Arts Calendar

Highlight

Mercer Museum
In a time when handmade objects were being discarded in favor of new machine-made goods, historian and archaeologist Henry Mercer recognized the need to collect and preserve the outmoded material of daily life in America. In 1916 he established a museum, in the form of a 6-story castle, to house what he had collected and to provide visitors with a new way to view objects on display. The Mercer Museum offers programs, events, tours and exhibits including "Are We Dressed Yet? Accessories and the Stories They Tell," a family oriented hands-on exhibit through May 31 at 84 South Pine Street, Doylestown, PA. May 10-11 is the 35th annual Mercer Museum Folk Fest.

May 9 - 16

The comic-thriller "Bug" by Pulitzer Prize winning playwright Tracy Letts is onstage at Theatre Exile, through May 18 at Christ Church Neighborhood House, 20 N. American Street, Philadelphia.

The Abington Choral Club performs its 61st annual Spring Concert "Made in America," May 10, 8pm, featuring a program of American music, Abington Senior High School, Highland Avenue, Abington, PA.

On display at Woodmere Art Museum is "Hail Sacred Genius: Drawings by Benjamin West," from the Swarthmore College Collection, through June 8, 9201 Germantown Avenue, in Chestnut Hill, Philadelphia.

Theatre Ariel celebrates Israel’s 60th Anniversary with the first of three performances showcasing Israeli arts & culture…60 For 60: An Israeli Poetry Slam is Tuesday, May 13, noon-2pm in the Rotunda at the Shops in Liberty Place, 16th & Chestnut Streets, Philadelphia, as 60 Philadelphians read 60 poems telling the story of the land and the people of Israel.

Philadelphia Baroque Orchestra Tempesta di Mare, premieres 4 large-scale works by Johann Friedrich Fasch for an orchestra of brass, woodwinds and strings, May 16, 8pm at Trinity Episcopal Church, Route 320 and College Avenue in Swarthmore and May 17, 8pm, at St. Mark’s Episcopal Church, 1625 Locust Street, Philadelphia for the 250th anniversary of the composer’s death.