Plays and Players celebrates 100 years tonight!

PLAYS & PLAYERS CELEBRATES 100 YEARS!

Monday, May 14, 2012 at 7pm
An Ideal Husband by Oscar Wilde
Directed by Daniel Student

May 14, 7-9pm (Doors open at 6pm; meet the artists reception from 9pm-10pm)

Tickets: $25 for general admission, $50 for general admission and meet-the-artist post-show reception (Industry tickets as low as $10!)

Plays & Players celebrates our 100th Anniversary on May 14 at 7pm with a staged reading of Oscar Wilde's An Ideal Husband featuring local celebrities of stage, screen, politics, and more. An Ideal Husband was first performed on Plays & Players' stage in the Spring of 1912, exactly 100 years ago.

Check out our Ideal Cast! Starring:
Kevin Bergen (Barrymore Nominee)
Blondell Reynolds Brown (City Councilwoman)
Madi DiStefano (Barrymore Winner)
Kash Goins (Producer of Philadelphia Urban Theatre Festival)
Karen Hepp (Fox 29 "Good Day" Co-Anchor)
Sylvia Kauders (Witness, American Splendor, The Wrestler, Sex and the City, The Sopranos) Jennifer MacMillan (Board Member)
Bill Melton (Delancey Place Resident)
Jack Roe (Tangier's Owner)
Keith Richardson (City Commissioner)
Amanda Schoonover (Barrymore Winner)
Ray Smith (Former Board Member)
Isaiah Zagar (Mosaic Artist/The Philadelphia Magic Gardens)

Monday, May 14, 2012 at 7:00 PM

Van Gogh ends May 6th!

View more than forty works by Vincent van Gogh—never before seen together—during Van Gogh Up Close at the Philadelphia Museum of Art. Philadelphia will be the only place in the United States to see the incredible collection of works by Vincent van Gogh that helped change the course of modern painting.

Created between 1886-1890, these paintings captured the final tumultuous years of van Gogh’s life and his feverish artistic experimentation up until his death. Radically altering and often outright abandoning traditional painting techniques, van Gogh shunned conventional still life and landscape methods and experimented with depth of field and focus. Familiar subjects were brought “up close” into the extreme foreground or were focused on in unprecedented ways.

Van Gogh Up Close highlights his shift in tradition with more than 40 masterpieces borrowed from collections around the world. Pieces of fruit threaten to roll out of the picture, tree trunks dominate the frame and the intricate patterning of an Emperor moth are just a few scenes to explore during the exhibition.

Hours:
Tuesday, Wednesday, Thursday: 11 a.m. – 5 p.m.
Friday: 11 a.m. – 8:45 p.m.
Weekend: 10 a.m. – 5 p.m. (Extended weekend hours until 6 p.m. from April 7 – May 6, 2012)

Make your opinion heard! Vote for Best of Philadelphia!

It's that time of year again! Voting is now taking place for "Best of Philadelphia." Have a favorite restaurant, brunch spot, or burger? Make sure to click here now and let the city know! Winners will be announced in August so stay tuned!

Annenberg Center for the Performing Arts

In the four decades since its inauguration, the Annenberg Center for the Performing Arts has enriched Philadelphia’s cultural landscape dramatically. Luminaries like Morgan Freeman, Glenn Close, and Jason Robards have graced its stage, along with the Phillip Glass Ensemble, the Paul Taylor Dance Company, and Les Ballets Jazz de Montréal. Located on the campus of the University of Pennsylvania, the center has three state of the art theaters. The Harold L. Zellerbach Theatre seats roughly 1000 people, the intimate Harold Prince Theatre has room for 211 and the smallest of the three, the Bruce Montgomery Theatre, seats 111. Some upcoming performances include Dionne Warwick, Kurt Elling Sings Sinatra, Circo Comedia, and Momix. Check the website for more information.

Bottoms Up! Check out PhillyMag’s Best Bars in Philadelphia!

"For us here at Philly Mag, writing about drinking is a little bit like writing about art: We might not know precisely what art is, but we sure as hell know what we like. What’s more, we know what you like. And what you like is, well … everything. You like swank lounges and honest dives. You like the soft anonymity of hotel bars, the comfort of a street-corner neighborhood joint, and the raucous community of a sports bar on game day. You like gay bars and wine bars, gin mills, Irish pubs, British pubs, gastropubs and everything in between. And in this package, we cover them all.

We’ve spent three months drinking our way through Love City, and what you’ll find in the following pages are our thoughts on all of our favorite bars in Philly and beyond—what we love specifically about each and every one. We’re also choosing Philadelphia’s new signature cocktail; calling an end to the love affair with pre-Prohibition drinking; offering tips on how to cure a hangover and fake your way through a wine tasting; and hoping to inspire you to a little bit of historically Philadelphian lawlessness with instructions on how to become a modern moonshiner. So what are you waiting for? It’s time to dive right in." Click here to read the full article.

Calling All Real Housewives Fans!

Gather your girlfriends for a girls' night out with SugarHouse Casino, Skinnygirl® Cocktails, and Philadelphia magazine. Be among the first to taste the newest additions to the Skinnygirl® Cocktails family – the Skinnygirl™ Wine, Skinnygirl™ Vodka with natural flavors – Bare Naked, Tangerine, Island Coconut, and Cucumber, and another ready to serve product — Skinnygirl® Pina Colada!

Plus, enjoy hors d'oeuvres from The Refinery, indulge in products and services from local salons & spas, get your photo taken with your girlfriends, learn how to play table games, listen to great music, and much more!

