DO THIS: Pig Iron Theatre’s
“Lights, Ham-eras, Action!”

In 1995, a group of Swarthmore grads decided to start a “dance-clown-theatre ensemble,” performing strange works in church basements. They called it Pig Iron Theatre Company. After nearly 20 years, the brainchild of Dan Rothenberg, Dito van Reigersberg and Gabriel Quinn Bauriedel (pictured, left to right) has become Philadelphia’s most prestigious independent theater group, helping put our theater scene on the map in a major way. (Take that, New York!)

Their annual benefit at the Troc is the biggest single-day theater event in the city, with an 800-plus crowd every time. This year’s punny theme: “Lights, Ham-eras, Action!” Expect drag queens, acrobatics, song-and-dance numbers worthy of an Oscars opening — oh, and pure genius. Fri., Jan. 24, 7 p.m., $25-$150, 1003 Arch St.