17 Things to Do in Movies, Comedy, Books and Harry Potter Parties
A still from “Nikki Glaser: Perfect.” The comedian plays Punchline Thursday through Sunday. (cc.com)
Monument Lab Live: Hidden Histories and Missing Monuments @ Pennsylvania Academy of the Fine Arts | Wednesday, October 18
Murals Arts’ provocative Monument Lab series rolls on, this time hosting TED-style talks about who gets honored and who gets left behind in history. Includes presentations from Paper Monuments (NOLA), Vashti Dubois (The Colored Girls Museum), Jarrett Drake (digital archivist), Venissa Santi (Cuban–American vocalist) and Monument Lab artists Kaitlin Pomerantz and Marisa Williamson.
Woke & Well-Read Book Club @ Big Blue Marble | Wednesday & Thursday, October 18-19
Writer Jamila Latham hosts a regular book club focusing on African-American authors. This month’s selection is The Bluest Eye by Toni Morrison.
Anime Wednesday @ Amalgam Comics & Coffeehouse | Wednesday, October 18
Black Tribbles and J1 Studios host anime screenings every third Wednesday. This edition features the 1999 movie Revolutionary Girl Utena: Adolescence of Utena.
Stand-Up Confidential @ Helium | Wednesday, October 18
Who’s doing standup at Helium tonight? It’s a mystery. Quoth the calendar: “We’ve hand-picked some of our favorite stand-up comics from around the country to perform secret, one-off shows.” Intriguing. (There’s a chance it’s Richard Lewis, I guess….)
Richard Lewis @ Helium | October 19-21
The famously neurotic comedian and actor (Curb Your Enthusiasm, Anything But Love) plays Thursday, Friday (two shows) and Saturday.
Celebrate a Night in Old San Juan @ Sofitel | Thursday, October 19
Open bar, food, silent auction and other activities to raise money for hurricane relief efforts for Puerto Rico
Unedited Philadelphia: Urban Archives at 50 @ Lightbox Film Center | Thursday, October 19
This program by Temple University Libraries’ Special Collections Research Center “draws on raw news footage, nightly broadcasts, outtakes, and public affairs and feature based programming to depict vignettes of life in the Philadelphia region from the 1940s through 1990s.”
Nikki Glaser @ Punchline | October 19-21
The hilarious standup and star of Not Safe with Nikki Glaser plays five shows, Thursday through Saturday.
The Life and Music of Lou Reed @ Kelly Writers House | Thursday, October 19
Rolling Stone editor/Penn faculty member Anthony DeCurtis discusses his book Lou Reed: A Life, about the Velvet Underground singer.
Ghosted @ Philly Improv Theater | Thursday, October 19
This sounds like a fun, unpredictable night of comedy: “local comedians have their sets haunted by local ghosts.” Hosts: Megan Goetz and Dan Getz, plus ghost host Sylis P. Performers: Brandon Jackson, Alyssa Truszkowski, Sarah Bell
Charles Blyzniuk, John DelCollo and Brian Six. Not related to the Fox show.
Destiny Estimate @ Christ Church Neighborhood House | October 20-29
A work by NYC playwright MJ Kaufman about a transgender person dealing with the death of their father. Co-directed by Mark McCloughan , with music by Emily Bate. Stars Mary Tuomanen, Jenna Horton and Kevin Meehan.
The Exploding Digital Inevitable @ Lightbox Film Center | Friday, October 20
The program starts with Crossroads (1976), directed by Bruce Conner, “a 36-minute assemblage of US government footage of the iconic Bikini Atoll atomic bomb test.” The main feature is The Exploding Digital Inevitable, a new “performance essay” directed by Ross Lipman, that utilizes archival footage to examine both Crossroads and its subject matter.
Day of the Poet 20th Anniversary @ Painted Bride Art Center | Friday, October 20
A festival celebrating the spoken word, and reuniting “seminal DOTP alumni whose artistic contributions to contemporary culture have become storied.” Performance and presentations by Trapeta Mayson, Twin Poets, DJ Razor Ramon, Ursula Rucker and Kevin O’Neill, plus guests from NYC and SCI Graterford.
Chestnut Hill Harry Potter Festival @ Chestnut Hill | Friday & Saturday, October 20-21
Two days of wandering Germantown Avenue in costume, playing games, mocking muggles and doing lots of other Potter-themed things.
Samantha Ruddy & Dina Hashem @ Good Good Comedy Theatre | Saturday, October 21
A kickass double-bill. Ruddy writes for Reductress. Hashem has performed on Comedy Central’s Roast Battle and the 2 Dope Queens podcast, among other places.
Music and Tales of Home @ Trinity Center for Urban Life | Sunday, October 22
Al-Bustan Seeds of Culture presents a Denise Valentine reading “stories of displacement collected from Philly’s African-American, immigrant, and refugee communities” with music by Syrian musicians including clarinetist Kinan Azmeh.
Click by Jacqueline Goldfinger @ The Latvian Society of Philadelphia | Monday, October 23
Theatre Exile hosts a staged reading of a new work by Philly playwright Jacqueline Goldfinger. “Set in the underground world of virtual graffiti, Click is a techno-epic that follows college students involved in a frat rape that goes viral; exploring how the event changes their lives from 2016-2031 as new technologies allow them to create identities that walk through the computer screen and into reality.”
