William Penn News

The ABC Television Network has made a straight-to-series order of a new spinoff based on the hit comedy 'The Goldbergs.' The series is slated for 2018-2019.

Salon on Stockton: A Little Literary Festival in Princeton, a collaboration between Morven Museum & Garden and the Center of Theological Inquiry (CTI) returns for third year for two days on Friday and Saturday, April 14 and 15.

The Neighborhood House program of Christ Church Preservation Trust, a catalyst for the arts at historic Christ Church, hosts the International Contemporary Ensemble in a year-long residency to celebrate Christ Church's new C.B. Fisk pipe organ, Opus 150. The residency culminates with world premiere performances of In Plain Air, a work in multiple movements by composers Nathan Davis and Phyllis Chen, on September 22 and 23 as part of the 2018 Fringe Festival.

Renowned re-enactor Bill Agress brings Albert Einstein to "life" for children during Princeton's Annual Pi Day celebration at Morven Museum & Garden, where a "surprise" birthday party is held each year as part of Pi Day Princeton. Attendees at this year's March 10 surprise party, which starts at 10 am, will have an even greater surprise -- they will each take home an historic party favor: a cutting from Einstein's own begonias. 

Metropolitan Ballet Company (MBC) will host Settlement Music School and PHILADANCO! D/2 in MBC's annual, Variations/Collaborations: An Evening of Music and Dance, at 7:00 pm on Saturday, March 24, 2018, at Kurtz Center of the William Penn Charter School, 3000 West School House Lane, Philadelphia. Tickets are now on sale for $20 in advance or $25 at the door; learn more and purchase tickets at www.metropolitanballetcompany.org.

Love, Lies and Taxidermy by Alan Harris will warm up the winter months at the Louis Bluver Theatre at The Drake (302 South Hicks Street). This offbeat comedy celebrates love, hope and lifting the ordinary into the magical. As The Guardian said, "…Harris spins a piece of very funny popular theatre about the need for dreams, seizing the initiative when all seems lost and bringing people together".

Tim Meadows, Bryan Callen, Nia Long, Rachel Crow and Summer Parker will star in ABC's THE GOLDBERGS spinoff pilot THE GOLDBERGS: 1990 SOMETHING. The show will premiere today, January 24th.

Tim Meadows, Bryan Callen, Nia Long, Rachel Crow and Summer Parker will star in ABC's THE GOLDBERGS spinoff pilot THE GOLDBERGS: 1990 SOMETHING. The show will premiere on Wednesday, January 24th.

Three hundred and sixty three ballet dancers - ages 9 to 19 - from the Philadelphia area will be auditioning for the Youth America Grand Prix (YAGP) regional semi-finals. Throughout the weekend, the students will attend workshops, competitions, and dance classes.

Last night, the NYC & Company Foundation held its 17th annual Visionaries & Voices Gala at the new Ziegfeld Ballroom in New York City.

William Penn Performing Arts Institute (WPPAI), an outreach educational program of the Appell Center for the Performing Arts, presented SHE KILLS MONSTERS by Qui Nguien on November 17th and 18th, at William Penn Senior High School. SHE KILLS MONSTERS is a comedic insight into the world of the fantastical and popular role-playing game, 'Dungeons and Dragons.' Students of the WPPAI, took the liberty of recreating this story for their Fall play and it was a complete success.

PlayPenn, Philadelphia's new play development organization, is proud to announce that arts administrator and theatre artist Erin Read will join PlayPenn as the team's new General Manager.

Myths and dreams will swirl through the Louis Bluver Theatre at The Drake (302 South Hicks Street) in October as Inis Nua presents Lizzie Nunnery's The Swallowing Dark. From England, this drama deals with the bureaucratic fragility of asylum for one family, but the nature of truth itself commands center stage. As The Independent said, Can the truth ever be turned into a clear, consistent story? That's one of the troubling questions that underlie The Swallowing Dark, Lizzie Nunnery's powerfully suggestive new play.

Kulu Mele African Dance & Drum Ensemble has commissioned renowned Malian composer Moussa Traore to compose new and original music, in traditional Malian styles, for 'From Mali to America,' Kulu Mele's all-new dance and drumming show, to premiere Sunday, October 15, 2017 at the Kurtz Center for the Performing Arts in Philadelphia, PA.

Living for love and art, Diamond Horseshoe Ball kicks off Pittsburgh Opera's 79th season

Today the Office of Arts, Culture and the Creative Economy announced that the conservation of the William Penn statue by Alexander Milne Calder has been completed. The treatment began on May 15th and was undertaken by Moorland Studios of Stockton, NJ. The conservation of Philadelphia's largest statue - the largest atop any building in the world - required over 1,200 gallons of deionized water, fifteen gallons of a specially-formulated wax coating, and took an estimated 800 man-hours to perform the work. The 37 feet-tall bronze sculpture, located 500 feet above the sidewalk and weighing more than 53,000 pounds, was last treated in 2007. This year marks the 125th anniversary of the sculpture's installation.

Philadelphia Theatre Company (PTC) is pleased to announce that David L. Cohen will serve as the next Chairman of the Board.  Cohen served as Vice Chair for the past two years.  He is joined on the Executive Committee by Vice Chair Julia Ericksen, formerly Vice President of the Board, Treasurer John Hanamirian, and Secretary Carol Saline.

Every year, in observance of Independence Day, Morven Museum and Garden at 55 Stockton Street in Princeton hosts a FREE event celebrating America's heritage at the home-turned-museum of Richard Stockton, a signer of the Declaration of Independence.

Opening October 2017 and located in the heart of New York City's Times Square, National Geographic Encounter: Ocean Odyssey will be a first-in-kind immersive entertainment experience that transports audiences on an incredible, never-before-seen undersea journey.

Officially beginning Friday, May 5, 2017, The Strand-Capitol Performing Arts Center will become the Appell Center for the Performing Arts, located at 50 North George Street, in downtown York, PA.