April 10, 2009
Tea at the Bubble House
Something’s happening at the Bubble House, and it involves free notebooks.
The Painted Bride Quarterly, a publication related to the Department of English and Philosophy at Drexel University, is hosting its first ever anti-poetry month Story Slam on Tuesday, April 14 at 7:30 p.m. It will be in University City’s Bubble House at 3404 Sansom Street.
The free event will be an interactive improv writing experience, called a cross between “Whose Line is it Anyway?” and comedian Henry Rollins. The story slam, which will get competitive and involve betting on yourself, gives you the chance to win cash and prizes. But don’t worry, everyone goes home with a free notebook.
Story Slam
Painted Bride Quarterly
Tuesday, April 14, 7:30 p.m.
Bubble House
3404 Sansom Street, Philadelphia, PA
(215) 243-0804
www.thebubblehouse.com
April 7, 2009
“It’s a Philadelphia theater that just happens to be in the working class Northeast neighborhood of Mayfair.”
So says Michael Pickering, the artistic director of the Devon Theater, which reopened on March 27th, after being shuttered for years.
He says he isn’t too concerned about developing a following far from the glitz of Center City’s Avenue of the Arts and the established Old City arts scene. The Devon is just another sign of a sprouting Philadelphia theatre culture.
The classic musical comedy Nunsense is the apt opener for this theater in the heart of a proud Irish Catholic community. It runs until April 19th before Neil Simon’s The Odd Couple takes front stage as the second of the five-performance inaugural season.
The Devon first opened in 1946 as another in the city’s collection of proud movie houses. It turned to second and third-run films as a strategy to fight multiscreen theaters before showing adult films in the 1970s. Before being bought by the Mayfair Community Develop Corp. in Aug. 2004, the Devon remained an empty eyesore. It’s since been restored to a remarkable luster and is certainly worth the trip alone. Seeing a classic American musical like Nunsense is another reason, indeed.
The Devon is within a short 10-minute walk up Frankford Avenue from the Frankford Transportation Center, the last stop on the El. It’s across the street from the famed tomato pies of Tony’s Place and nearly adjacent to the original Chickie’s and Pete’s. Every self-respecting Philadelphian has to see this resurgent heart of the Northeast.
Nunsense @ The Devon
Now through April 19th
The Devon Theater for Performing Arts
6333 Frankford Avenue, Philadelphia
(215) 338-6300
www.devontheater.org
April 3, 2009
An author and three visual artists are scheduled for April’s First Person Arts salon series.
Photographer Edward “Ted” Adams, who is also the curator of the Southwark Gallery, will present a digital slide show about the tugboat Nancy McAllister, of which his brother is captain. Portrait photographer Sarah Bloom will discuss her ongoing two-year project of taking one self-portrait every single day. Multimedia artist Colette Copeland will present her Abortion Dialogues project. And Samara O’Shea, blogger at Letter Lover and author of two books about the importance of the written word, on which she will discuss.
Every second Wednesday evening, First Person Arts hosts memoir and documentary artists in a multimedia and interactive salon series. Find out more at www.firstpersonarts.org. The series is presented in collaboration with The University of the Arts School of Theater Arts and with the benefit of artistic partnerships with Scribe Video Center, InLiquid, Philadelphia Independent Film and Video Association (PIFVA), and the City of Philadelphia Mural Arts Program.
First Person Arts Salon Series
April 8th, 7:30 p.m. “” 9:30 p.m
Laurie Beechman Cabaret at The University of the Arts
Philadelphia Arts Bank
601 S. Broad St, Avenue of the Arts, Philadelphia
(267) 402-2055
www.firstpersonarts.org
April 1, 2009
Hip, one-of-a-kind fashion boutiques grow up so fast, don’t they?
Smak Parlour opened at 219 Market Street four years ago, just as Old City’s ascendance as a destination for hip shopping began. And now, they’re celebrating.
On April 3rd, the month’s First Friday, Smak Parlour is hosting its annual Pink Birthday Bash from 6-9 p.m. That means 20 percent off any one item and fun birthday presents with purchase. Oh, and, yeah, there will cupcakes. Pink, frosted cupcakes. And cocktails, of course.
The boutique is dressed for the spring season, with in-house designed dresses, tunics, tanks and tees in oh so many bright, saturated colors. Like fuchsia, people. Fuchsia! Like any good boutique, they also have fun jewelry, accessories, and lots more.
Smak Parlour
219 Market Street, Philadelphia, PA
(215) 625-4551
www.smakparlour.com
April 1, 2009
One Philadelphia filmmaker is giving “friendraising” a go.
To pay for for her debut environmental drama Future Weather, Jenny Deller is raising money by selling organic T-shirts and handmade totes. It’s all very Earthy.
All proceeds go to Deller’s goal of producing her script, which She plans on shooting sustainably in and around Philadelphia this summer.
The shirts are illustrated by Anthropologie designer eBond and are being promoted through a network of environmentalists and film supporters.
Future Weather is a coming-of-age story about a 13-year-old environmentalist named Laduree. In the midst of forestry research she believes will save her town from global warming, Laduree is abandoned by her mother. Forced to move in with her grandmother and stuck in a depressed rural community, she must prepare to face an uncertain future.
March 27, 2009
It will be a strange confluence of baseball, history, ancestry and fundraising.
Saint Malachy’s Church, the historic parish north of Girard Avenue, has been trying to raise the $300,000 it needs to restore its aged organ since 1997, when the church ceiling partially collapsed on the 1869-gem. On April 5 at 4 p.m., they’re again trying to make progress to that end.
