Regional arts and entertainment events
Sunday Mystery of life In Mark Haddon's Whitbread Award-winning novel The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-Time, an autistic teen finds his neighbor's pet killed with a garden tool. Suspected of being the culprit, he sets out to investigate the killing a
Sunday
Mystery of life In Mark Haddon's Whitbread Award-winning novel The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-Time, an autistic teen finds his neighbor's pet killed with a garden tool. Suspected of being the culprit, he sets out to investigate the killing and, in the process, both widens his scope of experience and discovers a wider, more frightening mystery. A film of the National Theatre of London's performance of Simon Stephens' theatrical adaptation screens at 12:30 p.m. at the County Theater, 20 E. State St., Doylestown. Tickets are $18. Call 215-345-6789. The film also screens at the Bryn Mawr Film Institute, 824 W. Lancaster Ave., Bryn Mawr, at 7 p.m. Thursday. Tickets are $20; $10 for students. Call 610-527-9898.
Stripper justice In a Live Arts Festival show, New York's Elevator Repair Service presents Arguendo, a dramatic rendering of the oral arguments in the 1991 Supreme Court case Barnes v. Glen Theatre, Inc. The case concerned two Indiana establishments desiring to feature fully naked dancers but constrained by a state law requiring G-strings and pasties. The clubs argued that nudity was free speech - and the justices considered it. As one might expect, the clash of subject matter and legal decorum made for some entertaining occurrences in the marble halls. If you don't already know, we won't tell you how it all ended. The show goes on at 1 p.m. at the Arden Theatre, 40 N. Second St. Tickets are $18. Call 215-413-1318.
Monday
Out of this world The Philly Fringe show Iminami is a sci-fi epic about scientists escaping a giant tidal-wave apocalypse on Earth by fleeing to Saturn's icy moon Enceladus. The PuppeTyranny show features puppets and aerialists. How can we resist? We can't. The shows goes on at Greensaw Design, 820 N. Fourth St., at 8 p.m. Monday and Wednesday through Friday. Tickets are $10. Call 215-413-1318.
Tuesday
In balance The Montreal circus troupe 7 Fingers presents acrobatics, aerial daring, juggling, and other big-top feats in their show Sequence 8. The Live Arts Festival show goes on at the Merriam Theater, 250 S. Broad St., at 7 p.m. Tuesday and Thursday, 8 p.m. Friday, 2 and 8 p.m. Saturday, and 2 p.m. next Sunday. Tickets are $18 to $55. Call 215-413-1318.
Really new music The Philly Fringe show Iron Composer: An Evening of Speed-Composing is just that. The audience proposes themes, the instrumentation is chosen on the spot, and the American Composers Forum members create and present new pieces as fast as they can. The show goes on at 7:30 p.m. at the Ruba Club, 414 Green St. Tickets are $20. Call 215-413-1318.
Wednesday
Day at the office The intriguing Japanese playwright and director Toshiki Okada looks at the stifling lives of clerical workers in his dance-theater triptych Hot Pepper, Air Conditioner, and the Farewell Speech. The Live Arts Festival show, performed by Okada's company Chelfitsch, goes on at Christ Church Neighborhood House, 20 N. American St., at 7 p.m. Wednesday through Saturday. Tickets are $18 to $35. Call 215-413-1318.
Vision quest In 2010, performance artist Marina Abramovic presented her work The Artist Is Present, in which audience members took turns sitting across a table from her and making eye contact as long as they could, at retrospective in New York. Matthew Akers and Jeff Dupre's 2012 documentary about planning and performance of the 700-hour work, screens as part of the Live Arts Festival at 7:30 p.m. at International House, 3701 Chestnut St. Tickets are $8. Call 215-413-1318.
Thursday
Soul sister Powerhouse singer Erin Barra brings Berklee-sharpened smarts and new tech to her retro sound. Her dynamite song "Good Man" - check out the compelling, cinematic video - tops our playlist these days. She plays on a seven-band bill at 8 p.m. at the Legendary Dobbs, 304 South St. Tickets are $8. Call 215-501-7288.
Friday & Saturday
Old made new One of the most obscure of 19th-century opera composers, Antonio Cagnoni is best-known, if at all, for his
buffa
student work
Don Bucefalo
. Though he continued writing operas throughout his life, he ended up making his living mostly as a church musician. One imagines his final work, 1893's
King Lear
, had some resonance for him at the end of his life. It remained unproduced until a performance in Italy in 2009. The
Amici Opera Company
, working of a score photocopied from the Harvard Library, presents only its second production (and, of course, its American premiere) at
Holmesburg United Methodist Church
, 8118 Frankford Ave., at 7 p.m. Friday. Tickets are $25. Call 215-224-0257.
Jazz time The inaugural Philly Jazz Fest features an all-star jam, plus performances by the Immanuel Wilkins Project, Teddy Royal and Tony Day, the Denise King Quartet with saxophonist Bootsie Barnes and trumpeter Duane Eubanks, headliners Pieces of a Dream, and Frank Bey and the Swing City Blues Band as a nightcap. The festival goes on at Sheraton Philadelphia Downtown Hotel's ballroom, 17th and Race Streets, from 1 p.m. to midnight Saturday. Tickets are $35 and $55. Call 609-884-8919.