7Days: Regional arts and entertainment

From the Fringe

It's a dream come true for fans of the annual Fringe Festival: the opening of FringeArts, a year-round venue featuring the wonderful performance artists who populate the late-summer arts extravaganza. The first offering is Elephant Room, in which an idiot savant trio of world-class, semipro conjurers attempts to astound and amaze. The show goes on at 2 p.m. Sunday at the new place at Columbus Boulevard and Race Street, and continues with shows at 7 p.m. Thursday and Friday, 4 and 9 p.m. Saturday, and 2 p.m. next Sunday. Tickets are $49; $20 students. Call 215-413-1318.

As seen on TV

Showbiz personality Scott Aukerman and his sublime Comedy Bang! Bang! LIVE! featuring series regular Paul F. Tompkins and opening act the Birthday Boys play at 8 p.m. at the Trocadero, 10th and Arch Streets. Tickets are $25. Call 215-922-6888.

Thrills on ice

A unique blend of film noir and Ice Capades, Frank Tuttle's 1946 thriller Suspense features one-name English skater Belita ("The Ice Maiden") - the B-movies' cut-rate Sonja Henie - as the star of an ice show whose involvement with a handsome drifter sparks the jealous anger of her manager-husband. Elaborate skating numbers break out amid the mayhem, of course. The film screens at 7 p.m. at the Woodmere Art Museum, 9201 Germantown Ave. Admission is free. Call 215-247-0476.

The participant

Patrician writer George Plimpton was renowned as a professional amateur, the inventor of "participatory journalism" - in which he pitched against major leaguers in an exhibition, sparred with boxing greats Archie Moore and Sugar Ray Robinson, played goalie in an NHL preseason game, and, most famously, spent time in training camp with the Detroit Lions and then wrote about it. He also photographed Playboy models, tried his hand at topflight bridge, did stand-up in Vegas, played percussion with the New York Philharmonic, and performed on a high wire in the circus. On the side, he helped found the great literary journal the Paris Review, acted in movies and commercials, hobnobbed with the Kennedys, and was said to be a CIA operative. Tom Bean and Luke Poling's 2012 documentary Plimpton! Starring George Plimpton as Himself tells the life story of the unlikely fellow who may have been the most interesting man in the world. The film screens at 7 p.m. at the Bryn Mawr Film Institute, 824 W. Lancaster Ave., Bryn Mawr. Tickets are $10.50; $8 seniors; $7 students. 610-527-9898.

Bach plus

Conductor Matthew Glandorf leads the Choral Arts Philadelphia ensemble and the Philadelphia Bach Collegium orchestra in works by J.S. Bach, Pachelbel, and Orlando Gibbons at 7 p.m. at St. Mark's Episcopal Church, 1625 Locust St. Tickets are $20. Call 267-240-2586.

Literary stylist

In his fiction, Nicholson Baker eschews conventional narrative to focus on minute, beautifully wrought descriptions of the quotidian and rote. In his new book, Traveling Sprinkler, a poet with writer's block attempts to write a song. He reads on a bill with Dara Horn (whose new book A Guide for the Perplexed mixes biblical tales, medieval philosophy, and social networks) at 7:30 p.m. at the Free Library, 1901 Vine St. Admission is free. Call 215-567-4341.

Dazzling dance

George Balanchine's tribute to jewelry designer Claude Arpels, Jewels, is performed by the Pennsylvania Ballet at the Academy of Music, Broad and Locust Streets, at 7:30 p.m. Thursday and Friday, 2 and 8 p.m. Oct. 26, and 2 p.m. Oct. 27. Tickets are $30 to $125. Call 215-893-1999.

Who's he now?

Best known as the randy Ukrainian cook on 2 Broke Girls, Jonathan Kite is a gifted impressionist (you can do Cagney - he does Tom Hanks and Liam Neeson, among others). Kite, in his first foray as a stand-up, performs at Helium Comedy Club, 2031 Sansom St., at 8 p.m. Thursday and 7:30 and 10 p.m. Friday and Saturday. Tickets are $16 to $33. Call 215-496-9001.

Epic adventure

The intrepid Serious Theatre Collective presents Professor von Awesome's Ghost Hunting Safari, ("an evening of music, puppetry, burlesque, and necromancy," it says here) at Fergie's Pub, 1214 Sansom St., at 9 p.m. Friday and 3 and 8 p.m. Saturday. Tickets are $15. Call 215-928-8118.

Distinctive voices

At the Merriam Theater, 250 S. Broad St., back to back (call 215-893-1999): Pop musicologist Citizen Cope plays his gems at 8 p.m. Friday. Tickets are $35 to $39.50. . . . The smart and soulful Fiona Apple teams with countryish troubadour Blake Mills at 8 p.m. Saturday. Tickets are $49.50 to $65.