The BSR Weekly Arts and Culture Roundup, October 31-November 6, 2024

Coming up in Philly this week, we’ve got False Tongues from Britt Fishel and Artists, which ticks the Halloween box with an impactful story from a company with a specific, focused lens. Then, InterAct Theatre takes us back in time all the way to a pivotal controversy in 2016, NoName Gallery gets nostalgic with a new exhibition, and both FringeArts and Fire Museum open performances that use words, lyrics, and sound to create catharsis through rituals, opera, poetry, and more.

Happy Halloween, Philly!

Britt Fishel and Artists' False Tongues
November 1-2
Christ Church Neighborhood House, 20 North American Street

False Tongues from Britt Fishel and Artists, a collaborative dance company that uses live performances and film through the lens of a feminist perspective, is a multidisciplinary performance using digital storytelling and movement to share narrative pathways of the women accused of witchcraft in Salem in 1692.

Moreno
November 1-24
The Proscenium Theatre at the Drake, 302 South Hicks Street

InterAct Theatre Company presents the American premiere of Pravin Wilkins’ Moreno, a performance that takes us back to 2016 (deja vu, anyone?). Following the story of superstar running back Luis Moreno who after joining a new football team with championship aspirations, he soon comes to know a painful new reality that hits close to home after Colin Kaepernick’s controversial decision to take a knee during the national anthem to protest against police brutality.

Children's Story
November 1-December 29
NoName Gallery, 8127 Germantown Avenue

NoName Gallery, a gallery in Chestnut Hill specializing in urban, street, pop, abstract, and contemporary art along with home furnishings made by artists, opens its new exhibition this weekend with Children’s Story. The exhibit is billed as a playful, nostalgic exhibition that captures the essence of childhood through a mix of personal memories, graffiti, and digital art, focusing on three Philly-based artists Kyle Confehr, Maya Puyat and Yeskis4king.

We Have Gone As Far As We Can Together
November 1-9
FringeArts, 140 North Columbus Boulevard

Inspired by artists like Alice Coltrane, Sun Ra, and the collective compositional practices from composers like Butch Morris and Pauline Oliveros, We Have Gone As Far As We Can Together is a participatory ritual opera that promises to serve as a meeting of voices and a collectively sung ritual release. Helga Davis is the lead performer here, a multidisciplinary artist known for merging music, visual art, and theater for genre-defying performances.

Leo Chang, Raena Shirali, and Levi Lu at The Perch
November 2, 8pm

The Perch, 2321 Emerald Street, Philadelphia

Fire Museum hosts a night of sound, poetry, and ritualistic improvisations with three artists. Leo Chang, a Korean improviser, composer, sound artist, and scholar of experimental music will be in performance, along with Philly-based poet Raena Shirali (summonings, GILT) and Beijing-born and NYC-based performance artist Qiujiang Levi Lu—who designs electroacoustic feedback systems with body augmentations via microphones and speakersto create choreographed improvisations that build on ancient Chinese drumming traditions and explore body dysmorphia, sexuality, spirituality, and mortality.