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Visiting ‘Hotel Williams’, Cecil B. Moore, ‘A Sankofa Dream’, and Poet-Tree En Motion
The Weekly Roundup, November 10-17
Kyle V. Hiller
Fall is in the air, can’t you tell? This week gives you the chance to visit some of the rare plays from Tennessee Williams, courtesy of Temple Theaters. While you’re in North Philly, check out the new Cecil B. Moore Freedom Fighters mural that’s being dedicated this weekend. West Philly’s honoring the ancestors with poetry, dance, theater, music, and more, and Wilmington gets into the action with a performance choreographed by Maria Bauman-Morales.
Visiting Hotel Williams
November 12-18
Randall Theater, 2020 North 13th Street, Philadelphia
Temple Theaters is inviting you to come stay at Hotel Williams, a production of six plays from Tennessee Williams. Directed by Brandon McShaffrey, Winalis Bruce, Laurence Christopher, Cheyenne Parks, and Allison Ogden, the short pieces include In Our Profession, Talk to Me Like the Rain and Let Me Listen, Hello From Bertha, The Pink Bedroom, Green Eyes, and The Traveling Companion, and all of them are performed each night (or matinee, of course).
Masks are required to attend this performance.
Dedicating the new Cecil B. Moore Freedom Fighters mural
Saturday, November 13, 2pm
North 22nd Street and North College Avenue, Philadelphia
Mural Arts Philly is dedicating its new mural honoring the Cecil B. Moore Philadelphia Freedom Fighters, the iconic civil rights group. More specifically, the mural is meant to honor the unseen women and young people who were behind the movement led by the former Philadelphia NAACP president.
This comes as a welcoming addition to the Philly mural arts scene. Last year, the Cecil B. Moore mural on Jefferson and Bouvier Streets in North Philly had to be restored after it was vandalized with a racial slur. When tensions rose in the summer and statues of Columbus and Rizzo were being removed in the city and other controversial figures in the States and in other countries (I’m going to not be vulgar here and say what I want to say about these figures), folks became more adamant about whom we honor. It’s a conversation long overdue, and it’s heartwarming to see more cultural figures and groups that do good work, even if that means getting into “good trouble.”
The dedication is free and open to the public. The mural is of the work of two native Philadelphians: Felix St. Fort, an illustrator, teacher, and photographer; and Gabe Tiberino, a muralist whose mural art has been seen all over the US.
Desire: A Sankofa Dream
November 13-14
Delaware College of Art and Design, 600 North Market Street, Wilmington
The Delaware Art Museum hosts choreographer Maria Bauman-Morales’s original performative work Desire: A Sankofa Dream this weekend. The dance performance from MBDance is a “site responsive and interactive work designed as a healing performance ritual built around Black queer survival techniques” that were developed before the pandemic but are as pertinent as ever. The performance is slated as being unique with each showing and location, and serves as a work of speculative fiction.
Tickets are $15 for one night, $25 for both nights (times vary). Students are free, but registration is required. Proof of vaccination and mask-wearing are required.
Honoring the ancestors with Poet-Tree En Motion
Wednesday, November 17, 6pm
The Rotunda, 4014 Walnut Street, Philadelphia
Plum Dragoness’s Poet-tree En Motion continues its seasonal series with Honoring the Ancestors: the Fall Harvest Rhythm and Flow Festivities. Join the theatrical dancer and lyrical poetess along with a variety of artists like Scott Soniq, Angela Armour, Stoop Kid Studios, Ollin Yoliztli Calmecac, and Jan Jefferies for a night of live music, meditations, spoken word, dance, theater, fire flow ritual performances, and more.
Donations are suggested but admission is free.
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