Author Archive: Margie

Review: ‘Darkness Rises’ at Lincoln Mill Haunted House…

Review by Lisa Panzer 

Darkness Rises, A Star Wars Inspired Horror Experience only at Lincoln Mill

Dare to traverse the ‘dark side’ at ‘Star Wars’ inspired Lincoln Mill Haunted House, where the Sith, some armed with light saber-saws, and their creepy cronies urge you to join them. Courageously crafted corridors of chilling horror filled scenarios await, carving the way through an alley-GORY-cal mythos of insanely morbid sci-fi infused macabre. Will you be convinced join the diablerie? 

 

This otherworldly frightening tour de ‘Force’ is inescapably all pervasive in its feel. Immense detail has been committed to creating an immersive environment via interaction with some stellar actors, eerie lighting, superb sound effects and theme song, forced air, and surprising moving, and sometimes gutsy, props that pop, and often plop! All combine to create an eerie atmosphere from a super spooky world populated with galactic ghouls. Fun times! 

If You Go

Look for the show to return in October 2025.

Darkness Rises

Lincoln Mills Haunted House

4100 Main St. 

Philadelphia, PA 19127

https://lincolnmillhaunt.com/

Run Time: 

20-30 minute tour

 

Dutch Tile Workshop at Rockwood Mansion

The Rockwood Mansion in Wilmington, Delaware was built by Joseph Shipley, a Quaker merchant banker between 1851 and 1854. Its Gothic Revival architecture and enchanting landscape were designed to reflect the beauty of an English country estate.

The museum reflects the way the Bringhurst family, descendants of Shipley, lived during the turn of the 20th century.

Events at Venice Island Performing Arts Center

The King is back at Venice Island– and so is the music! Join us for a night of twisting and shouting with The Ghostlight Players for their spring musical, “All Shook Up!” You won’t want to miss all the pelvic thrustin’ and honkey tonkin’ from the talented cast – get your tickets today!

3 SHOWS ONLY!

Friday, May 9th at 7:30 PM

Saturday, May 10th at 2:00 PM

Saturday, May 10th at 7:30 PM

Tickets: Ludus – The Ghostlight Players Inc

$20 – General Admission (Adult)

$17 – General Admission (Child/Senior Citizen)

 

4th Annual Shoe Box Short Theatre Festival

Saturday, May 17

7:00-9:00 PM

The Shoe Box Short Theatre Festival highlights original assorted works by local and regional artists. This year features pieces by:

Thoughts by The Collective Mic Productions

Out Of The Heart Wicked Things Doth Come by Jaz

Smart Casinos by Brooke Shilling

La Diva Noire Speaks Love, Strength & Freedom by The Collective Mic Productions

We’re All Sad So Let’s Laugh by Teresa Nutter

General Admission $10.00 + $1.20 Service Fee at Shoe Box Short Theatre Festival in Philadelphia – Checkout

Venice Island Performing Arts Center is at 7 Lock Street, Philadelphia, PA

 

Comedy Nights, Trivia, Line Dancing at Grace Winery

The Inn at Grace Winery (formerly Sweetwater Farm Bed and Breakfast) is a tranquil haven situated on fifty acres in the historic Brandywine Valley located at 50 Sweetwater Rd, Glen Mills, Pa.

Comedy Nights: Every Third Thursday

Enjoy a 90 min show, with third different comedies. Bar available. Click here for your tickets. The event is 21 years old +

Line Daning: Every Fourth Thursday 6 pm- 10 pm 

Every Fourth Thursday is a night filled with wine and line dancing. Doors open at 6 and a prompt lesson for beginners at the start!   With food, wine, beer, and canned cocktails, there is no better way to dance the night away here at Grace Winery. Tickets can be purchased at the door for $11. 21+ event. Boots and attire are not necessary but always fun!

Trivia at Grace Winery

Join us on the first Friday of every month for Trivia Nights at Grace Winery!

Arrival Time: 5:30 to register.

Pre-register via email: wineclub@gracewinery.com

Prizes Include:
First Place- 25$ gift certificate
Second Place $15 Gift Certificate
Mid-Round Prizes: Surprise!

