Philadelphia choreographer Kate Watson-Wallace graces the cover of Philadelphia Weekly’s Fringe Issue, out today! Kate sat down with PW to talk about her Live Arts Festival production Car, a dance performance for four audience members at a time who literally take the back seat. When asked about her inspiration for the piece, Kate says she learned a lot observing drivers in their cars while bicycling around the city. “Sometimes they act as if they’re invisible even though they’re not,” she says. “It’s about what people become when they get into their cars.” For a preview, check out the video below, and visit www.livearts-fringe.org to purchase tickets to show, which is selling out fast. Megan is already on board and in few weeks, she and her parents, in town from Maine, will be cruising with Kate and her anonymous bodies dancers atop a West Philly parking garage.

[youtube]ttEnPPWW3qM[/youtube]

I just did, and I feel great!

Mauckingbird Theatre Company’s production of Shakespeare’s R&J by Joe Calarco began previews on Friday and opens this Wednesday. They were featured on the front page of the Philadelphia Inquirer’s Sunday A&E section this weekend. Check out “An ‘R&J’ that asks: What’s in a gender?” by Toby Zinman here.

Mauckingbird Theatre Company presents
Shakespeare’s R&J
By Joe Calarco
Directed by Peter Reynolds
August 1 – 23, 2008
Adrienne Theatre, Mainstage
2030 Sansom Street, Philadelphia, PA 19103

An all-male cast spins the classic story of history’s most famous “star-cross’d lovers” in a modern tale of teenage awakening. Four schoolboys at a repressive preparatory school discover Shakespeare’s Romeo and Juliet and find themselves suddenly immersed in the tragic story of forbidden love. As the boys assume the roles of all the play’s characters, the classic tale begins to blur with the students’ own lives and Shakespeare’s verse is heard anew. Mauckingbird Theatre Company’s production of Joe Calarco’s critically acclaimed adaptation explores youthful desires, vulnerability and burgeoning sexuality in this intimate performance. The talented young cast is led by Evan Jonigkeit as Romeo (Célimène in Mauckingbird’s sold-out hit The Misanthrope).

“A vibrant, hot-blooded new adaptation… pulsates with an adolescent abandon and electricity of which Romeo himself might approve.” - The New York Times

A Girls Rock Philly sister camp made its way onto MTV last week. Watch this great video for the Willie Mae Rock Camp For Girls. GRP camp week starts today with more than double the number of campers we had last year! This week, 52 girls ages 9-17 from the Greater Philadelphia region, supported by 30 onsite adult female volunteers, will pick up instruments (some, for the first time), form bands, write their own songs, attend workshops, make band merchandise and rock out at the end-of-camp showcase on Saturday, August 9th at Girard College.

Don’t you wish you had a camp like this when you were a kid?  Make sure we can keep providing girls with opportunities like this for years to come.  Donate here.

Photo credit: 2007 campers with instructor, Geeta.  Photo by Brooke Bocast.