Performing Arts

Performers, museums and zoos turn to the internet during the coronavirus shutdown to entertain — and to raise money.

“A Very Awesome Purim” tells the story of the holiday entirely through parodies of Michael Jackson, Lady Gaga, Bruno Mars and more.

“Count Me In, a forum theatre collaboration between Ceiba and Just Act, depicts a struggle to explain the census’ importance to hard-to-count communities.

Three friends chronicle the gentrification of their changing hometown and call for a new Harlem Renaissance in the Wilma Theater’s newest production.

The 2020-2021 season will open with a new chamber opera about a major 2012 art heist at the Kunsthal Museum in Rotterdam.

The drama, about a society that tolerates only perfect pregnancies tested in utero, is being mounted, and refined, at National New Play Network theaters.

Each new addition will spend a season as lead artistic director, picking shows, casts and design teams with advice from the others, including Blanka Zizka.

In 1916, Angelina Weld Grimké’s “Rachel” was anti-racist propaganda. Now Quintessence says it’s a great American drama.

Hundreds of singers will be assembling in Philadelphia to participate at the Keystone Sacred Harp Convention in January. One of the conventions organizers, Thomas Ward, joins.

“Candles,” premiering at the Arden Theatre, was written though Philadelphia Young Playwrights. It’s eligible for a Barrymore Award.

Philadelphia’s famous drag queen, Martha Graham Cracker, stops by to talk about the rumors of retirement, her new album, and what's next.

Chris Davis, a staple of the annual Fringe Festival, goes beyond the traditional telling of The Nutcracker, back to the original E.T.A. Hoffman story and the krakatuk nut.

The Liberian immigrant, social worker, and former Pew Fellow is committed to civic engagement through poetry.

A reporter eavesdrops on the give-and-take in the writers’ room during prep for the stage spoof 1812 Productions has produced over the holidays for the past 14 years.

Philadelphia-area theaters are offering a variety of fare, mostly bright and meant for families, and keeping with the spirit of the season.