Rules:
All guests must be 21 years old+. Teams will consist of 6 guests or less
No cell phone use during the rounds and spelling counts.

For more info, check the calendar at
Calendar – The Inn At Grace Winery

Music at Uptown in May

Chelsea Reed
Chelsea Reed

And the Fair Weather Band
Jazz Cocktail Hour
Thursday, May 15 @ 7:30 PM

The Philly Keys
The Philly Keys

Dueling Pianos
Thursday, May 29 @ 7:30 PM

Pop-Up Beer Garden
Pop-Up Beer Garden

Beer Garden
Thu, May 30 @ 5:00 PM

That’s Life Concert
That’s Life Concert

Starring Tony Sands
Artful Impact, Care Center Foundation
Friday, June 6 @ 7:30 PM

at Uptown! Knauer Performing Arts Center
226 N. High Street, West Chester, PA 19380

Tickets and Info: Music – Uptown

In Our Lounge Exhibit at CAC

In Our Lounge Gallery Erika Matyok

at the Community Arts Center

5/1/2025 to 6/7/2025

A Tale of Tails

New Paintings inspired by Hungarian Folk Art

Erika Matyok is a Professional Artist and Art teacher. Her creative work is primarily inspired by nature and incorporates use of symmetry and relaxation techniques. Matyok exhibits and sells her art in the Philadelphia area and her murals can be viewed around the city and its surrounding suburbs.

Erika Matyok’s painting style is derived from and inspired by traditional Hungarian embroidery known as Matyo embroidery. Matyok uses strong folk art symbolism in her work with use of bold color, pattern and select imagery. Her work reflects an abundance of positive energy and spirited emotion.

For details, visit In Our Lounge Gallery Erika Matyok – Community Arts Center

The CAC is at 414 Plush Mill Road, Wallingford, Pa.

‘Endings’ Opens May 14 at Hedgerow

Beginning May 14, Hedgerow Theatre Company presents the regional premiere of “Endlings: by Korean-Canadian director, playwright, and screenwriter Celine Song. Directed by Kalina Ko, the play follows two generations of Korean women grappling with the weight of their pasts, the loss of their cultural heritage, and the complexities of identity, all while confronting the haunting question of what it means to be remembered.

Endlings is set to run from May 13 to June 1. 

Song has written and directed stage and film productions depicting beautiful explorations of the perils of the human condition. Audiences may recognize her as the writer and director of the 2023 romantic drama Past Lives, which earned Academy Award nominations for Best Picture and Best Director. As a  playwright, she has received critical acclaim for her work, including her first major production,  Endlings, which premiered in 2019 at the American Repertory Theater in Cambridge, Massachusetts.  The play led to her becoming a finalist for the Susan Smith Blackburn Prize, the oldest and largest  playwrighting prize for women writing for English-speaking theater. 

Endlings is set on two different islands. On the Korean island of Man-Jae, three elderly haenyeos – sea women – spend their dying days continuing a fading ancient tradition, diving into the sea to fish with nothing but a knife. On the Island of Manhattan, Korean-Canadian playwright Ha Young (Shin)  struggles to finish a new play as she navigates the expectation that she write more “authentic” stories inspired by her identity.  Endlings poses a thought-provoking question: who gets to tell stories, and how do those stories shape our  understanding of the world? 

Hedgerow’s regional premiere presentation of Endlings features an award-winning cast of stage actors.  Portraying the three haenyeos are Helen Hayes Award-winning Washington, D.C.-based actor Tuyết Thị Phạm as Go Min, New York-based actor Gray Choi as Sook Ja, and New York-based actor  and dancer Shigeko Sara Suga as Han Sol.  Sarah Shin appears as the play’s struggling playwright Ha Young. Rounding out the cast in various ensemble roles are Philadelphia-based actors Scott Berkowitz, Ethan Goonewardene, Paul Harrold,  John Harvey, and Kevin McCann.  

