David Fox

The first-ever Philly Theatre Week hits venues across the city and a little beyond in February to spotlight the artists, playwrights and theater companies in Philadelphia that make this city one of the top destinations for theater in the country. What is Philly Theatre Week? The 10-day festival for all things stage-centric in Philadelphia is a collection of 75 shows, play readings, discussion panels, concerts and networking events happening around the Greater Philadelphia region. Offerings include musicals, straight dramas, comedies, concerts and more. When is Philly Theatre Week? Philly Theatre Week 2018 runs from February 8 to 18, with events happening across the region at various times every day. How much is Philly Theatre Week and how do I get tickets? You could think of Philly Theatre Week as an event similar to Philadelphia Restaurant Week, because you’re essentially getting a buttload of theater for a set, three-tier pricing option: most shows cost either $15, $30 or—best of all—$0. Tickets can be purchased or RSVP’d at phillytheatreweek.com. In some cases, Philly Theatre Week events include productions that are part of a local companies’ regular season, so specially priced tickets are limited. That means you need to act fast if you want to nab discounted entry. What should I see at Philly Theatre Week? With more than 75 different shows on the roster, picking what to see can be tricky. We offer some of the top must-sees below.

Philadelphia is home to dozens of thriving theater companies, providing an abundance of options for every type of showgoer. Do you prefer cheerful musicals or something more cutting-edge? In the mood for a comedy or would something darker hit the spot? Maybe you’re looking for arty things to do in Philadelphia with kids? We put together this comprehensive guide to local theater companies so you’ll know exactly who to seek out the next time you’re in the market for show tickets. If you’re going the fancy route, with a show at, say the Kimmel or Walnut Street Theatre, top off your night with a nice dinner at one of the best restaurants in Philadelphia. If you’re looking for more of a bargain, throw back some pre-show drinks at a local bar for happy hour. Philadelphia is brimming with options for a perfect, well-rounded night at the theater. Live it up!

The Philadelphia Fringe Festival is back for 2017, with more than 100 shows taking place in neighborhoods across Philadelphia. Here, we narrow down some of the best and most-buzzed-about shows at this year’s festival, but first a few facts: What is the Philadelphia Fringe Festival? Produced by FringeArts, the 21st annual theater, dance and arts festival is a showcase of both cutting-edge national theatrical productions and local theater troupes with new and exciting works to share. FringeArts curates a handful of presentations on their own, and then there are the independently produced, Philly-based works that could be anything from a puppet show in a South Philly basement to a fully staged production at a major Philadelphia attraction. There’s even a Digital Fringe, which features shows playing out online. Crazy, right? In a nutshell, there’s a TON going on, which is why we’re giving you this quick and snappy guide to some of the shows we think are unmissable. When is the Philadelphia Fringe Festival? The Fringe Festival takes place over the course of an 18-day span—from September 7 to 24. How do I get tickets to the Fringe Festival? FringeArts maintains an easy-to-navigate website with information about every single show and ticket links so you can make your purchases in advance—which is recommended if you want to see some of the larger productions. You can find that site here. Anything else I should know about the Fringe Festival? Yes. Check out the Festival Bar located

Located in Norristown, Pennsylvania, Theatre Horizon is a bit off the beaten track, but still less than an hour away by public transportation or car. And the trip is worth it—this little company gets more adventurous and accomplished and with each season. You’re likely to see some really interesting work here, performed by some of Philly’s favorite actors.

The Idiopathic Ridiculopathy Consortium celebrates absurdity in many theatrical guises. Each season, expect a mix of playwrights and styles including Tennessee Williams, Eugene Ionesco and Jean Girdoux—whose whimsical but often elusive plays have an ideal advocate here in producing artistic director Tina Brock. But Brock brings her delicious sense of humor, sleek elegance and a touch of surprise to every production. This little company, with its sly sophistication, deserves to be better-known.

