Photo by Kyle Cassidy, featuring Josh Hitchens as Ichabod Crane.

Curio Theatre Company has announced its 2013-2014 season and it looks like West Philadelphia’s hotbed of thespian talent has big plans for the upcoming year with an exploration of gender roles and identity.

Curio’s ninth season, which is coined “gender-themed,” kicks off Friday, September 6 in Clark Park with a free production of “The Legend of Sleepy Hollow,” the classic 1820 short story following the journey of Ichabod Crane and the terrifying Headless Horseman.

Directed by Cara Blouin, Curio’s adaption of Washington Irving’s spooky tale will ride along with Crane, played by company member Josh Hitchens, as he races for his life from the supernatural knight, weaving in live music composed by Eli Halpern and live sound effects (plus a real campfire) to bring the terrifying journey to life. But, in Curio’s production, “The Legend of Sleepy Hollow” will extend beyond the fright of Crane’s last night in Tarry Town—the theater company also plans to take a deeper look into the life of Katrina Van Tassel (played by company member Rachel Gluck), the woman whose affection Crane sought and rejection that brought him into the “spook infested” woods that fateful night. Performances of “The Legend of Sleepy Hollow” will take place at 7:30 p.m. and run through Sunday, September 8.

In addition to a whimsical upcoming season, Curio will also hold benefit talent show on Friday, September 27. Titled “The Best of the West (Philly) Talent Smackdown,” Curio’s 2013 benefit will feature a talent contest umpired by celebrity judges, with the winner receiving a $100 cash prize and goody bag. It will have live music, raffle and prizes, beer, wine, a tapas spread, and a special Wild West cocktail. The event will be held in St. Francis De Sales School, 917 S. 47^th Street, at 8 p.m. and cost $50 per person.

To purchase tickets to the benefit show, click here. The next audition for the talent show will be held at the Curio Center Stage on Friday, September 13 from 2 p.m. to 8 p.m. Call 215-525-1350 to schedule. Continue Reading

Penn Museum is thinking of developing new programs for teens, but first they want to hear from neighborhood teens and parents. The museum is currently conducting a review and asking that teens and parents participate in one, or both, of the following ways:

• Complete a survey (see links below) and return it to the museum (by email to pennmuseumteenprograms@gmail.com or by physically dropping them off at the museum entrance, 3260 South Street) by August 30.
• Participate in a focus group and discuss what you have appreciated about the Penn Museum in the past and how you would like them to focus their energy as they move into teen programming.

The two remaining times for focus groups (both teen and adult) are:

Sunday, Aug 25, 3:00-4:00 p.m. (in Group Dining)
Monday Aug 26, 6:00-7:00 p.m. (in Group Dining)

Teen Survey

Parent Survey

No Child … curators (from left) Walter DeShields, LaNeshe L. White and Carlo Campbell at Malcolm X. Park (Photo from Facebook page).

This might be the most timely theater performance of the year. On Sunday, Aug. 18, “Theatre in the X” debuts at Malcolm X. Park (51st and Pine) and the first performance is the off-broadway piece No Child ..., which gives a first-hand account of what it’s like to teach and learn in inner-city schools.

Click to enlarge.

Originally performed as a one-woman show, the play is based on playwright and actress Nilaja Sun‘s experience teaching art in the New York public school system. The Theatre in the X version will feature a multi-general cast to play the teacher, students and school personnel who provide a glimpse into a school classroom.

The performance comes as the public school system Philadelphia is making national headlines for its financial difficulties.

Andre G. Brown will direct the play and Walter DeShields, LaNeshe L White and Carlo Campbell are the curators. The Leeway Corporation provided a grant for the performance.

The curtain opens at 6 p.m. and admission is free.

Theater in the X will continue the following Sunday, Aug. 25, with a production of Black Mass.

Editor’s Note: West Philly Local contributor and West Philly resident Jen Horner and her son checked on Penn Museum’s 40 Winks with the Sphinx sleepover program a few months ago, but we didn’t get a chance to run the story about their experience because all subsequent sleepovers in the spring/summer were quickly sold out. As tickets for the Fall 2013 – Summer 2014 of 40 Winks with the Sphinx season go on sale today, we are publishing this story now.

Photos by Jen Horner.

It’s funny: Ben Stiller has been very helpful to scientific institutions in their quest to reach young minds and generate new revenue streams. The 2006 movie Night at the Museum is not the only inspiration for overnight kids’ programs – the Franklin Institute has been doing it for years – but I did feel my life imitating art when I took a late night flashlight tour through the mummy chambers of the Penn Museum with my ten-year-old son. “Forty Winks with the Sphinx” is a popular monthly program for kids age 6-12, and while it plays on the premise of the movie, the grandeur of the museum and the enthusiasm of the staff override all residual cheesiness.

