Performances:The Don and Julie Show!!! (Don Montrey and Juliette Pryor) (no future performances); Wandering Alice (Nichole Canuso Dance Company) (no future performances); Urban ECHO: Circle Told (Leah Stein Dance Company + Mendelssohn Club of Philadelphia) (no future performances); The show must go on (Jérôme Bel) (no future performances) Another Festival season has come and gone, and this one ended on a few particularly high notes. While overall, I don't think the Live Arts and Fringe......

I remember wondering, when I read Thornton Wilder's Our Town in high school, how the play could possibly be interesting when staged. The script calls for no set, no props, and minimal scenery. It's something that only sometimes works in modern (as opposed to "Modern") theatre, so the idea of a play written in the thirties that takes place between 1901–1913 and uses the type of set typically reserved for performance art was, I'll......

At its best, Milcha Sanchez-Scott's Roosters is a charming (albeit dark) family drama that addresses coming of age, socioeconomic status, and tradition. At its worst, Roosters is everything that gives performance art a bad name. The Theatre Exile production currently being mounted at the Christ Church Neighborhood House has an excellent cast that is more than capable of handling the challenges that the script presents. Joe Guzmán plays Gallo, recently released from jail and......

The third floor of the Christ Church Meetinghouse is a strange venue for a play. It's a big, open room that once served, or perhaps sometimes still serves, as a gymnasium. I've been there when it's been employed as a theatre, and also when it had been converted to a sound stage. On my most recent expedition there, it was the former, for Egopo Productions' production of a lesser-known Tennessee Williams play, Vieux Carre.......

As part of an inspection for damage, some vaults have been opened - for the first time in a very long time - at Christ Church Burial Ground at Fifth and Arch Streets, "the resting place of more than 4,000 prominent Philadelphians, including Benjamin Franklin and four other signers of the Declaration of Independence." The vaults look quite a bit different than expected, and new sketches will have to be drawn. The PA budget......

I actually like David Mamet. Sexual Perversity in Chicago is one of my favorite one-act plays. I've used Oleanna for acting workshops and auditions more times than I can count. I own a poster from the film State and Main. But I think that Glengarry Glen Ross, possibly Mamet's best-known and most-performed play, is grossly overrated. Always have, and probably always will. Which is a shame, really, because Theatre Exile really did put up......

Phillyist will admit that our experience with Christ Church has been limited to plays (and once, a movie shoot) in the Meetinghouse Annex. (It's just that we're a little afraid that we might burst into flames if we set foot in the sanctuary itself.) But, fear of divine retribution or not, we were still pretty excited to go to Philly.com this afternoon and see that Christ Church was just awarded $850,000 in grants to......

Going into Hearts and Soles, I didn't have much of an idea of what to expect. Three fantastic local playwrights (Bruce Graham, Michael Hollinger, and Arden Kass). Three local directors (Joe Canuso, Deb Seif, and Deborah Block). A handful of local talent. And my one burning question was: "Why 'soles'?" It obviously wasn't a typo: if it was, somebody would've caught it long before the show's opening. The answer to my question, it turns out,......

The Pig Iron Theatre Company is giving the proverbial sheepskin to 18 graduates of their 3-week clown training course this Saturday night. What does this mean for you? FREE CLOWN SHOW. Need we say more? We didn't think so. Pig Iron's Clown Soiree Saturday, April 8th at 8PM (doors open: at 7:45) Christ Church Neighborhood House 20 North American Street, 3rd Floor Free (First come, first served - seating is limited) Image Credit: Wikipedia......

That chill you're feeling? Sure, it could be the frigid temps...but it also might be that you're inadvertantly walking on someone's grave. Sure - we all know that many of our Center City parks are mass burial grounds - but you might be surprised to learn that there are hidden, unmarked graves...in our local cemetaries. According to Philly.com, Christ Church Burial Ground (5th and Arch Streets) recently discovered some graves beneath the pathway that leads......

Is Betsy Ross's house haunted? What about Arch Street Meeting House? Christ Church Burial Ground? The Free Quaker Meeting House? (Are none of our historical hotspots free from ghosts?) Take the Cobwebs and Cobblestones twilight candlelight tour and find out for sure - through the tales of some helpful, historical characters...including one-time Philadelphia resident and Mr. Meloncholy himself, Edgar Allan Poe. And if the creepiness isn't enough to lure you in, cookies and cider......