Meet Philly-bred Kevin Bacon in person at this one-night-only special Kimmel Center event. (Photo courtesy Kevin Bacon)

Philadelphia-born actor Kevin Bacon will make an appearance in Philadelphia for the Kimmel Center’s 10th Anniversary special event,”Clips and Conversation with Kevin Bacon,” Wednesday, February 15, 7:30-9 p.m. in the Perelman Theater.

Noted Philly film critic Carrie Rickey will host the event, reflecting on Bacon’s career with a montage of movie clips and a candid discussion with the actor himself.

The evening is a sure to be a thrill, particularly for students who wish to pursue a career in acting or those who are already doing so, thanks to discussion and insight on the industry.

Bacon is actually the official celebrity spokesperson for the Kimmel Center’s 10th Anniversary Season, which pays homage to Philadelphia legends who have contributed to the city’s performing arts landscape.

A little Bacon background: in 1984 he became a household name with his starring role in Footloose. Other well-known film credits include Animal House, Apollo 13, Mystic River, A Few Good Men, Frost/Nixon and X Men.

Space is very limited. Tickets are just $20 for general seating and $5 for high school, college, and graduate students with a valid student I.D. They can be purchased at the Kimmel Center Box Office, by phone at (215) 893-1999 or online.

Kevin Bacon at the Kimmel Center
When: Wednesday, February 15, 7:30-9 p.m.
Where: Broad and Spruce Streets
Cost: $20 for general seating and $5 for high school, college, and graduate students
More info: www.tickets.kimmelcenter.org

Act II Playhouse in Ambler presents the Philadelphia-area premiere of Broadway drama Time Stands Still, on stage February 14-March 11.

A co-production with Delaware Theatre Company, Time Stands Still tells the story of Sarah and James, a photojournalist and a foreign correspondent trying to find happiness in a world gone crazy (sound familiar?).

The New York Times says the play “crackles with bright wit and intelligence.”

Want to see for yourself? Get tickets online.

Writer Donald Margulies is the Pulitzer-Prize winning author of Dinner with Friends, Collected Stories, Sight Unseen and many other plays.

Time Stands Still at Act II Playhouse
When: February 14-March 11
Where: 56 E. Butler Avenue, Ambler
Cost: Tickets range from $27-$33 for Friday evenings; discounts are available for students, seniors and groups
More info: www.act2.org

“American tattooing began with the sailor”, says John Brady, CEO of Philadelphia’s Independence Seaport Museum.

And, while sparsely clad, voluptuous women or anchors a la Popeye may not be everyone’s first choice in ink these days, the act and idea of expressing oneself through the art of tattooing still remains a popular tradition that is ever-evolving in our time.

On Thursday, February 9, the Independence Seaport Museum debuts Past to Present: Tattoo Paintings, a three month exhibit dedicated to the contemporary tattoo art movement.

On display in the museum’s second floor community gallery, many of the tattoo paintings are for sale and can be purchased through the museum’s store.

In addition, guests can get “inked” by an electronic artist which was featured in the Museum’s 2009 exhibit Skin & Bones: Tattoos in the Life of the American Sailor, and for the real deal visitors can wait to make an appearance at the museum’s three day tattoo festival in June.

Past to Present: Tattoo Paintings at the Independence Seaport Museum
Where: 211 S. Columbus Boulevard
When: February 9-May 20
Cost: Admission is $10-$12
More info: www.phillyseaport.org

February is a month of firsts for Irish theater company Inis Nua.

They launch their first production of the season, stage their first play by the Tambor Award-winning Irish playwright Elaine Murphy, welcome local director Kathryn MacMillan to the Inis Nua family and hold their official opening at First Baptist Church in Center City.

Want to be a part of all those firsts? Nab a ticket to Little Gem, a Philadelphia premiere on stage February 7-26.

It’s a look into one transitional year in the lives of three generations of a Dublin family. Daughter Amber is taking a break from binge-drinking with the girls, mother Lorraine is testing the waters of love on the north side of 40, and Granny Kay is watching her dear man slip away.

Artistic Director Tom Reing calls the show “simply one of the best plays I’ve seen out of Ireland in the last ten years.”

Get tickets online.

