Curtains Up: Philly Theatre Week Returns Starting April 1st with 64 Organizations and 85 Events

It is the final decade for humans to redress our impact on the planet. Since you attended an eye-opening environmental lecture several years ago, you have joined the fight against the many-headed hydra of climate change with increasing fervor. But no matter how many marches, letters to politicians, protests, donations, and local and global campaigns you organize, it seems the forces against you only grow stronger. You’re tired and frustrated, and the world is on the brink. You decide the time for nonviolence is over. Part immersive performance, part audio play, part walking tour, this is roughly a 60 minute single audience member ambulatory adventure.

Passage Theatre Company
Janet Wide Awake: The Hedgepeth-Williams Dream
April 1 – April 3, In-person event

In the 1940s, Gladys Hedgepeth and Berline Williams challenged the Trenton school formerly known as Junior High No. 2 and its policy of segregation after their children were not admitted due to their race. After a historic legal battle, the New Jersey Supreme Court struck down the widespread practice of segregation in New Jersey public schools. Written and performed by both theatre professionals and students from Hedgepeth-Williams Middle School of the Arts, the show shares our local history with the next generation and shows us what can happen when you stand up for what’s right. Appropriate for ages 10+

Players Club of Swarthmore
Three Tall Women
April 1 – April 2, In-person event

Winner of the Pulitzer Prize, Edward Albee’s play is considered a masterwork of modern theater. Directed by Bohdan Senkow, the production lays bare the truths of our lives – how we live, how we love, what we settle for, and how we die. The protagonist, an elderly woman, reflects on her life with a mixture of shame, pleasure, regret, and satisfaction. She recalls the fun of her childhood and her early marriage, when she felt an overwhelming optimism. She also bitterly recalls negative events that caused her regret: her husband’s affairs and death, and the estrangement of her gay son.

Miniball
Sophie Sucre: A Study in Sensual Performance via the Humanist Gaze
April 3 – April 5, In-person event

Meet Sophie, as she explores her most authentic erotic sensual self as a Black Women leveraging the erotic as power through a long-form, 45-minute Burlesque Performance. 18+

Literary Managers and Dramaturgs of the Americas (LMDA)
Happy Hour with LMDA
April 4, 5:30pm – 7:00pm, In-person event

Join LMDA for a free Happy Hour (alcoholic and non-alcoholic drinks available) to learn about the 2022 International Conference being held in Old City from July 20-24, 2022!

People’s Light
Hold These Truths
April 6 – April 9, In-person event

Steven Eng plays real-life activist Gordon Hirabayashi (and 37 other characters!) in this critically acclaimed solo play. As a young man, Gordon struggles to reconcile his admiration for the U.S. Constitution with the government’s 1942 orders resulting in the forced removal and internment of over 120,000 people of Japanese descent. Marked by hope, humor, and an irrepressible zest for life, Gordon’s journey of resistance ultimately leads to the famous Supreme Court case Hirabayashi v. United States—a legacy that continues to resonate today. Recommended for ages 10+ due to mature themes.

Hella Fresh Theater
Frauenschlläechterei
April 1-10. Theatre by Mail

A German lawyer tries to make Brigette Helm an American Movie Star in 1930s Hollywood.

Philadelphia Dramatist Center
Nowhere/Now here
April 1 – April 9, Virtual Event

When was the last time you looked behind you and found yourself somewhere unexpected but familiar? Have you been to the void in space-time that is all the rage in travel for the rocket-set? Where were you when you last caught that particular scent? Nowhere/Now Here is an exploration of place, time, and being. Seven short plays have been selected from a cadre of submissions. Come, see the place we’ve made for you. Be present with us as we explore. Fall with us through the void.

Crossroads Comedy Theater
Chip Chantry: The Farewell Tour
Friday, April 1, In-Person Event

The world is ending, so Chip Chantry is taking one last lap around the stage. Come on out to Crossroads Comedy Theater to see this former 4th grade teacher and current nationally touring comedian hold back the goodbye tears as he makes you laugh. Please note this is not really his last performance. Or is it? To be fair any show could be his last and the world can end at any time. Features Marcely Jean-Pierre and Alyssa Al-Dookhi.

The Philly Theatre Week website has a full rundown of events at phillytheatreweek.com.

