Programs and Events
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The Voyage of the Beetle
October 12, 2009
The Voyage of the Beetle is one man’s inspired tribute to Charles Darwin and the wonders of our natural world.
Award-winning performer Brett Keyser has been commissioned by the APS Museum to create—in story and humorous song—the tale of Charles Darwin’s life-altering trip to the Galapagos Islands aboard the good ship HMS Beagle. Darwin’s first book, The Voyage of the Beagle, recounted his adventures there.
In tattered top hat and Beau Brummelesque turquoise Victorian tailcoat, Keyser travels the streets of Philadelphia in a tricked out VW Beetle adorned with a giant coleoptera (phylum: anthropoda/class: insecta) on top.
At every stop, this guitar-playing wandering troubadour emerges to engage accidental audiences with songs of natural selection, survival of the fittest, and the grandeur of Darwin’s theory.
To learn about Darwinii: The Comeuppance of Man, a new play written by Glen Berger and performed by Brett Keyser click here.
Look out for the Voyage of the Beetle between 12 and 2 p.m. around the following locations
(The locations are subject to change. For up-to-the-minute locations, check out our Twitter page):
Oct. 12
2nd & Market; 3rd & Arch; 3rd & Chestnut; 2nd St. south of Girard; 8th & Market; 5th & Chestnut
Oct. 13
Temple area: Temple U. Bell Tower between 12th & 13th on Berks; Cecil B. Moore & Broad
Oct. 14
Love Park; City Hall; Rittenhouse Square
Oct. 15-17
Voyage cancelled
Oct. 18
no Voyage
Oct. 19
South Philly/Italian Market/Society Hill: 9th & Federal; 9th & Washington; 9th & Christian; 9th & South; East on South Street to 2nd; South (Headhouse Square) to 2nd & Pine; West on Pine to 4th and North to Chestnut
Oct. 20
Temple University: 12th & Cecil to Broad; Broad and Mont; 12th & Mont; 12th & Berks; 13th & Berks (Bell Tower outside library); Tyler building at 12th/13th & Norris
Oct. 21
University City/Penn/Drexel: 40th & Walnut, through park to pedestrian bridge btw Walnut/Spruce to Locust Walk pathways; Walnut & 36th to 36th & Chesnut; East to 33rd & Chestnut through Drexel campus; 30th & Chestnut to 30th & Walnut (outside World Cafe Live)
Oct. 22
Philadelphia’s Magic Gardens (1020 South St.) and continues east on South St.
Oct. 23
Old City/Northern Liberties: 2nd & Chestnut; 2nd & Poplar; 5th & Market East; 2nd & Market
additional date:
Oct. 28
Reading Terminal Market, Market East Station
Clip of Brett Keyser’s Voyage performance (from The Clog)
