Fest Bets: Week 2

Blake Shockley

First it was Anonymous Theatre — now it's just cramped. PDC's latest project, 4x4, consists of four new short plays written by four different playwrights all performed in 4-by-4-foot spaces. Too easy? Well, none of those spaces are on a stage — everything takes place in stairwells and corners of the theater. Not innovative enough? OK: All four performances will be going on at the same time, so audience members will have to rotate around Plays & Players to see them all. That's more like it.

Sept. 7, 3 and 7 p.m.; Sept. 8, 8 p.m.; Sept. 11-13, 9 p.m.; $15, Plays & Players Theatre, 1714 Delancey Place.

Jordan Cassway

Even if you're the type who'd rather burst into flames than watch a one-man Fringe show, you might want to put down the matches for Eric Van Wie. The ComedySportz veteran promises a fast-paced night of physical comedy, multiple characters and, thankfully, no message. There will be some improv, however, so try not to wear anything flammable.

Sept. 6 and 13, 7 and 9 p.m.; Sept. 5 and 12, 8 and 10 p.m.; $10, Best Western Independence Park Hotel, 235 Chestnut St.

Matthew Scott Johnston

Last year, while at the Philadelphia Zoo, Elizabeth Green saw a huge silverback gorilla slam into the front glass pane of his cage, scaring the beejeezus out of onlookers. The animal then sat down, looking completely self-satisfied. That incident instigated this show, which is about manipulation as well as how we relate to animals — and vice versa. Presented through a series of skits where actors play both human and simian characters, the show takes on a bevy of serious themes including life, death, love, jealousy and survival. But Green says, "I only wanted to write something fun." So it ain't all heavy.

Sept. 4, 7 p.m.; Sept. 5-6 and 12-13, 9 p.m.; Sept. 7, 1 p.m.; $10, Second Stage at the Adrienne, 2030 Sansom St.

American Society of Capoeira & Arts from Brazil is a neighbor. Yet I never hear them practicing their chosen skills — a 16th-century Brazilian art of self-defense that masquerades as dance and gymnastics with elements of Portuguese spoken word thrown in. Then again, theirs is an often silent but deadly brand of ballet despite its disciplined physicality. Bahian performance artist/dancer Mariano Silva joins the Philly troupe for a musical costumed take on the ancient art form of movement and muscle.

Sept. 5-6, 8 p.m., $15, Philadelphia Capoeira Arts Center, 756 S. 11th St., second floor.

Don't let this two-person (Thomas Fowler and Mary Carpenter) long-form improv team fool you. Yes, they'll make you laugh. But their off-the-cuff bits are more like theater; their characters, plucked from thin air, have feelings and motives: That's where the funny comes from.

Sept. 9-10, 8:30 p.m.; Sept. 12-13, 7 p.m.; $10, Second Stage at the Adrienne, 2030 Sansom St.

Family portraits by a painter or photographer usually present a group of people who appear calm, dignified and all get along. But in F/R Movement Stories' Family Portrait to Start, the picture is considerably less composed. The branches on this family tree are shaken, stirred and bent. Taking its cues from classic Americana, Lea Futon, one-half of the duo that performs this piece, says, "It's influenced by heritage and a desire to understand if where we've come from really fashions who we are now. It is tragically comic because it's a snapshot of who we really are."

Sept. 5-6, 8 and 10 p.m., $10, MBN Studios, 725 N. Fourth St.

Lisa Schaffer

Fifty artists, 4-minute sets, 4-second set changes, one stage. It can't be done. But for the past five years, Mick Choder of Small Boned Creature Productions and the Xtreme Folk Scene have pulled off this seemingly impossible and unrehearsed feat known as the Philly Song Shuffle. For three hours, the singer-songwriter-heavy lineup will rotate among three different stage plots, two of which will be ready to go at all times. The second a song finishes, the artist is whisked offstage, while setup for the next begins. Highlights from the Philly-centric show include Jim Boggia, Electric Man, Vicki Genfen and Brittany Ann. Choder and XFS board member Stephen Marmel will also perform.

Sept. 5, 7 p.m., $20, World Café Live, 3025 Walnut St.

Anne Hayunga

Normally when I hear a show is about the connection, anxieties and dysfunction inherent in human relationships, I think, cripes, again? But that won't keep me from wanting to see Stitch, because it takes an atypical approach to address these done-to-death topics — the action unfolds via trapeze, contortion and stilt acrobatics. It's what you'd call a circus approach to the human condition. And that sounds refreshing.

Sept. 5-6 and 12-13, 7:30 p.m.; Sept. 7 and 14, 2 p.m.; $10, Philadelphia School of the Circus Arts, 5900 Greene St.

Crooked Stile Graphics

In this piece commissioned by the American Philosophical Society Museum, the mysterious Nightjar Apothecary people sing, speak and draw inspiration from the sad story of Dock Creek — the little stream near Carpenters' Hall that became so polluted by post-colonial Philadelphians that the city paved over it. Every show is scheduled to start two minutes before sunset. Show up on time. Don't drink the water.

Sept. 5-6 and 12-13, 7:10 to 7:25 p.m. start, free, Independence National Historic Park, 143 S. Third St.

Christiana Molldrem

To the Wall Productions switched genders in The Rivals, turned Oedipus into a drinking game, and did Dallas with Debbie: The Musical. Now they assail drag queen camp with Charles Busch's Vampire Lesbians of Sodom. I recall witnessing a cartoonish, clearly low-budget and outrageously funny battle between cat-fighting immortals (played by men, of course) at Theatre-in-Limbo in the early '80s before Vampires set off-Broadway records and Busch achieved greater fame with a gaggle of other B-movie send-ups, including Psycho Beach Party. Director Dawn K. Cowle sees connections with today's burlesque resurgence and hopes to bring a "sexy, dirty, rock 'n' roll feel" to Busch's vamping vamps.

Sept. 4, 6 and 8, 8 p.m.; Sept. 5 and 12, 7:30 and 10 p.m.; Sept. 13, 10 p.m.; $15, 941 Theatre, 941 N. Front St.