In a series of beloved old MGM movies, Judy Garland and Mickey Rooney put on musicals in their backyard. At 11th Hour, some astonishingly gifted young performers do something similar, at different venues around town. Lately, the season features one fully-staged work, often a premiere (as in this year’s Big Red Sun by John Jiller and Georgia Stitt) alongside several musicals-in-concert (the 2017-2018 season includes Company and Hair). The energy and charm here is youthful, but you can also expect the talent to be big-league.

Since it began in 1973, the Wilma has been known for theater with a distinctively European, often avant-garde sensibility, along with a tremendous visual panache. Still led by Blanka Zizka, one of the company’s founders, season offerings here will likely include devised work alongside plays, and familiar works (Hamlet, a few years ago) getting a fresh spin. Tom Stoppard’s plays are a specialty, often getting exceptional productions. The best of the Wilma is intellectually rigorous and bracing—but for some, it can provoke head-scratching. Their 300-seat theater is one of Philadelphia’s best venues in which to take in a show.

At 200-plus years old and 1,000 seats, Walnut Street Theatre is Philadelphia’s oldest and largest theater. While it boasts a distinguished history including premiere productions of major works, today the focus is on lavishly produced musicals. These crowd-pleasing shows usually follow a traditional template, and are often good family fare. Walnut is generally not the place for more experimental or edgy work, but the season always includes some straight plays. The Independence Studio upstairs focuses on more intimate productions and musicals.

The motto here is “new ways to experience theatre,” and Tiny Dynamite is probably best known for their wildly popular “A Play, a Pie and a Pint,” where pub and theater merge. In July 2017, Perfect Blue, their largest project to date, involved simultaneous action by an actor in Philly and—via the magic of the internet—another in London. This year brings a new producing artistic director, Kathryn McMillan, who is well known for her work at Philly’s Lantern Theater and others.

Theatre Exile recently celebrated its 20th anniversary, two decades which saw them rise to become one of Philadelphia’s most highly regarded companies for hard-hitting contemporary and modern dramas. They’ve done fine work with canonical pieces (including a sellout Who’s Afraid of Virginia Woolf? a few years back), and have also produced stellar world premieres.

The 2016-17 theater season was a banner one for this company, one of the partners at the Drake. Their productions of R. Eric Thomas’s Time Is On Our Side, and Taylor Mac’s Hir were among the season’s biggest hits. Both are LGBTQ-themed, even though that’s not always a component at Simpatico. But you can always count on seeing interesting work, done with verve and spirit.

If you’re looking for a season that embraces the classics—the Greeks, Shakespeare, Shaw, Chekhov, and Ibsen—you’re sure to become a fan of Quintessence, located in Mount Airy in a wonderful old movie theater that the company imaginatively reconfigures for each project. It’s little short of extraordinary what artistic director Alex Burns and his fellow artists accomplish with often slender means—including, not long ago, a riveting traversal of a play often thought to be all but unproducible: Eugene O’Neill’s Mourning Becomes Electra.

Almost more a theater laboratory or school than a standard company, Pig Iron is unlike any other Philadelphia theater group. They produce shows on an irregular schedule, and sometimes a year or more goes by without any show at all. But their movement-based aesthetic and sly, often elliptical style is unforgettable. Any serious theater fan will want to experience their innovative productions.

PTC, as it’s known here, has been one of Philly’s most established companies, notable for bringing some of the best intimate plays of recent New York seasons (as well as mounting their own works, including significant premieres such as Terrence McNally’s Master Class). Their home, the Suzanne Roberts Theatre, is an ideally proportioned and unusually comfortable proscenium house. The 2017-2018 season brings a new regime, and likely an evolving mission. But even this gap year offers an interesting, out-of-the-box season, including Small Mouth Sounds, an off-Broadway cult hit, and the husky-voiced Kathleen Turner’s cabaret debut.

“Rare classical theatre” is a bedrock of this ambitious and accomplished young company. The range is wide—going as far back as the Greeks, and also into the 20th century—but even if you know the playwright (Shakespeare, for example), the works PAC put on are likely to be among some of their more obscure offerings. Next season, PAC explores new venues where they’ll doubt continue their practice of bringing imaginative and often unexpected interpretations to the stage.

