Theatre in the X presents all-Black cast Othello at Malcolm X Park on Aug. 8, 15 & 22. (Photo from Theatre in the X’s Facebook page).

The Winter’s Tale production in Clark Park is over, but more outdoor Shakespeare productions are coming to West Philly this summer. “Theatre in the X“, an artists’ collective that staged No Child… at Malcolm X Park in 2013, is presenting three free performances of Othello with an all-Black cast in the park starting Saturday, Aug. 8. The collective’s core is local theater artists Carlo Campbell, who plays Othello, Walter DeShields (Cassio) and LaNeshe Miller-White (Emilia). The play is directed by well-known director Ozzie Jones.

The play in this production is set in the criminal underworld. Campbell “is like the ‘muscle’ of the Duke of Venice’s crew,” according to Jones, while love interest Desdemona (played by Nastassja Baset) is envisioned as an underboss’ daughter. “In the language, it’s not so much race,” said Campbell, comparing the dynamic of this particular production to Will Smith visiting his wealthy uncle in California on The Fresh Prince of Bel Air. “It’s this person who has this audacity to think that, from their station in life, they can be privy to rewards.”

Theatre in the X was created to provide free and accessible theater to the community, as well as provide local African American artists with acting and directing opportunities. The 2015 presentation is part of the City of Philadelphia’s Performances in Public Spaces program managed by the Office of Arts, Culture and the Creative Economy and is supported by the Leeway Foundation’s Art and Change grants. Public donations are essential, too, so if you want to chip in, please visit this page.

Performances are on three upcoming Saturdays – Aug. 8 at 5 p.m. and on Aug. 15 & 22 at 6 p.m. 

Here are two chances to meet and support West Philly-based authors who will be presenting their new books this week.

• Anna Badkhen, a journalist, world traveler and writer, is inviting neighbors to the Penn Book Center (34th and Sansom) on Tuesday, Aug. 4 for the launch of her new book, Walking with Abel. Named a top summer reading pick by the Los Angeles Times, Playboy and Mental Floss, the book takes readers on a journey with a family of Fulani nomads, as they embark on their annual migration across the African savanna. Badkhen spent much of 2013 living with the nomads in the Sahel region of Mali in Western Africa (read our earlier post about Badkhen and her book here).

“[Badkhen] mak[es] Fulani culture come alive as she follows the herders’ daily efforts to cope with drought, disease, and death in an often unforgiving landscape…,” reads a review by Library Journal, and Playboy calls the book a “vivid, memorable nonfiction.”  Continue Reading

OK, first thing … You need to carve 30 minutes out of your day and watch the mini-documentary Glen’s Village, a film about a kid who grew up around 52nd and Haverford, was dealing crack by the 9th grade and is now, thanks to the strength of his mother and himself, a student at Penn. (It’s embedded below).

The film takes you through Glen’s childhood growing up with a dad who was, as one person in the film puts it, basically a “drug kingpin.” He was later deported to Jamaica, leaving Glen’s mother to raise him alone. It wasn’t going well as he entered his teens and by ninth grade Glen was regularly skipping school and selling drugs.

But at University City High School he turns it around. As one of the school’s star students, Glen testified before the School Reform Commission as it considered closing the school. UC High’s closure is an important part of the film, as is his work at Sayre High School, where he teaches part time to fulfill his scholarship obligations.  Continue Reading

UPDATE (8/3/2015): A man and a woman were robbed with the use of weapons and physically assaulted on Sunday morning at bus stops in the area.

A 46-year-old woman sustained cuts to her arm and was robbed at around 9:10 a.m. at 48th and Larchwood, according to police. The woman was waiting for a SEPTA bus when she felt a pull on her purse across her shoulder. When she turned around she saw an unknown female with a yellow box cutter in her hands. She swung at the woman and cut her under her left arm, according to a police report. While pulling on the purse she made her way into the passenger side of a black sedan, which police believe was a rental car. The victim also got into the vehicle continuing struggling over her purse. The vehicle pulled away, and the victim was dragged several feet before she was pushed out, according to police. The car fled northbound on S. 51st Street toward Spruce and was lost.

The first suspect is described as a black female, 25-35 years old, 5’5″, 170-180 lbs, wearing a blue or green shirt, jeans and a purple/white scarf. The scarf was recovered on the scene. The vehicle, a 2014 Volkswagen Jetta, an Enterprise rental car, was operated by a heavily built black male, 35-40 years old, according to a police report. Both suspects were still at large as of Monday, Aug. 3, 10 a.m.  Continue Reading

Families are invited this Saturday (Aug. 1) to participate in hands-on activities and have fun at the 3rd annual Community Science Carnival organized by White Rock Baptist Church and the Ernest E. Just Biomedical Society at the University of Pennsylvania. The event will take place from 11:30 a.m. to 2:30 p.m. Doors open at 11 a.m., and guests are asked to arrive by 11:30 for registration and lunch.

This is a free event to expose 2nd-6th graders to hands on scientific activities led by graduate and post-doctoral scientists. For parents, there will also be hands-on experiment workshops and poster sessions with scientists.

The location is 5240 Chestnut Street, at the White Rock Baptist Church Gym. See the flier below for more information.

Residents and police are reporting an uptick in robberies in recent weeks, which often happens during the summer months. We have included a few reports below of the most recent incidents. Be careful out there.

The following message was posted in the West Philly Local forum on July 27:

“Hey community,
I have been a West Philly resident for ten years without any problems. This past month I was attacked twice by teenagers between 49th and 50th and Locust and Walnut. Please use much caution when walking around at night. Police have reported that this has been an every-night occurrence.”

Police have confirmed that there was a higher number of robberies, including gunpoint robberies, committed by teenagers in the area this month. Police say they have already detained some of the suspects and are working on identifying the others. Here are some of the latest robbery reports:  Continue Reading