Email Author Robrt L. Pela

2009 Stories by Robrt L. Pela

• D'oh, Pioneers!

  published October 8, 2009

  Apparently, the Pilgrims did more than wear buckle shoes and funny hats and forge friendships with Native Americans. Who were they, exactly,... More >>

• The Truth is Out There

  published October 8, 2009

  National Coming Out Day is an annual opportunity for gay people who have been pretending to be heterosexual to stop lying about themselves and... More >>

• In Stray Cat Theater’s Blackbird, David Vining Inspires Sympathy

  published October 1, 2009

  David Vining is many things: theater director, dialect coach, university professor. In Stray Cat Theater's new production of Blackbird,... More >>

• Sun Angel

  published October 1, 2009

  The word “hero” is too often bandied about, but when distinguished author Jon Krakauer (Into the Wild, Into Thin Air) writes a... More >>

• Wicked Web

  published September 24, 2009

  The good news is that the theater season has officially commenced. The better news is that Stray Cat Theatre is kicking things off with David... More >>

• Here's Hoping Desert Stages Continues to Reinvent, Katie McFadzen Appears on Stage, and Our Other Theatrical Dreams Come True

  published September 17, 2009

  If, as the saying goes, no news is good news, then this year's theater season is nothing but good news. Great news, in fact, for those of us who... More >>

• Rockin' Rock Art

  published September 17, 2009

  Although its title suggests that architect Will Bruder has either branched out into science fiction or has flipped his award-winning lid,... More >>

• Rose Red

  published September 10, 2009

  The Wallachs have a problem. The fact that their teenaged daughter, Rose, is rebelling is certainly no surprise; what teenager doesn’t?... More >>

• For Kooky Krafts Shop Proprietor Beatrice Moore, the Hardest Part About Selling Mutant Piñatas Is Saying Goodbye

  published September 3, 2009

  Beatrice Moore is feeling a little anxious. As the September 4 opening of her Kooky Krafts Shop draws near, she's worried not that no one will... More >>

• Midlife: The Crisis Musical’s Jokes Seem a Little Old

  published September 3, 2009

  The funniest thing I saw the other night at Broadway Palm Dinner Theatre wasn't up on stage, but rather in the men's room. As I stood in the... More >>

• Heaven-Eleven

  published September 3, 2009

  This is what we’ve come to: In order to have worship happen, it must be made convenient. Church attendance is down; prayer meetings... More >>

• Civil Rites

  published September 3, 2009

  Former Phoenix mayor Terry Goddard will undoubtedly be reminding us in the near future that it was he who finally managed to revitalize our... More >>

• Shock Jock Itch

  published August 27, 2009

  You’re a loser who can’t sleep, so what do you do? Listen to the nighttime shock jock on your local AM station. You listen just long... More >>

• Psychic Sally Knows Why People Choose to Live Next Door to Businesses

  published August 27, 2009

  I went to a psychic the other day. Not because I happen to believe that there are people who can see into the future or can tell you the... More >>

• Does Nearly Naked Theatre's Rent Live Up to the Musical's Hype?

  published August 20, 2009

  I'm not a big Rent fan. I know: It's a musical theater milestone; it single-handedly revived the sung-through musical; its monster success... More >>

• Female Trouble

  published August 20, 2009

  David Mamet has been rather widely referred to as a misogynist, and Theatre Artists Studio has set out to consider the question. With David... More >>

• Strange Fruit

  published August 20, 2009

  It’s messy, this Tomatina festival. Not the one being celebrated at Flamenco! . . . the Studio on Saturday, August 22, but rather the... More >>

• Multiple Architectural Styles Aren't the Only Mysteries at Chelsey Park

  published August 13, 2009

  It's a wonder I haven't driven off the road and straight into a lamppost by now. I've spent my entire adult life craning my neck at passing... More >>

• The Tao of Sheriff Joe

  published August 13, 2009

  If anything good has come from Sheriff Joe’s tyranny, it’s the art being created in response. The latest creative commentary to... More >>

• Musical Theater That Doesn't Suck

  published August 13, 2009

  Mimi is a drug-addicted whore. Roger is a rocker. Angel is a drag queen. Perhaps most shocking of all, Angel’s boyfriend is a former MIT... More >>

• Aperio Productions' bare: A Musical at Playhouse in the Park Inspires Rock-Show Applause

  published August 6, 2009

  Even if the largely teenage cast of bare: A Musical hadn't succeeded in really selling this rather stunning story of naughty Catholic... More >>

• Soup Opera

  published August 6, 2009

  Don’t tell Los Angeles -- they’ll be pissed -- but there’s a new documentary that details the ways in which its modern-art scene... More >>

• Greek Ruins: Architecture by Frank Lloyd Wright's Disciples — As Well As Ralph Haver, Kemper Goodwin, John Sing Tang, and Edward L. Varney — May Soon Be History, Thanks to Arizona State University

  published July 30, 2009

  This is a story in which something marvelous happens. It's a story about how, not long ago, a bunch of bright, talented people came together to... More >>

• Brother's Keeper

  published July 30, 2009

  There’s loss, then there’s the childhood loss of a sibling, which, according to filmmaker Perry Allen, comes with peculiar... More >>

• Desert Stages’ Jekyll and Hyde Is a Monstrously Powerful Performance

  published July 23, 2009

  Terry Helland, director of Desert Stages Theatre's Jekyll and Hyde, took the stage just before curtain. "This show is the most difficult... More >>