Fringe 2015: '50 Days at Iliam' by Hannah Van Sciver

Coming full circle

Hannah Van Sciver’s take on the creation of Cy Twombly's Fifty Days at Iliam was a sensual, rhythmic, playful, and thoughtful take on the inner workings of the artist.

Lauren Findlay

Sep 10, 2015 · Articles · 4 minute read

Fringe 2015: 'Reimagine Your Reality' by Frank Perri

Slippery issues of self-will

The participants in Frank Perri's hypnotism show clearly experience no embarrassment, but does their lack of embarrassment — of, literally, self-consciousness — give us permission to laugh?

Judy Weightman

Sep 10, 2015 · Articles · 3 minute read

Fringe 2015: Jeanine McCain's 'Under Her Skin'

Everyone has a secret

At Under Her Skin, I see the thought and I see ambition. And, I must reluctantly admit, I see a show that bit off a little more than it could chew.

Lauren Findlay

Sep 08, 2015 · Articles · 4 minute read

Godfrey Hodgson's 'JFK and LBJ'

The last two great presidents?

Was John Kennedy's popularity deserved? Or should it have gone to his successor, Lyndon Baines Johnson?

Armen Pandola

Sep 08, 2015 · Articles · 6 minute read

Fringe 2015: Jo Strømgren's 'Doll's House'

Shrinking a classic down to size

What is there new to discover in Henrik Ibsen’s Doll's House? Jo Strømgren Kompani proposes a Nora who is much more enlightened than usual, a villainous Krogstad, and a set that is so confined the characters stumble over each other to get from place to place.

Naomi Orwin

Sep 08, 2015 · Articles · 5 minute read

Fringe 2015: 'The Captive' by Philadelphia Artists' Collective

The love that dares not speak its name

The Captive was written in 1926 when homosexuality was still “the love that dares not speak its name.” The original production’s Broadway run was halted by censors, and the cast members were arrested. This revival proves that the play was a mature treatment of the subject, far ahead of its time.

Steve Cohen

Sep 08, 2015 · Articles · 3 minute read

'Listen to Me Marlon' (second review)

Still asking questions of Marlon Brando

Stevan Riley’s documentary Listen to Me Marlon impressionistically and unevenly surveys the career of America’s greatest film actor, and its ultimate wreckage.

Robert Zaller

Sep 08, 2015 · Articles · 5 minute read

Fringe 2015: 'glass movement' by Glass Routes

Creation and destruction

The finale of each movement of Glass Route’s Fringe Festival show is the destruction of the newly made glass object. Viewers seemed unable to detach from the glass as a product or a piece of art in its own right.

Neil Bardhan

Sep 08, 2015 · Articles · 4 minute read

Fringe 2015: ‘Slaughter/ette’ by Butter & Serve

A parody of ‘The Bachelor’ kills its ladies, and almost slaughters me

Here’s a show that holds up cutting questions and relatable laughs and horrors for the audience — but what about those who can’t access it?

Alaina Johns

Sep 05, 2015 · Articles · 5 minute read

Environmental art at the Schuylkill Center

Environment + Art = A natural

Slide show: At the Schuylkill Center, which this year celebrates its 50th anniversary, artists interact with their surroundings, making art of, as well as in, nature.

Pamela J. Forsythe

Sep 05, 2015 · Articles · 2 minute read