MUSIC
Antsy McClain Amir ElSaffar and the Two Rivers Ensemble THEATER
‘A Midsummer Night’s Dream’ ‘She Stoops to Conquer’ DANCE
‘Dust’ RUBBERBANDance Group ART
Eric Van Nielsen Second Nature: Junk Rethunk COMEDY
Comedy-Gasm: Two Year Anniversary BOOKS
NoViolet Bulawayo MOVIES
Ulrike Ottinger: Berlin Trilogy
Thursday, 8 p.m.
Tin Angel
20 S. Second St.
$20, 215-928-0978
www.tinangel.com
Country music has been drifting ever closer to mainstream pop for more than two decades, but as long as singer-songwriters like Antsy McClain stick around, the pop-ification of Nashville won’t ever be complete. With his band the Trailer Park Troubadours, he performs a classic country/rockabilly style with a sardonic storytelling humor, as evidenced by song titles like “Prozac Made Me Stay.”
Saturday, 8 p.m.
Kimmel Center
300 S. Broad St.
$23, 215-893-1999
www.kimmelcenter.org
Led by trumpeter Amir ElSaffar, the Two Rivers Ensemble is a fusion of Middle Eastern sounds and jazz music, using mostly western instruments but also featuring the buzuq, a kind of flute. It’s hardly the first attempt to integrate the two musical traditions, but Two Rivers strives to create their own unique expression.
Through May 17
Philadelphia Shakespeare Theatre
2111 Sansom St.
$20-$30, 215-496-8001
www.phillyshakespeare.org
Philadelphia Shakespeare Theatre performs this classic work by the Immortal Bard, which they describe as his “mediation on erotic fascination.” That it is, but it’s also full of pure silliness, because such fascination has to make fools of all of us at one point or another. The question is whether we allow it to — or whether some mischievous magic will do it for us.
Through Sunday
The Powel House
244 S. Third St.
$30, 215-925-2251
philalandmarks.givezooks.com
Mechanical Theater presents this 18th century comedy by Oliver Goldsmith, about Charles Marlow, an upper class cad who’s a Casanova with working class ladies but finds himself intimidated by women of his own breeding. Once such woman, Kate Hardcastle, takes a shine to him, and endeavors to break through this barrier by posing as a maid. Sneaky, sneaky.
Thursday through Saturday
FringeArts
140 N. Columbus Blvd.
$15-$20, 215-413-1318
www.fringearts.com
FringeArts presents this opera by Robert Ashley with choreography by Megan Bridge and a video component that reacts in real time to the dancers’ movements. “Dust” is set on an unidentified street corner, where a few street dwellers recall the tale of their comrade, a war veteran and leg amputee who believed that he spoke to God under the influence of morphine.
Thursday through Saturday
Annenberg Center
2680 Walnut St.
$20-$60, 215-898-3900
www.annenbergcenter.org
This contemporary dance ensemble combines the rather different training of its co-heads, former Los Angeles street breakdancer Victor Quijada and French-Canadian Anne Plamondon, whose background is ballet. The spontaneous freedom of the former and the rigorous formality of the latter produce a unique tension, reflecting those primal opposing forces that seem to form the stuff of our lives.
Saturday through April 30
The Resource Exchange
1701 N. 2nd St.
Free, 267-997-0060
www.theresourceexchange.org
Painter Eric Van Nielsen began as a draftsman, but found himself increasingly drawn towards abstract art that utilizes pure color and form to affect the viewer. “Color is the language of emotion,” he writes in his artist’s statement, and his work does indeed affect powerfully through color. He made these evocative works by a new method he considers more environmentally sustainable.
Through October 31
Philadelphia Zoo
3400 W. Girard Ave
$20, 215-243-1100
www.philadelphiazoo.org
Philadelphia Zoo hosts an art exhibition featuring animal-themed sculpture made from recycled materials, meant to inspire enthusiasm for recycling. The pieces are large-scale, including a 13-foot-tall gorilla made from car parts and a five-foot-long alligator made from chewing gum — that’s a lot of gum! There are 12 works all, each contributed by a different artist or group.
Saturday, 8 to 11 p.m.
Irish Pol
114 Market St.
$7-$10, 21+, 800-838-3006
www.brownpapertickets.com
This comedy showcase celebrates two years of “comedy by the unashamed, for the unashamed,” as well as the Irish Pol’s recent move to a new, larger location. It’s hosted by Rachel Fogletto and features stand-up from Pete Steele, Sonia Zambrana, Keane Cobb and Lou Misiano, plus live music by Kate Nyx and storytelling from Martha Cooney.
Thursday, 6 p.m.
Kelly Writers House
3805 Locust Walk
Free, 215-746-7636
www.writing.upenn.edu/~wh/
Zimbabwe-born novelist NoViolet Bulawayo, whose most debut novel, 2013’s “We Need New Names” earned recognition from the New York Times, the Los Angeles Times, the Man Booker Prize and other quarters, will give a reading at Kelly Writers House. The book tells the story of Darling, a young girl growing up amidst violence in Zimbabwe who travels to America to live with her aunt.
Friday and Saturday
International House
3701 Chestnut St.
$7-$9, 215-387-5125
www.ihousephilly.org
International House screens three films by German filmmaker Ulrike Ottinger: 1979’s “Ticket of No Return,” 1981’s “Freak Orlando” and 1984’s “Dorian Gray in the Mirror of the Yellow Press.” The movies aren’t explicitly connected, but many of the same crew worked on all three, and they share Ottinger’s interests in performance art and socially critical sci-fi surrealism.
11 things to do in Philly this weekend
Tim Forbes
