As utopian visions go, the one William Penn had for Philadelphia was remarkable in its beauty and simplicity. The same can be said for New Paradise Laboratories' Penn-inspired Rrose Selavy Takes a Lover in Philadelphia, an amazing new work premiering at the Fringe Festival.

Aesthetically similar to Marcel Duchamp's Nude Descending a Staircase, No. 2, Rrose portrays gender as something quietly fluid, like a gentle stream that flows between the characters and into a reflecting pool.

The third part of the Rrose triangle (after Penn and Duchamp) is Philadelphia's sister city Paris. In one of the most memorable images ever to appear on a Fringe stage, a representation of Paris appears in the form of a man/woman as lovely, elegant and mysterious as the piece itself. It is a vision of a memory, an image that is both from the past and of the moment.

Like its three inspirations, Rrose is gritty, playful, ethereal and remarkably beautiful. Flawless in almost every regard, Rrose is creative video technology interacting with innovative movement.

In this astonishing display of the possibilities of theater, director Whit MacLaughlin and his ensemble show the past, present and future of Philadelphia as a single cell--a living, breathing entity that exists now beneath our feet and eternally in our hearts and minds.