We found plenty to like about Forty Winks. From 5:30 until the first scheduled event of at 6:45 we had the run of the museum. Staff and security were on site, and as a bonus, things were set up for the next night’s crazy-lavish wedding. (There were gigantic crystal chandeliers and velvet drapes all over the Egyptian gallery). My son and I had fun following the scavenger hunt booklet. At 6:45, we convened in the auditorium for a short orientation followed by a live “game show” wherein kids examined artifacts from the museum and guessed what they were used for. This moved briskly but lasted long enough for most kids to get a chance on stage.

From 7:45 on, we were free to try four activities, eat dinner (we packed it ourselves), roam the museum, or actually watch the movie Night at the Museum. Of the lessons, we liked the cuneiform best – it’s the ancient Sumerian writing method of pressing patterns into clay. I cannot describe the satisfaction we felt when the instructor looked at my son’s finished clay tablet and read his name out loud! Where else could you meet a person literate in ancient Sumerian? We also learned some Egyptian hieroglyphics, and we had a chance to (respectfully) examine a real Peruvian mummy. Yoga was too crowded so we skipped it.

The best part of the night was the Expedition at 10. Everyone has to bring their own flashlight because they really do turn out the lights. Things were organized so that small groups moved through key exhibits without spoiling the illusion of being alone with the mummies in a vast, dark museum. I must say, the guides – mostly Penn graduate students – were very charming and smart, and good at talking with flashlights in their faces. There is a lot of truly cool stuff in the museum, plus my son met a fellow Angry Birds fan. By 11:30-ish, after negotiating the crowded restrooms, we ended up back in the Sphinx room for lights out.  Continue Reading

Great news for neighborhood jazz fans – thanks to contributions from community members and businesses, Cedar Park Summer Jazz series, which brings popular local jazz musicians to the park at 49th & Baltimore every Friday night, has been extended for two more weeks, until August 9. The additional performances will feature Ronin Ali and Friends tonight (Friday, Aug 2) and the Perseverance Jazz Band on August 9. Shows start at 6 p.m.

West Philly-based Scribe Video Center kicks off its annual, month-long Street Movies! series on Thursday, Aug 1. Street Movies!, which is now a citywide event thanks to Scribe’s collaboration with community groups in various sections and neighborhoods in the city, will again bring entertaining as well as thought-provoking independent films and live performances outdoors.

Street Movies! uses short films as “a springboard to facilitate audience discussion about issues like immigration, the environment, and education,” according to Scribe Program Associate Jonathan Farbowitz.

This year’s lineup of animated, documentary and narrative shorts focuses on youth-produced videos and features films about refugees, the environment and the arts heritage of Philadelphia. The Street Movies! program also includes short animations from Nigeria and Kenya, as well as from New York-based StoryCorps’ oral history series.

In addition to film, select Street Movies! events open with a live performance. This year’s featured performers include renowned poet Ursula Rucker and guitarist Tim Motzer, musicians from Arpeggio Jazz Ensemble, the South East Asian Mutual Assistance Associations Coalition (SEAMAAC)’s Hip-Hop Heritage B-Boy Crew, and the all-female drumming group Music Over Matter. Notable media personalities and community leaders serve as emcees for each Street Movies! event, and facilitate post-screening discussions with the audience.

All events start at 7:45 p.m. and are free, open to the public and family-friendly.

In West Philly, there will be two screenings: in the Haddington section on Thursday, Aug 1 and in Cobbs Creek on Wednesday, Aug 21. More details below.

Thursday, August, 1
Haddington
Host: Urban Tree Connection
Location: The Memorial Garden
536 North 54th Street
Screening: Can’t Hold Me Back, about a first-generation high school graduate, youth-produced Messages in Motion films, and other shorts about the environment and other issues affecting youth.
Opening performance: Ursula Rucker and Tim Motzer
Rain Date: Monday, August 5

Wednesday, August 21
Cobbs Creek
Host: Cobbs Creek Community Environmental Education Center (CCCEC)
Location: CCCEC
700 Cobbs Creek Parkway (63^rd Street and Catherine Street) by the creek
Screening: Plastic Bag by Ramin Bahrani, a short film about the epic, existential journey of a plastic bag (voiced by Werner Herzog) searching for its lost maker.
Emcee: Serena Reed
Rain Location: CCCEC Building

For more information, please visit: http://www.scribe.org/streetmovies or the Street Movies! Facebook page.