Find a few groups of events below with something for everyone based on topic:

**For industry and professional development events: Argent Combat’s Duel Meaning: Stage Combat and the Collaborative Art; Literary Managers and Dramaturgs of the Americas (LMDA)’s Happy Hour with LMDA; Naked Writing Blog’s Naked Writing: Free Zoom Playwriting Workshops; Black Theatre Alliance of Philadelphia’s Make it Make Cents Grantwriting Workshop; Temple Theaters’s Raise Your Voice; Resource Sharing Committee’s Sustainable Creation, Design, and Producing: A Conversation with the Resource Sharing Committee

**For comedy lovers who need a laugh: DCP’s Savannah Sipping Society; Crossroads Comedy Theater’s Not Yet Rated: An Improvised Movie; Ruth and Estelle Productions’ Come Sail Away with Ruth and Estelle; Theatre on the Verge’s Roaring Girl (A Reading) by Thomas Middleton; The Wilma Theater’s Hold Fast; Arden Theatre Company’s Backing Track; The Hum’n’Bards and The Painted Mug Cafe’s Sing Out Louise! A Tribute to Musicals We Love: Chicago; Kaleidoscope Cultural Arts Collective’s A Sure Thing, and Then Some…Stories of Encounters, Entanglements, and Love

**Shows featuring strong women: DCP Theatre’s Savannah Sipping Society; Bristol Riverside Theatre’s Menopause The Musical; Without A Cue Productions’ The Golden Girls Murder Mystery: The Curse of Jessica Fletcher; Curio Theatre Company’s Lady Day at Emerson’s Bar and Grill; Fever Dream Repertory, Inc’s Silent Sky

**LGBTQ Events: The Strides Collective’s The Rainbow Connection: An in-depth discussion on the state of queer theatre in Philadelphia; Miniball’s Out of Eden; Miniball’s Surface Tension; The Hum’n’bards Theater Troupe’s The Tower; The Hum’n’Bards and The Painted Mug Cafe’s Sing Out Louise! A Tribute to Musicals We Love: Chicago

**New works and premieres; Theatre Exile’s Saturday Mourning Cartoons by Iraisa Ann Reilly; The Hum’n’bards Theater Troupe’ The Tower; InterAct Theatre Company’s Settlements; Lantern Theater Company’s A Man for All Seasons; Almanac Dance Circus Theatre’s Happy Hour; Miniball’s Whale Fall; Sewer Rats Productions’s Edmonton; The Stagecrafters’ Crimes of the Heart

**Solo shows: Kelly McCaughan’s Catholic Guilt; Chris Davis’ Drunk Lion; Miniball’s Artifacts of No Consequence; Producer’s Guild’s Lessons from an incomplete black boy; People’s Light’ Hold These Truths

**18+: Miniball/Inversions’s Out of Eden; Miniball’s Sophie Sucre: A Study in Sensual Performance via the Humanist Gaze

**Musicals: Eastern University Theatre’s Still Here.; The Hum’n’Bards and The Painted Mug Cafe’s Sing Out Louise! A Tribute to Musicals We Love: Chicago; Acting Naturally Inc.’ Fame Jr.; Brainchild Stageworkx’s The Ongoing Plight of the Ferryman; Dani B Productions’ Brilliant the Musical; Crossroads Comedy Theater’s Thank You, Places: An Improvised Musical

**Classics: Quintessence Theatre Group’s The Alchemist; FurCat Films’ Hamlet Revisited; Quintessence Theatre Group’s The Winter’s Tale; Philadelphia Artists’ Collective’s Morning Star; Theatre on the Verge Roaring Girl (A Reading) by Thomas Middleton

**Experimental: Miniball/Alex Tatarsky’s Dirt Trip; Hella Fresh Theater’ Frauenschlläechterei; Die-Cast’s After The Before Times; The Gorgeousity’ Your Gorgeous Future: Philly Edition; The MacProud Foundation’s No Man’s Land; The Wilma Theater’ The Floor Wipers

**Audio Experiences: Lupine Performance Cooperative’ Miranda; Nubienne Productions’ Wheelz of Life: Listening Party; Applied Mechanics’ PlaNet Radio (Other Orbits: Episode 1); Community Capital: an Afrofuturism South Philly Walking Experience;