MUSICAntsy McClainThursday, 8 p.m.Tin Angel20 S. Second St.$20, 215-928-0978www.tinangel.comCountry music has been drifting ever closer to mainstream pop for more than two decades, but as long as singer-songwriters like Antsy McClain stick around, the pop-ification of Nashville won’t ever be complete. With his band the Trailer Park Troubadours, he performs a classic country/rockabilly style with a sardonic storytelling humor, as evidenced by song titles like “Prozac Made Me Stay.”Amir ElSaffar and the Two Rivers EnsembleSaturday, 8 p.m.Kimmel Center300 S. Broad St.$23, 215-893-1999www.kimmelcenter.orgLed by trumpeter Amir ElSaffar, the Two Rivers Ensemble is a fusion of Middle Eastern sounds and jazz music, using mostly western instruments but also featuring the buzuq, a kind of flute. It’s hardly the first attempt to integrate the two musical traditions, but Two Rivers strives to create their own unique expression.THEATER‘A Midsummer Night’s Dream’Through May 17Philadelphia Shakespeare Theatre2111 Sansom St.$20-$30, 215-496-8001www.phillyshakespeare.orgPhiladelphia Shakespeare Theatre performs this classic work by the Immortal Bard, which they describe as his “mediation on erotic fascination.” That it is, but it’s also full of pure silliness, because such fascination has to make fools of all of us at one point or another. The question is whether we allow it to — or whether some mischievous magic will do it for us.‘She Stoops to Conquer’Through SundayThe Powel House244 S. Third St.$30, 215-925-2251philalandmarks.givezooks.comMechanical Theater presents this 18th century comedy by Oliver Goldsmith, about Charles Marlow, an upper class cad who’s a Casanova with working class ladies but finds himself intimidated by women of his own breeding. Once such woman, Kate Hardcastle, takes a shine to him, and endeavors to break through this barrier by posing as a maid. Sneaky, sneaky.DANCE‘Dust’Thursday through SaturdayFringeArts140 N. Columbus Blvd.$15-$20, 215-413-1318www.fringearts.comFringeArts presents this opera by Robert Ashley with choreography by Megan Bridge and a video component that reacts in real time to the dancers’ movements. “Dust” is set on an unidentified street corner, where a few street dwellers recall the tale of their comrade, a war veteran and leg amputee who believed that he spoke to God under the influence of morphine.RUBBERBANDance GroupThursday through SaturdayAnnenberg Center2680 Walnut St.$20-$60, 215-898-3900www.annenbergcenter.orgThis contemporary dance ensemble combines the rather different training of its co-heads, former Los Angeles street breakdancer Victor Quijada and French-Canadian Anne Plamondon, whose background is ballet. The spontaneous freedom of the former and the rigorous formality of the latter produce a unique tension, reflecting those primal opposing forces that seem to form the stuff of our lives.ARTEric Van NielsenSaturday through April 30The Resource Exchange1701 N. 2nd St.Free, 267-997-0060www.theresourceexchange.orgPainter Eric Van Nielsen began as a draftsman, but found himself increasingly drawn towards abstract art that utilizes pure color and form to affect the viewer. “Color is the language of emotion,” he writes in his artist’s statement, and his work does indeed affect powerfully through color. He made these evocative works by a new method he considers more environmentally sustainable.Second Nature: Junk RethunkThrough October 31Philadelphia Zoo3400 W. Girard Ave$20, 215-243-1100www.philadelphiazoo.orgPhiladelphia Zoo hosts an art exhibition featuring animal-themed sculpture made from recycled materials, meant to inspire enthusiasm for recycling. The pieces are large-scale, including a 13-foot-tall gorilla made from car parts and a five-foot-long alligator made from chewing gum — that’s a lot of gum! There are 12 works all, each contributed by a different artist or group.COMEDYComedy-Gasm: Two Year AnniversarySaturday, 8 to 11 p.m.Irish Pol114 Market St.$7-$10, 21+, 800-838-3006www.brownpapertickets.comThis comedy showcase celebrates two years of “comedy by the unashamed, for the unashamed,” as well as the Irish Pol’s recent move to a new, larger location. It’s hosted by Rachel Fogletto and features stand-up from Pete Steele, Sonia Zambrana, Keane Cobb and Lou Misiano, plus live music by Kate Nyx and storytelling from Martha Cooney.BOOKSNoViolet BulawayoThursday, 6 p.m.Kelly Writers House3805 Locust WalkFree, 215-746-7636www.writing.upenn.edu/~wh/Zimbabwe-born novelist NoViolet Bulawayo, whose most debut novel, 2013’s “We Need New Names” earned recognition from the New York Times, the Los Angeles Times, the Man Booker Prize and other quarters, will give a reading at Kelly Writers House. The book tells the story of Darling, a young girl growing up amidst violence in Zimbabwe who travels to America to live with her aunt.MOVIESUlrike Ottinger: Berlin TrilogyFriday and SaturdayInternational House3701 Chestnut St.$7-$9, 215-387-5125www.ihousephilly.orgInternational House screens three films by German filmmaker Ulrike Ottinger: 1979’s “Ticket of No Return,” 1981’s “Freak Orlando” and 1984’s “Dorian Gray in the Mirror of the Yellow Press.” The movies aren’t explicitly connected, but many of the same crew worked on all three, and they share Ottinger’s interests in performance art and socially critical sci-fi surrealism.
