Hurricane Irene canceled a lot of events two weeks ago, one of which was Family Day Festival in Mantua on Aug. 27. The event was rescheduled for this Saturday, Sept. 10, and will take place from noon to 7 p.m. at 34th St. and Mantua Ave.

The festival organizers, The Mantua Community Improvement Committee (M.C.I.C.), promise free food, refreshments, a star-studded concert and other fun activities, but also say that this is an educational and fundraising event. And it’s all about positivity despite flash mob and violence problems. Members of the community will be encouraged to sign M.C.I.C.’s “Positivity Pledge,” a commitment to focusing on youth support in homes, communities and schools.

The event will be also raising money to support a youth entrepreneurship program starting this fall.

The free concert lineup includes musicians Kwamè, Grammy award-winning group Naughty By Nature and hip-hop legend Rapper Slick Rick.

Tonight will be a sort of homecoming for Jon Foy.

Foy, the West Philly house-cleaner-turned-award-winning-documentary-filmmaker, will be at the International House Philadelphia (3701 Chestnut St.) tonight for the Philadelphia premiere of Resurrect Dead: The Mystery of the Toynbee Tiles, a film that prompted the jury at Sundance to name him “Best Documentary Director.” The screening begins at 7 p.m.

Resurrect Dead follows three Toynbee enthusiasts as they try to solve the mystery of the cryptic, license plate-sized tiles embedded in asphalt streets from Buenos Aires to Boston. The tiles typically contain a cryptic message from referring to the Stanley Kubrick film 2001: A Space Odyssey and are thought to be named after historian Arnold J. Toynbee.

Philadelphia is a hotbed of Toynbee Tiles and there are a few embedded in the streets of West Philadelphia. You’ve very likely walked over them.

Foy has quit his job as a house cleaner since winning the Sundance award, but the life of a documentary filmmaker is never secure (unless you’re Ken Burns, I suppose), so he could use the support of his friends and neighbors at the screenings. As an added bonus, Foy and the cast will attend every screening to answer questions and talk about the film.

Screenings will also be held:

• Saturday, September 10 at 7pm
• Saturday, September 10 at 9:30pm
• Sunday, September 11 at 7pm
• Monday, September 12 at 7pm

Tickets are $9/$7 for students and seniors/Free for International House members. Advance tickets are available here.

Here’s a trailer:

Resurrect Dead Trailer from Resurrect Dead on Vimeo.

According to the announcement on the Curio Theatre Facebook page, tonight’s performance of Lord of the Flies in Clark Park has been canceled due to rainy weather and soggy ground conditions. Tomorrow’s and Friday performances are still on (scheduled to begin at 7 p.m.).

High school students ages 14-21 are invited to participate in the auditions for the high school version of the popular musical RENT to be staged in West Philly. The auditions will take place at The Rotunda (4014 Walnut St.) on Saturday, Sept. 10 and Sunday, Sept. 11, from 8 a.m. to noon, and Saturday, Sept. 17, from 10 a.m. to 1 p.m. (call backs are from 1:30 to 5 p.m.).

The audition requires two songs of approximately three minutes in length, preferably from the RENT soundtrack. Musical accompaniment can be provided. To make arrangements in advance email: projecttheaterproject [at] gmail.com.

Prior theater experience is not necessary, but parental permission is required. Students that are cast for roles in RENT will be required to attend sixteen three-hour rehearsals in September, October, and November. The shows are scheduled for December.

Local community theater group PROJECT THEATER PROJECT is working on this production. For more information on the production, auditions and rehearsals go here.

Starting from tomorrow, Sept. 2, West Philly’s Curio Theatre Company begins a series of free performances of William Golding’s Lord of the Flies in the Clark Park bowl. The shows are scheduled for Sept. 2, 7, 8, & 9 (7 p.m. starting time) and are included in the 2011 Philly Fringe-Live Arts Festival program.

What’s cool about these shows is that along with Curio’s young professional actors playing the main characters, a group of children, the theatre’s school students, is included in the cast. The kids act as the younger boys, or “Littluns,” in the play.

One of the idea’s behind staging Lord of the Flies in the outdoor environment such as Clark Park was the use of natural light. So the show begins just before the sunset and as the events unfold the light will change from the descending sun shining upon the boys to darkness.

Sounds like it will be an event you don’t want to miss, so bring your lounge chairs, snacks and enjoy this classic story.

We are well into August (isn’t the summer flying by?) and more and more arts and entertainment places are putting the finishing touches on their fall/winter programs.

Crossroads Music (801 S. 48th Street) has just announced some of their fall/winter shows. The new season begins September 10 with a performance by West Philly bands Electric Simcha and Stinking Lizaveta.

The new program also features music performances in a variety of genres, including classical, folk, klezmer, and world music by a group of international artists.

Ticket prices for performances at Crossroads Music usually range from $10-30. For more information on the shows go here. Crossroads Music is still working on adding more dates to the new schedule.