The BSR Weekly Arts and Culture Roundup, March 20-26, 2025

Imaginary Friends
Friday, March 21, 6pm
Museum for Art in Wood, 141 North 3rd Street

LindoYes, a dyslexic spoken word poet born, raised, and living in Philadelphia, hosts a night of poetry and magic in Old City. The night, dubbed Imaginary Friends, is a whimsical poetic event that explores friendships, romance, grief, and all the big feelings that come with adulting. The event encourages you to bring a friend, loved one, co-worker, or neighbor—if you do, you’ll get discount admission.

Clowns at FringeArts
March 21-23
FringeArts, 140 North Columbus Boulevard

FringeArts hosts a weekend of Philly Fringe encores that celebrate the art of clowning this weekend. The program features three performances, including Alex Tatarsky’s Sad Boys in Harpy Land, Sohrab is Bumbling Foriegner from Sohrab Haghverdi, and Sterling Duns blckgoorue.

Sad Boys is a solo performance that blends clown with cabaret and takes place in the hellscape of the mind, pulling inspiration from a German novel about a little boy who wants to change the world with his plays but doesn’t know how. Sohrab is Bumbling Foriegner, which is another solo clown show that dives into Sohrab’s personal struggles with US immigration, the artist’s ego, and testicular cancer as deportation hangs over his head in both the performance and in real life. blckgoorue from Duns promises an “emotionally compelling, funny, and sobering view into the interior life of one sick blck man.”

The Beast Within: Inspired by Madonna
Saturday, March 22, 3pm and 7pm
Equilibrium Dance Academy, 1802 South Broad Street

Equilibrium Dance Company invited guest performers and choreographers to bring this dance performance based on Madonna to its stage in South Philly.

While You Were Sleeping
March 22-May 10, 2025
Studio 105, 1525 North American Street

Studio 105 presents While You Were Sleeping, a solo exhibition by Philly-based oil painter Elizebeth Bergeland. The exhibition explores the weight of modern existence where the constant demands of communication, ambition, and identity coexist with a longing for stillness. The exhibit features an 18-foot-long triptych supported by a number of Bergeland’s works.

Opening night debuts the show on Saturday, March 22 from 7-9pm—be sure to reserve a spot ahead of time.

Demond Melancon: As Any Means Are Necessary and AAMP Presents: The Pearl Bailey Showcase

Opening March 22, 2025
African American Museum in Philadelphia, 701 Arch Street

The African American Museum in Philadelphia unveils two new exhibitions this weekend, Demond Melancon: As Any Means Are Necessary and AAMP Presents: The Pearl Bailey Showcase. As Any Means Are Necessary is a traveling exhibit from Big Chief Demond Melancon of the Young Seminole Hunters—a Black masking tribe that pays homage to freed Black enslaved people that joined the Seminole Indians who fought against colonizers—that features massive, glas-beaded suits. Then, there is The Pearl Bailey Showcase which celebrates Pearl Bailey, an award-winning actor, singer, songwriter, and author who spent much of her time in Philadelphia and was an international entertainer and performer. The exhibit features scrapbooks, archival programs, letters from friends and fans that help illustrate her history. The Pearl Bailey Showcase also opens on March 22, but is viewable online now.