Shock ’n’ Roll

Local theater director Joseph Benesh won't go so far as to say there’ll be nudity in the underground production The Bobo Theatre Project: A Lullaby Jubilee in 3 Acts, but he and his partners in aesthetic crime do hope to make people squirm in their seats. The Project is the product of a brainstorming session with Benesh’s old friend, New York playwright Matthew Keuter, and the end result is a concussive collision of words and music.

With his day job as theater manager for the Peoria Center for the Performing Arts, Benesh is helping to instigate a renaissance in Old Town Peoria, but his night job is what it’s all about. When asked about the theater revolution in downtown Phoenix, his voice quickens considerably, and he says, "The disparity between shock and fringe theater lies in the intelligence of the work and how accessible it is to the masses, but it's also the duty of media to recognize it and to be an outlet for information." (Whoa, brother. We say it's the public's responsibility to get off the couch.)

The band Sweetbleeders, featuring Robin Vining and artist Casey McKee, will provide the sounds.