Inis Nua’s Little Gem
When: February 7-26
Where: First Baptist Church, 1636 Sansom Street
Cost: $25
More info: www.inisnuatheatre.org

Three storyboard designs for 'Outside Over There.' Pen and ink. © 1976 by Maurice Sendak.

On the heels of his epically hilarious two-part Colbert Report interview, celebrated children’s author and illustrator Maurice Sendak is ushering in 2012 with a new exhibit of his life’s work at Rittenhouse Square’s Rosenbach Museum & Library.

“Pen to Publisher” features two full galleries of Sendak’s creations, ranging from his early 1960 work The Sign on Rosie’s Door to 2003′s Brundibar, a story written by Tony Kushner based on a Czech opera performed for the children of a Nazi concentration camp.

The exhibit focuses on the process of publication and the relationships between Sendak and his collaborators. It will include illustration layouts, color separations, press proofs and publicity materials from Sendak’s published and unpublished work.

As a recipient of the Library of Congress’ “Living Legend” award and countless other accolades, Maurice Sendak truly is one of the greats. Check out this awesome new show running through mid-July.

“Pen to Publisher: The Life of Three Sendak Picture Books”
Where: The Rosenbach Museum & Library, 2008-10 Delancey Place
When: Now through July 15
Cost: $10, $8 for seniors, $5 for students, free for children under the age of 5
More Info: www.rosenbach.org

The always-impressive Arden Theatre has a truly sensational play in production now on the upstairs Arcadia Stage.

Titled Clybourne Park, the piece, a 2011 Pulitzer Prize for Drama winner, leases characters and setting from the 1959 classic A Raisin in the Sun.

The play deals with important issues of gentrification, particularly poignant in Philadelphia’s urban setting. It takes you through the story of a house, a neighborhood and the people who have come and gone over five decades’ time.

Get tickets online.

Clybourne Park at the Arden Theatre
When: Now through March 25
Where: 40 N. 2nd Street
Cost: Tickets start at $29
More info: www.ardentheatre.org

The ICA is home to provocative contemporary art.
(Photo courtesy ICA)

The Institute of Contemporary Art at the University of Pennsylvania is offering free admission all month long.

Since the 1960s, the ICA has led the way in revealing the hottest trends in contemporary art with the first-ever museum shows of Andy Warhol, Laurie Anderson, Agnes Martin, Robert Indiana and other influential artists.

Take advantage of the month-long free admission by checking out the Charline von Heyl exhibition, featuring 18 paintings and collages; Jennifer Bolande Landmarks, a site-specific installation; and Living Document / Naked Reality: Towards an Archival Cinema, which explores cinema’s complex political, formal and ideological history from the 1910s-1960s by showcasing the work of six international artists.

Free admission to the ICA is sponsored by the Amanda (C95) and Glenn (W87/WG88) Fuhrman Fund.

Institute of Contemporary Art
118 S. 36th Street
www.icaphila.org

Watch PAFA artists as they work inside their studios, many with stunning views of the city.
(Photo by F. Dean for GPTMC)

On Friday, February 10, join the faculty, students, and staff of the Pennsylvania Academy of Fine Arts (PAFA) for an Open Studio Night in the Samuel M.V. Hamilton Building from 5:30-8 p.m.

You’ll get a unique behind-the-scenes look at the inner workings of the professional academy artists’ studios, as well as the exceptional works-in-progress being created by PAFA students in more than 175 individual studios.

Artists and art lovers alike will enjoy this exclusive opportunity to meet America’s next generation of artists in person.

You’ll even have the chance to speak to the art students one-on-one to discuss the concepts and inspirations behind their diverse and exciting original paintings, drawings, sculptures and prints that will be part of this spring’s Annual Student Exhibition.

This event is free and open to the public.

Open Studio Night at PAFA
When: Friday, February 10, 5:30-8pm.
Where: Pennsylvania Academy of the Fine Arts, Samuel M.V. Hamilton Building, 128 N. Broad Street
Cost: Free
More info: www.pafa.edu

Next up in the Annenberg Center's 2011/12 season is an eccentric circus-like dance performance from renowned Israeli Inbal Pinto & Avshalom Pollak Dance Company. (Photo courtesy Annenberg Center)

Crack open Oyster, presented by Inbal Pinto & Avshalom Pollak Dance Company at the Annenberg Center on February 9-11, and you’ll discover a bizarre fantasy world.

