‘TANGO MACBETH,’ a Civil War spy, Voices in Power, and more this weekend

When you wake up on Saturday, August 2018 will be GONE. If you’re spending Labor Day weekend in Philly, yes, there are fireworks on the waterfront on Saturday night and Made in America on Saturday and Sunday, but there’s also a cool variety of interesting homegrown events that don’t get nearly as much airtime.

Photography and free food

At the Hatfield House at 33rd and Girard, you’re invited to celebrate the student exhibition of the My Park, My Neighborhood summer photography camp for youngsters in Strawberry Mansion. This pilot program (a partnership between the Fairmount Park Conservancy and other local groups), led by teaching artist Intisar “Star” Hamilton, taught digital photography and storytelling to local youth, with special ties to nature and their neighborhood’s history.

The resulting photos will be on display, along with an audio interview booth from the New Community Project, which uses storytelling as “the catalyst for social justice.” Two rising Germantown Academy seniors will be on hand to record attendees’ own stories. The event, also featuring food and drinks, runs from 6 to 8pm and it’s free and open to the public.

TANGO MACBETH

For another event off the beaten track, head to Scribe Video Center (3908 Lancaster Avenue) for the final night of a three-day Nadine Patterson retrospective titled Body of Work. Patterson has rooted her 20-year career in documenting Philly’s history and changing culture, and she’s taught video production at Scribe, Drexel, Temple, and others.

At 7pm on Friday, Scribe will screen an intriguing item: Patterson’s TANGO MACBETH, starring Brian Anthony Wilson and Alexandra Bailey, filmed at Plays & Players in the heart of a steamy summer. “It’s a play, within a documentary, within a film,” Scribe explains. A documentary crew follows the making of a dance-theater film piece called Tango Macbeth, with the real actors’ immersive rehearsal of Macbeth at the center of the action. Tickets are $5.

A Civil War spy at AAMP

On Saturday at 2pm, the African American Museum in Philadelphia hosts author Lois Leveen, whose 2012 novel, The Secrets of Mary Bowser, follows a real-life woman who was born into slavery in Virginia and freed by her Richmond owner. She made her way to Philadelphia in 1851 for a chance at a formal education, and nine years later went on to spy for the Union during the Civil War, posing as a slave in the Confederate White House.

The program is called Mary Bowser: Becoming a Civil War Spy in African American Philadelphia, and Leveen will discuss the intellectually, politically, and artistically vibrant culture and history of Philly’s mid-19th-century African-American community and how her book allowed her to bring this world to modern audiences. “Together, we’ll see Philadelphia through the eyes of a young black woman who went on to change American history,” says AAMP. Tickets are $7.

Back to school for Tick, Tick…Boom!

On Friday, very early Saturday morning, or Saturday night, you can celebrate the start of the school year by checking out Jonathan Larson’s autobiographical pop-rock musical Tick, Tick…Boom!, from the University of Pennsylvania’s student-run Front Row Theatre Company (FTC).

According to the group, FTC is Penn’s only student group “dedicated to performing socially relevant theatre,” mixing student leaders and artists with community service projects. The university’s resident Harrison College House theater company since 2003, they produce four student-directed shows each year, performing in the building’s intimate rooftop lounge.

FTC's web page for first-year students details an intriguingly impractical and stressful method for casting shows. Directors meet overnight following auditions and place calls before dawn to the chosen actors, who lose the role if they don’t respond to the call within 10 minutes. “Keep your phone on loud ALL NIGHT,” company leaders demand. You can see who made the Tick, Tick…Boom! cut (and kept their phones on) at three shows: 8pm Friday night, again at midnight, and then Saturday at 8pm. Tickets are $6 (free for new students).

Five minutes at most

On Sunday night, open-mic fans skipping the mob on the Parkway can head to Voices in Power: A Poetry Open Mic Experience, kicking off at 6pm at 426 E. Allegheny Avenue. Enter on Hurley Street, organizers say, and follow the balloons and signs, which will “guide you right to something amazing.”

The night includes a DJ, a live painter, dessert, and a networking mixer on top of the open mic. If you want to take to the stage (performers may include poets, dancers, singers, comedians, and even magicians), be sure to arrive by 6:30 to make it onto the list for performances, which begin at 7pm sharp (keep your act to five minutes or less). Tickets are $10, though if you buy for you and a friend, it’s just $15 for both of you, while they last. “Come dressed comfortably.”