The historic High Pressure Fire Service Building on the corner of Race Street and Columbus Boulevard will have a new life as the permanent headquarters…
View More Philadelphia FringeArts Unveils Plans for its New Headquarters
Category: Features
Best of Philadelphia Theater, 2011-12
Here are my annual picks for the best of Philadelphia theater: Best Play: August: Osage County (Arden) Honorable mention: The Island (Lantern) Best Actor, Male: Frank…
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A theater which has been destroyed…
Just came across this quote by the great Spanish poet and playwright Federico Garcia Lorca: The theater is one of the most expressive and useful…
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An overview of the Philly theater scene
Philadelphia theater is rich in its diversity and output, with over 100 companies presenting thousands of performances every year. The city boasts a long-standing tradition…
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Best of Philadelphia Theater, 2010-2011
The Barrymore Awards ceremony is tonight, and I’m not there, but that doesn’t mean I don’t have my own opinions about the best actors and…
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Jay Cooke: The Philadelphia banker who funded the Civil War, caused one of the nation’s biggest financial collapses, and founded Penn State Abington
This hugely influential Philadelphian was responsible for everything from Little Bighorn to the Crash of 1873.
View More Jay Cooke: The Philadelphia banker who funded the Civil War, caused one of the nation’s biggest financial collapses, and founded Penn State Abington
Old People and Theater (VIGIL at Lantern)
I began to attend Philadelphia theater in earnest about a decade ago, in my early mid-twenties. Consistently, my companion and I would be the youngest…
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Theater People vs. Theater Critics…The Ultimate Debate
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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Why’s Everyone Such a Critic?
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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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
View More World War What? Did PIFA forget a little something in its celebration of Paris 1910-20?
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…
View More Did you see that thing about how last year Philly hotels had more guests than ever before?