Name: Cotter Interactive
Price range: $

High-end computers are linked to a plotter. (Both photos courtesy of Vectorworks, Inc.)

The Philadelphia Design Center opens in West Philadelphia

Affordable working space for theater professionals

The new Philadelphia Design Center offers a coworking space that gives theatrical designers both space and access to high-tech design aids.

Naomi Orwin

Apr 05, 2016 Articles 3 minute read

Light is Lyn Godley’s medium; her work combines fine art and industrial design. (All photos by Pamela J. Forsythe)

Fresh Artists hosts the first Cool Jobs Expo

Middle-schoolers meet the creative economy

Fresh Artists, which supports art education in underfunded schools, held a job expo that introduced middle-schoolers to artists working in a variety of mediums.

Pamela J. Forsythe

Feb 28, 2016 Articles 3 minute read

Performance Garage has hosted dance and theater in Spring Garden since 2002.

Performance Garage gets city grant

A $500,000 grant from the city will help Performance Garage with much-needed upgrades.

Matt Bevilacqua

Feb 11, 2016 Articles 2 minute read

Kristen Robinson’s proposed redesign of the Wilma Theater’s facade.

The Wilma Theater Transformation Fund

Transforming in plain sight

The Wilma Theater is reinventing itself inside and out. With a new name and upgraded façade, a café open to the public, new rehearsal space, and a training program for a resident company of actors, the theater wants to transform how theater is made and how it interacts with the community in which it resides.

Naomi Orwin

Jan 12, 2016 Articles 4 minute read

An end, not a failure. (“Empty House” by Bryan Rosengrant via Creative Commons/Flickr)

Flashpoint Theatre Company calls it quits

Flashpoint Theatre was founded in 2004 to produce socially provocative and emotionally resonant works of contemporary theater while supporting diverse, emerging artists. Financial support for that mission has dried up, and the company is disbanding.

Samantha Maldonado

Dec 07, 2015 Articles 3 minute read

Is everybody a critic? Statler and Waldrof. (Photo via muppet.wikia.com)

A response to 'Ethics for theater critics'

Does an analysis by a privileged journalist have value?

Theater criticism is an art, and artists have a right to ask for and receive payment for their work. I’d love to provide every writer with adequate reward for his or her valuable work. But to say unpaid or poorly compensated work has no value, and to denigrate the ethics of those writers, is insulting.

Christopher Munden

Dec 01, 2015 Articles 7 minute read

An actress, an “actress,” and a critic: Davis, Monroe, and Sanders in “All About Eve.”

Ethics for theater critics: The Craigslist critic

Does a review that no one paid for have value?

A Seattle theater critic sold his “plus one” press passes on Craigslist in the hopes of both finding a date and scoring a profit. What, exactly, is the problem with that? Let Wendy Rosenfield count the ways.

Wendy Rosenfield

Nov 24, 2015 Articles 5 minute read

Sondra Radvanovsky will be the Festival Artist at Opera Philly’s O17. (Photo by Pavel Antonov via operaphilly.org)

Opera Philadelphia's O17 announcement

An announcement of operatic scale

New plans by Opera Philadelphia are daring and forward-looking. There are aspects of concern, however.

Steve Cohen

Oct 31, 2015 Articles 4 minute read

Not to be refilled. (Photo by Daniel Rubin via citypaper.net)

Farewell, 'City Paper'

BSR’s new writer muses about the demise of Philadelphia City Paper, which ceases publication this week.

Mark Cofta

Oct 06, 2015 Articles 3 minute read

One thing that won’t change: the majestic main staircase at the Central branch. (Photo by Gmonkey via Creative Commons/flickr)

Big changes at the Free Library of Philadelphia

Philadelphia's library, reinvented

Money from the William Penn Foundation, along with other public and private gifts, has enabled the library to undertake a big-picture initiative to increase flexibility and efficiency for current and future users in a project called Building Inspiration: 21st Century Libraries.