The 2023 BlackStar Film Festival presents Going to Mars, Know Your Place, and Dancing the Stumble

New places with BlackStar

The BlackStar Film Festival landed in Center City for the first time this August. Hanae Mason reviews Going to Mars, Know Your Place, and Dancing the Stumble, three films examining our relationship to space and place.

Hanae Mason

Aug 15, 2023 · Reviews · 4 minute read

American Philosophical Society presents Pursuit & Persistence: 300 Years of Women in Science

Defying bias

For centuries, science was not an acceptable pursuit for women. But as a new exhibition at the American Philosophical Society shows, these groundbreaking scientists didn’t get the memo. Pamela J. Forsythe reviews.

Pamela J. Forsythe

Aug 15, 2023 · Reviews · 5 minute read

Bucks County Playhouse presents The Bridges of Madison County

The beginning of things

Bucks County Playhouse presents a star-studded Bridges of Madison County that delivers all the thrill of awakening love. Josh Herren reviews.

Josh Herren

Aug 14, 2023 · Reviews · 3 minute read

People’s Light presents Sam Shepard’s True West

East meets West

A highly conceptualized production of True West at People’s Light offers striking visuals but scant drama. Cameron Kelsall reviews.

Cameron Kelsall

Aug 14, 2023 · Reviews · 4 minute read

Shakespeare in Clark Park presents Two Gentlemen of Verona: The Musical

A summer stunner

Politically charged yet emotionally joyous, a 1971 musical adaptation of Two Gentlemen of Verona knocks it out of Clark Park. Cameron Kelsall reviews.

Cameron Kelsall

Jul 27, 2023 · Reviews · 4 minute read

Pennsylvania Shakespeare Festival presents Jane Austen’s Sense and Sensibility

Sisters take the stage

With this adaptation of Sense and Sensibility, Pennsylvania Shakespeare Festival breathes new life into a literary classic that even newcomers to Austen will love. Mina Reinckens reviews.

Mina Reinckens

Jul 25, 2023 · Reviews · 3 minute read

Delaware Shakespeare presents Macbeth

Welcoming the darkness

North Wilmington’s Rockwood Park, with its own alleged hauntings, makes an appropriately chilling setting for Delaware Shakespeare’s summer outing with the Scottish Play. Gail Obenreder reviews.

Gail Obenreder

Jul 24, 2023 · Reviews · 5 minute read

Arthur Ross Gallery presents Songs for Ritual and Remembrance

How do we remember?

At UPenn’s Arthur Ross Gallery, four artists consider what shared memory signifies for marginalized peoples, and how they preserve it. Pamela J. Forsythe reviews.

Pamela J. Forsythe

Jul 20, 2023 · Reviews · 5 minute read

Pennsylvania Shakespeare Festival presents Shakespeare’s The Tempest

The formal tension of Shakespeare’s last storm

Pennsylvania Shakespeare Festival closes its 2023 season with bold comedic swings and infrequent wonder in an ultimately uneven Tempest. Kiran Pandey reviews.

Kiran Pandey

Jul 18, 2023 · Reviews · 4 minute read

Applied Mechanics presents Other Orbits

A universal convention

Applied Mechanics produces an interactive, choose-your-own-adventure work of theater in its latest Other Orbits installment, inviting audiences to a convention that is both surreal and oddly familiar. Jill Ivey reviews.

Jillian Ashley Blair Ivey

Jul 18, 2023 · Reviews · 3 minute read