Characters

WHEN MOVIE producers came knocking on Steve Harvey's door about buying the rights to his self-help book Act Like a Lady, Think Like a Man, he thought he'd get a fat paycheck out of it and nothing more. "I've sold to Hollywood before, they bought it, they gave me a check and I never heard of the movie ever again," Harvey said. Harvey figured "Think" would be the same song-and-dance, especially because his book is a peek inside the mind of the man. There's no story. There are no characters.

OFTEN, THE times can influence how we define someone as much as the person themselves. In the case of actress Pam Grier, she rode a wave of black nationalism and feminist passions all the way to superstar status during the blaxploitation era of the 1970s. The karate-kicking, high-heel-wearing characters Grier portrayed in cult classics such as "Coffy" and "Foxy Brown" were fierce, independent and sexy. They hunted down bad guys and dealt their own brand of street justice. This was a novel concept at the time because it happened during a period in American cinema when it was more common for actresses to portray damsels in distress or the beautiful sidekick than to drive a narrative the way Grier's characters did. Audiences loved watching Grier beat people up on-screen while also flashing a little skin.

The main ingredient of artist Osman Karriem Hayes' art form is so exotic it can be found right there on the grocery-store shelf, in between such household items as plastic wrap, sandwich bags, and other paper products. And to most people, the thin, shiny sheets that are Hayes' principal medium are no secret ingredient at all: They're just plain old aluminum foil. It doesn't matter what name is on the foil package wrapper. Hayes, who calls himself a "tinfoil artist," is able to manipulate the silvery, pliable material into whatever character his fertile imagination suggests.

Kristeen Fabrizio hobbled into the cafeteria at the Phoenixville Area Junior High School, her legs bound in a narrow, ankle-length elastic tube. "I swim. I fell in love," said Fabrizio, 10, of Phoenixville, when she took her turn on stage Tuesday morning. "Who am I?" Dozens of second, third and fourth graders waved their hands, eager to guess whom Fabrizio was portraying in the Barkley Elementary School's Character Costume Cavalcade. The cavalcade was part of the monthlong "Kids Who Read Succeed Program" coordinated by librarian Lois Boyer and elementary school principal Joseph C. Dougherty.

Steve Solms died last week. I knew him only peripherally, but always got a kick out of his joie de vivre. Others have reminisced about the time the real estate developer and diehard 76ers fan brazenly walked onto the court during player introductions and presented Julius Erving with a doctor's bag. I'll always remember seeing Solms in the midst of a real estate crash, but looking no worse for the wear at poolside in Las Vegas and flashing a wad of...

By Glenn Taylor Ecco Press. 360 pp. $24.99 Reviewed by Sherrie Flick Many of us like television shows, even the predictable programs in which the characters consistently react the way you expect. In these shows, the ending isn't so much a revelation as a logical conclusion. It can be comforting to watch these shows and not have to think much. On the other hand, I try to read a lot. Reading makes me happy to be alive, and some days when it's hot and humid and oil is spilling into the Gulf of Mexico, I need something to revive my faith in humanity.

The Internet comic strip Get Your War On by David Rees has been commenting on the war on terrorism by showing people in offices talking to one another on the phone or over coffee and doughnuts about the state of the world. The Rude Mechanicals of Austin, Texas, have adapted the comic strip (www.getyourwaron.com) for the stage, using overhead projectors and five actors in suits, ties and high heels. They provide an illustrated, damning chronicle of the Bush administration, starting in 2001 and tracing the war on terrorism through Afghanistan and Iraq, with excursions into the anthrax scares, Enron, the Katrina catastrophe, and Terry Schiavo.

At the end of the day, Tracey Ullman has no trouble peeling off her many personae - and the various wigs, mustaches and thick accents that go along with each. "I don't get attached to any of them for more than half an hour," Ullman says of the gallery of quirky characters she plays on her HBO comedy series, "Tracey Takes On . . . " which kicks off its second season at 11 p.m. tomorrow. "I'm quite glad to take them all off and go back to being Tracey. " When she's not in character, the 37-year-old British comic actress wears simple, tailored clothing and no makeup.

Brendan Behan's 1958 play The Hostage concerns a British soldier taken prisioner by the Irish Republican Army in retaliation for the planned execution of an IRA member. That's the plot, but it certainly isn't the play. In fact, Behan spends probably less than half of this three-hour piece dealing with the plot. The rest of the time is spent on the frequently crazy doings of a passel of minor characters and in the performance of a large number of mostly humorous songs. The Hostage, which Temple University Theaters is producing, is a strange theatrical bird.

Anthony Quinn is chuckling. It's a deep, warm chuckle that rumbles up from the kettle drum of mirth in the potbelly he has borrowed from Zorba the Greek. Anthony Quinn is chuckling about someone's notion that the billing of his play (opening officially tonight at the Forrest Theater) should read "Zorba is Anthony Quinn" rather than "Anthony Quinn is Zorba. " "I think it's lovely, but I think it's nonsense, but they said the same thing when I played Gauguin . . . 'Requiem for a Heavyweight.

