The Rundown | Feb. 25-March 4

Image: Sabine Mondestin

There’s no shortage of fun things to do in the coming days and weeks.

Whether you’re into art, jazz or domination, we’ve rounded up a few events that are sure to pique your interest.

Image: Unsplash

The Lenape to Smokey Bear

The Pennsylvania landscape has undergone a near-complete transformation over the last 350 years, starting with the extirpation of the Lenape and the loss of their fire management practices. After European settlement, extensive logging and land clearing, the introduction of exotic insects, diseases and invasive plants, increasing deer browsing, and the Smokey Bear-era has led to unprecedented changes in forest composition across the eastern US. Marc D. Abrams, professor of forest ecology at Penn State, explains the sweeping history of our once and future forests. March 4 at 7pm Schuylkill Center for Environmental Education. schuylkillcenter.org

Image: Sam Browne

East Coast Jazz Festival

A collection of the most beloved and well-known jazz clubs on the East Coast have banded together for the first time ever to create the inaugural East Coast Jazz Festival, which will take place online on Saturday, March 20 from 5 to 11 p.m. The proprietors of Scullers Jazz Club in Boston, Smalls and Birdland in New York, Chris’ Jazz Café in Philadelphia, Keystone Korner in Baltimore and Blues Alley in Washington, D.C. began planning this all-virtual jazz fest at the start of 2021, and the music will flow live with some pre-recorded sessions mixed in from six different stages, and will showcase the talents of more than 60 of the most renowned and respected jazz talents of our time. The price is “pay-what-you-wish.” For info on Chris’, visit  chrisjazzcafe.com

Choreopoem Masterclass with TS Hawkins

In a socio-political, media-driven climate, how can folx find peace and inspiration? Register for award-winning writer and performance artist TS Hawkins’s workshop, Thrivin’ Ain’t Easy 101: Choreopoem Masterclass, to investigate how to find your voice and achieve peace of mind through poetic activities. Presented by Theatre Exile, this 90-minute virtual workshop will instruct participants on how to poetically explore, discover and embrace their intersectional identities in a safe, creative environment. Thrivin’ Ain’t Easy 101 will be limited to 10 to 12 people and requires attendees to bring an original poem or writing sample under the theme of “self-discovery” that will be shared, as a collective choreopoem, at the end of the workshop. March 8 at 6pm theatreexile.org

Mastering the Art of Domination with Miss Manifesta

Being a domme takes practice, patience and passion. Come learn and discuss the ins and outs of being a professional and/or lifestyle dominatrix. This workshop will cover the following topics: Types of dommes, how to play, mindset, boundaries, contracts, working with submissives, and safety. Miss Manifesta will help you reach your goal in becoming a confident and well-respected master. Miss Manifesta is a Philadelphia-based pro dominatrix, phone sex operator, fetish photographer, and sex/BDSM educator/consultant. Feb. 26 at 7pm | $10-$30 eventbrite.com

Shawn Theodore’s “Night Stars” Opening and Live Q&A

Join Paradigm Gallery + Studio’s tour and conversation with Shawn Theodore for the online opening reception of “Night Stars,” including a live artist Q&A with moderator Ginger Rudolph and Paradigm gallery director Sara McCorriston. During this event, they will also be sharing a link to a digital twin of the gallery, allowing attendees to “walk through” the gallery and explore during the tour and discussion. “Night Stars” is an expansion of Theodore’s investigation into a space he calls “Afromythology,” which unites the real and imaginary histories and futures of African Americans. Feb. 26 at 5:30pm | Free eventbrite.com

Image: Courtesy of the Philadelphia Zoo

Big Time: Life in an Endangerous Age

Between COVID and the snow, it’s probably been a minute since most of us thought of heading out to the zoo. But, come late next month, we’ll have to reserve a day to make the trek. Big Time: Life in an Endangerous Age opens March 29 as an immersive, multi-sensory experience featuring 24-life-size, animatronic dinosaurs. That’s a sampling of what you’ll see at Big Time. For details, reservations and more, visit PhiladelphiaZoo.org

Image: Unsplash

Volcano Vapors

When Big Time opens, the first stop for guests will be Volcano Vapors, where smoldering rocks, rivers of molten lava and clouds of acidic ash set the scene detailing the searing changes that affected dinosaurs forever. While discovering Volcano Vapers, guests encounter the 98-foot-long, 6,000-pound Alamosaurus, the largest dinosaur known in North America, as it swings an enormous, 20-foot-long tail, and the 40-foot-long, Edmontosaurus, an herbivore, with a toothless beak so strong it crushed plant material such as ginkgos, conifers and cycads.

Image: Courtesy of the Philadelphia Zoo

Prehistoric Passage

Guests will then continue on to Prehistoric Passage, where a 40-foot-long, 3,000-pound, T- Rex chomps his threatening jaws and a strange-looking Ankylosaurus, sporting heavy body armor, thrashes its gigantic club-like tail. Check out the Triceratops, with its 1,000-pound head, and three massive horns, the 30-foot-tall Quetzalcoatlus, one of the largest flying animals of all time, with an enormous 35-foot-long wingspan, and the Anzu, a feathered dinosaur resembling a bird, that is 10-feet-long.                                        

Image: Courtesy of the Philadelphia Zoo

Asteroid Void

Keep trekking through to Asteroid Void, and explore a desolate landscape, the aftermath of the enormous asteroid that struck the Earth wiping out dinosaurs, changing the world forever. Encounter a young, 24-foot-long, T-Rex, observe two huge Pachycephalosaurs, dome-headed herbivores, standing 15-foot-tall and weighing about 1,000 pounds, and check out the Dakotaraptor, an 18-foot long feathered predator.

Migration Maneuvers

Migration Maneuvers takes guests back 70,000 years ago when humans began migrating, causing devastating effects on the wildlife they encountered. The interaction affected a number of species. Migration Maneuvers takes visitors to North America, Madagascar and Australia to walk among the species, now extinct, that once roamed the Earth.

Image: Courtesy of the Philadelphia Zoo

Smilodon

In North America, encounter the Smilodon, a/k/a “Saber-tooth tiger,” a ferocious feline, sporting 11-inch fangs, a humongous, 15-foot-tall, Woolly Mammoth, ancestor to the Asian elephant, the Glyptodon, a relative of the armadillo, the same size of a Volkswagen Beetle, and the Megatherium, the second-largest land animal behind the Woolly Mammoth.

Megaladapis

In Madagascar, cross paths with a Megaladapis or “koala lemur,” a prehistoric primate, and check out a pair of Aepyornis, or “elephant birds,” massive, 10-foot-tall animals that weighed about 1,200 pounds.

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