Reviews

903 results
Page 86
What happens when a president would rather be liked than actually govern? (Image courtesy of the author.)

‘Utopia PR’ by Adam Bender

Work/life balance, and other disasters

In Adam Bender’s near-future political satire, a crisis communications manager troubleshoots disasters for a callow reality-television star turned president while trying to maintain a semblance of work/life balance. Kirsten Bowen reviews.
Kirsten Bowen

Kirsten Bowen

Reviews 3 minute read
Normalized or radicalized? Bi Jean Ngo plays a content moderator in ‘Sin Eaters.’ (Image courtesy of Theatre Exile.)

Theatre Exile presents Anna Moench’s ‘Sin Eaters’

The cost of safety

Theatre Exile’s ‘Sin Eaters’ takes advantage of the digital stage to tell a gripping story about the content moderators who make the internet what it is today. Mina Reinckens reviews.
Mina Reinckens

Mina Reinckens

Reviews 3 minute read
Ebullient and distinctive: pianist Michelle Cann plays Florence Price with the Philadelphia Orchestra. (Photo by Jeff Fusco.)

The Philadelphia Orchestra presents Rossini, Schubert, and Price

The Price is right

Pianist and Curtis professor Michelle Cann offers a passionate and technically flawless account of Florence Price’s Concerto in One Movement with the Philadelphia Orchestra. Cameron Kelsall reviews.
Cameron Kelsall

Cameron Kelsall

Reviews 3 minute read
The loneliest girl in the world? Morfydd Clark in ‘Saint Maud.’ (Image courtesy of A24.)

Rose Glass’s ‘Saint Maud’

The horror in humanity

‘Saint Maud’ is a beautifully made psychological horror film that feels terrifyingly relevant in the age of Covid-19. Josh Hitchens reviews.
Josh Hitchens

Josh Hitchens

Reviews 4 minute read
Where history helps us imagine a better future: Alice Dunbar-Nelson in a 1915 photography by Addison Scurlock. (Courtesy of University of Delaware Library, Museums, and Press, Special Collections & Museums.)

The Rosenbach Museum presents ‘I Am an American!’

(Re)discovering Alice Dunbar-Nelson

‘I Am an American!,’ a new digital exhibition from the Rosenbach, explores the life, work, and passion of author, educator, and activist Alice Dunbar-Nelson. Pamela Forsythe reviews.

Pamela J. Forsythe

Reviews 5 minute read
Laraaji laughs in his own world of sound. (Image courtesy of Bowerbird.)

Bowerbird’s Liminal States series presents Laraaji

A musical bedtime

Bowerbird presents multi-instrumentalist Laraaji in its Liminal States series, streaming concerts with an unlikely goal: to put the listener to sleep. Aaron Pond reviews.
Aaron Pond

Aaron Pond

Reviews 3 minute read
Countertenor John Holiday brings Frances Harper’s poem to life. (Photo courtesy of Opera Philadelphia.)

Opera Philadelphia presents Tyshawn Sorey’s ‘Save the Boys’

Starving for these stories

Opera Philadelphia presents the latest from Tyshawn Sorey with ‘Save the Boys,’ an opera interpretation of a poem by abolitionist and Black women’s rights activist Frances Ellen Watkins Harper. Kyle V. Hiller reviews.
Kyle V. Hiller

Kyle V. Hiller

Reviews 3 minute read
An Afrofuturistic transmission of Black life in Philadelphia: Anthony Martinez-Briggs and Brandon J. Pierce in ‘Code Black Planet.’ (Image courtesy of the Wilma.)

The Wilma presents the HotHouse Company’s ‘Code Black Planet’ and ‘Clay’

A theatrical laboratory

The Wilma kicks off its 2021 offerings with a new series of streaming shorts from its HotHouse Company, ‘Code Black Planet’ and ‘Clay.’ Josh Herren reviews.
Josh Herren

Josh Herren

Reviews 3 minute read

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This nest is an apt emblem for Saunier’s poetry. (Image courtesy of Terrapin Books.)

‘A Cartography of Home’ by Hayden Saunier

When we were still a place

A new poetry collection from Hayden Saunier weaves Pennsylvania’s natural world with its mini-marts and hotels, exploring possibility, loss, compound perspectives, and calls to customer service. Anndee Hochman reviews.
Anndee Hochman

Anndee Hochman

Reviews 5 minute read
Can a death bring up beliefs that were hiding underground? (Image courtesy of InterAct.)

InterAct Theatre Company presents Thomas Gibbons’s ‘Steal Her Bones’

Religion and relationships

‘Steal Her Bones,’ a digital premiere from InterAct Theatre Company, offers a compelling portrait of human bonds and the complicated nature of belief. Cameron Kelsall reviews.
Cameron Kelsall

Cameron Kelsall

Reviews 4 minute read