Playwright Mac Rogers wants you to let him entertain you, and New City Stage Company's world premiere of his spy thriller Asymmetric offers the kind of entertainment that's usually enjoyed while lounging on the sofa, holding a remote. A quick-hit 80 minutes, this drama takes us from a back-room interrogation at the CIA to a techno-driven chase through Reykjavik, Iceland, sending us into the night to play Rashomon and figure out who knew what, when. Want romance with that adventure?

IN THEIR draft evaluations, do the Eagles give too much weight to the havoc players raise off the field, and too little to the problems they cause opponents on the field? Eagles general manager Howie Roseman has talked more than once this offseason about making changes in the team's assessment process, in light of the fact that the Birds' recent drafts haven't been the NFL's best, and the team missed the playoffs last season. Roseman spoke with reporters again Thursday, in his annual predraft session, and he sounded the theme again.

WHEN MOVIE producers came knocking on Steve Harvey's door about buying the rights to his self-help book Act Like a Lady, Think Like a Man, he thought he'd get a fat paycheck out of it and nothing more. "I've sold to Hollywood before, they bought it, they gave me a check and I never heard of the movie ever again," Harvey said. Harvey figured "Think" would be the same song-and-dance, especially because his book is a peek inside the mind of the man. There's no story. There are no characters.

The Philadelphia Story portrayed the city's suburbs as a grand landscape of mansions and manicured lawns where the rich and idle flirt over cocktails. In thirtysomething it was the background for a group of painfully earnest baby boomers who shared existential crises over wine coolers. And Pretty Little Liars, the best-selling book series and TV show from Downingtown novelist Sara Shepard? Try four teenage girls embroiled in murder, blackmail, cyberbullying and arson.

Flashpoint The­atre Company is giving Jacqueline Gold­fin­ger's new play, Slip/Shot, a fine pre­miere. This beau­ti­ful­ly crafted and in­tense­ly moving dra­ma about the leg­a­cy of rac­ist fear is served by a pow­er­ful cast and an imag­i­na­tive and skilled di­rec­tor, Reb­ecca Wright. The plot is un­com­pli­cat­ed, but the characters are not. Clem (Kevin Mee­han) is a new po­lice­man in a small town near Tal­la­has­see, Fla., some­time in the ear­ly 1960s.

Several modern plays touch on abuse and molestation but none I know of, including the much-produced Doubt, wield the sheer force of Paula Vogel's How I Learned to Drive. Vogel, celebrated as both a playwright and a teacher of playwriting, won the Pulitzer Prize in 1998 for this look at the history of a woman and her uncle in a web of exploitation and defilement. It's a clearly written, nuanced, and immensely theatrical work — a narrative that Vogel seems to have built, deconstructed, then rearranged for maximum effect — and bringing it off demands well-considered acting and direction.

A recent study showed that women not only make up the bulk of ticket purchasers for plays, but they also form the majority of attendees. At first glance, Jack Heifner's Vanities (1976) appears to aim at the more frivolous side of this demographic. His play opens on three high school cheerleaders on Nov. 22, 1963. Their chief concern? Decorating the gym for a pep rally while gossiping about boys. Passive-aggressive Joanne (Sarah J. Gafgen) whines that if she couldn't be a cheerleader, she would die. Ditzy Mary (Alexis Newbauer)

Never dismiss the power of an excellent cast to supply some brio to a wan play. Good thing, too, because I can't imagine a so-so cast trying to bring off   the dated Steel Magnolias , whose characters often toss barbs that seem more scripted than natural. But at Bristol Riverside Theatre, where Steel Magnolias opened Thursday night, at least I found joy in watching superior acting. And not just that - superior ensemble acting. The story of six women living close-knit, hick-town lives takes place in a beauty shop, where the characters are almost always together during the four scenes spanning two acts.

AMC's The Killing , returning for its second season on April 1, has been called one of TV's most original murder mysteries. Its intricate story structure is unique, following a single murder case - the abduction and murder of high school student Rosie Larsen - over two 13-episode seasons. Its hero is one of a kind, an obsessive, monomaniacal, lone-wolf detective. But it isn't original at all: The Killing is a remake, a copy, of the Danish mystery Forbrydelsen (literally, "the crime")

Sesame Street Live: 1-2-3 Imagine! with Elmo and Friends is in town through Sunday at the Liacouras Center. The plot of the show begins with Sam delivering the mail to Sesame Street and sharing a secret that Elmo and his friends can go on an imaginary journey to visit their pen pals if they use their imagination. Ernie becomes captain of the Good Ship Rubber Duckie, and Elmo plays drums in an African rain forest. With the power of imagination, kids will learn from Elmo and his friends that they can fulfill their dreams by using their imagination.