April 8-14, 2004

art

Artsquicks

More stuff going on this week...

Theater

Here's a rare opportunity to see two bright lights of contemporary theater in conversation. Wilma favorite Tom Stoppard and Bach at Leipzig playwright Itamar Moses will discuss the Wilma's next season at a special event this Saturday. The theater's 2004-2005 season includes the Philadelphia premiere of Stoppard's Night and Day and the East Coast premiere of Moses' Outrage. Sat., April 10, 5 p.m., $35, Wilma Theater, 265 S. Broad St., 215-546-7824.

Theater

Shadow puppetry, contastoria, video and music converge to create An Olive on the Seder Plate, a new musical theater production from Liberty Cabbage Theatre Revival about the occupation of the West Bank and Gaza Strip, featuring more than a dozen performers. Thu., April 8, 8 p.m., free, Black Box Theater (in the Gordon Theater building), Third and Pearl sts., Camden, N.J.; Fri.-Sat., April 9-10, 8 p.m., $15, Painted Bride Art Center, 230 Vine St.; Sun., April 11, 7 p.m., $15, Mishkan Shalom Synagogue, 4101 Freeland Ave.;www.libertycabbage.org.

Cabaret/Open Mic

You've all been to these things. Open mic nights and cabaret events in dark, smoky bars more suited to rock bands and general carousing. The sound's bad, the audience is only half paying attention and the performers walk away feeling a little defeated. Here's an alternative. Ellipsis, a new "experimental performing arts open mic/cabaret" (whew!), wants to offer local talents and audiences a way to enjoy artistic performances in a more comfortable, appropriate setting -- the Playground Stage at the Adrienne. Pros, amateurs and everyone in between who signs up in advance are welcome to participate -- or be an audience member and just sit back and watch (no tickets necessary, just pay $5 at the door). Ellipsis is set for at least three second Fridays of the month. Slated for the inaugural event is everything from Irish hand drumming to standup comics to spoken word and music. But the fun is seeing who shows up to show their stuff. (All slots are full for this month, but send an e-mail to sign up for next month's gig.) Fri., April 9, 11 p.m., $5, Playground Stage at the Adrienne, 2030 Sansom St., cabaretjulian@yahoo.com.

Art

The Mobilivre Bookmobile project is hitting the road again this year and the ol' Airstream needs a kick-start. Help it out by bidding on some goods at a benefit art auction at Space 1026 this Friday. Work by artists from all over the country will be up for grabs, along with that of 1026ers. Featured artists include Cynthia Connolly, Julie Doucet, Thom Lessner, Ben Woodward, Andrew Jeffrey Wright and the Mobilvre madame herself, Courtney Dailey. Fri., April 9, 7 p.m., Space 1026, 1026 Arch St., 215-574-7630

Art

The old townhouse museum on Delancey is celebrating 50 years of archiving and exhibiting some of the most rare documents and artifacts in the world. The "R is for Rosenbach" exhibit includes more than 150 objects from its collection, begun by the Rosenbach brothers, and organized into a formal collection in 1954 -- all in a snazzy alphabetic installation of 26 themed groups. From now until the end of summer, the museum has planned tours and special events to coincide with the anniversary exhibition. Visit www.rosenbach.org for more information. April 14-Aug. 15, Rosenbach Museum & Library, 2010 Delancey Place, 215-732-1600.