If You Go

  • Preview Tuesday, May 13, at 7:30  p.m.
  • Opens on Wednesday, May 14, at 7:30 p.m. with post show reception
  • Performances through Sunday, June 1.  Ticket link: Hedgerow Theatre Company
  • Recommended for audiences ages 15 or older
  • Approximate 100-minute runtime with no intermission.
  • Pride Night May 22, at 7:30 p.m. for LGBTQIA+ audiences  
  • Open-caption performances  available May 29- June 1
  • Relaxed Performance on Saturday, May 31, at 2 p.m. 

‘Grease’ at Media Theatre

Media Theatre presents

Grease

Performances: April 30- May 25

Here is Rydell High’s senior class of 1959: duck-tailed, hot-rodding “Burger Palace Boys” and their gum-snapping, hip-shaking “Pink Ladies” in bobby sox and pedal pushers, evoking the look and sound of the 1950s in this rollicking musical. Head “greaser” Danny Zuko and new (good) girl Sandy Dumbrowski try to relive the high romance of their “Summer Nights” as the rest of the gang sings and dances its way through such songs as “Greased Lightnin’,” “It’s Raining on Prom Night,” “Alone at the Drive-In Movie” recalling the music of Buddy Holly, Little Richard, and Elvis Presley that became the soundtrack of a generation. An eight-year run on Broadway and two subsequent revivals, along with innumerable school and community productions place Grease among the world’s most popular musicals.

Tickets and more information online at www.mediatheatre.org .

Venue Details:
The Media Theatre
104 E. State Street
Media, PA 19063

Brandywine Native Garden Hub Now Online

Brandywine Native Garden Hub, a new online resource designed to inspire gardeners of all levels and skillsets. Photo by Mark Gormel

The Brandywine Conservancy is thrilled to announce the launch of the Brandywine Native Garden Hub, a new online resource designed to inspire gardeners of all levels and skillsets. The Brandywine Native Garden Hub is a free, user-friendly website that serves as both an educational guide and an interactive database for anyone interested in incorporating native plants into their landscapes. Naturally occurring in a specific region without human intervention, native plants have adapted to the climate and soil over time, making them easier to grow and maintain, plus they directly benefit pollinators, wildlife, and the local ecology. With the Brandywine Native Garden Hub, users can search for and learn more about native plants specific to Pennsylvania and northern Delaware, save their favorites to personalized “Garden Boards,” and browse through a suite of educational resources to help enhance their gardening success.

Now available at www.NativeGardenHub.org, the Brandywine Native Garden Hub contains information on more than 250 native plant species found in our region. Each plant profile contains everything you need to know about the plant—from growing conditions to key attributes and wildlife benefits—along with photos that show different growth stages. Users can also personalize their searches by filtering for plants according to their garden’s specific growing conditions, including sunlight exposure, soil type, and soil moisture. Plants can even be sorted by the user’s preferred attributes and benefits, including plant type, height/width, peak bloom time, bloom color, deer resistance, fragrance, and more.

To help visualize and plan their dream gardens, users can create a free account to build personalized “Garden Boards” that are customized to their unique growing spaces. Boards can be curated for the spaces users currently have, the type of gardens they are looking to start—such as a container garden for smaller spaces or one designed to attract specific pollinators—or even boards for future garden inspiration. Once users set up their boards, they can “pin” their favorite plants while browsing to save them for building out their garden plans. Users can also add, edit, and create as many Garden Boards as they’d like, which can be referenced at any time on both desktop and mobile devices.

To equip users with even more tools for success during their gardening journeys, the Brandywine Native Garden Hub also features a wealth of educational resources. Users can dive into the beginners guide for getting started with native plants or browse through other articles, including topics on how to prep a container garden, tackling invasive species, and seasonal gardening tips. Additional articles will be published throughout the year for continued learning.

For more than five decades, the Brandywine Conservancy has been a trusted leader in growing and promoting the use, preservation, and appreciation of native plants. The Brandywine Native Garden Hub is the latest extension of this work, providing a digital platform to help gardeners bring the benefits of native plants to their own landscapes. To start your journey with native plants, visit www.NativeGardenHub.org.

