arts & Recreation Center, 7 Lock Street, Philadelphia

This original musical by two Philly playwrights tells the story of one night, six friends, and one hundred truths with “funny banter with soaring songs to trace the twists of friendship, love, and change.”

Early Educational: Classroom Films of the Silent Era
Friday, November 21, 7:30-10pm
Glen Foerd, 5001 Grant Avenue, Philadelphia

The Secret Cinema, a floating repertory cinema series that’s been serving Philadelphia since 1992, returns to Glen Foerd this weekend. This time, the series revisits an unusual program concept it hasn’t tapped into in 16 years with Early Educational: Classroom Films of the Silent Era. The program features rare reels (even some that haven’t been seen in about a century) that are still “potent in their powers to entertain, amuse, and yes, educate modern-day viewers about a variety of subjects.” Doors open at 7pm—get there before the screening begins to tour the mansion and grounds of Glen Foerd.

Philadelphia Artists Resist
November 21-23
Huddle, 338 Brown Street

Popping up in alignment with the nationwide initiative Fall of Freedom, this exhibit features artists based in the Philly area whose works challenge the issues of our times.

Philadelphia Muslim Communities Arts and Culture Festival
Saturday, November 22, 1:30pm-9:30pm
Temple University Performing Arts Center, 1837 North Broad Street

Celebrate the cultural heritage of the area’s Muslim residents through music, folklore, storytelling, and conversation at this free festival that’s open to the public.