Photo by Rebecca Gudelunas

West Philly’s Curio Theatre Company is closing out the season with another production that looks back in time to shed light on our current sociopolitical moment. Curio staged Marie Antoinette, a work that highlights political and personal excess, earlier this year. This week Catch-22, an adaptation of Joseph Heller’s classic novel, opens on the Curio’s stage in the Calvary Center for Culture and Community at 4740 Baltimore Ave.

Set during World War II but aimed as a critique of the Cold War and McCarthyism, Catch-22 follows the travails of American bombardier John Yossarian and other soldiers who are walking the fine line between carrying out their duty while trying to remain sane amid the absurdity and hypocrisy of a stultifying bureaucracy.  Continue Reading

The city’s Redevelopment Authority (PRA) and AJR Endeavors, the developer working on rebuilding the homes on the 6200 blocks of Osage Avenue and Pine Street, the site of the 1985 MOVE bombing and subsequent fire, are seeking Philadelphia-based artists for their “Percent for Art” project.

The art project will be based on community engagement and may ultimately take a more traditional artistic form, or less traditional form, such as performance-based, ceremonial, a print or digital publication, and other forms.

The Redevelopment Authority has recently issued a Request for Qualifications for Artists for the project.  Continue Reading

                       Photo by Rana Fayez

Do you have a porch? Do you love live music? Would you like to have live music on your porch? Then there’s some good news! The third annual West Philly Porchfest is happening June 2nd, 2018 and you can be part of it.

An outdoor music festival where the stages are neighborhood porches, Porchfest started in Ithaca, NY back in 2007. The concept spread across the country, and made it here to West Philly in 2016. The festival is volunteer-run and completely free, and you can sign up as a band, as a porch or just as a general volunteer.  Continue Reading

The choir of St. Francis de Sales Church will have a special, Holy Week presentation this Tuesday (March 27), and all are welcome to join the church parishioners for this free concert. The choir will perform TENEBRAE: Songs in the Shadow of the Cross. “Tenebrae” is Latin for “shadows” or “darkness” and is often used as a “choral preparation” or meditation on the themes of the Passion.

During the presentation, psalms and hymns of lament are read and sung, and all lights and candles in the church are extinguished – except one representing Christ.  Continue Reading

Shakespeare in Clark Park has announced its 2018 production, and it will be filled with music! For five nights in July, the popular local outdoor theatre production company will present a Glam Rock inspired Twelfth Night featuring Philly’s finest actors alongside student musicians. The production is directed by Jack Tamburri and is set to run July 25-29.

The glam rock exploration of Shakespeare’s classic romance will feature music and performances by local cabaret favorite, Jess Conda. In addition, the company, which has been incorporating the community into its productions for the past four years, is inviting young musicians from all over the city to form an epic rock band in their very musical Illyria.  Continue Reading

A new reading series is launching this Thursday (March 15) at the Dock Street Cannery + Lounge (705 S. 50th St), and this is a great chance to meet some talented Philadelphia-based writers.

The event is hosted by West Philly authors Matt Jakubowski and Christine Kendall and showcases writers Ru Freeman, Emma Copley Eisenberg and Marc Anthony Richardson who will be reading from their work. Doors will open at 5 p.m. for drinks and snacks; the readings start at 7 p.m. Come early to secure a seat! Books will be available for sale during the event, provided by Bindlestiff Books.

Here’s some more information about the writers from the event organizers:

Ru Freeman is the author of the novels A Disobedient Girl and On Sal Mal Lane, a New York Times Editor’s Choice Book. She is the editor of the ground-breaking anthology, Extraordinary Rendition: American Writers on Palestine. Her writing appears internationally in the UK Guardian, The New York Times, and The Boston Globe. She blogs for The Huffington Post on literature and politics, is a contributing editorial board member of the Asian American Literary Review, and is the recipient of many fellowships including from the Bread Loaf Writers’ Conference, Yaddo, Hedgebrook, and the Lannan Foundation. Ru teaches creative writing at Columbia University.  Continue Reading