Three things to check out this week in The Arts Chart
Please note: This article is published as an archive copy from Philadelphia City Paper. My City Paper is not affiliated with Philadelphia City Paper. Philadelphia City Paper was an alternative weekly newspaper in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. The last edition was published on October 8, 2015.
Burger King Kids Club? Lit at Jim's Steaks? Scary seas?
Artist and long-distance swimmer Lauren Boilini's work-in-progress, "The Fugue."
Courtesy of Stacey Himes
Courtesy of Stacey Himes
[ sketch comedy ]
Bent But Not Broken
It’s a debate we’ll encourage you to fight about on the Internet if you hate yourself: What’s “OK” in comedy? Bent But Not Broken explores “uncharted territory” in sketch — disability — and swears “it’s OK to laugh.” The brainchild of Shannon DeVido, a comedian and actress who uses a wheelchair, one sketch will point out how having more arms makes you a better Shakespeare performer, while another has the cast playing the Burger King Kids Club gang (remember them?). It seeks to open up comedy to a more diverse population. And that’s OK.
Thu.-Fri., Oct. 23-24, 9 p.m., $10-$12, Philly Improv Theater at the Adrienne, 2030 Sansom St., second floor, phillyimprovtheater.com/events.
[ lit ]
215 Festival
The 13-year-old 215 Fest presents the “all South Street” edition this year. Last year, the fest took place in a different ’hood each day, but now it plants its feet among the likes of Jim’s Steaks (hosting readings from J. Robert Lennon, Wintfred Huskey and Erik Bader) and Tattooed Mom (hosting readings from the Gigantic Sequins and Bedfellows lit journals). The Philly Poet laureates Soledad Alfaro-Allah and Frank Sherlock kick off the fest, and there’s so much more packed into the weekend, you must check it all out on your own. It’ll develop your character.
Thu.-Sun., Oct. 23-26, Free, various locations, 215festival.org.
[ visual art ]
The Fugue
The sea — do you think of it as a deathtrap of undiscovered hellish creatures and potential tsunamis? Or like a slippery blue blanket hugging earth and gently lapping on our shores? Artist Lauren Boilini’s somewhere in the middle — she’s a long-distance ocean swimmer creating a wall-to-floor painting called The Fugue that puts you right inside the “terrifying, luxurious and life-affirming elements of the sea.” Ignore thoughts of that fish with the giant jaws and flashlight antennae on its head.
Thu.-Fri., Oct. 23-24, by appointment, and Sat.-Sun., Oct. 25-26, 11 a.m.-4 p.m., Free, Metropolitan Gallery 250, 250 S. 18th St., 215-545-6655, facebook.com/MetropolitanGallery250.
—Mikala Jamison, @notjameson
