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Scene from the play. Banks stands warily opposite Close, seated at a desk in vest & tie. She wears a camo jacket & a backpack

Theatre Horizon presents James Ijames’s TJ Loves Sally 4 Ever

Rewriting the antebellum script

TJ Loves Sally 4 Ever, a regional premiere from James Ijames at Theatre Horizon, asks its characters, and its audience, to wrestle with the complicated concept of inheritance. Cameron Kelsall reviews.

Cameron Kelsall

Mar 08, 2022 Reviews 4 minute read

A nighttime photo of characters Tess and Rach in a Walmart parking lot, next to a shopping cart. Tess holds a camera.

Azuka Theatre presents Val Dunn’s Carroll County Fix

A hometown transformed

Val Dunn’s world-premiere play reckons with changes to Carroll County, Maryland, amidst the opioid epidemic and the suburbanization of once-outlying small towns. Jill Ivey reviews.

Jillian Ashley Blair Ivey

Mar 08, 2022 Reviews 3 minute read

A scene from the play. Jessie holds a box in what looks like a bedroom door, facing her mom, who wears a floral house dress

Isis Productions presents Marsha Norman’s ’Night, Mother

The long goodbye

Despite strong performances, Marsha Norman’s ’Night, Mother shows its age in a staging from Isis Productions. Cameron Kelsall reviews.

Cameron Kelsall

Mar 07, 2022 Reviews 3 minute read

A scene from the play. The ornate set is crammed with Victorian details. Peakes talks and gestures to Van Horn.

Walnut Street Theatre presents Bill Van Horn's Sherlock Holmes: The Adventure of the Speckled Band

Whatever remains is the truth

Following protests by a cohort of Philadelphia artists taking aim at the Walnut’s leadership, the theater produces a shlocky, self-indulgent, and sometimes cringeworthy adaptation of Sherlock Holmes. Jill Ivey reviews.

Jillian Ashley Blair Ivey

Mar 07, 2022 Reviews 4 minute read

Singers King and Shammash spotlit on a dark stage. She crosses her arms on her chest and he stands behind, touching her hands

Lyric Fest presents Yiddishe Nightingale, A Short History of the American Yiddish Theater

The stars of Yiddish song

Lyric Fest’s presentation of a musical history of American Yiddish Theater makes compelling and poignant listening, especially as all eyes are on Ukraine. Wendy Rosenfield reviews.

Wendy Rosenfield

Mar 04, 2022 Reviews 3 minute read

The book cover. A brown-and-white illustration of a screened door and doormat, with the title written on the doormat.

Dreadful Sorry: Essays on an American Nostalgia by Jennifer Niesslein

Chasing completeness

In Pennsylvania native Jennifer Niesslein’s deeply personal new essay collection, she grapples with the personal, political, and cultural myths of America today. Grace Kennedy reviews.

Grace Kennedy

Feb 28, 2022 Reviews 5 minute read

A scene from Choir Boy. Five young Black men in khakis and red vests face the audience, a spotlight on one in front, singing

Philadelphia Theatre Company presents Tarell Alvin McCraney’s Choir Boy

A singing performance

Philadelphia Theatre Company closes out its 2021-2022 season with Choir Boy, combining must-see artistry with characters and stories that need more space on our city’s stages. Jill Ivey reviews.

Jillian Ashley Blair Ivey

Feb 28, 2022 Reviews 4 minute read

A view from the back of the theater. The audience is in silhouette and 16 onstage musicians stand for their bows.

The Chamber Orchestra of Philadelphia presents Brandenburg & the Baroque

A Baroque tour of Europe

Conductor Jeffrey Brillhart and the Chamber Orchestra of Philadelphia highlighted the diversity of early modern music, showing how much vigor still resides in these oft-dismissed compositions. Cameron Kelsall reviews.

Cameron Kelsall

Feb 21, 2022 Reviews 3 minute read

A solemn black-and-white oval image of Still, wearing a tuxedo. His signature appears at the bottom of the framing paper.

Charles L. Blockson Afro-American Collection presents The Quest for Freedom and Dignity: Celebrating William Still and Harriet Tubman

Liberty’s collaborators

A special exhibition at Temple University’s Charles L. Blockson Afro-American Collection celebrates the 200th birthdays of Harriet Tubman and Philadelphia abolitionist William Still. Pamela J. Forsythe visits.

Pamela J. Forsythe

Feb 20, 2022 Reviews 4 minute read

Book cover. Title appears to the left of an illustration: two women’s faces, as if staring through shard-shaped rips in paper

Don’t Say We Didn’t Warn You by Ariel Delgado Dixon

Such devoted sisters

Trauma and abandonment reverberate throughout the lives of two sisters in Ariel Delgado Dixon’s debut novel, Don’t Say We Didn’t Warn You. Kirsten Bowen reviews.

Kirsten Bowen

Feb 15, 2022 Reviews 3 minute read