High school students ages 14-21 are invited to participate in the auditions for the high school version of the popular musical RENT to be staged in West Philly. The auditions will take place at The Rotunda (4014 Walnut St.) on Saturday, Sept. 10 and Sunday, Sept. 11, from 8 a.m. to noon, and Saturday, Sept. 17, from 10 a.m. to 1 p.m. (call backs are from 1:30 to 5 p.m.).

The audition requires two songs of approximately three minutes in length, preferably from the RENT soundtrack. Musical accompaniment can be provided. To make arrangements in advance email: projecttheaterproject [at] gmail.com.

Prior theater experience is not necessary, but parental permission is required. Students that are cast for roles in RENT will be required to attend sixteen three-hour rehearsals in September, October, and November. The shows are scheduled for December.

Local community theater group PROJECT THEATER PROJECT is working on this production. For more information on the production, auditions and rehearsals go here.

Starting from tomorrow, Sept. 2, West Philly’s Curio Theatre Company begins a series of free performances of William Golding’s Lord of the Flies in the Clark Park bowl. The shows are scheduled for Sept. 2, 7, 8, & 9 (7 p.m. starting time) and are included in the 2011 Philly Fringe-Live Arts Festival program.

What’s cool about these shows is that along with Curio’s young professional actors playing the main characters, a group of children, the theatre’s school students, is included in the cast. The kids act as the younger boys, or “Littluns,” in the play.

One of the idea’s behind staging Lord of the Flies in the outdoor environment such as Clark Park was the use of natural light. So the show begins just before the sunset and as the events unfold the light will change from the descending sun shining upon the boys to darkness.

Sounds like it will be an event you don’t want to miss, so bring your lounge chairs, snacks and enjoy this classic story.

We are well into August (isn’t the summer flying by?) and more and more arts and entertainment places are putting the finishing touches on their fall/winter programs.

Crossroads Music (801 S. 48th Street) has just announced some of their fall/winter shows. The new season begins September 10 with a performance by West Philly bands Electric Simcha and Stinking Lizaveta.

The new program also features music performances in a variety of genres, including classical, folk, klezmer, and world music by a group of international artists.

Ticket prices for performances at Crossroads Music usually range from $10-30. For more information on the shows go here. Crossroads Music is still working on adding more dates to the new schedule.

The tiny circus came to Clark Park this morning. Performers from the movement arts group Tangle strung a trapeze, hoop and long pieces of fabric called “silks” from a large tree between the bowl and playground and entertained dozens of people young and old.

The West Philly Tool Library supplied the ladder, a key piece of equipment when you do acrobatics while hanging from a tree.

You may have seen the tiny circus in this spot before. This time the performers were promoting their upcoming show “Ampersand” at Philly Fringe on Sept. 8-9 at Philadelphia Soundstages at 1600 N. 5th St. Ampersand combines “trapeze aerial rope and partner acrobatics with power narratives of belonging.”

Their Fringe shows are:

• Sept. 8 – 7:30 p.m.
• Sept. 9 – 6:30 p.m. and 9 p.m.

Check out the slideshow below for more photos.

If you dig all things alternative, indy, fringe and so on, then pencil the Philadelphia Alternative Comic Con into this Sunday’s agenda.

The P.A.C.C. returns to The Rotunda (4014 Walnut St.) in West Philly on August 14 from noon to 7. The event will feature tons of exhibitors and vendors dealing in the weirdly wonderful world of off-the-beaten-path comics and zines. West Philly’s own comic genius, Box Brown, will be in the house along with a ton of other artists.

A full list of vendors and exhibitors is available here. Admission is FREE.

Street Movies!, a series of free outdoor short movie screenings and live performances organized by Scribe Video Center (4212 Chestnut St.), are happening this month in communities all around Philadelphia. The films, including animation, documentary, and experimental, focus on environmental justice, healthy foods, new immigrants and urban green spaces.

This Saturday, August 6, Street Movies! will be in West Philly. Four films will be screened in Clark Park’s Bowl (45th & Kingsessing) starting at 7:30 p.m. The film presentation is hosted by the Jubilee School and the Green Guerillas, who will power the screening with their biodiesel waste and vegetable oil-powered bus the “Grease Guzzler.”

Philly-based hip hop artist Alwatan Kwele, who is originally from Tanzania, will open the evening.

There will be another screening in West Philly hosted by Mill Creek Community Partnership on August 27. Stay tuned for more information about that event.

Here are synopses of the films (from the Scribe site):

The Future of Our History
by Jubilee School
K-6 students of Jubilee spend two years studying W.E.B. Du Bois, making a pilgrimage to Great Barrington, MA, where they visit the graves of Du Bois’ wife and young son. (2011, 15 min)

Pumzi
by Wanuri Kahiu
35 years after “The Water War” has ruined earth’s surface, a young woman defies the governing council of her indoor community, escapes to the outside to plant a growing seedling. (Kenya, 2009, 21 min). Philadelphia Premiere.

Green Grease Guzzlers
by Green Guerrillas Youth Media Tech Collective (in person)
A story about alternative and sustainable transportation, this excerpt showcases Green Guerrillas ona move, making their collective’s transportation more “eco-friendly” with the conversion of a 1990 Ford Econoline diesel bus into a lean and green biodiesel/waste veggie oil machine. (2010, 30 min). Philadelphia Premiere.

Save the Future
by Jenny Deller (in-person)
A young girl re-imagines her life as a PSA, blurring the lines between her family troubles and environmental catastrophe. Save the Future is a companion short to her feature “Future Weather” about global warming. The whole production was environmentally conscious. (2009, 3 min)