Arusi Persian Wedding

Thurs., Feb. 26, 6:30pm. Free, reservations requested. Bonnell Auditorium, Community College of Philadelphia, 1700 Spring Garden St. 215.351.0511. www.whyy.org/memberexperience

Iran is coming to dinner. Papa Obama said so. You know your manners, right? Sit up straight, elbows off the table, and come up with some good questions to ask. Can't think of any? That's probably because Iran has been completely expelled from our cultural and historical education. Remedial lessons start here: Marjan Tehrani's doc Arusi Persian Wedding follows her American-born brother's journey to their father's birthplace to have a traditional Persian wedding ceremony (with his American wife). To complicate matters further, brother and sister were raised in the U.S. by their Iranian father and Jewish mother. A panel discussion of Iranian-American cultural and academic leaders follows the film. Learning about cultural identity is good; knowing what the hell Obama and Ahmadinejad are talking about is even better. (Jeffrey Barg)

Red Herring

Scopitone Party

Before the music video, there was the scopitone. A '60s craze that originated in France, the scopitone was a visual jukebox that played 16 mm music shorts in cafes. Secret Cinema unearths a host of old scopitone clips, ranging from Nancy Sinatra to the unsettling British Elvis impersonator Vince Taylor. (Matt Prigge)

Neil DeGrasse Tyson

Still crushed by Pluto's humiliating 2006 demotion from "planet" to mere "dwarf planet"? If so, pop physicist Neil DeGrasse Tyson is responsible for a large part of your anguish: The frequent Colbert Report guest spearheaded the move to banish the lil' beige rock, arguing that it had more in common with the Kuiper Belt's cosmic losers than our system's VIPs. On Tuesday he'll defend the slight at the Free Library, where he'll discuss his 11th book, The Pluto Files: The Rise and Fall of America's Favorite Planet. And he may just persuade you: He won NASA's Distinguished Service Medal, was one of Time's "Most Influential People" in 2007, and trounced Steven Hawking for People's coveted "Sexiest Astrophysicist Alive" title in 2000. By Saturn's rings, is there nothing the man can't do? (Jacob Lambert)

Dionicio Jimenez

A rising star on Philly's restaurant scene, chef Dionicio Jimenez hews toward the bold and extreme. A special mid-March pre-Hispanic menu at Xochitl, his haute-Mex spot off Headhouse Square, promises grasshopper tacos, breaded veal brains and the relatively tame Mexican broccoli cakes with mole negro, among other selections. (The theme is a tribute to Benito Juarez, the first indigenous president of Mexico, born on March 21 in 1806.) The food at his upcoming class at Foster's Homeware won't be as polarizing. He aims to show that the preparation of sophisticated restaurant fare (three types of guacamole, scallop and watermelon ceviche, and stuffed poblano peppers topped with creamy walnut sauce and pomegranate) is no more daunting than the pronunciation (so-cheet) of his restaurant's name. (Dan Packel)

Austrian artist Peter Weibel's video and text art from the 1960s and '70s, now on view at the Slought Foundation, fits perfectly in today's concept-driven and media-obsessed art world. The work's refusal to be beautiful shocked audiences back when most thought art was a pretty painting or figurative sculpture. But today, Weibel's work--with its playful approach to subject and its smart wordsmithing--prefigures much contemporary art.

Throughout the large show, Weibel's works have an undeniable charm. Soliloquy (1973), a wry word piece that combines the artist's fascination with words and electronic media, shows Weibel as he plays a recording of a sentence fragment then repeats the phrase, changing the placement of the words in the sentence into a string of nonsense. He's an engaging performer. Videos like Parenthetical Identity, in which he tries to define himself by reading a script of his life like a news anchor while a slideshow plays behind him, are deadpan and endearing. (It doesn't hurt that the young artist, with his muttonchop sideburns and thick wavy hair, resembles Patrick Dempsey.) His earnest attempts at self-discovery remind you that contemporary self-discoverer Alex Bag did not invent this genre, although she, too, does it well.

Many of the works, for all their anti-aesthetics and anti-art leanings, are quite engaging. TV Aquarium (TV Death 1), from 1970, is a static tableau of a person watching television nested into a screen of another person watching television. It's a striking image and a great critique of the media's seduction. Vulcanology of Emotions (1973) feels like a complete movie in a minute with a screaming argument and a tryst in the grass. And Trinity (1975), in which the artist's face morphs slowly into an image of Jesus and back again, is a lovely and technically sophisticated work with relevance to today's worship of the superstar artist.

Weibel's street performances with his then-partner Valie Export, still seem off-the-charts radical. In Tap and Touch Cinema (1968)--in which Export wore a small cardboard box over her naked chest--Weibel, like a carnival barker, extolled the beauty of her breasts and encouraged people to put their hands inside the box to touch them. This work transgressed social mores then and continues to do so today.