Tim Wiles, the director of research at the Baseball Hall of Fame, is author of “Baseball’s Greatest Hit,” a book focusing on the history and cultural impact of “Take Me Out to the Ball Game,” that ditty about crackerjacks that you sing at baseball games. In his research he found that the grandfather of Philly-native Jack Norworth, who wrote the song, is Henry Knauff, who built the Malachy Church tracker organ.
Wiles says he would love to hear Norworth and Knauff reunite through the returned grace of that 140-year-old organ. So, he’ll be on hand April 5, along with baseball-themed poetry and music from a jazz saxophonist, a barbershop quartet and more, including lots of jabber about the Phillies, who will host their season opener later that day. Admission is free, but a donation reflective of your means would be appreciated. Wiles’ book and other merchandise will be on sale to benefit the cause.
Saint Malachy’s was the long home of recently-retired John MacNamee, the poet, author and Civil Rights-activist whose life was portrayed in 2001 Sundance film festival-entrant Diary of a City Priest. It remains among the city’s most vibrant and diverse parishes, home in its beautiful church north of Girard Avenue in Yorktown, a working class neighborhood south of Temple University in North Philadelphia. The church is serviced by the Girard trolley, the Broad Street line and the 3 bus, among others. On-site parking is also available.
If you’ve never gotten the chance to get inside Saint Malachy’s church, see this as a chance.
Yo, Philly, Play Ball
Sunday, April 5, 4 p.m.
Saint Malachy Church
1429 N. 11th St, Philadelphia, PA
www.saintmalachyparish.com
(215) 763-1305
March 27, 2009
A neighborhood’s arrival often has a lot to do with its arts. The Walking Fish Theatre is doing its best to make it known that Fishtown is back.
Hugging the Frankford Avenue corridor that divides Kensington and Fishtown, the young arts space has shared a growing collection of performances and events in recent months, highlighted by the beginning of its second annual Fresh Fish Ten Minute Play Festival on April 1. The show runs every Wednesday to Saturday from April 1 to 18 at 8 p.m., and then a final performance on Sunday April 19 at 2 p.m.
Each night features eight 10-minute plays, varying in focus from time travel and the Amazon to, um, cheese. Buy tickets at the door or online: www.walkingfishtheatre.com. Tickets are $16, $12 for students and seniors, but the theatre, in its effort to increase access to the arts, offers pay-what-you-can entry every Wednesday.
Fresh Fish 2.0 Ten Minute Play Festival
April 1-18, Wed-Sat @ 8:00pm, April 19, Sun @ 2:00pm.
Walking Fish Theatre
2509 Frankford Avenue, Fishtown, Philadelphia
(215) 427-9255
www.walkingfishtheatre.com
March 25, 2009
An interactive installation by six fine arts students from Moore College of Art & Design, the nation’s first and only women’s art college, opened at the Wilma Theater in conjunction with the East Coast premiere of Scorched. It is Wajdi Mouawad’s acclaimed play reacting to civil, ethnic and religious conflict.
Both the installation of video, audio and other visual arts and the production opened March 4 and closes this weekend, March 29th. The participating artists include Moore juniors Amanda Moore, Jamie Moore, Chloe Muxart, Dana Osburn, Emma Pouncey and Rosie Raizen.
In the Scorched production, twins Janine and Simon receive a surprising request in their late mother’s will: to deliver letters to a father they thought was dead and a brother they never knew existed. The requests lead them on a journey to the heart of their mother’s war-ravaged Middle Eastern homeland.
See video of the story beginning here. Catch the play and the installation while you still can!
Scorched
Now through March 29th
Wilma Theater
265. S. Broad St, Philadelphia, PA
(215) 546-7824
www.wilmatheater.org
March 13, 2009
I will not open with the ‘it’s a bird, it’s a plane’ bit. But a lesser man might, because superheroes, super villains, and their sidekicks are going to invade the University of Pennsylvania Museum of Archaeology and Anthropology on Sunday, March 22.
And, oh, I can see the kids going crazy for this already. I am too, but that is neither here nor there.
WOW! Superhero Day, free with Museum admission donation, features activities for all ages: heroic lectures and programs, comic book drawing classes, superhero-style storytelling, a heroic scavenger hunt and gallery tours, a superhero marketplace with games and comics, opportunities to learn and play popular superhero games and a lot more. All costumed superheroes and super villains receive discount admission — $2 off adult; $1 off children and senior citizens — the chance to win prizes and the admiration of your peers everywhere.
March 12, 2009
Philadelphia has a lot of Irish pubs, but one most prominently claims to have the best Guinness in town.
The Bards at 20th and Walnut is a casual respite from its posh Rittenhouse surroundings, and a sign in its window front boasts that Guinnes boast.
Walk into a lightly decorated space with a few small, wooden tables and all seems in order. But walk up to its main bar area, and the Bards’ call to welcome you into an Irish pub – more than just a name and a clover on the door – seems a bit more real. Wood paneling and Irish memorabilia decorate the walls, one of which looks a bit like a rural thatched home somewhere in County Donegal.
The Guinness is known to be fresh, the setting is comfy, and the food is also a draw.
Its menu has Irish entrees, most for less than $12 and hot sandwiches for less than $10. For a crowd looking to brave Rittenhouse though, their $5 menu with traditional bar grub is a popular choice from 8 to 10 p.m. Monday to Friday. The Bards also has brunch Saturdays and Sundays…
The Bards
2013 Walnut Street, Philadelphia, PA
www.bardsirishbar.com
(215) 569-9585