I’m always nervous about interviewing people who are known for being funny. Can I ask funny questions? Well, the nervousness is on both sides. I also worry about being funny. I don’t interview people that much. I’m not the best interviewer in the world, because my anxiety is like, “Am I going to have to make up the quotes, because I lost the recording?” How do you feel about chatting with critics like me? I feel very comfortable about it. I hate opinions, but I love feedback. When people say nice things, they—you critics—are my favorite people. When they don’t, I pretend I can’t hear you. Criticism is just a dialogue, right? It’s like a dialogue with the playwright. With the audience. I’m definitely not somebody who says, “Ban them!” I’m like, “Let everybody in!” How did you become a journalist and playwright? I always aspired to do many things. When I was in college, I thought I’d be a playwright… and also Toni Morrison. Yes, I specifically wanted to be Toni Morrison, but I discovered that position was filled. But the easiest road was through journalism, so I wrote theater reviews and I found that to be a good stepping-stone. How did you get the columnist gig at Elle? The magic of Facebook. I had a post that went viral, and my editor saw it and reached out to me on Facebook asking, “Do you want to do this every day?" I responded that, “This isn’t how anything works,” and she was like, “Yes, I’m going to pay you money to write,” and I was like, “That’s insane.” In the futu

Barbra Streisand is a diva, a superstar, an icon. You don’t need me to tell you that, of course—evidence is everywhere, and her fanbase is huge. There are four words that would make pretty much every girl I went to high school with go wobbly: “The Way We Were.” But the connection between Barbra and gay men—now, that’s something special. It’s the underlying subject of writer Jonathan Tolins’s wonderfully droll one-man-play Buyer & Cellar, about an out-of-work actor who takes a gig tending to the private mall/antique atelier that La Streisand has built in her basement. The diva herself checks in from time to time, so everything must always be in tip-top shape. (Really, that’s what it’s about. And believe it or not, it’s based on fact.) As Buyer & Cellar is about to open at 1812 Productions, I put the question of Streisand and her gay following to a group that includes Philly’s beloved Dito van Reigersberg—who will be the solo performer—the show’s director, Dan O’Neil, and 1812’s marketing honcho, Tyler Melchior. (Of course, I can’t resist joining in. I’m the oldest in the group, I bought my first Streisand record in the 1960s, and dozens since then.) I start by gauging the obsession, as I ask each to assign themselves a number (1 to 10) on the Streisand Fan-o-Meter. Dan, endorsing especially her “insanely talented” early work, is a 6-7; Tyler is in the same range, and expands on the thrill of Yentl, with its “sweeping, interior monologue songs.” One particular moment we all agr

If you’re still waiting for the fat lady to sing, your idea of opera is hopelessly outmoded. Opera Philadelphia’s 12-day O17 Festival redefines perceptions of the genre with a mix of cutting-edge works and premieres staged in unconventional spaces across the city. These three shows are worth lining up for. The Magic Flute Nothing’s more traditional than Mozart, right? Except that this, his final opera, unfolds as a strange allegorical fairy tale. Fans of Broadway may recognize the opera’s early incorporation of song and spoken dialogue as a precursor to the modern musical. This multimedia production, helmed by directors Suzanne Andrade and Barrie Kosky, takes that a step further by evoking the mythology of American cinema with hat tips to everyone from Charlie Chaplin to David Lynch. Click here for time and date information. Academy of Music, 240 S Broad St. Sept 15, 20, 22 at 8pm; Sept 17, 24 at 2:30pm. $20–$250. We Shall Not Be Moved This world premiere staged by the extraordinary Bill T. Jones seems absolutely current while at the same time tackling a brutal chapter of Philadelphia history: the 1985 MOVE bombing. Composer Daniel Bernard Roumain and librettist Marc Bathumi Joseph’s genre-defying piece features opera singers alongside spoken-word artists, hip-hop performers and R&B and jazz musicians. Wilma Theater, 265 S Broad St. Sept 16–18, 21, 23, 24 at 8pm; $50–$100. The Wake World Here’s your chance to experience two of Philadelphia’s preeminent cultural institutions i