Tuesday, October 18, 2022
Last week, the BSR team chose not to cross the PMA picket line, and did not attend a preview event for Matisse in the 1930s. We were in the minority, but we weren’t alone. Alaina Johns ref…
SOURCE: Broad Street Review at 05:08PMFriday, September 30, 2022
SPEECH, the latest from Lightning Rod Special, features the company's signature stellar ensemble work, skewering our cultural currents. Alaina Johns reviews.
SOURCE: Broad Street Review at 11:07AMMonday, September 12, 2022
A wider range of voices would have benefited this production of new short plays, which marks the Philly debut of TheatreXP, a recent transplant from South Florida. Alaina Johns reviews.
SOURCE: Broad Street Review at 10:10AMWednesday, August 31, 2022
Chances are if we missed being in the theater, we also missed meeting up for a bite. Many artists of this year’s Fringe are bringing us together over food. Alaina Johns rounds up.
SOURCE: Broad Street Review at 03:52PMTuesday, August 30, 2022
Alaina Johns always admired others’ permanent body art, but she didn’t think she could ever make the jump to get tattooed herself, even though everyone else in the neighborhood is. This …
SOURCE: Broad Street Review at 07:48PMTuesday, August 16, 2022
With her new solo show, Philly performer Lexi Schreiber asks why fat actors have to create and star in their own shows, instead of simply being cast in roles that already exist. Alaina Johns…
SOURCE: Broad Street Review at 07:18PMTuesday, July 12, 2022
Alaina Johns has found that even in pro-choice spaces, the rhetoric around abortion can be hard to separate from the facts. But we all need to sharpen these skills, especially as Pennsylvani…
SOURCE: Broad Street Review at 04:56PMTuesday, June 28, 2022
As an atheist and a divorced woman who supports gender justice, Alaina Johns definitely doesn’t belong in the church that raised her. But when the church’s more inclusive community membe…
SOURCE: Broad Street Review at 04:05PMFriday, June 17, 2022
Tiny Dynamite distills six of the English language’s best-loved novels—and then some—into this fun, fleet, and heartfelt tribute to Jane Austen. Alaina Johns reviews.
SOURCE: Broad Street Review at 02:59PMTuesday, May 24, 2022
The latest exhibition at the Library Company plumbs the real-life narratives of 19th-century insane asylums, but these institutions never disappeared—they were only reinvented. Alaina John…
SOURCE: Broad Street Review at 04:37PMTuesday, May 10, 2022
Another year, another attempt to gut city support for the arts in Philly. As one of our own artists wins a Pulitzer, a major budget cut seems like an especially bad plan. Alaina Johns consid…
SOURCE: Broad Street Review at 12:13PMTuesday, April 19, 2022
As new rulings and lawsuits about mask mandates in Philly and throughout the country roll in this week, Alaina Johns notes what mask mandate arguments are really about: debating accessibilit…
SOURCE: Broad Street Review at 07:25PMTuesday, January 4, 2022
Editor Alaina Johns is taking a few weeks off to focus on treating her bipolar disorder, with the support of the BSR team. Here’s why it’s important to talk about this.
SOURCE: Broad Street Review at 03:10PMTuesday, October 5, 2021
All eyes are on the Supreme Court this week, taking up cases including one that could overturn the constitutional right to an abortion. What does Philly think about that? Alaina Johns attend…
SOURCE: Broad Street Review at 08:03PMFriday, September 24, 2021
Brian Feldman’s 2021 Fringe entry gathers the audience in a digital space, like many other Covid-era productions, but leaves us with big questions about the nature of the art form. Alaina …
SOURCE: Broad Street Review at 06:45PMSaturday, September 11, 2021
Should you have kids? Is that a personal decision? In The Choice, inFLUX Theatre Collective’s 2021 Fringe offering, three women theater artists navigate questions of pregnancy, and ask who…
SOURCE: Broad Street Review at 02:19PMTuesday, August 31, 2021
In a world that expects everyone to travel in pairs, going out alone is a refreshing and important way to reframe your relationship to yourself—and others. Alaina Johns wanders.
SOURCE: Broad Street Review at 05:25PMIn a world that expects everyone to travel in pairs, going out alone is a refreshing and important way to reframe your relationship to yourself—and others. Alaina Johns wanders.
SOURCE: Broad Street Review at 05:25PMTuesday, July 13, 2021
Most coverage of protests against the Walnut Street Theatre ignores a key fact: the building may be historic, but the theater company there started in the 1980s. Alaina Johns thinks that mat…
SOURCE: Broad Street Review at 07:13PMTuesday, June 22, 2021
Alaina Johns is one of many Philadelphia professionals who got their start in the Walnut Street Theatre’s apprenticeship program, and the experience still influences her today.
SOURCE: Broad Street Review at 04:55PMMonday, June 14, 2021
After questioning the Walnut Street Theatre on Facebook, Philly performing artist Jenna Pinchbeck received a cease and desist letter on behalf of the Walnut and its artistic director, Bernar…
SOURCE: Broad Street Review at 07:17PMTuesday, May 25, 2021
Last summer, BSR committed to keeping our coverage all-digital or all-outdoors until we saw a significant reduction in Covid-19 risk. Now we’re ready for an update. Alaina Johns explains.
SOURCE: Broad Street Review at 04:29PMTuesday, April 20, 2021
Lightning Rod Special launches a new series of audio works with ‘Nosejob,’ a story that connects a 9th-century nunnery to modern college kids, asking what really makes up our fantasies. …
SOURCE: Broad Street Review at 04:12PMTuesday, January 26, 2021
Some folks are worried about a day or two of vaccine side effects. Others handle symptoms like pain and fatigue for their whole lives. Alaina Johns considers how the vaccination line lets us…
SOURCE: Broad Street Review at 08:48PMTuesday, January 12, 2021
The January 6 insurrection at the US Capitol traumatized many Americans, whether we were shocked by it, or we were seeing what we already knew to be true. Editor Alaina Johns affirms what ou…
SOURCE: Broad Street Review at 07:52PMTuesday, January 5, 2021
If you’ve been curious about why BSR is describing as well as captioning the images we run, or if you want to understand why this is important, Alaina Johns has an update.
SOURCE: Broad Street Review at 05:33PMMonday, November 23, 2020
Another COVID lockdown grips Philadelphia through the end of the year. Many arts organizations were already on a precipice. BSR seconds a campaign from the Philadelphia Cultural Alliance and…
SOURCE: Broad Street Review at 10:53AMTuesday, November 10, 2020
Commentators across the country all have the same long list of examples proving that Philly takes no prisoners, but these viral round-ups are missing our artistic soul. Alaina Johns consider…
SOURCE: Broad Street Review at 06:29PMThursday, October 29, 2020
Lightning Rod Special’s ‘SUPERHOST’ imagines an Airbnb that isn’t as wonderful as it appears, in a recording for distanced theatergoers in search of something creepy. Alaina Johns re…
SOURCE: Broad Street Review at 05:22PMTuesday, October 13, 2020
If we don’t comment on the current White House, what can we comment on? Plenty, as it turns out—and focusing our energy away from the president is the perfect comment in itself. Alaina J…
SOURCE: Broad Street Review at 08:08PMTuesday, September 22, 2020
Supreme Court Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg died on Friday night. On Monday, Alaina Johns contacted her senators (again). Does it even matter? Yes. Here’s why.
SOURCE: Broad Street Review at 10:34PM 
