Email Author Robrt L. Pela

2002 Stories by Robrt L. Pela

• Love Stinks

  published May 30, 2002

  With some effort, I remained awake throughout Theater Works' production of Triumph of Love the other night. The lucky ladies on my left,... More >>

• Duke's Up

  published May 23, 2002

  Idon't know that I've seen a show all season that I've enjoyed as much as Sophisticated Ladies, which is currently whirling its way... More >>

• The Wright Thing

  published May 16, 2002

  Historical biographies are a tough sell. They must either entertain us with the fascinating story of a famous person, or tell us something new and... More >>

• Marriage of Inconvenience

  published May 9, 2002

  About half an hour into the Actors Theatre of Phoenix production of Dinner With Friends, my theater companion leaned over and whispered,... More >>

• Self Pleasure

  published May 2, 2002

  I'm old enough to remember when performance art was considered a new form, back when truly hip people spent weekend nights in renovated warehouses... More >>

• Bust in the Dust

  published April 25, 2002

  Although I spent two and a half hours looking at it the other night, I'm not entirely sure what Ramona is meant to be. I can tell you what... More >>

• Fright Path

  published April 25, 2002

  On a stark set dressed only with a nondescript console and a couple of chairs, three actors read verbatim transcripts from cockpit voice recorders... More >>

• Comedy of Errors

  published April 18, 2002

  I suppose I'll eventually recover from having seen Ensemble Theatre's production of Durang/ Durang. In the meantime, I'll continue to lie... More >>

• Tennessee Waltz

  published April 11, 2002

  There are rich rewards in even the most routine presentation of Tennessee Williams' 1944 classic The Glass Menagerie. Phoenix Theatre's... More >>

• Performance Peace

  published April 11, 2002

  Just weeks before the September 11 attacks on America, performance artist Jeff McMahon relocated to Tempe. "I had lived just below 14th Street in... More >>

• Without Reservation

  published April 4, 2002

  Fully Committed is a play about conversations: Truncated, maddening, sometimes amusing conversations -- the kind we all have every day with... More >>

• Narrow Space

  published March 28, 2002

  It's little wonder that Nearly Naked Theatre's Damon Dering has wanted to produce The King of Infinite Space for more than a decade. Andrew... More >>

• Troupe 'n' Sandwich

  published March 21, 2002

  It's Tuesday, and I'm standing outside City Hall, lying to strangers. "I'm going to the Lunch Time Theater program at the Herberger," I tell a... More >>

• Fly Me to the Croons

  published March 7, 2002

  It was a Sinatra crowd that took their seats last Friday night at Phoenix Theatre for a second-week performance of My Way, a tribute to the... More >>

• Salvation Army

  published February 28, 2002

  From the moment one enters Stage West at the Herberger, Black Theatre Troupe's production of The Gospel at Colonus grabs one's coattails... More >>

• Brown Out

  published February 14, 2002

  The barrio boys of Culture Clash's The Mission wanna give it up for Latino culture. If only someone will let them. The ersatz Culture Clash... More >>

• Counter Espionage

  published February 7, 2002

  Where the Big Apple is concerned, Laurie Anderson's work has often had an eerie prescience about it. In an Encyclopedia Britannica essay on... More >>

• Sundaes With Wall-Boy

  published February 7, 2002

  It's 11 in the morning, and I'm thinking about hot fudge. Surrounded by people who are eating banana splits and brownies à la mode, I've... More >>

• Character Sketchy

  published January 31, 2002

  Actors Theatre of Phoenix has taken another artistic risk that pays off in spite of itself. The company's production of actor/author John... More >>

• Three Times a Lady

  published January 24, 2002

  Frank Kopyc's performance as Eliza Doolittle's loutish father is one of many treats in Arizona Theater Company's production of My Fair... More >>