With obvious nods to both Fellini and Tim Burton, the show presents a circus set-up where beauties and freaks vie for your attention.

The characters inhabit surreal scenes where mimes, acrobats and ballerinas become puppets and puppeteers. It’s a dark yet whimsical place that will surely capture your attention, because you’ve not likely seen contemporary dance quite like this.

The Israeli-based Inbal Pinto & Avshalom Pollak Dance Company has an international reputation for innovation, and Oyster is a shining example of their individual style that presents stellar physical prowess within a highly theatrical and visual production. They’re musical collagists, too; Oyster’s score includes opera (Pagliacci), tango (Piazzolla), Harry James, Yma Sumac and Tuvan throat singers.

The troupe made its Philadelphia debut at the Annenberg Center in 2008 and it’s great to have them back to entrance us once more. This is dance-theater you won’t soon forget. Get tickets online.

Inbal Pinto & Avshalom Pollak Dance Company’s Oyster
Where: Annenberg Center for the Performing Arts, 3680 Walnut Street
When: February 9-11
Cost: $20-$75
More info: www.annenbergcenter.org

Next up in Theatre Exile’s season is Knives In Hens, a provocative, eccentric piece by David Harrower, author of Exile’s critically acclaimed Blackbird.

Audience members enter a remote and secluded world where three lives are about to collide.

The play is billed as more of “an immersive theatrical event” that invites viewers into a starlit wooded landscape crafted in Theatre Exile’s intimate Studio X space.

Be sure to get advance tickets online.

Theatre Exile’s Knives In Hens
When: February 9-March 4
Where: Studio X, 1340 S. 13th Street
Cost: $25
More info: www.theatreexile.org

Drawn from the expansive comics collection of William F. Wu, Marvels & Monsters examines stereotypes of Asian identity formed over half a century ago that continue to shape the perceptions of Asian Americans today. (Images courtesy Asian Arts Initiative)

Drawing from the expansive collection of science fiction author and cultural studies scholar William F. Wu, the Asian Arts Initiative’s latest exhibition, Marvels & Monsters: Unmasking Asian Images in U.S. Comics, 1942-1986, opens this Friday, February 3, with a free and open-to-the-public reception from 6-8 p.m.

Covering more than four decades of imagery, Marvels & Monsters offers a captivating look at America’s evolving racial and cultural sensibility as it is perceived in comic books, highlighting how images of Asian-Americans have influenced contemporary culture.

In addition to the images from Wu’s collection, the exhibit will also showcase a series of present-day graphic novels by Asian-Americans, including Ken Chen, Naomi Hirahara and Genny Lim.

And be sure to mark your calendars for Thursday, March 1 at 6 p.m. when AAI hosts an exhibition-related film screening and panel discussion. For more info about the exhibit and related programming, click here.

Marvels & Monsters: Unmasking Asian Images in U.S. Comics, 1942-1986
When: On view February 3-March 23; Opening Reception, Friday, February 3, 6-8 p.m.
Where: Asian Arts Initiative, 1219 Vine Street
Cost: Free
More info: www.asianartsinitiative.org

Paul Evans (1931-1987) , Sculpted Steel Wall Collage, 1970. (Image courtesy Michener Museum)

The creative energy, broad technical repertoire and innovative designs of studio craft artists of the Delaware Valley are subjects of the Michener Art Museum’s new installation entitled Intelligent Design, opening February 3.

Whether a mosaic tile, an abstract form in wood, a wall sculpture, or a ceramic vessel, as nonverbal forms of human expression these works not only reflect cultural values but can function to transform the particulars of our everyday lives.

Says Curator of Collections Constance Kimmerle, “The strong studio craft tradition of southeastern Pennsylvania represents a significant collecting opportunity for the Michener Art Museum, and it’s exciting to be doing this in the area in which the museum is actively building its permanent collection.” Cheers to that.

Intelligent Design at the Michener Art Museum
When: Permanent exhibition opening February 3
Where: 138 S. Pine Street, Doylestown
Cost: Children under 6 free, Adults $12.50, Seniors $11.50, College students $9.50, Ages 6-18 $6
More info: www.michenermuseum.org