No Child … curators (from left) Walter DeShields, LaNeshe L. White and Carlo Campbell at Malcolm X. Park (Photo from Facebook page).

This might be the most timely theater performance of the year. On Sunday, Aug. 18, “Theatre in the X” debuts at Malcolm X. Park (51st and Pine) and the first performance is the off-broadway piece No Child ..., which gives a first-hand account of what it’s like to teach and learn in inner-city schools.

Click to enlarge.

Originally performed as a one-woman show, the play is based on playwright and actress Nilaja Sun‘s experience teaching art in the New York public school system. The Theatre in the X version will feature a multi-general cast to play the teacher, students and school personnel who provide a glimpse into a school classroom.

The performance comes as the public school system Philadelphia is making national headlines for its financial difficulties.

Andre G. Brown will direct the play and Walter DeShields, LaNeshe L White and Carlo Campbell are the curators. The Leeway Corporation provided a grant for the performance.

The curtain opens at 6 p.m. and admission is free.

Theater in the X will continue the following Sunday, Aug. 25, with a production of Black Mass.

Many folks are probably curious about the construction that’s happening over at Walnut Hill Community Farm on Market between 46th and S. Farragut Streets. It turns out that a community park is being built on the site and is expected to open mid to late-September.

The park is the latest element to come to the small homestead at 4610 Market Street since it opened in 2010 as initiative between the Walnut hill Community Association and local residents. According to Allison Blansfield, program manager of West Philly Foods (which oversees the farm’s CSA, apprenticeship program, and farmstand), the space was designed as a sitting park for residents to use as a place of relaxation. Tables and chairs will be place throughout the park, which will coexist with the already-established community garden and production farm, with native trees and perennial florae planted on the grounds.

Photos by Mike Lyons/West Philly Local.

In addition to providing tranquility, the park will add a level of safety and security to Walnut Hill Community Farm, said Blansfield. Solar-powered streetlights that turn on at a certain level of dimness will be installed on the site, which barely receives any illumination currently, she stated. According to the program manager, the crew was also able to stabilize a “severely eroded” part of the land during construction and build a retaining wall restoring “the integrity of the alleyway.” This wall, she said, is another added safety feature for the residents whose backyards face the farm.

A small greenhouse is also being assembled and will open the same time as the park. The greenhouse will allow Walnut Hill Community Farm to grow its own vegetable starts and flower starts for community residents, and increase production on the farm, said Blansfield. A water capture system was also recently built in partnership with Septa that collects rainwater running off the roof of the 46th Street El Station and irrigates the farm.

The Walnut Hill Community Farm produce stand is open every Thursday from 4 p.m. to 7 p.m. until October. The farm itself, however, is open all day to the public.

–Annamarya Scaccia

Spice is looking for a new home.

Project Meow, a West Philly-based all-volunteer, no-kill animal welfare group, is appealing to West Philadelphians to adopt or foster their cats as they are currently at capacity. Project Meow is doing an important job in the neighborhoods through their TNR (trap-neuter-release) program for stray and feral cats and they also help lots of abandoned or lost West Philly cats and kittens find new homes. You may have seen some of Project Meow cats in the Baltimore Pet Shoppe window.

In this post, we are profiling two lovely cats that are looking for their forever or foster homes.

Spice is a beautiful cat who has been in foster care for almost two years, simply because, well, everyone seems to want kittens. He is mellow, friendly, child safe and loves other cats. Give him a ball to chase and a good petting and this wonderful Siamese mix is in heaven.

Nigel (see photo below) is a sweet big boy who has a microchip from several years ago, but sadly no one bothered to register it. After sitting outside patiently for months, he was brought inside. He’s made himself quite comfortable in his foster home, but he would very much like a home of his own.

For information on how to adopt, please email:  projectmeowadoptions@gmail.com

For a list of other adoptable cats and kittens, please follow this link:  http://projectmeow.org/index.php/m-adopt/8-adoptables

Nigel is begging you to adopt him.

