I’ve been a lover of the stage as long as I can remember. Mostly this love has been realized as a patron of local theaters.…
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Category: Features
World War What? Did PIFA forget a little something in its celebration of Paris 1910-20?
IS it just a little strange that in a festival with a theme of Paris 1910–20, few of the shows and none of the literature seem to mention that there was a little war going on
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Dance and Music Rights, or When Were You Planning To Pay For That Music, Friend?
In the not distant past, I was watching a dance performance, which I was enjoying, and I couldn’t help thinking—if this dance company was caught…
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In the Swing: A Brief History of Baseball in Philadelphia
Baseball in Philadelphia is riding on a wave of success by the hometown Phillies, winners of four straight National League East titles and two of…
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Five Technical Things About Ancient Roman Comedic Stages You Were Dying To Know
We know about the plays, at least if we have read them. But how much do we know about ancient stages? We’ve asked PPAA classics…
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Updike’s guide to reviewing
Submit to whatever spell, weak or strong, is being cast. Better to praise and share than blame and ban. The communion between reviewer and his…
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Lessons from Newt Gingrich: or how we in the theatre and dance communities can stop acting like losers and learn to make the nation love us
How often have you heard that performing arts are dying, that we’re a niche market, that you can never make a living off of it,…
View More Lessons from Newt Gingrich: or how we in the theatre and dance communities can stop acting like losers and learn to make the nation love us
Meta is Dead. Long Live Meta.
I want to talk about shows in theatre and dance that deal with the audience head on. In other words, works that acknowledge the existence…
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California Fresh: New theater company launches in Kensington arts space
The back streets of Kensington may not have much in common with Hollywood
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It’s “theater”
Philadelphia is in the United States, so I’ve decided that theater should be spelled theater, not the English/French theatre. Right.
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What I learned from GQ this time around
Having been inspired last time around to write one of PPAA’s most popular articles “What Learned From GQ Today,” I thought I might mine the current issue…
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Did you see that thing about how last year Philly hotels had more guests than ever before?
Yeah, so it seems a shitload of people spent the night in Philadelphia in 2010. According to an Inquirer article/industry press release from Feb 19, “Philadelphia filled…
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Conceptual Dance and Star Power
My dance vocabulary is limited, so please forgive me as I redefine terms for my own benefit. When I say conceptual dance, I am referring…
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Philly needs an Equity Showcase—sound the horn!
I was producing a Fringe show last year, and I had an Equity actor (Actors’ Equity is the union for theatre actors). No problem, my…
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Can we get Cliff Lee to a play?
Cliff Lee made an appearance at the Philadelphia Auto Show, and it was the top story on the evening news. (Since this is a performing…
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So I was looking at the PTI website the other day . . .
Another Sondheim revival is not what will put Philly on the theater map.
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What I learned from GQ today
For those of you familiar with my appearance, you may be surprised to learn that I have a subscription to GQ. Fear not, I do…
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Best of Philadelphia Theater, 2009-2010
August 2 saw the announcement of the 2010 Barrymore Awards. I only saw about 25 plays by 10 companies this season, so my pool of…
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Octavius Catto and the Pythians of Philadelphia
Black baseball in Philadelphia has roots that go back to the end of the Civil War.
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Philadelphia Theatre Reviews
I’ve never acted, except for a brief cameo in a high school musical on which I was working back stage. I have never studied acting,…
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