The Curio Theatre Company after-school workshop series starts tomorrow. Registration for the after-school program and the Saturday workshops for youths 7-17 continues through March 5.

The first Saturday workshop was yesterday, but those interested can still register even if they have missed the first class. The Saturday workshop runs from 10 a.m. to noon until May 7. The after-school program is from 3:30 p.m. to 5:30 p.m. through May 9. All of the workshops are held at Calvary Center for Culture and Community (4740 Baltimore Ave.). Each program concludes with a performance on the last day on the Curio stage.

Click here for more information on registration. The cost for each workshop is $195.

If you have any spare time between 6 p.m. and about 7 p.m. tonight, we highly suggest you go to the Penn Bookstore (3601 Walnut St.) and hear Wes Moore talk about his New York Times Bestseller “The Other Wes Moore: One Name Two Fates.”

The book contrasts the lives of one Wes Moore, the author, who was a Rhodes Scholar, combat veteran, White House Fellow, and another Wes Moore, who is serving a life sentence in prison for murdering an off-duty Baltimore police officer. Both men grew up in the same neighborhood and are two years apart in age. The book is about how two lives that started so similarly could end up so differently.

“The chilling truth is his story could have been mine,” Moore has said. “And the tragedy is that my story could have been his.”

Here is a video clip of the author talking about the book:

Curio Theatre Company‘s staging of Great Expectations continues with performances tonight, tomorrow night and Saturday. All three performances begin at 8 p.m. and so far the play, which is adapted and directed by Jared Reed, has gotten rave reviews. Theater criticism is not our strong point so we turned to folks who know more than we do.

Here is a comment from Roger:

“The plot is complicated, the actors play multiple characters, the performance is “in the round,” and the show lasts almost three hours! I went last Saturday night, dead tired … and found myself riveted to the action, enjoying every minute! The Curio people never cease to amaze … each time the old sanctuary at Calvary has a new set-up and each production presents something totally new and exciting. We have one of the best theatre companies in the city, and it’s all right here at 48th and Baltimore.”

Tickets are $10 to $15.

The “tapers” section of a 1985 Grateful Dead concert.

Few bands have richer concert histories than the Grateful Dead and Phish. Both bands were always far more successful touring than they ever were in the studio or on the charts. They attracted massive global followings and recordings of their concerts have been traded over the years with the enthusiasm and passion of avid baseball card collectors. Two people who play a key role in that recording history will be speaking tomorrow night at Drexel University’s Stein Auditorium (3215 Market St.) at 6 p.m.

Grateful Dead archivist David Lemieux and Phish archivist Kevin Shapiro are at Drexel for two days of talks and workshops. They have been brought to campus through the University’s College of Media Arts and Design. Lemieux has helped make dozens of Grateful Dead live shows available to the public. He also interacts with a very knowledgable fan base that has grown out the Grateful Dead’s early decision to allow fans at concerts to record their shows. Shapiro has done the same for Phish.

Both archivsts help the bands make decisions about releases and preservation. They will also talk about the impact of digital technology on their work.

A podcast of Lemieux and Shapiro playing and talking about select tracks from shows in Philadelphia will be available online today. The podcast will be available from 3-7 PM as a stream via http://www.drexel.edu/westphal/events/lemieuxshapiropodcast/.

The featured mural on the cool Mural Arts Program interactive site, Mural Explorer,  is The Heart of Baltimore Avenue, a mural on the 4700 block of Baltimore Avenue begun as a tribute to Amare Solomon, the owner of the nearby Dahlak restaurant, but became a tribute to the whole neighborhood.

The multimedia site, which is awesome, features a slideshow on the making of the mural and a short video interview with artist David Guinn as he works on the piece, which was finished in September 2008. The mural also has its own dedicated site.

Above is a small portion of the “Heart of Baltimore Avenue.” When you get to the site, go to “explore mural” and push on the green plus signs to hear stories about characters in the mural.

One of the mummies that will be on display at the Penn Museum beginning Friday.

As you might have heard, the mummies have made it. The Penn Museum’s “Secrets of the Silk Road” exhibit will be closed today through Friday, February 18 so that the museum can prepare artifacts and mummies from China that the Chinese government forbade it from displaying.

The exhibit opened to much fanfare last week, but about 100 pieces, including two mummies, were missing, prompting the museum to waive the $22.50 admission price when the exhibit opened on Feb. 5. The fragile artifacts are up to 3,800 years old.

The exhibit reopens on Friday at 1 p.m. mummies and all. The full exhibit runs through March 15. But then the mummies are back on the road and will not be part of the exhibit from March 17 to its close on March 28.

For the full background on the mummies controversy see this story from the Inquirer.