Disrupting the pervasive whiteness of Fringe, these artists are breathing fresh air in to the new works scene in Philadelphia with these exciting Festival offerings!

To My Unborn Child: A Love Letter from Fred Hampton @ Iron Age Theater
Philadelphia Ethical Society

Murdered by Chicago Police at 21 as he lay by his pregnant lover, visionary Black Panther Fred Hampton preached a humane, compassionate revolution against racist brutality, child hunger, poverty, and capitalism. Fred cries, “Power to the People,” in Rich Bradford’s world premiere play reviving a critical voice for justice. More info and tickets here.

Mujeres @ CHI Movements Art Center
Gavino + Carbonell

Mujeres is a compilation of dance works by female choreographers, Gavino and Carbonell. Gavino’s HERstoryexplores pre-colonial matrilineal bloodlines from the perspective of an indigenous Filipina. Carbonell’s Milk delves into motherhood, investigating sustenance passed from mother to child. More info and tickets here.

Cotton & Gold @ Circle of Hope
AMH Productions

Writer/director Alyse Hogan explores history to tell this story of struggle, healing and resilience. Through Afrofuturism, the town of Tulsa is re-imagined from the forgotten history of Tulsa, Oklahoma’s Black Wall Street. Join Loron Sr. as he escapes to an economically advanced Tulsa, searching for answers to save his hometown of Rankin from the watchful eye of COINTELPRO. More info and tickets here.

Movemakers Philly presents i.d. @ Movemakers Philly
Movemakers Philly

Movemakers Philly, a hip hop dance school at 21st and Chestnut, presents a poetic experience of sound and movement for all ages. Watch video @ Movemakersphilly.com and join one of our performances to receive up to 40% off a monthly membership. Offers only apply to new members. More info and tickets here.

I have this many * * *
Mariana Catalina // Andy Sowers

I have this many * * * imagines a dissonant space where the desire to be understood by another human battles the tragic impossibility of that undertaking. Through inside humor and blatant physical cries for understanding, three acquaintances/best friends collide realities, unraveling the selves they thought they knew. More info and tickets here.

The Other
Yes! And… Collaborative Arts’ Shadow Company

The teens of the Shadow Company of Yes! And…Collaborative Arts are back with another original, innovative piece using the power of shadows, movement, and music. Dive into the world of The Other, a place where people have segregated themselves into us vs. them. Who have you made the other? More info and tickets here.

KITH @ Conwell Dance Theater
3 Pony Show/Keila Cordova Dancers

“What is a friend? A single soul dwelling in two bodies.” Aristotle

We were once like family. But now? It’s hard to hold a stranger’s hand. Even if you’ve known them all your life. You can’t go home. Join 3 Pony Show for KITH, a mapping of our bodies’ human story of chance, nature, compulsion, habit, reason, and kinship. More info and tickets here.

Plight Release and the Diasporic Body @ Conwell Dance Theater
Lela Aisha Jones | FlyGround – Temple University Reflection/Response 2017

Lela Aisha Jones | FlyGround will premiere Everyday Saturday and also feature Jesus & Egun, proclaimed by Eva Yaa Asantawaa as a choreographic world she would want to live in permanently. These works from Jones’ newest series, Plight Release and the Diasporic Body, bask in blackness as everyday, diasporic phenomena. More info and tickets here.

Running Numbers @ The Bank
Theater in the X

Written by Cheyenne Barboza. Directed by Christina May. Inspired by the poem, “Financial Aid” by Carvens Lissaint, Running Numbers is a drama about an inner-city high school senior whose dreams and desperation of going to college and overcoming his environment lead him to fast cash and dangerous situations. More info and tickets here. 

DJ Haram Presents 700 Bliss, M|GHTHAUNT, Bearcat, Marcelline @ Fringe Arts
DJ Haram + 700 Bliss

Joint creation by Philly native artists Moor Mother and DJ Haram based in memory, field sounds, and club music. DJ Haram is a queer producer and DJ originally from New Jersey, currently based in Philadelphia. Stylistically versatile, she throws down for Jersey, Philly, and Baltimore with club and booty bounce sets but also has been known to pay homage to her roots in the tradition of Middle Eastern dance music and of DIY noise and experimental sound. DJ Haram (along with Moor Mother) is 1/2 of the noise/rap group 700 BLISS. Moor Mother, a.k.a. Philadelphia musician and community activist Camae Ayewa, has been putting out music at the intersection of noise, free jazz, punk, and rap for several years. In 2016, her politically charged album, Fetish Bones, saw her reach a wider audience with its non-linear telling of black American history through spoken word, thickets of samples, and looped electronics. Now, just months later, a radical new record titled The Motionless Present follows in its wake to confront subjects of memory and trauma, truth and survival, and resistance. This event is free. More info here.