What to do in Philly this weekend

MUSEUMS

Body Worlds: Animal Inside Out

Through April 12

Franklin Institute

222 N. 20th St.

$8-$30, 215-448-1200

www.fi.edu

This exhibition of animal anatomy is nearly freaky enough to make you feel like Halloween isn’t over — mostly, though, it’s just fascinating. You’ll get to see what many different creatures look like under the skin, delving into the staggering complexity of animal bodies. And of course no visit to the Franklin Insitute is compelte without a walk through the giant heart.

COMEDY

Adrienne Truscott

Through Nov. 16

Adrienne Theater

2030 Sansom St.

$10-$25, [email protected]

www.simpaticotheatre.org

Stand-up comic Adrienne Truscott will perform her one-woman show “Asking for It,” whose title refers to the horrible but not uncommon suggestion that certain rape victims are “asking for it” in one way or another. A big theme of her monologue is the problem of rape jokes and question of the limits of comedy regarding such traumatic scenarios. Note: Contains nudity!

ART

William Glackens Opening Party: Vaudeville

Friday, 6 to 9 p.m.

Barnes Foundation

2025 Ben Franklin Pkwy.

$22, 215-278-7200

www.barnesfoundation.org

The Barnes opens its William Glackens exhibition with a bang, reviving the world of vaudeville for an evening, with comedians, tap dancing, circus stunts and more. Glackens, a close friend of Dr. Barnes, was a Philadelphia-born realist painter and member of the famous Ashcan School, which sought to depict the life of average Americans — the kind who loved to take in a vaudeville show.

Flux: Four Artists Redefining Glass

Through Nov. 29

Wexler Gallery

201 N. Third St.

Free, 215-923-7030

www.wexlergallery.com

The four contemporary glass artists in question are Dan Cutrone, Amie McNeel, Charlotte Potter and Wes Valdez, each of whom approaches the medium with a striking, radical vision. The show draws its title from the Fluxus movement of the 1960s, which sought, among many other things, to produce an anti-elitist art in touch with everyday life and everyday materials.

THEATER

‘Henry V’

Through Nov. 16

Philadelphia Shakespeare Theatre

2111 Sansom St.

$20-$35, 215-496-8001

www.phillyshakespeare.org

Philadelphia Shakespeare Theatre sets the Bard’s history play in a private high school —always a good place for war. Fictionalizing events from the early 1400s, the play features one of the great mic-dropping, rally-the-troops speeches in theater history, which, however imagined the words were, actually did boost morale when Laurence Oliver read them to beleaguered British citizens in World War II.

‘Mary Poppins’

Through Jan. 4

Walnut Street Theatre

825 Walnut St.

$72-$82, 800-745-3000

www.ticketmaster.com

“Mary Poppins” is so familiar that it’s easy to forget how mysterious it is. A magical “nanny” appears out of nowhere to help care for a pair of British siblings, pro bono. But who or what is she, and where did she come from? We never find out. This musical follows the Disney film, with all your favorite songs — and the mystery — intact.

TOURS

Vampires, Sex and Ghosts Tour

Through Nov. 29

Grim Philly Twilight Tours

599 Market St.

$20, 856-829-3100

www.grimphilly.com

If your taste for the macabre was not satisfied by Halloween (whose is?), we recommend this Grim Philly tour, which promises “an eclectic array of sites and frights from dark and deviant sexcapades to torture, mass burials and execution, to vampires, pirates, and ghosts!” And it’s all grounded in real history, because the truth is always way more screwed up than fiction.

SHOPPING

Art Star Craft Bazaar

Saturday and Sunday

23rd Street Armory

22 S. 23rd St.

$2, [email protected]

www.artstarphilly.com

With more than 50 local and national crafts vendors plying handmade wares of every sort, from jewelry to cornhole boards, this might make a perfect first stop for your holiday shopping — or heck, screw it, just treat yourself to something nice. There’s also some delicious-sounding food on offer and the chance to do a little crafting of your own.

STORYTELLING

First Person Arts Grand Slam

Thursday, 8 p.m.

Prince Music Theater

1412 Chestnut St.

$22, 215-972-1000

www.princemusictheater.org

The winners of this year’s season of story slams (like poetry slams, but with personal stories) go head-to-head this evening, in a cutthroat competition hosted by comedian Dave Hill. Only one will be crowned Philadelphia’s best storyteller.

DANCE

Fresh Juice 2014

Friday and Saturday

Mascher Space Cooperative

155 Cecil B. Moore Ave.

$10-$15, 800-838-3006

mascherfreshjuice.brownpapertickets.com

Every year, the Mascher Space Cooperative presents “Fresh Juice,” a show featuring its current artists in residence. This year’s artists include Almanac Dance Circus Theater, Antonia Z Brown, Loren Groenendaal/Vervet Dance and Nicole Brinder. The pieces range from Brown’s empathy-centered duet to Brinder’s transformation of what was originally a duet (awesomely titled “Dance Apocalypse) into a solo performance.

MUSIC

Nano to Macro: Music of Kirigami

Friday, 8 p.m.

Christ Church Neighborhood House

20 N. American St.

$12-$15, [email protected]

www.bowerbird.org

Bowerbird and Soundfield present three pieces by experimental composer Gene Coleman, inspired by recent scientific research which used the centuries-old Japanese art of kirigami to help solve a modern technological problems. The research team’s leaders will explain the details in a pre-concert talk. Coleman’s music makes use of traditional Western and Eastern acoustic instruments as well as electronic instrumentation.

CIRCUS

The National Acrobats of the People’s Republic of China

Saturday

Kimmel Center

1500 Walnut St.

$29-$61, 215-893-1999

www.kimmelcenter.org

We all know about Cirque de Soleil — well how about “Cirque Peking”? That’s the name of this performance by the National Acrobats of the People’s Republic of China, which includes eye-popping acrobatic stunts, plus music, martial arts magic and a general I-didn’t-know-human-bodies-could-do-that factor rivaling its French-Canadian counterpart.