What’s Happening In Philly | The Triangle

What’s Happening In Philly

Leeway Foundation presents: Self Conscious
Leeway Foundation presents an exhibition of drawings, paintings and video by Nuala Cabral (ACG ’11), Takeya Trayer (ACG ’10), Tatyana Fazlalizadeh and Yadira Leticia Torres.
As the organization’s spring exhibit, Self Conscious will be on display in the Leeway office from May 17 through July 13. The exhibit features works by four artists — two of whom are previous recipients of Leeway grant and award programs — exploring and pushing up against the parameters of identity, specifically at the intersection of race, class, gender expression, access and nationality. An opening reception will be held Thursday, May 24, from 5:30 to 7:30 p.m. To RSVP please email [email protected] or call 215-545-4078.
Artist talks are also scheduled for Cabral on Tuesday, June 5, and for Trayer, Fazlalizadeh and Torres on Tuesday, June 19. Exhibit viewings are during office hours and by appointment only.
Leeway Foundation at 1315 Walnut St., Suite 832
May 17 through July 13
www.leeway.org

 

Raising Type 2 diabetes awareness through culinary comedy
The Asian Arts Initiative presents “The Cooking Show,” an interactive culinary and storytelling experience conceived by performance artist and playwright Robert Karimi. The artist’s revolutionary chef alter ego will host a series of PBS cooking show-style performances.
Incorporating music, documentary-style video, storytelling, political discussion, humor and live cooking onstage, chef “Mero Cocinero Karimi” teaches communities of color about the epidemic of Type 2 diabetes and how cultural cuisines, stories and rituals can be used to combat the disease. Audiences are invited to taste menu items and help prepare the recipes along with Mero and his culinary comrades.
Karimi’s lighthearted storytelling and cooking shows are meant not only to make audiences laugh but to give community members the opportunity to put into practice the ideas he presents in the show, as well as provide them with resources to continue the practices at home. These ideas include websites and meet-up groups with a focus on healthy lifestyles, access to cooking circles, and field trips to farmers’ markets.
In addition to the “Cooking Show” performances, Karimi will make a brief guest appearance at Asian Arts Initiative’s monthly open mic night. Hosted by spoken-word duo Yellow Rage, Family-Style Open Mic engages the Asian-American community — as well its extended “family” from all communities and cultural backgrounds — to share stories through poetry, spoken word, hip-hop, dance and comedy. Open Mic Night takes place Friday at 7:30 p.m. at Asian Arts Initiative at 1219 Vine St.
Asian Arts Initiative’s salon space at 1223 Vine St.
Saturday, May 19 at noon and 7:30 p.m.
General Admission: $20 (includes ticket and full meal)

 

Baltimore Comedy Invades Philly
Philly Improv Theater, the city’s source for alternative comedy, will welcome the Baltimore Improv Group, a nonprofit theater group from Baltimore, to its stage at the Shubin Theatre. The weekend will include performances of Philadelphia’s best improv groups as the PHIT house teams share the stage with Baltimore’s talented groups. The Baltimore Improv Group is dedicated to advancing the art of improvisational theater in the greater Baltimore area through an active program of performance, instruction and outreach. BIG produces four or five improv shows per month throughout Baltimore and produces the Baltimore Improv Festival each August. The Festival was founded in 2007.
Founded in 2005, PHIT delivers the best alternative comedy in the tri-state area, including improv, sketch and stand-up. Presenting over 300 performances each year, PHIT has found its home at the Shubin Theatre, where comedy fans can find a wide variety of shows two weeks out of every month. PHIT’s Training Center is the largest of its kind between New York and Chicago, offering extensive training in improv, sketch comedy, stand-up and storytelling for students of all ages and experience. Students and instructors from PHIT have gone on to perform on stages all over the country and become published authors, writers and performers for TV shows like “America’s Got Talent,” “Live at Gotham,” “Saturday Night Live,” “Two and a Half Men” and “Raising Hope.”
Shubin Theatre at 407 Bainbridge St. (BYOB)
Friday, May 18 and Saturday, May 19, 7-10 p.m.
Tickets: $12 at the door; $10 online
www.phillyimprovtheater.com

 

Folkadelphia Presents: Honey Watts and Johnny Miles with special guest Rayvon Browne
WXPN’s Folkadelphia welcomes home Honey Watts and Johnny Miles after their spring tour together. Joining the Philly musicians for the night are new Brooklyn-based friends Rayvon Browne.
Honey Watts’ self-titled album, released April 2011, sets Liz Fullerton’s (Jedi Mind Tricks) songs into a musical fabric of muted tones and soft noises. Some are given a simple acoustic presentation, but the record is also by turns ambient and electric, gently orchestrated, and even experimental. Adventurous elements found on records by Nina Nastasia, Laura Gibson, Devon Sproule and Sharon Van Etten are identifiable upon multiple listens to “Honey Watts.” They are currently writing new material for their follow-up record.
Drawing deeply from the classic America traditions of country, folk, blues and rock ‘n’ roll, filtered through his own unique sensibilities, Johnny Miles creates contemporary 21st century snapshots of life, love and loss that are at once familiar and yet altogether fresh, new and exciting. Miles is currently on tour in support of his third full-length album, titled “Lost Treasure Found,” released in April on the artist’s own independent label, Tree Records. This latest release features perhaps his most beautiful work to date — upright bass, pedal steel and strings swirl around harmonies, waltzes and pristine ambience.
Catch Honey Watts and Johnny Miles performing and interviewing live and in the studio on Folkadelphia radio after the concert Sunday, May 20 from 3 to 5 p.m. on XPN2.
Studio 34 at 4522 Baltimore Ave.
Saturday, May 19 at 8 p.m.
Admission: $8
www.facebook.com/Folkadelphia