This year's Live Arts Festival/Philly Fringe opens Friday with a pioneering idea that could become a model for new work, a project far outlasting the festival's two-plus weeks of cutting-edge, oddball, occasionally thought-provoking, and sometimes brilliant performances.
With major grants, an expanded new space in Northern Liberties, and a determined leader, the festival is tackling research and development - a concept generally associated with new drugs and new cars, but not new works of art.