[ theater ]

A hit in last year's New York Fringe Festival, Tom Jacobson's The Twentieth-Century Way receives its Philly première at Walking Fish Theatre in the brief August lull before Philly's own Fringe begins — so there's no excuse not to see this raw and riveting psychological drama. Thomas Raniszewski and Peter Andrew Danzig play actors hired by police to bait gay men in public restrooms — which actually happened in 1914 Long Beach, Calif. "It's about those people in hiding who would think nothing of betraying their own kind in order to save their own skin," says Raniszewski, "and it deals heavily with our ability to be manipulative and controlling to get what we personally desire." Though some might shy away, the play's intense and demanding sexual scenes, including nudity, didn't scare off these actors. Gushes Raniszewski, "It's the ride of a lifetime."

Through Aug. 20, $18, Walking Fish Theatre, 2509 Frankford Ave., 215-427-9255, bsomeday.org.