Curio Theatre Company is about to start a series of fun interactive performances for children. On selective Saturdays through May 2012 kids and their parents/guardians are invited for a unique theater experience with Kid Curio and the Improv Avengers. Children will have an opportunity not just to watch the show, but also to be part of it.

The show is run by two Curio Theatre company members, Eric Scotolati and Ryan Walter, and is geared toward kids ages 6 – 12. There will be lots of games and laughing, but the show also will help kids learn the basics of improvisation and develop useful public speaking skills.

The first show is this Saturday, Oct. 22, at 1 p.m. Tickets are only $5. Please go here for more information and to purchase tickets online.

Here’s a full list of Kid Curio show dates:

October 22 & 29
November 5
December 17 & 28
January 7
February 18 & 25
April 28
May 5 & 12

West Philly is well-represented in Philadelphia Weekly‘s “Better than Best” issue, a sort of edgier version of the “Best of Philly” awards that businesses across the city covet so much. We must say that we are quite flattered to be named “Best Community News Blog” (that’s a testament to you all and your engagement with your community) and we’re proud to be named alongside many of our favorite West Philly spots.

Here’s the rundown:

• Best Coffeeshop to Find Your Next Collective Housemate – Satellite Coffee, 701 S. 50th St.

• Best Prototype Neighborhood – Garden Court

• Best Place to See Who (spent the night with) Whom in West Philly on Friday Night – Clark Park Farmer’s Market

• Best Bookstore – Penn Book Center (130 S. 34th St.)

• Venue With Most Squalor – Rathaus, 31st and Spring Garden

• Best Place to Ask Stupid Questions About Power Tools Without Being Judged – West Philly Tool Library (1314 S. 47th St.)

• Best Mechanic Who Will Treat You Like Family – Wayne’s Garage (4521 Springfield Ave.)

• Funniest Medical Research Team – Penn’s HIV/AIDS Research Prevention Division (3535 Market St.)

• Best Place to Eat Falafel in West Philly During Ramadan – Manakeesh Cafe and Bakery (4420 Chestnut St.)

• Best Southern Food in this Yankee Shithole – Roost (4529 Springfield Ave.)

• Best Place to Get a Hangover Destroying Gyro at 2 a.m. in West Philly – New York Gyro Place (4407 Chestnut St.)

• Best Place Place to Drink Good Whiskey and Not Go F**king Broke – Fiume (45th and Locust)

• Best Dance Party in a Cramped Room – Gojjo (4540 Baltimore Ave.)

• Best Community News Blog – West Philly Local

Blurbs about all of the above are available here.

OK, here’s your chance to read about our vaunted neighborhood Southwest Detective Joe Murray, aka @TheFuzz9143, in action.

Murray and his former partner in Southwest Philly, Sgt. John Hoyt, agreed to serve as doughnut testers for a Philadelphia Inquirer review of Federal Donuts, the “new, fancy-pants doughnut and fried chicken shop in Pennsport.”

Murray on Federal’s Key Lime doughnut:

“It wasn’t overly tart. I won’t eat doughnuts with filling in them – you eat it and it’s all over you. It’s too much, it’s gross,” Murray said. “But this was absolutely perfect – the concept and texture. You get the crust and crumbs from it. It even had the little crisps on it.”

Murray and Hoyt were up front about the stereotype they were playing into, but both said they are way more of coffee snobs than doughnut snobs.

A 21-year-old man was in stable condition this morning after he was shot on the steps of a home near 50th and Florence last night.

The unidentified man told police he was standing in a doorway at 900 S. 50th Street at about 11 p.m. when two or three young men approached him on bicycles. One man pulled out a shot gun and fired once, striking the man on the porch once in the left arm. Police found the victim in the kitchen of the home running water over the wound.

Police said the alleged assailants fled west on Springfield Avenue on bicycles.

The victim described the attackers as black males wearing black clothing.

West Philly-based writer Patrick Kerkstra has penned the most comprehensive article to date on the enrollment issue at the Penn Alexander School (43rd and Locust), the school’s impact on the surrounding area and the possible reshuffling of enrollment patterns at other elementary schools in the neighborhood.

Published at Plan Philly and The Notebook, Kerkstra analyzed block-level census data in the article and concludes that there are actually fewer children in Penn Alexander’s catchment area now than in 2000, a year before Penn Alexander opened. This is possibly good news for parents hoping to get their children into the school because it suggests the overcrowding issue in Penn Alexander’s lower grades may ease without drastic measures such as a lottery or redrawing the catchment boundaries. (Kerkstra has graciously shared his data with us. Click here for a Google doc that has it arranged in very readable tables. Note the tabs at the top for each school.)

He also highlights a serious drawback to the school’s presence in the area. Census data clearly shows that the catchment area, and the school itself, is getting less diverse. As home prices have risen, the number of African Americans living in the catchment has decreased significantly.

Unfortunately, no one from the school or the District would go on the record with him to discuss plans to address overcrowding in the school’s lower grades or the long lines to enroll in limited kindergarten spots.

Kerkstra also goes through the implications of the possible closing of the under-enrolled Alexander Wilson School (1300 S. 46th St.), which was suggested in recommendations to the School District of Philadelphia published earlier this year. The final word on that will likely be announced in the next few weeks.

His article also includes the work of groups addressing school issues, including the West Philly Coalition of Neighborhood Schools, which is working with Henry C. Lea Elementary (47th and Locust) and Advocates for Great Elementary Education, which has focused on shedding light on the enrollment issue at Penn Alexander.

Be sure to read the whole article at Plan Philly here or The Notebook here.

More trees are coming! Here’s a good chance to help make our area greener. Neighbors are welcome to help with the UC Green and The Philadelphia Orchard Project tree plantings and orchard care projects in various West Philly locations starting this week.

The first project is this Saturday, Oct. 22, at the Richard Allen Preparatory Charter School (58th St. & Lindbergh Blvd.), where you can help with the orchard care, including mulching, weeding, bulb planting and fresh local fruit.

Next week three other projects are scheduled, two for October 25 – at Bartram’s Garden (5400 Lindbergh Blvd.) and Mastery Charter School and Conestoga Playground (53rd & Media) and one for October 29 at Ogden Gardens (Ogden & Preston).

For information about November projects, hours, and to RSVP go here.