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Published: Feb 10, 2009

Isn't it great when you throw everything at the wall and it somehow works together? Marie DesMarais knows the feeling: As her new exhibition at Proximity attests, her work conveys a sense of the unexpected and spontaneous. "Circling Cartography" showcases work that bears the common thread of notebook doodles and map book cutouts, but DesMarais also tosses plastic, fabric and splinters into the mix — whatever she can find that seems to fit. But one also gets the sense, from the funny way her art seems to mimic nature and industry clashing and intertwining, that this might be a bit more than a happy accident.

—Jakob Dorof

Through Feb. 28, Proximity Gallery, 2434 E. Dauphin St., 267-825-2949, proximityart.com.

Jennifer Conley is one earthy gal. A former Martha Graham dancer, now Ph.D. student at Temple, she's crafted an interdisciplinary production inspired by geologic studies, including "the anatomy of geysers and hot springs, the concept of deep time and plate tectonic theory, which some geologists refer to as the 'dance of the continents.'" Integrating movement, music and lecture, the piece is a choreographic exploration of what will eventually become Conley's dissertation. She's digging deep, yet promises it's not overly academic — it's "sensory, poetic and abstract," she says. "It's modern dance!"

—Deni Kasrel

Fri., Feb. 13, 8 p.m., and Sat., Feb. 14, 2 p.m., $20, Conwell Dance Theater, 1801 N. Broad St., 800-298-4200, temple.edu/boyer.

Philly's a tough city to shock. Photographs of homoeroticism, S & M, bondage — none of it turned heads while hanging at the ICA in 1988. But as soon as Robert Mapplethorpe's exhibit left Philly, no one could deal with his images of naked black men or a sexed-up Patti Smith. Curator Janet Kardon, along with essayists, performance artists and museum directors, will talk about how Mapplethorpe's exhibit was deemed "obscene" by fuddy-duddies who argued that the government shouldn't sponsor it. And in case you think we're more evolved now, this two-day symposium will also address how obscenity-based censorship is still alive and well today. Not that we'd do that sort of thing in Philly.

—Holly Otterbein

Thu.-Fri., Feb. 12-13, free, Institute of Contemporary Art, 118 S. 36th St., 215-898-7108, icaphilly.org.

Represented Theatre is one of those little by-their-bootstraps companies too often overlooked in their formative years. Founder and artistic director Darnelle Radford graduates from producing his own Sidewalk Cafe plays to the Philadelphia debut of Jerrod Bogard's Hugging the Shoulder, a drama compared to Sam Shepard's (Buried Child, True West) works for its intensity. Director Bill Egan brings us Derrick (Nicholas Troy), who kidnaps older brother Jeremy (Ted Powell), trying to break his heroin addiction through a grueling road trip. SoCal magazine called the characters "honest, unrelenting and uncompromising." Sounds intense to us.

—Mark Cofta

Feb. 18-March 8, $12-$15, Represented Theatre Co. at Walnut Street Theatre's Studio 5, 825 Walnut St., 215-964-9245, represented.org.

More than two years ago in these pages I called Flashpoint Theatre Co. "a dynamic company to watch" and, I must confess, their continued growth and success gives me a warm, smug, right-all-along glow. Their fifth season at Second Stage at the Adrienne continues with another Philadelphia première, Nina Beber's drama Jump/Cut, about a creatively frustrated couple (Paul shoots doughnut commercials, Karen pens other people's memoirs) who embark on a documentary film about their explosively bipolar friend Dave, with calamitous results.

—Mark Cofta

Through Feb. 28, $12-$18, Flashpoint Theatre Co. at Second Stage at the Adrienne, 2030 Sansom St., 215-665-9720, flashpointtheatre.org.

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