The event will take place May 17th from 6-8PM and tickets are available for purchase at the link provided below. A portion of all ticket sales will proceed The Career Wardrobe.

Looking to Buff Up on Your History Knowledge and Have a Good Meal?

Check out Independence After Hours by Once Upon a Nation and enjoy an after hours tour of Independence Hall and a prefixe menu at the historic City Tavern.

Click here to check out the website for more details and ticket information!

Training for the Broad Street Run?

We are so excited for all of our residents who are planning to participate in The Broad Street Run this Sunday! Check out some tips from Philly Magazine to maximize your performance!

“As a runner, you probably already know the healthy foods you’re supposed to be eating on a regular basis: lean sources of protein, veggies, fruits and whole grains. But do you know what you’re supposed to eat right before a workout?

Sharon Collison, a board-certified sports dietician in Newark, says that choosing the right snack can do a world of good. “If you make the right choice, eating before a run can help prevent gastrointestinal distress and discomfort, stabilize blood sugar, top off glycogen stores, and help with adequate hydration,” she says.

Aim to snack on something 50 to 70 minutes before you head out. Kristine Clark, a sports nutritionist at Penn State, says that a pre-workout snack should consist of foods with a high glycemic index. By definition, the glycemic index (GI) is a scale used to provide at-a-glance information about how a food’s carbohydrates affect blood sugar—more specifically, how quickly and how high those carbs cause blood-sugar levels to rise. Foods are assigned a GI ranking between 0 and 100 (100 is pure glucose). Low GI foods absorb and digest more slowly, causing blood-sugar levels to rise slowly, too.

Runners want high glycemic index foods right before and during a run. These foods are highly refined and easily digestible. They break down quickly during digestion and release glucose rapidly into the bloodstream, giving you energy quickly.

Believe it or not, this means you should skip the whole grains (gasp!) and opt for choices like white rice and white bread. You’ll lower the risk of cramps and stomachaches since your body won’t have to exert much effort in digestion. While these foods have a lower nutritional value, they provide energy faster—your main concern an hour before your workout. Eating things like whole grains on a regular basis will help maintain your long-haul energy storage.

If your stomach is easily unsettled, Clark advises avoiding foods that are  super high in protein or fiber. Your body needs more time to digest them, and they might sit uncomfortably in your stomach during the run. So while peanut butter on whole-wheat toast is technically a healthy choice, save it for after your run—it won’t help your performance if consumed too close to the start time.

Just how big should your pre-race snack be? Collison says portion size is a  tough call because some people can tolerate more food than others before activity. But the general guideline is this: Have one gram of carbohydrates per kilogram of weight one hour before the race. That means if you’re a 150-pound athlete, you can handle about 70 grams of carbs.

“The key is to experiment with your eating throughout your training, not the day of the race,” explains Collison. “This way, you can fine-tune your choice until you figure out exactly what works best for the individual athlete.”

She adds that while a pre-race snack is important, don’t forget to eat a fuller meal three to four hours before the race so that you can get a little protein and fat in your system. If you’re running Broad Street, which starts at 8:30 a.m., that means eating breakfast at 5:30. (Sorry for the early wake-up call.)

Below, check out some of the pre-run snack foods our experts recommend.

White-bread products, such as toast, bagels, animal crackers, graham crackers, pretzels, Fig Newtons, and English muffins.

Fruits, such as pineapple, apricots, bananas, mango, watermelon, and raisins. (Note: limit quantities since fruit contains fiber.) 

Regular pasta (not whole wheat)

Corn flakes

White rice

Orange juice

To find other high glycemic index foods—and to learn the GI of your favorite pre-run eats— click here to check out this handy GI Database.

First Fridays In The City

What: Enjoy a stroll through Old City and wander about the neighborhood's 40+ art galleries who participate in this sort of once-a-month open house. Art lovers of all kinds come to Old City for First Fridays to admire the diverse artwork of our local artists. After you hit the galleries, do n’t miss out on the dining and nightlife Old City has to offer!

When: The First Friday evening of every month, typically from 5 until 9 p.m.

Where: Most of the participating galleries can be found between Front and Third, and Market and Vine Streets.

Who: Many galleries take part in First Fridays but to list a few: Clay Studio, the Temple Gallery, the cooperative galleries of Nexus, Highwire, Muse and Third Street Gallery; and collaborative Space 1026. Admission is free for participating First Friday establishments.

To find out more on First Fridays, click here!

Wet Your Whistle Wednesdays returns April 11th!

If you missed the first of South Street Headhouse District’s 2012 monthly happy hour series, Wet Your Whistle Wednesdays, which kicked off just before the arrival of spring at Bridget Foy’s, don’t fret.

We’ve got the details here on more future dates and locations. Happy sippers can enjoy beer, cocktails and bites while getting to know the board members of the South Street Headhouse District as well as learning how to become involved in upcoming events and planning.

Here’s a list of upcoming gatherings where the happy hour series continues through July at the following South Street/Headhouse Square locations: 

• April 11, Pink Elephant

 • May 9, Busybee Home & Design Center

 • June 13, Copabanana

 • July 11, Brauhaus Schmitz 

If you’d like to attend shoot a quick RSVP to rsvp@southstreet.com.

South Street Headhouse District’s “Wet Your Whistle” Wednesdays!

 Where: Bars/restaurants around the neighborhood.

 When: Every fourth Wednesday, 6-8 p.m.

 Cost: Pay as you go.

 More info: www.southstreet.com.   

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