Members of the Minor Threats Chess Club.

The Minor Threats chess club whose members are West Philly schoolkids in grades 3 through 8, is preparing again this year for a series of important competitions. Coach Jason Bui is planning to take his pupils, about 15 kids, to the following events happening in the next few of months: PA State Scholastic Chess Championships in Lancaster, Pa., the High School National Championships in Columbus, Ohio, the Junior High National Championships in Louisville, and the Elementary National Championships in Nashville.

“These trips make a huge difference in these kids lives. They experience so many “firsts” in life through chess. They learn so much about themselves and the world though chess,” Jason says.

This year, Minor Threats will be partnering with the Paul Robeson Chess Club and probably a few other teams on these trips. “We hope to take about 30/40 kids to each tournament. I’m trying to take more kids to more tournaments than ever before,” Jason said. However, most of the families Jason works with can not afford the cost of attending these trips. “Without the help of the community we will not be able to go,” he said.

Thanks to community support, in 2013 Jason was able to take 10 kids to the State Championships and eight kids to SuperNationals in Nashville, TN. In 2014, 14 kids were able to travel to the State Championships, 10 kids went to Junior High Nationals in Atlanta, GA, and six kids went to Elementary Nationals in Dallas, TX.

If you would like to help these young chess players again, please follow this link to the club’s fundraising page on GoFundMe.com.

Well-known Philadelphia actor Steve Wright is playing the title character in Curio’s Othello. (Photo by Kyle Cassidy)

Yes, the Curio Theatre Company is staging William Shakespeare’s Othello. But this is billed as an “intimate and in-your-face” version of the tale of one of the most famous Moors of them all.

“This version of Othello will be raw,” according to correspondences from Curio leading up to Friday, Feb. 20’s opening night. Dan Hodge, the co-founding director of The Philadelphia Artists’ Collective, will direct. Well-known Philadelphia actor Steve Wright will play the title character.

“Doing Othello in a smaller space is a gift, because it allows us to strip away the sense of grandeur that can distance us from the play and we can engage with the characters as people,” Hodge said. “This is Shakespeare’s most domestic tragedy, and it is a true pleasure to invest in the subtle human elements that make it resonate with us today.”

And those humans are pretty delicious, including the enchanting Desdemona (Isa St. Clair) and the dastardly Iago (Brian McCann). Othello is about power and love and suspicion – the grist of any good drama. The cast also includes Steve Carpenter, Rachel Gluck, Colleen Hughes, Paul Kuhn, Eric Scotolati and Bob Weick.

The show runs Thursdays, Fridays and Saturdays from Feb. 20 through March 14 on Curio’s Corner Stage. There are previews on Feb. 12, 13, 14 and 19. Ticket information is available here.

– Mike Lyons

If you have passion for active modes of transportation that you want to share with other community members and if you have good communication and problem-solving skills, the Bicycle Coalition of Greater Philadelphia would like to hear from you.

Philly’s first bike share program is launching this spring, and the Bicycle Coalition is currently hiring Bike Share station ambassadors to work with communities in the following West Philly neighborhoods: Mantua, Powelton Village, West Powelton, Saunders Park, and Spruce Hill. This is a part-time (approximately 5 hours/week) and seasonal (until October 2015) position and comes with a $1,000 stipend.

Bike Share Ambassadors will work primarily from home and at community events and will need to complete a two-week training.

A Bike Share Ambassador’s duties and responsibilities include:  Continue Reading

Community members are invited to the monthly meeting of the Spruce Hill Community Association (SHCA) on Tuesday, Feb. 10 to meet Henry C. Lea Principal Jennifer Duffy, who will talk about the happenings at Lea.

Duffy is in her first year as principal of Lea and one of about 50 first-time principals hired across the School District of Philadelphia this year. Duffy has placed a priority on raising academic standards and strengthen the school’s relationship with the University of Pennsylvania, where she is a doctoral student in Educational Leadership.

The SHCA meeting gets underway at 7:30 p.m. at the association’s headquarters (257 S. 45th St.)

In other Spruce Hill news, the zoning committee meeting to consider the well-publicized plans to build a residential/retail complex at 43rd and Baltimore (across the street from Clark Park) will be held Feb. 19 beginning at 7:30 p.m. at The University of the Science’s Rosenberger Hall (the small building on the west side of 43rd Street, just north of Woodland Avenue). This is the meeting originally scheduled for Jan. 26 that was cancelled due to weather.

The meeting actually begins at 6:30 p.m. when committee will consider a liquor license request from Fresh Grocer at 40th and Market and a residential project at 4100-02 Ludlow St. This is also open to the public. The 4224 Baltimore Ave. project discussion will begin promptly at 7:30 p.m. The development team for the site is preparing materials for presentation to the City Planning Commission’s Design Review Committee and will share those plans to date.

Photo courtesy of International Guitar Night.

There’s a chance to see some guitar virtuosos from all over the world this Sunday (Feb. 8) when the International Guitar Night will return to Crossroads Music. The International Guitar Night tour founder and guitarist Brian Gore will be joined on stage by classical innovator and fellow Californian Andrew York, Brazilian jazz master Diego Figueiredo, and contemporary Iranian-Canadian steel string prodigy Maneli Jamal. This will be an evening of contemporary guitar music.

The concert starts at 7:30 p.m., and tickets ($10-$30; $5 for children under 12) are still available. To purchase your ticket online, click here.

More information about the tour and its participants, visit the International Guitar Night website.

Crossroads Music is located at the Calvary Center at 801 South 48th St.

The large sinkhole that opened up on the 4600 block of Spruce Street about three weeks ago has finally been filled in, and this portion of the street has reopened for traffic. Water Department crews though are still working on the street surface around the spot where the sinkhole used to be. Parking is still not allowed in the area, because the ground is unstable.

This photo was taken on January 18, 2015.