8 Performances to Catch This Week
PRISM Quartet | Photo from www.kimmelcenter.org
JUNK’s Urban Scuba: Retro Dive @ Shiloh Baptist Church
Acclaimed as “audacious” by the New York Times, the Philly-based contemporary dance company that gathers inspiration from garbage plunges into a deep dumpster of spectacle. Garbed in snorkels and goggles, the dancers gyrate under the sea and in the air, suspending from lyras and swaying on ladders.
Philadelphia Theatre Company’s Hillary and Clinton @ Suzanne Roberts Theatre | Now through June 26th
The East Coast premiere of Lucas Hnath’s play transports audiences to an earth quite similar to our own where a woman named Hillary is vying for the presidency of a country known as the United States of America. Although this strikes as sarcasm, it’s a paradoxical mechanism to examine politics in this dimension. Exploring themes of gender, marriage, and power, the piece offers an anomalous set of arguments about the diluted humanity of politicians and how it influences our engagements with them.
Lantern Theater Company’s 36 Views @ St. Stephen’s Theater | Now through June 26th
In Naomi Iizuka’s critically acclaimed play, an ancient Japanese pillow book falls into the hands of dubious art dealer Darius Wheeler. Tales of turmoil and passion emerge from the pages of the rare artifact, transforming the lives of Wheeler and his colleague, Setsuko Hearn, an East Asian art specialist. Fusing Eastern artistic traditions and Western theatrical conventions, a mystery transpires throughout a series of 36 scenes, exploring art, commerce and desire.
InterAct Theatre Company’s Straight White Men @ The Drake | Now through June 19th
Hailed by the New York Times as “compassionate and stimulating,” playwright Young Jean Lee unpacks the contradictions of an upper-middle-class patriatch, Ed, and his three sons, who convene every Christmas for takeout Chinese and wisecracks. But this holiday season poses something much deeper for the family, as the four men find themselves forced to consider underlying realities of their conventional lives, including problems of privilege and issues with identity.
Simpatico Theatre Company’s Time is on Our Side @ The Drake | June 3rd through 26th
Annie harps on the past, while Curtis hankers for the future. Together, they host the Schuylkill River Project, Philly’s hottest history podcast … at least among its few listeners. The sudden surfacing of an artifact not only reveals a hidden story but unearths a sensation for the queer podcast producers. From the Underground Railroad to LGBTQ+ rights, a euphoric mystery evolves at the crossroads of our city’s past, present, and future.
Philly-Italia Performing Arts Show @ The Kimmel Center | June 3rd
A union of cinema and vocalists, Italian artists collaborate in celebrazione of the Republic of Italy.
PRISM with Sō Percussion: Color Theory @ The Kimmel Center | June 4th
The saxophone and percussion quartets fuse for the premiere of Blue Notes and Other Clashes, by Steven Mackey, and a new arrangement of Donnacha Dennehy’s The Pale.
Philadelphia Youth Orchestra @ The Kimmel Center | June 5th
The sinfonietta of youngsters presents the final concert of its 76th anniversary season. The recital opens with Samuel Barber’s Toccata Festiva, featuring guest soloist Peter Richard Conte, grand court organist of the Wanamaker Organ. Joel Collier, Bravo Brass alumnus, presents the U.S. premiere of Symphony Concertante by Roland Szentpali. The group continues with Blue Cathedral, by Pulitzer Prize–winner Philadelphia-based composer Jennifer Higdon, and finishes with Rachmaninoff’s Symphonic Dances, a work premiered by the Philadelphia Orchestra in 1941.