 

Pig Iron Theatre Company presents ‘Franklin’s Key’

 The internationally acclaimed, award-winning Philadelphia- based physical theater company Pig Iron Theatre Company presents the world premiere of Franklin’s Key, written by Dan Rothenberg and Robert Quillen Camp. This thrilling, magical, sci-fi theatrical adventure explores Benjamin Franklin’s hidden discoveries in a parallel universe.

Running from June 3 to 29 at Plays  & Players Theatre (1714 Delancey Street, Philadelphia), this electrifying new production transforms some of the city’s most iconic landmarks into portals to adventure as two high school prodigies find themselves caught in a struggle between secret societies dedicated to safeguarding Franklin’s discoveries. Fans of The Goonies, Stranger Things, Harry Potter, The Da Vinci Code, and National Treasure will enjoy the artistry in this electrifying live stage production. 

Pig Iron Theatre Company, founded in 1995 in Philadelphia, has long been recognized for its daring and highly physical approach to theater-making. Its genre-defying works have earned critical acclaim. Their upcoming production of Franklin’s Key marks a significant shift from past experimental and genre defying works, embracing a more fantastical, family-friendly approach to storytelling. 

During the War of Independence, the British feared Benjamin Franklin could control the weather.  Franklin’s Key asks: what if that were true? A mystery unfolds for audiences in an alternate reality where Franklin’s undiscovered technology has been hidden underneath some of Philadelphia’s most treasured landmarks for centuries. Set in present-day Philadelphia, Franklin’s Key follows two teenage prodigies: Temple, a self-taught scientist, and her brother Arturo, a gifted musician. The two uncover an ancient mystery, setting off a chain reaction that draws them into a secret battle between rival factions seeking to harness the incredible but volatile powers of Franklin’s long-lost technology. Temple and Arturo, aided by a cast of quirky friends, traverse hidden tunnels under the city, leading them from abandoned subway platforms to the iconic statue of William Penn atop City Hall and the building-sized organ inside the old Wanamaker Department Store. With time running out, the team must navigate the labyrinth of Philadelphia’s forgotten tunnels, evade powerful enemies, and unlock the secrets Franklin left behind before his discoveries fall into the wrong hands. 

Franklin’s Key is like a Marvel movie translated for the stage. We are working with an amazing team of scenic and effects designers to evoke building-sized automatons, Da Vinci Code puzzles, and teenagers with telekinetic powers. While the story is cinematic in scope, audiences can expect Pig Iron’s signature, elegant stagecraft – sometimes disarmingly simple, but always surprising.  – Pig Iron’s  Co-Artistic Director Dan Rothenberg

 

Co-writer Robert Quillen Camp wrote the text for Pig Iron’s Pay Up and Chekhov Lizardbrain and is a  regular collaborator with downtown New York provocateurs Hoi Polloi. Co-writer and Director Dan  Rothenberg is one of the founders of Pig Iron Theatre Company, where he has been instrumental in  creating over 30 original works that have toured to 15 countries. 

Three actors from New York are leading the production as the teen heroes: actor and singer Taylor Rose  Mickens, making her Philadelphia theater debut, plays Temple. Temple’s brother Arturo is played by  Sam Gonzalez, a New York-based actor and dancer known for Invasive Species (The Tank, NYC),  Bathhouse.PPTX (The Flea, NYC) and performances at the Bushwick Starr and Joe’s Pub. Jacob Orr  (Montag, SoHo Rep) plays Temple’s hapless ex-boyfriend, Richard. 

The supporting ensemble includes Chris Thorn. Alice Yorke, Benjamin Bass, and Izzy Sazak. 

If You Go

  • Franklin’s Key takes place at one of the oldest theaters in the country, Play & Players Theatre, a charming 220-seat venue with a proscenium stage layout. 
  • Run time of 110  minutes, including a 15-minute intermission 
  • Performances take place Wednesday through Sunday evenings at 7 p.m., with matinees on Saturdays and Sundays at 2 p.m. and two Tuesday evening performances on June 3 and June 10 at 7 p.m. 
  • Tickets are available online at Franklinskey.com.. Daytime performances are available for group bookings.