Email Author Robrt L. Pela

2005 Stories by Robrt L. Pela

• What's It All About, Alfie?

  published October 13, 2005

  There are so many reasons Desert Stages Theatre's production of A Man of No Importance shouldn't work: the cramped quarters of the... More >>

• How to Be an Actor in Five Easy Steps

  published October 13, 2005

  1. Start out as a more-than-slightly neurotic child, perhaps with a nervous tic or a speech impediment -- or at least as a kid whose... More >>

• Called on the Red Carpet

  published October 6, 2005

  The road to stardom may be paved with some kind of intentions, but Lisa Murray's was slick with hand lotion. The Scottsdale publisher's assistant... More >>

• Dem Quixote

  published September 29, 2005

  Jim Pederson is a consummate politician: He's rich, well-connected, and not above pointing fingers at the opposition. He's also quite dull -- or,... More >>

• Taste Maker

  published September 29, 2005

  Tammie Coe, 35, makes the cake. We discovered her amazing, fondant-covered creations in the dessert case at La Grande Orange, and pretty soon they... More >>

• Maiden Heaven

  published September 22, 2005

  While everyone in town is wetting their pants over the new Mesa Arts Center, the truly exciting news in local theater this week is taking place in... More >>

• Ron May, Director

  published September 22, 2005

  By day, Ron May is Audience Services Director for Actors Theatre -- whatever that means. The rest of the time he's a dramatic triple threat: actor... More >>

• Frank, Speaking

  published September 15, 2005

  It's nearly as difficult to get an interview with one of the 500-plus New Orleans evacuees housed at Veterans' Memorial Coliseum as it is to get... More >>

• The Shipping News

  published September 8, 2005

  You don't need to mow down a Wal-Mart employee or kidnap a teenager and force her into prostitution to make headlines in Phoenix. Just ask Jose... More >>

• Room for Improvement

  published September 8, 2005

  I was baffled when Nearly Naked Theatre announced earlier this year that it planned to open its season with Scott McPherson's Marvin's... More >>

• Production Numbers

  published September 8, 2005

  One can only guess at what the new theater season holds. And because speculating about theater, at least in Phoenix, is often more entertaining... More >>

• Breast of Intentions

  published September 1, 2005

  There are two things Amy Milliron wants you to know: First of all, she did not expose herself while breast-feeding her baby in public recently.... More >>

• Raise the Nylon Curtain

  published September 1, 2005

  Somehow, there's nothing offensive about, say, Barry Manilow's oeuvre being transformed into a big, shiny musical. In fact, it just plain made... More >>

• Give Her Liberty

  published August 25, 2005

  Freethinkers and activists across the Valley have been wringing their hands ever since the American Civil Liberties Union of Arizona announced... More >>

• Is It Over Yet?

  published August 25, 2005

  It will take the average reader about three minutes to read this newspaper column in which I, a person who is paid to share my opinion, will... More >>

• The Girl Who Wouldn't Grow Up

  published August 25, 2005

  Fans are forever hassling Judy Rollings, director of the Herberger Theater Center's Performance Outreach department as well as its Lunch Time... More >>

• Out on a Limb

  published August 18, 2005

  Attention, shoppers: You can forget about parking in the shade, at least when you're headed for Metrocenter. Despite Karen Bauernschmidt's best... More >>

• Struck Dumb

  published August 11, 2005

  It's silly, and a little bit sad, the way that Phoenicians crowd around to watch a summer rainstorm. Packed onto front porches, posted at windows,... More >>

• No Wonder

  published August 11, 2005

  Before I tell you why and how very much I hated Theater League's The Wonder Bread Years, allow me to explain that this is a show I was born... More >>

• Good Grief

  published August 11, 2005

  Plenty of things piss me off. Bad grammar. Ugly architecture. Friends who let their dog hump my leg. Weather. People. But the item at the... More >>

• Pardon Me

  published August 4, 2005

  Late last month, U.S. Immigration Judge John W. Richardson was expected to announce deportation dates for the Wilson Four, the former Wilson... More >>

• Bachelor Number One

  published July 28, 2005

  Good news, girls. Apparently, mankind has at long last passed through that era where guys only wanted to get laid and have someone cook for them.... More >>

• Tale As Old As Time

  published July 28, 2005

  Disney's Beauty and the Beast is exactly the kind of entertainment I deplore: a corporate-inspired translation of a cutie-pie musical... More >>

• She's a little teapot

  published July 28, 2005

  Kelli James, Broadway's first-ever Eponine in the original production of Les Misérables, is here among us. Tired of living out of a... More >>

• Bar None

  published July 21, 2005

  Screw Willy Wonka. Colin Redding is our very own chocolate wizard, a man with his own candy factory who's willing to make a 40-foot dildo out of... More >>