From site-specific performances in a forest and a garden, to a new play reimagining the story of a United States Founding Father, here are five Center-supported performances you won’t want to miss this spring—plus two ongoing exhibitions you can still add to your calendar.
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Maslow’s Peak
May 2–3
BalletX at the Mann Center for the Performing Arts
BalletX and choreographer Jennifer Archibald premiere a genre-blending contemporary ballet inspired by themes from William Golding’s Lord of the Flies. Contemplating power dynamics, social control, and survival instincts, the multi-sensory experience invites audiences to reflect on the complexities of human nature and the struggle for dominance and survival.
Pure Lucia: The life and work of Lucia Dlugoszewski
Concerts May 9–10; ongoing web series through May 1
Bowerbird at FringeArts
Events throughout April and early May illuminate the work of avant-garde composer Lucia Dlugoszewski (1925–2000), who composed more than 150 pieces in her lifetime, invented dozens of instruments, and worked in other disciplines such as poetry, dance, and film. The programming culminates with two nights of concerts on May 9 and 10, each featuring a different selection of Dlugoszewski’s unique music.
Joiri Minaya: Venus Flytrap
May 29–June 1
BlackStar Projects at Bartram’s Garden
Newly commissioned, site-specific performances and an installation from artist Joiri Minaya reflect on the intertwined legacies of freedom, extraction, and ecology at Bartram’s Garden—North America's oldest surviving botanical garden. Minaya, a New York-based interdisciplinary artist, is crafting a four-day performance series with custom textile elements and a summer-long installation for the project.
Franklin’s Key
June 3–29
Pig Iron Theatre Company at Plays & Players Theatre
An alternative history of science unfolds in this family-friendly play set in a world where Ben Franklin’s weather-controlling inventions have been hidden underneath Philadelphia’s landmarks for centuries. Incorporating object transformations and lighting illusions, the show follows the adventures of two teenagers who unlock a series of puzzles to discover Franklin’s secret experiments.
TERRA: Bodies & Territories
Performances June 13-22; workshops through May 17
Schuylkill Center for Environmental Education
Choreographer Silvana Cardell creates a site-specific dance performance in the forest of the Schuylkill Center, examining the connections between women’s bodies and the natural world and featuring a cast of multigenerational dancers and a score that amplifies the natural sounds of the forest. Accompany upcoming programs include movement workshops with Cardell and a film screening and conversation at Taller Puertorriqueño.
Still on view
Beyond Glass Cases: Reflections
Through July 3
Library Company of Philadelphia
Reflections is a culmination of the Library Company’s three-year Beyond Glass Cases project, which asks the question: What role should libraries and museums take in addressing social justice issues? The meta-exhibition features stories behind the Library Company’s collection and the creative processes of participants, including Pew Fellow and visual artist Mark Thomas Gibson, artist Zachariah Julian, scholar Paul Wolff Mitchell, and speculative historian Tafari Robertson.
Lunchtime: The History of Science on the School Food Tray
Through January 2026
Science History Institute
This exhibition explores the story behind school lunches, from early efforts to keeping school kids fed to modern opinions about what comprises a balanced meal. Lunchtime features TV dinner packaging, an early 20th century milk tester, and WPA-era posters, among other items in the show. Read more about the exhibition in this New York Times feature, reporting how the project "looks back at the history of feeding children in schools and reminds us how fraught the efforts have been for more than 100 years."
