Email Author Robrt L. Pela

2003 Stories by Robrt L. Pela

• Pro-Choice Misgivings

  published June 5, 2003

  Jacqueline Gaston arrives early in act two of Is What It Is Theatre's production of Critic's Choice, and her presence is like a breath of... More >>

• Rio Bravo

  published June 5, 2003

  He's charming, super-intelligent, and he makes a better bouillabaisse than you do. He's 11-year-old chef Rio Bowerman, a gourmet kid with a... More >>

• Glad to Have the Blues

  published May 22, 2003

  Black Theatre Troupe has scored another hit with its all-around pleasant production of Blues in the Night at the Herberger Theater Center.... More >>

• Jewdunnit?

  published May 22, 2003

  A couple of hours before the curtain went up on opening night of Parade, a publicist from Theater Works phoned to say that that evening's... More >>

• Reality Bites

  published May 22, 2003

  He, like, didn't get laid while the cameras were rolling, but dude! Matt Slenske did get totally baked in The Real Cancun, the world's... More >>

• Cough Link

  published May 15, 2003

  ShariAnne Fischer needs your help. Her husband, Daved, has end-stage emphysema and, if he doesn't have lung reduction surgery in the next several... More >>

• The Pursuit of Happiness

  published May 8, 2003

  Anyone doubting that Latino theater has proven itself a worthy subgenre need look no further than last month's Pulitzers. Nilo Cruz,... More >>

• Belly Jelly

  published May 8, 2003

  The heck with lap dancing. Tara Eivers, owner of Sinbad's restaurant in Tempe, has the jump on the next hot trend in entertainment. Several nights... More >>

• Positive Spin

  published May 1, 2003

  Spinning Into Butter is an Important Play, one of those that are lauded practically from their first curtain call for being brave and smart... More >>

• Don of the Dead

  published May 1, 2003

  Ol' Blue Eyes is history, but Ol' Brown Eyes -- a.k.a. The Don -- is with us still. You'll find him every weekend in the Marriott Camelback Inn's... More >>

• Lynch Burg

  published April 24, 2003

  Those of us who haven't endured small-town life or anyone who believes that hate crimes aren't high on the list of human failings will want to see... More >>

• Plenty Funny

  published April 24, 2003

  I attended high school with some terrifically horrible people. Imagine my dismay at discovering several of them on ASU's main stage last week --... More >>

• See Dick Play

  published April 24, 2003

  Most of us who have them get smacked for playing with our dicks in public. But onetime show-biz agent Simon Morley has made an art of pulling his... More >>

• What a Rack

  published April 17, 2003

  Jim Geary is a man of letters. Tiny, embossed letters, printed on smooth wooden tiles. Geary is one of the world's preeminent Scrabble players, a... More >>

• Classical Gasbag

  published April 10, 2003

  Amadeus is a smartly written, clever character piece that spins the life of Mozart into a demented bedtime story as told by the great... More >>

• Dentist the Menace

  published April 10, 2003

  Peppermint Patty would be horrified. Lucy would scream bloody murder. But Charlie Brown is here to save the day from evil dentists who are filling... More >>

• Way Out West

  published April 3, 2003

  There's theater, and there's great theater, and Dirty Blonde – though enlivened by excellent performances and Arizona Theatre Company'... More >>

• Taxi Drivers

  published March 27, 2003

  If there's a flaw in August Wilson's Jitney, it's that it bends the rule that says there are no easy resolutions in modern drama. Wilson,... More >>

• Reality Patsy

  published March 27, 2003

  She's talented. She's hopeful. She's from Phoenix. And she might very well be the next voice you hear in country music, if the USA Network has... More >>

• Monster Mish-Mash

  published March 20, 2003

  I've often admired playwright Michael Grady's work, and Nearly Naked Theatre has staged some of the best theater I've seen in the last couple of... More >>

• Family Jewels

  published March 20, 2003

  You can't take it with you, but you can have it made into a sparkly hat pin – and Scottsdale businessman Bill Sefton can prove it. After hi... More >>

• Mining Cole

  published March 13, 2003

  About 45 minutes into Phoenix Theatre's Cole, members of the cast fall into a superb jazz ballet that elevates the production from what it... More >>

• State of Emergency

  published March 13, 2003

  When Phoenix Memorial Hospital recently shuttered its emergency room, tongues began wagging that the national epidemic of ER closures had arrived... More >>

• The Love Mug

  published March 6, 2003

  You don't know this, but it's your eyebrows that are holding you back. Probably the size of your nose is keeping you from getting that promotion... More >>

• Fountain of Youth

  published February 27, 2003

  No one can accuse Kenneth Lonergan of romanticizing the dilemmas of deluded, self-destructive rich kids. His This Is Our Youth is a gritty,... More >>