Clarice Taylor, best-known for playing Grandma Huxtable on TV's "Cosby Show," finishes up the scheduled run of her new, one-person show, Spermegga, in Philadelphia July 3. A look at a young woman journeying into womanhood, the show premiered at Philadelphia's Freedom Theatre June 16, after starting previews June 11. Upcoming for the show is a national tour whose itinerary is currently being planned.

Freedom artistic director Walter Dallas directed the comedy/drama, which plays at the Painted Bride Arts Center. (While Freedom Theatre continues its major construction project, it has to continue renting out other spaces for its mainstage projects.) Taylor scored a regional hit with another solo, that one about trailblazing comedienne Moms Mabley.

Also on the front burner for Freedom Theatre is a new musical, Sparkle, undergoing a two-week workshop process, culminating in a presentation July 1. Walter Dallas is directing the piece, adapted by Ntozake Shange from the Warner Brothers film of the same name. Sparkle looks at three sisters hoping to make it big in R&B in 1950s Harlem. Evan Solot is the music director/arranger for the piece, to be choreographed by Patricia Scott Hobbs.

The Sparkle presentation takes place at the Large Auditorium of the Community College of Philadelphia, July 1 at 7 PM. For information call (215) 978-8497.

-- by David Lefkowitz