Photo by Kyle Cassidy.

Stranded on an island with daughter Miranda for over a decade, Prospero, the overthrown Duke of Milan, ensorcels a wild storm to maroon a passing ship carrying passengers returning from a royal wedding.

It’s a prophetic tempest with a purpose–with the use of illusion, manipulation, and supernatural wildlings, Prospero plans to expose his brother Antonio as abject for supplanting his post, setting in motion the fantastical emprise of William Shakespeare’s “The Tempest.”

Come Wednesday, July 24, the early 17th century play will be the subject of Shakespeare in Clark Park‘s (SCP) latest production when it returns to  “The Bowl” at Clark Park for its eighth summer season. SCP’s “The Tempest” will be directed by Adrienne Mackey, Swim Pony Performing Arts artistic director and adjunct Theatre professor at Drexel University, and designed by veteran SCP thespian Bradley Wrenn (also Mackey’s husband). Performances of “The Tempest,” held for free at 43rd Street and Chester Avenue, will start at 7 p.m. and run through Sunday, July 28.

“‘The Tempest’ is different from anything SCP has tackled before,” said Shakespeare in Clark Park Artistic Director Marla Burkholder. “It is a magical fantasy that falls outside of comedy and tragedy. It felt like a good challenge for the company to move away from the strictly comedic works we have done for the past [five] summers as we move into the realm of the less known pieces from Shakespeare’s cannon.”

Under Mackey’s direction, SCP’s production of “The Tempest” will color itself outside the theater lines. While Prospero’s role is typically cast with a male actor, Mackey has brought in Barrymore Award-winning actress Catharine Slusar to take on the contentious lead, describing the Bryn Mawr theater director as “an incredible power house…able to take on the challenge of a character that is controlling an opaque.”  Continue Reading

UPDATED 7/12/13 at 9:52 A.M. Many readers have contacted us here at West Philly Local wondering about updates on some of their favorite chew spots in the neighborhood. Well, we’ve asked around and got the scoop (plus more) on what’s going on in the hood’s restaurant and booze scene. Here are some highlights:

• Dorinda Hampton of Planet Vegan told West Philly Local Friday morning that she is ready to build out her sit-down vegan juice bar at 310 S. 48th Street as soon as she secures her permits. She is aiming for a late August opening.
• Zagat’s Danya Henninger reported Thursday afternoon that Thai Singha House at 3939 Chestnut Street is closed for the summer, as the Thai spot is moving a block down to a new location at 3900 Chestnut Street. A note on the website says Thai Singha plans to open sometime in around September.
  
• Everyone’s beloved local diner, Cedar Park Café, will open its original location at 4912 Baltimore Avenue come mid-August (if not then, by September 1^st, owner Nicole Lee told West Philly Local). The breakfast and lunch joint, which opened in 2011, relocated to 2035 North 63rd Street in Overbrook (pictured right) after its flagship spot was heavily damaged during the questionable demolition job following the Christmas Eve fire that engulfed—and destroyed—another local favorite, Elena’s Soul, in the adjacent building. But don’t expect the same Cedar Park on the 4900 block of Baltimore—as far as we can tell, the diner is receiving a bit of a facelift, with a new bright red and white awning, dark tiled façade, and a richer neutral-colored interior accented by what looks like faux-brick wainscoting.
• As for Elena’s Soul, West Philly Local got in touch with owner Algernong Allen this week, who told us by email that there is no update on the future of the popular restaurant and bar as he’s still “sorting the situation out with the insurance company in litigation.” We were also unable to contact the owners of Gary’s Nails, so no word on what’s happening there.
• West Philly Local also learned that Taco Angeleno will have to delay its opening. According to owner Vanessa Jerolmack, the anticipated taco truck/outdoor eatery, which we profiled in May, may not open until late summer or possibly next spring, depending, due to bureaucratic red tape. The Los Angeles native has a zoning hearing for Taco Angeleno, located at 5019 Baltimore Avenue, scheduled in early August.
• Speaking of opening delays, Rx The Farmacy—a rebirth of the original Rx restaurant at 4443 Spruce Street—is also pushing back its launch until August 1st from mid-July because of snags in inspection and issues with kitchen equipment among other things, said owners and chefs Ross Scofield and Danielle Coulter.

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Photo: Annamarya Scaccia/West Philly Local

Already home to Philadanco and PhilaFunkLive, the seemingly quiet stretch of N. Preston Street between Market and Filbert Streets is buzzing with even more activity now that Inewsent Studios has claimed space in the historic Bell Telephone Exchange, which once served as a telecommunications enterprise in the early 1900s.

Opened in April, Inewsent, located on the second floor of the 113-year-old Georgian Revival building at 8 N. Preston Street, is a 12,000 square-foot independent multimedia complex meant to support independent journalists and artists living and creating in the city. It’s actually an extension of PhilaFunkLive (PFL), a sweeping 3,000 square-foot live performance hall and screening space in the Exchange that was founded by Powelton Village resident and real estate developer Michael Davis in 2007.

