This Friday night, allow yourself to be carried back in time to the days when the movie-going experience always included live music accompaniment. The silent film from 1920 features Douglas Fairbanks portraying the romantic, swashbuckling Zorro, but this special evening will feature an original and live score by West Philadelphia Orchestra member Brendan Cooney, who’s taken his blend of silent classic films and new exciting live music on the road under the name “Not-So-Silent Cinema.”

“I try to bring together players from different corners of the music scene who don’t usually play together to create unique musical collaborations,” says Cooney, who told Metro reporters that this project is a “faux Latin-flamenco-tango-mariachi ensemble.” “The film’s full of adventure, bravura and romance, so I wanted the music to capture that, but also be a little over the top.” Cooney’s band brings together several mainstays of the West Philadelphia music scene including Patrick Hughes, Alban Bailey (Octomonkey), Josh Machiz (TJ Kong & the Atomic Bomb), and Nezih Antakli.

Catch “The Mark of Zorro” this Friday, April 13, at 8 p.m. at The Rotunda (40th and Walnut). $10.

– Emma Eisenberg

Where does the food we eat come from? Two 11-year-olds are trying to find the answer to this question in a provocative and witty documentary about kids and food politics. What’s On Your Plate? is screening tonight at 6:30 p.m. at The Rotunda (4014 Walnut Street). Two girls, Sadie and Safiyah, take a close look at food systems in New York City and its surrounding areas. With the camera as their companion, the kids visit supermarkets, fast food chains, school lunchrooms and talk to their families, food activists, farmers, and the viewer in their quest to understand what’s on all our plates.

The film screening is part of monthly Food Justice Movie Night presented by The Agatston Urban Nutrition Initiative (AUNI). A free dinner and discussion about the food system in urban areas begin at 6 p.m.

Here’s the film’s trailer:

Beth Nixon, a West Philly-based puppeteer and the founder of Ramshackle Enterprises, is presenting a new show at The Rotunda (4014 Walnut Street) beginning Sunday, Jan. 15. The show, Below and Beyond, is inspired by the long‐submerged Mill Creek of West Philadelphia, by current debate about fracking in Pennsylvania, and overall by what lies beneath our feet.

Beth and her colleagues will be using puppets, pulleys, movement, maps, and their imagination. Dozens of local artists contributed their talent to the creation of the puppets and props.

Below and Beyond is a collaborative performance experiment by Beth Nixon and Sarah Lowry of The Missoula Oblongata experimental theater company. Nixon and Lowry were inspired by interviews with Mill Creek residents, the “landscape literacy” research of Anne Whiston Spirn and Protecting Our Waters ‐ a local grassroots organization fighting against unconventional gas drilling in the region.

There are only four Below and Beyond shows scheduled: Sunday – 7:30 p.m., Monday – 2 p.m. and 7:30 p.m. and Tuesday – 7:30 p.m. Tickets are $5‐$10 at the door, but no one will be turned away for the lack of funds. Tickets can also be purchased online here.

Reminder: Locally produced musical RENT: School Edition is playing at The Rotunda (4014 Walnut Street) through December 23. The producers and high school students cast in the show have done an amazing job. There are eight shows remaining: Saturday Dec. 10 @1 p.m., Sunday Dec. 11 @1 p.m., Sunday Dec. 11 @7 .pm., Saturday Dec. 17 @1 p.m., Sunday Dec. 18 @1 p.m., Sunday Dec. 18 @7 p.m., Thursday Dec. 22 @7 p.m., and Friday Dec. 23 @3 p.m.

Tickets are $10 ($5 for under 18, college students w/ ID, and senior citizens). To buy tickets go here.

Here’s a story in City Paper on this project, and here are some scenes from the show:
 

The Rotunda (4014 Walnut Street) is hosting Go West! Craft Fest’s Holiday show this Saturday, Dec. 3 from 11:00 a.m. – 5 p.m. Forty artisans will present their handmade creations, including unique, affordable jewelry and ornaments, art originals and reproductions, ceramics, and cozy hand-stitched woolens. There will also be an opportunity to buy children’s toys and clothes, soaps, candles and special holiday gifts for those you love. Everything is made locally.

For the entire list of crafty vendors and their profiles go to: gowestcraftfest.blogspot.com.

Project Theater Project, a community-based company working on the local production of the School Edition of the musical RENT, set up an IndieGoGo fundraising page to help this project several weeks ago. So far they have raised only about a third of their goal and there is just a week left.

To help get a final push toward their goal the project has begun the 11520 Minutes campaign. The fundraising goal can be achieved if just about 180 people donate only $10. To donate please go here.

Twelve talented young people aged 16-23 have been cast for roles in this musical. This is a rare opportunity for high school aged teens since many school music and theater programs have been cut.

Set in the East Village of New York City the show is about AIDS, HIV, drug usage, homosexuality, and gentrification. But it’s also about falling in love and finding your voice.

The shows begin on Dec. 4 at The Rotunda (4014 Walnut Street) and ticket prices are kept low. To order tickets go here. For the full show schedule please check The Rotunda’s events calendar.

33 percent of the profits will go to the cast in the form of scholarships to help the teens reach their dreams as performers.