For Your (Further) Consideration

Here are our picks for the rest of the Live Arts and Philly Fringe festivals. Take heed.

Bad Hair's Fringetastic Sketchtacular!

Bad Hair's Fringetastic Sketchtacular

Don't let the name fool you. There's nothing bad about this sketch comedy group, comprised of long-running ComedySportz alumni. Together since early 2003 as part of the Midnight Cabaret series at The Playground, Bad Hair's sarcastic, gender-bending sketches are one part "Mr. Show" and another Monty Python, with a mix of original material written and performed by a rotating clan of funny men. Sketches range from a spoof of a talking-head political show (with celebrity impersonations) to a bit about two federal investigators who, as writer-performer Don Montrey puts it, "are going through a "partnership' crisis." --Natalie Hope McDonald
Sept. 15-17, 9 p.m.; Sept. 18, 8 p.m.; $10, Gallery Siano, 309 Arch St., 60 min.

The Broken Hipsters

The writers, directors and stars of Philly's "indie rock opera" were all recruited from the local music scene, but fear not: There's nothing cliquey or insider-ish about this broad, clever, smart musical satire. After a successful run in New York City's Fringe, the cast of dozens is seasoned and ready to impress a wider audience.
--Patrick Rapa
Sept. 14-18, 7:30 p.m., $15, The Cabaret, 829-51 N. American St., 120 min.

Rite of Spring/ Behind Resonance

Rite of Spring/Behind Resonance

Shen Wei is the study of spatial karma, but currently it's taking a back seat to the dancer-choreographer of the same name. A product of the theatrically rigid Chinese opera since age 9, Wei was part of the cultural movement that brought modern dance to China in the mid-'90s. He formed his own company Shen Wei Dance Arts in New York in 2001. Wei lends his total artistry to costume and sets as much as he does choreography to a re-envisioned interpretation of Stravinsky's tonally diabolical "The Rite of Spring." Not the orchestral bombast of the 1913 scandal of Le Sacre Du Printemps but the bare marrow two-piano version. "Orchestra is overwhelming theatrically, the piano version lets you hear the music as a the real composition," Wei said at the Jacob's Pillow festival this year, adding that his dozen dancers always "challenge themselves to experience new things." A second work, Behind Resonance, will also be performed, which includes dance improvisation and is different in every theater. The vibe should be good as the first Fringe show ever to be danced in the Kimmel Center. --Lew Whittington
Sept. 16-18, 7:30 p.m., $30 second balcony, $35 orchestra and first balcony, Perelman Theater, Kimmel Center, 300 S. Broad St., 80 min. Festival Plus: discussion with Shen Wei and Live Arts/Fringe director Nick Stuccio following Sept. 16 performance.

Culture Bandit

Ever meet a hip-hoppin', spoken wordin' I-am-fed-up-with-your-tired-old-social-stereotypes Jewish girl? Well, get ready for Vanessa Hidary, aka the "Hebrew Mamita." Playing a host of characters covering various ethnicities, she offers pungent political commentary, provocative stories and slammin' poems. A veteran of Def Poetry Jam and Grand Slam at the Nuyorican, Hidary hits race relations upside its head while dishing out emotional entertainment. Local poet Samantha Barrow opens the show. --Deni Kasrel
Sept. 17-18, 9 p.m., $10, The Five Spot, 5 S. Bank St., 100 min.

Escape!

Green Chair Dance Group, a quartet of Swarthmore students, took the stage of the Adrienne last month at the Ellipsis Cabaret, and impressed the audience with energetic flights of fancy. In a loose, fast and loud fashion, these dancers even changed costumes in plain view with grace and humor. Surely a decent way to spend a half-hour of your Fringe time. --Lori Hill
Sept. 15, 5, 7 and 9 p.m., $10, The Adrienne Theater, 2030 Sansom St., 30 min.

Film at International House

There's not much to the Fringe on film this year, but both programs should be knockouts. The Text of Light Group, who packed International House two years ago, return with a new package of avant-garde classics. Stan Brakhage preferred his films to be screened silent, because "hearing interferes with seeing," but the TLG — Lee Ranaldo, William Hooker, Alan Licht and DJ Olive — don't provide a soundtrack so much as unleash their reaction to the work through their instruments. The program is made up of Brakhage's short Star Garden and feature-length (aka Ellipses), produced by scratching into the emulsion of color film. And for an appetizer: avant-garde shorts with recorded soundtracks by the Sun Ra Arkestra, Brian Eno, Terry Riley and Angus Maclise. "If you haven't seen Carl Theodor Dreyer's The Passion of Joan of Arc on the big screen, you don't know anything about cinema," critic Armond White once said. He surely wasn't talking about this version, scored by avant-guitarist Loren Connors, shown on video and re-edited to Connors' specifications. Connors' music incorporates passages of delicate, decaying lyricism as well as storm clouds of distortion, which might make it perfect for the amplified passions of Dreyer's classic. --Sam Adams
Star Garden and Ellipses, Sept. 11, 7 p.m., $10, 140 min.; The Passion of Joan of Arc, Sept. 12, 7 p.m., $5, 140 min., International House, 3701 Chestnut St.

