Dear BSR Subscriber,

Welcome to the latest exclusive monthly tips for our subscribers!

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It's time for our monthly BSR in the Wild update! The first Friday of every month (and sometimes even a little before!) we bring you our hottest tips on what's on our radar, through three sections: Find Us!, Neil's Nod of the Month, and Recommended Reading.

Find Us! is exclusive subscriber tips on which events and exhibitions our staff is heading to in the coming month. There's a lot happening, this month as always, and we love to provide these tips.

Neil's Nod of the Month is a look forward to the upcoming BSR story or review I'm most excited to read.

Finally, Recommended Reading is a quick, subscribers-only tip to contextualize the work we have coming up, placing upcoming articles in dialogue with past stories, because our arts and culture scene is an ongoing citywide conversation that you're a part of, too.

If you're enjoying this series, let us know! And don't forget, as a reader you can support our writers in multiple ways. Be sure to support our staff with a donation. Send an article to a friend. Follow our dynamic content on Instagram.

Read on for April's inside scoops.

Sincerely,

Neil Bardhan

BSR executive director

Find Us!

April is has events springing up all over. (Pun intended.) As usual, you'll see some familiar names alongside new ones. We endeavor to cover a wide range of experiences in our region. Read on, and be sure to tell us what you're seeing this month.

FIND NEIL
Case Comedy Weirdo Night
WHEN: Tuesday, April 4, 7:30pm
WHERE: Abyssinia
WHY: Comedy is in all manner of interesting venues these days. The upstairs bar at Abyssinia has a weekly series of shows through Case Comedy. The first week of April is Weirdo Night. I'm performing in it, sure, but I'm even more excited to see what happens when Sarah Knittel, Geoff Jackson, and other Philly performers let loose and try new, experimental bits.

FIND ALAINA
Into the Woods
WHEN: Wednesday, April 5 (runs through April 9)
WHERE: Kimmel Cultural Campus’s Miller Theater
WHY: This Grammy-winning Broadway production of the Tony-winning show by Stephen Sondheim and James Lapine is finally landing in Philly with its Broadway stars…and I actually have never seen Into the Woods live! I’m going to get my chance as BSR critic Cameron Kelsall’s plus one.

Radio Golf
WHEN: Sunday, April 9 (runs through April 16)
WHERE: The Arden Theatre
WHY: This is the final play in August Wilson’s famous 10-part American Century Cycle, and it’s another show I’ve never seen. I've enjoyed other Wilson productions at the Arden, and I’m excited to see more work from director Kash Goins (whose 74 Seconds… To Judgment really stuck with me), and actor Brian Anthony Wilson, who’s appearing in his ninth Wilson production.

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Alaina Johns and Cameron Kelsall occasionally attend shows together.

FIND NEIL
Eternal Life Part 1
WHEN: Thursday, April 13, 7:00pm
WHERE: The Wilma Theater
WHY: My friend Vanessa is a reliable companion for seeing new work in town: she's game for almost anything, and our tastes overlap but aren't identical. A few weeks ago, she sent me a sparse Google Calendar invitation to this new play at The Wilma. No additional info, just letting me know that she'd be going and she wanted me to go along. I'm holding back from reading anything beyond my calendar event. When was the last time you enthusiastically showed up for a show, without any prep?

FIND ALAINA
The Curtis Symphony Orchestra plays Perry, Schumann, and Mahler
WHEN: Saturday, April 15
WHERE: The Kimmel Center's Verizon Hall
WHY: Former Minnesota Orchestra music director Osmo Vänskä conducts the Curtis Symphony Orchestra in Julia Perry’s Study for Orchestra (the first work by a woman of color to be performed and recorded by the New York Philharmonic, in 1965), Schumann’s Piano Concerto in A minor featuring Curtis alum Amy Yang on piano, and the “soaring melodies, thunderous crescendos, and triumphant conclusion” of Mahler’s beloved Symphony No. 1. Live classical music is always a mood-lifter for me, and I try to catch some every month.

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BSR writers and Friends gathered at the Philadelphia Volunteer Lawyers for the Arts office this week.

FIND ALAINA
Black Founders: The Forten Family of Philadelphia
WHEN: Running through this November
WHERE: The Museum of the American Revolution
WHY: BSR writer Crystal Sparrow reviewed this show in February and confirmed what I already knew: I’m excited to see this exhibition. The Fortens deserve a major spotlight in history, and I’m glad they’re getting it here, alongside a roster of interesting events that include living Forten descendants

PHILADANCO!’s Moving…Beyond Forward
WHEN: April 21 (four shows through April 23)
WHERE: The Kimmel Center's Perelman Theater
WHY: With a museum, a play, a musical, and a concert on the schedule, what else do I need? An evening of dance sounds good. This performance features two world premieres from Ray Mercer and Tommie-Waheed Evans, plus revived company works by Milton Myers and Rennie Harris. BSR writer Camille Bacon-Smith is reviewing, and I get to go along.

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Our writers, board, and Friends enjoyed meeting up for the first time in several years!

Neil's nod of the month:

In April, Broad Street Review will publish a review of Nathan Young’s nkwiluntamen. nkwiluntamen is a sound installation at Bucks County's Pennsbury Manor; Nathan Young is an artist who's a member of the Delaware Tribe of Indians. The work is outdoors and includes a smartphone app to guide the experience. I have a soft spot for works like this that take up many square feet and exist in landscape but also have sonic, artificial elements. Aaron Pond will write for BSR, and I'm sure his review will elevate my own appreciation for nkwiluntamen.