Bug Fest, a ghostly circus, free streets, and more this weekend

This weekend’s happenings will take you from an Inferno in the graveyard to a promising Philly comic’s first hourlong set.

On Friday and Saturday nights, Laurel Hill Cemetery hosts The Ghostly Circus: Fire and Aerial Theater in the Cemetery, from design and entertainment agency 7textures and Mechanical Theatre founder Loretta Vasile (whose Midsummer ran above the tombs last month). The show mixes circus arts with live music and a story based on Dante’s Inferno.

Vasile’s script is a humorous adaptation of an English translation of the poem, promising original excerpts and side trips into Dantean philosophy. It visits almost every level of hell and includes an excerpt from The Aeneid recited in Latin and English by a pair of tightrope walkers (including Vasile, as Virgil), making a cool evening for both dance and literature lovers.

BYO blankets or chairs. The show starts at 8pm, but the full Ghostly Circus experience starts at 7pm. There’ll be lots of food trucks on hand (pay cash as you go). Rain dates are next weekend, August 17 and 18. Tickets are $30 in advance or $40 at the door ($15 for kids under 12).

Bug out at the museum

On Saturday and Sunday, over at the Academy of Natural Sciences, lovers of natural beauty can check out the annual Bug Fest. Chat with entomologists, hold a giant cockroach, and taste “candy with a crunch” from Philly’s Shane Confectionery (you can guess what the “crunch” is).

The Academy is a worldwide destination for bug studies, and there will be more than 100 species of live insects on display over the weekend, alongside staffers who can tell you all about them. Join hourly Bug Walks outside the museum, root for the best roach at the Roach Races Grand Prix, and attend special sessions that put live bugs on a huge high-definition screen (all the better to see them with, my dear). The festivities run from 10am to 5pm each day.

Philly Free Streets

Also coming up on Saturday, Philly Free Streets is back, closing North Broad Street to car traffic between City Hall and Butler Street (just north of Germantown Avenue) from 8am to 1pm. This is no vendor fair clogging the street with tables and tents: The whole point of Philly Free Streets is enjoying the open road with your friends and family. Participating organizations will have tables and activity zones on their sidewalks.

There’s plenty for arts lovers to enjoy, including free admission to PAFA all day and chalk drawing on the plaza. At Wood Street, the School of Pennsylvania Ballet invites kids to learn how to tell stories through dance. At Callowhill, activities include Then & Now: Black History on North Broad Street, a scavenger hunt spanning five other stops on the route. For $10, there are tours of the historic Uptown Theater at 10am and noon (free for residents of North Central Philadelphia with ID). And Mural Arts will be on hand with tons of hands-on activities along the way. Visit online for the full list of the day’s programming.

Naughty novels

On Sunday afternoon, Ebenezer Maxwell Mansion in Germantown launches its new Victorian book club, Literary Parlor, to celebrate “sensation novels” that were denounced and loved in equal measure in their day. If you (like the Victorians) enjoy tales of murder, bigamy, poisonings, and other shocking villainies, this is the book club for you, over tea in the historic mansion. Sunday’s Literary Parlor starts at 1:30pm, and you’ll be discussing Thomas Hardy’s Desperate Remedies. Tickets are $15 (reservations required).

Sunday comedy

Sunday night, catch Philly comic Alyssa Al-Dookhi at Good Good Comedy Theatre. Al-Dookhi, who’s a regular at festivals throughout the city, and a writer for the Full Belly Laughs podcast, has yet to perform an hourlong standup set. This is her chance. Over the last few years, the Kuwait native has been perfecting bits about South Philly catcalls and riding SEPTA while stoned, and if she’s got new material for this show, it’ll be a great Sunday-night ticket. The show is at 8pm (Fareeha Khan opens) and tickets are $10 ($5 for comedians and students).

Above: These fine green Beyer's scarab beetles are waiting to meet you at Bug Fest. (Photo courtesy of the Academy of Natural Sciences.)