Through the years, Slought has provided a direct link to European theoretical and conceptual art, with great shows by Weibel, Hermann Nitsch, Günter Brus and others. Highly relevant today and especially for young American artists whose view of art history is mostly confined to what's happened in this country over the last 10 years, these shows provide a lesson on how to break ground and move forward.

]]> http://www.philadelphiaweekly.com/articles/18294/a-e--art http://www.philadelphiaweekly.com/articles/18312/a-e--editors-picks Emancipation of a Soul

Fri., Feb. 27 and Sat., Feb. 28, 8pm. $10-$16. Community Education Center, 3500 Lancaster Ave. 215.387.1911. www.cecarts.org

It's no secret that Philly's populated by some creative folks. The murals, the artists and the music scene get mainstream media love, but the city's underground creative community keeps things interesting by providing original works of art that address issues that usually remain in the margin. This weekend several community-based dancers, musicians and storytellers collaborate on a project called Emancipation of a Soul. Written by Philadelphia storyteller Joslyn Ladson, Soul tells the story of Africans in America through fables, dance and West African percussion. The multimedia production journeys from the Middle Passage to the present day through a series of vignettes created by Ladson and brought to life through the talent of Philadelphia's budding artists. Saturday night's show will be followed by the Free Soul Café, an open mic gathering that invites you to share your own stories, songs, poetry or music. (Jazmyn Burton)

The Flashpoint Theatre Company continues its mission of presenting unconventional drama with the thoughtful staging of Neena Beber's drama Jump/Cut.

The play is told from the perspective of Paul (Christopher Bohan), a struggling filmmaker who serves as the story's narrator. Paul shares his apartment with his best friend from high school Dave (Keith Conallen), who suffers from bipolar disorder. Dave's mind jumps erratically between reality and delusion, mania and depression.

Paul dreams of becoming a famous film director while Dave's ambitions involve writing the Great American novel. As the adolescents grow into men, Dave's mental state worsens. He spends his days on Paul's couch, smoking pot and swallowing Lithium tablets prescribed to keep his manic-depression at bay.

The apartment becomes more crowded with the arrival of Paul's girlfriend, Karen (Kristyn Chouiniere). Passionate about Dostoyevsky, Karen is working on a somewhat ambiguous project about a beautiful countess and the photographer who immortalized her. Although faithful to Paul, she yearns to be what she calls a "what the hell girl" and is attracted to Dave and his unpredictable bursts of creative energy.

Beber's dialogue can be impressively poetic. Too often, though, the writing draws attention to itself and the episodic tale is congested with annoyingly obscure metaphors. Additionally, Jump/Cut's structure is ill-suited for theater. Relentlessly shifting time, location and mood, the play feels like a film that's been awkwardly adapted for the stage.

Despite these shortcomings, director Karen DiLossi's production captures our interest. Navigating Jump/Cut's disjointed plot, she focuses our attention on the characters brought to life in vivid portrayals.

Bohan (who's emerged as one of the city's most promising actors) and Chouiniere give commendable performances, but their characters are not nearly as captivating as the volatile Dave.

"When you're not well is when you feel the best,'' Dave says, explaining bipolar disorder's dangerous allure. The disease's electrifying high makes him repeatedly abandon his medication and its emotionally deadening calm.

Conallen gives a convincing representation of Dave's manic highs and fatiguing lows, and like Karen, we're attracted to Dave's mix of innocence and impulsiveness.

At one point, Paul observes that a film's conclusion is far more important than its beginning. Jump/Cut begins with Paul and Dave as stoned teens debating the origins of the band Steely Dan. But the trivialities of youth are long forgotten by the time we reach Jump/Cut's potent conclusion, when Dave frees himself from the disease and drugs and finally gains control of his destiny.

» footlights

African Influence

People love to recall the good old days. The Lantern Theater Company's assured revival of Sizwe Bansi Is Dead proves that the bad old days are likewise worth remembering. First performed 35 years ago, the play by Athold Fugard, John Kani and Winston Ntshona returns us to 1972, during South African apartheid.

The story opens in the small shop belonging to a black South African named Styles (Forrest McClendon in a riveting performance). An entrepreneurial sort, Styles left his job at the Ford Motor Company plant to begin his own photography business in Port Elizabeth.

One of Styles' clients is Sizwe Bansi (the excellent Lawrence Stallings). Married and a father of four, Bansi has left his family to work in the city. But he has fallen victim to a practice known as "influx control" that forces him to leave his job in Port Elizabeth and return to a destitute existence in his home district. Bansi discovers a way to stay in Port Elizabeth, but to do so he must relinquish his name.

Beautifully directed by Peter DeLaurier, Bansi can be disturbing to watch. But in the play's conclusion, when Sizwe is forced to choose between his identity and his family's survival, we're witness to an act of heroism that lifts even the most jaded theatergoer's spirits. (J.C.R.) Through March 1. $20-$35. St. Stephen's Theater, 10th and Ludlow sts. 215.829.0395. www.lanterntheater.org