In addition to PFL, which hosts 12 – 15 bands a week, Inewsent houses two offices, three audio production studios, two additional 1,000 square-foot performance spaces in the basement, a 25-person call center, WINR Radio, WPFLTV, Cup O Soul Philly (a coffee shop only open during PFL events), and Inewsent Gallery, a permanent art space curated by Stephanie Santos and Lindsay Gilbert. In the future, Davis plans to also run an independent national news station out of Inewsent and is currently looking for a national news anchor and independent journalist in Philadelphia and 49 other cities across the country, from Alaska to Florida.

“Inewsent Studios provides performance spaces where independent artists can be seen and heard and also provides a productive, creative and collaborative environment,” said 52-year-old Davis, a former Army Military Police officer and Judge Advocate General who also runs his medical malpractice and criminal defense law practice out of the Exchange’s first floor. “I wanted to find the ‘best use’, do something fun and support independent artists, which is my passion.”

–Annamarya Scaccia

Photo: Annamarya Scaccia/West Philly Local

After years of uneven and stalled construction, the eyesore of a site at 4809 Chester Avenue was recently put up for sale and it’s going for a whopping $549,000.

The three-story residential project has a long and sordid history. The nearly 5,000 sq-ft lot, which was bought empty by Antonie Gardiner’s company Bizness as Usual Inc. in 2004, received 15 code violations since 2007—all of which were resolved, according to a March 13 Philadelphia Inquirer article. The piece also reports that, from 2003 forward, Gardiner owed $5,324 in delinquent taxes, penalties, and interest, and has set up a payment arrangement on the property with a city collection agency. And that’s not all—the Southwest Cedar Park site is allegedly one of Gardiner’s 58 delinquent properties, states The Inquirer.

The unfinished Chester Avenue project is being sold as-is by the owner, according to an online listing by Fred R. Levine Real Estate, the agent on the property. The post catalogs the building as a three-story single-family detached home with six bedrooms, four full and two partial bathrooms, a garage, parking space, basement, electric heat, and a brick exterior.

When West Philly Local visited the site on Wednesday, the unsecured property was still overwhelmed by a muddy and uneven front yard, cut through by equipment tracks and peppered with murky puddles, debris, and litter. The entryway is also boarded up by two sections of large wood planks, with a small “SALE” plaque by Fred R. Levine Real Estate tacked to the right side.

-Annamarya Scaccia

Photo: Neal Santos / www.nealsantos.com

If you’re looking to score locally-grown veggies to round out your grocery shopping this week, stop by Farm 51 this Thursday to purchase organic food goods—and support West Philly farming—from its weekly produce stand.

Opened in May, Farm 51’s farmstand operates every Thursday from 4:30 p.m. to 7 p.m. on the educational urban farm and market’s site at 51st and Chester Streets. Currently, the farm will have its fresh, organically grown kale, collards, lettuces, herbs, carrots, radishes, flowers, beets, and eggs from its chickens available for sale, and will introduce honey from its bees, tomatoes, peppers, eggplant, squash, melons and more, later in the season. The produce stand, in operation since the farm officially opened four years ago, will close in late October.

Farmstand costs, which are marked by bag and bunch, range from $1 to $6 in order to remain affordable for the farm’s immediate residents, said Philadelphia City Paper Staff Photographer/Associate Web Editor Neal Santos, who runs Farm 51 along with founder Andrew Olson. The farm only accepts cash at its stand but is working on equipping itself to also accept SNAP, Santos told West Philly Local.

Proceeds from the farmstand will go towards paying Farm 51’s junior gardeners, who staff the single farmstand, as well as supporting its garden and “all of its critters,” said Santos. In addition to the West Philly location, Farm 51 will also host a stand at Philadelphia’s Open Air Market at 23rd and Arch Streets, where it’ll sell its organic cut flowers and Santos’s photography.

“The plan is to consistently provide fresh, affordable and locally grown organic produce to our customers,” Santos told West Philly Local. Farm 51 plans on holding open farm days for guided tours in the near future. “We also hope to create more of a meeting and community space in the parts of the garden that are not growing space for pop up events.”

–Annamarya Scaccia

Last month, Aljazeera became the latest offering in the burgeoning African/Middle Eastern food scene developing on the 4400 block of Chestnut Street. The latest eatery to take over 4403 Chestnut Street, former home to the short-lived Sudanese joint Al Khartoum Echo, might be also West Philly’s first-ever Middle Eastern buffet.

Owned by Samir Kassem of Upper Darby’s Falafel Exotic Cuisine, Aljazeera features an all-day, all-you-can-eat Halal spread of Middle Eastern staples like moussaka, yellow rice, stuffed zucchini, chicken curry, and beans with lamb meat for a flat price of $10.95. But guests visiting the new restaurant won’t taste dishes from just one Middle Eastern nation. According to the 48-year-old Kassem, who also acts as cook and manager, the daily-changing buffet menu represents the flavors of all countries in the region (he said he named the buffet Aljazeera, which means “The Island” in Arabic, for this fact.)

When West Philly Local visited Aljazeera yesterday, we had found ourselves standing in a dressed-down joint with a few tables and chairs, a simple buffet set up, and a few local residents chatting away. We had a chance to sample some of those buffet dishes upon the owner’s request and found ourselves noshing on hearty (albeit a tad greasy) home-style delicacies with just the right amount of salt, and a subtle but lingering kick. In the words of Kassem: It’s like your mama’s cooking. Continue Reading