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The pieces in "Spatial Delineations" are not so much works on paper as works with paper. PAFA alum Stephanie Beck wields an X-Acto knife as if it were a pencil, cutting paper into intricate 3-D designs of imagined streets. "I create cities or neighborhoods or places as I go along," she says, citing Philly's industrial spaces as inspiration. The attention to detail apparent in Beck's fragile, latticed topographies borders on obsessive, and her fabricated cityscapes seem sprung from the mind of an architecturally inclined aesthete.

—Lauren F. Friedman

Opening reception Thu., March 12, 6-9 p.m., through April 25, free, Rebekah Templeton Contemporary Art, 173 W. Girard Ave., 267-519-3884, rebekahtempleton.com.

Michael Nunn and William Trevitt, two former members of Britain's Royal Ballet, are serious about dance, but they reckon a little irreverence makes it all the more appealing. That's why these chaps founded Ballet Boyz, dedicated to contemporary dance that's both skillful and saucy. They're rebels with a cause, which is to present pieces that appeal to both dance fiends and regular folks, all of whom can appreciate fine-tuned, super-flexible bodies performing really striking moves.

—Deni Kasrel

Tue.-Wed., March 17-18, 7:30 p.m., $38-$48, Annenberg Center, 3680 Walnut St., 215-898-3900, pennpresents.org.

O. Henry Award-winning author Thomas Glave has never been shy sharing intimate experiences about being black and gay in his often biographically infused fiction. In his newest collection of short stories, The Torturer's Wife (City Lights, $15.95), Bronx-born, Jamaican-raised Glave lyrically explores more heavy-handed subjects about war, violence and ignorance, including that of a brutal dictator's wife who's haunted by grisly human remains and an interracial gay relationship that reveals an undercurrent of hate. "I want to see these stories told," says Glave. "It shows me what it means to be a total citizen and that it's possible and critical to care about each other."

—Natalie Hope McDonald

Thu., March 12, 6 p.m., free, Giovanni's Room, 345 S. 12th St., 215-923-2960, giovannisroom.com.

Some view Eugene O'Neill's autobiographical Long's Day Journey into Night as primarily delving into the great American playwright's tormented psyche, but Simpatico Theatre Project considers the Pulitzer Prize-winning drama, first staged four years after O'Neill's 1953 death, a timely exploration of addiction's causes and consequences — that addiction's not, for example, a purely contemporary problem affecting only the urban poor. Simpatico's mission of social action led to partnering with PRO-ACT (Pennsylvania Recovery Organization — Achieving Community Together) to produce this Journey; PRO-ACT will present a panel discussion after the March 22 performance.

—Mark Cofta

March 13-29, $15-$18, Simpatico Theatre Project at Second Stage at the Adrienne, 2030 Sansom St., 215-423-0254, simpaticotheatre.org.

Twenty-three years ago, Jim Cartwright's gritty drama Road rocked the London theater scene, starring scruffy punk prankster Ian Dury as Scullery, our tipsy tour guide through a depressed Lancashire town. Curio Theatre Co. sees obvious parallels to working-class America's bleak situation, and received permission to set Road in its own West Philly neighborhood, translating Lancashire's coarse slang to our urban equivalent in an outreach project starring Newton Buchanon's Scullery and six other actors in multiple roles. "The play depicts the despair and pain of poverty," notes director Gay Carducci, "but also contains a great deal of humor." Laughing through the pain: It's a way to survive.

—Mark Cofta

March 13-April 4, $15-$22, Curio Theatre Co. at the Calvary Center, 815 S. 48th St., 215-525-1350, curiotheatre.org.