Multi-Family Garage Sale

OK, so it's not really a garage sale. Sorry to disappoint the always-looking junk-hoarders out there. But Rebecca Sloan and Mark O'Maley's will surely have the aspect of such a sale on stage, as the dancer-choreographer and the lighting/scenic designer bring out all their best work in their second collaboration (their first was The 3 Evils, last year at CEC). For Sloan, a member of the Bald Mermaids, and O'Maley, who's worked with dozens of theaters as well as lighting Brian Sanders' amazing The Gate at the 2003 Fringe, this is a evening of greatest hits, times two.--L.H.
Sept. 15, 8 p.m.; Sept. 16, 9 p.m.; Sept. 17-18, 10 p.m.; $10, Crane Arts Center, 1400 N. American St., 60 min.

A Play On Two Chairs

Patrick Doran and Erin Reilly (who had a great turn in Theatre Exile's Valparaiso) play a sort of musical-chairs version of the battle of the sexes in this physical theater piece by Dublin playwright Michael West. Calling themselves Inis Nua ("New Island") Theater Company, Doran and Reilly are directed by Tom Reing, himself known for his Irish literary adventures (High Noon in Grays Ferry, Twilight on Falls Road). --L.H.
Sept. 12-13, 7 and 9 p.m.; Sept. 14, 7 p.m.; $10, Gallery Siano, 309 Arch St., 50 min.

The Rest

Fetch Theatre Co. showcases Edward Snyder and Amanda Schoonover as Hamlet and Ophelia after the fact — of what? their deaths? the play? The show's description uses a lot of fancy language, but the performers suggest it might be worth watching despite their threats to deconstruct everybody from Rilke to Muller. --Toby Zinman
Sept. 15-16, 9:30 p.m.; Sept. 18, 6:30 and 9:30 p.m.; $10, Spirit Wind Performance Space, 213 New St., 60 min.

Stand On Your Man

Urban cowboys. Midnight cowboys. Cowboy junkies. How about cowboygirls? Minneapolis choreographer Shawn McConneloug hopes to introduce the term into the cultural lexicon with her gender-conscious show, Stand On Your Man, which is to include country dancing, lassoing, yodeling and live music — stealing pages from Oklahoma! and Seven Brides for Seven Brothers. Film clips of Roy Rogers, Dale Evans and John Wayne prop up Wild West mythology while the ensemble of women and men twirl lariats, play the harmonica and wrangle with hobby horses. Cowboy boots (with spurs, of course) encouraged. --L.H.
Sept. 17-18, 10 p.m.; Sept. 19, 7 p.m.; $20, Painted Bride Art Center, 230 Vine St., 60 min.

Wally Joyner Was Not My Monkey

In 1986, Wally Joyner was a phenomenon, clubbing 22 home runs and leading the California Angels to within an inch of the World Series. The same year, Courtney Love narrowly missed landing the role of Nancy Spungen (she instead scored a bit part) in Sid and Nancy. Both of these tragic figures missed greatness at the outset of their careers and sputtered in mediocrity ever after. If only they'd had each other to lean on. See what could have been in "Wally Joyner Was Not My Monkey," a display of low-budget, Punch and Judy-style puppetry where Courtney falls in and out of love with Wally. --Brian Howard
Sept. 17, midnight; Sept. 18, 7:30 p.m. and midnight; free, Upstairs at Tattooed Mom's, 530 South St., 30 min.

White Flight: A Love Letter to My Neighborhood

Jennifer Blaine is a master of voices and characters, and she uses that gift to explore social phenomena to sometimes poignant, always comedic effect. Her work with the Female Funny Fest and last year's Fringe show Sorry have gained her a small following, sure to grow this year as she takes on the phenomenon of white flight from urban centers in the early 1970s. --Debra Auspitz
Sept. 11, 7:30 p.m.; Sept. 12, 3 p.m., Sept. 17-18, 7:30 p.m.; $15, Old City Coffee, 221 Church St., 90 min.

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