Photo by Mike Lyons/West Philly Local.

The wait is finally over for all-day breakfast fans as the popular neighborhood diner the Cedar Park Cafe reopened Thursday. Located at 4912 Baltimore Ave., the cafe had been closed for many months after the Christmas Eve 2012 fire destroyed Elena’s Soul Lounge next door and poor demolition job of their building caused extensive damage to the adjacent cafe building. It took a few months of renovations and uncertainty during which the cafe opened another location, in the Overbrook section of West Philadelphia.

No word yet whether Elena’s Soul or Gary’s Nails salon, which also was damaged by the demolition, will ever reopen.

Cedar Park Cafe hours are: Monday to Friday 7 a.m. – 3 p.m. and Saturday-Sunday 7 a.m. – 4 p.m.

Here is a chance tonight to stand with your neighbors against violence in the neighborhoods.

The Kingsessing Fifth Division Community of Neighbors is organizing a vigil at 6:30 p.m. at 1100 S. Divinity St., the site of multiple shootings earlier this week and last week. Here is a message from the organization:

“Violence has peaked its head once more as young men in our community are the victims of senseless violence. Come out on Thursday August 15, 2013 as we pray for peace in our streets. Come be with your neighbors, community leaders, and elected officials. We want to encourage our community that we still have work to do. Bring a balloon with you as we will release for peace.”

Editor’s Note: West Philly Local contributor and West Philly resident Jen Horner and her son checked on Penn Museum’s 40 Winks with the Sphinx sleepover program a few months ago, but we didn’t get a chance to run the story about their experience because all subsequent sleepovers in the spring/summer were quickly sold out. As tickets for the Fall 2013 – Summer 2014 of 40 Winks with the Sphinx season go on sale today, we are publishing this story now.

Photos by Jen Horner.

It’s funny: Ben Stiller has been very helpful to scientific institutions in their quest to reach young minds and generate new revenue streams. The 2006 movie Night at the Museum is not the only inspiration for overnight kids’ programs – the Franklin Institute has been doing it for years – but I did feel my life imitating art when I took a late night flashlight tour through the mummy chambers of the Penn Museum with my ten-year-old son. “Forty Winks with the Sphinx” is a popular monthly program for kids age 6-12, and while it plays on the premise of the movie, the grandeur of the museum and the enthusiasm of the staff override all residual cheesiness.

We found plenty to like about Forty Winks. From 5:30 until the first scheduled event of at 6:45 we had the run of the museum. Staff and security were on site, and as a bonus, things were set up for the next night’s crazy-lavish wedding. (There were gigantic crystal chandeliers and velvet drapes all over the Egyptian gallery). My son and I had fun following the scavenger hunt booklet. At 6:45, we convened in the auditorium for a short orientation followed by a live “game show” wherein kids examined artifacts from the museum and guessed what they were used for. This moved briskly but lasted long enough for most kids to get a chance on stage.

From 7:45 on, we were free to try four activities, eat dinner (we packed it ourselves), roam the museum, or actually watch the movie Night at the Museum. Of the lessons, we liked the cuneiform best – it’s the ancient Sumerian writing method of pressing patterns into clay. I cannot describe the satisfaction we felt when the instructor looked at my son’s finished clay tablet and read his name out loud! Where else could you meet a person literate in ancient Sumerian? We also learned some Egyptian hieroglyphics, and we had a chance to (respectfully) examine a real Peruvian mummy. Yoga was too crowded so we skipped it.

The best part of the night was the Expedition at 10. Everyone has to bring their own flashlight because they really do turn out the lights. Things were organized so that small groups moved through key exhibits without spoiling the illusion of being alone with the mummies in a vast, dark museum. I must say, the guides – mostly Penn graduate students – were very charming and smart, and good at talking with flashlights in their faces. There is a lot of truly cool stuff in the museum, plus my son met a fellow Angry Birds fan. By 11:30-ish, after negotiating the crowded restrooms, we ended up back in the Sphinx room for lights out.  Continue Reading