Email Author Robrt L. Pela

2011 Stories by Robrt L. Pela

• Modified Arts' Transition Leaves Future Uncertain for Roosevelt Row

  published July 21, 2011

  It's a hot, muggy July night — and still they come. A crowd of hundreds of mostly young adults, flashing acres of tattoos and ironic... More >>

• Desert Stages' Hairspray Holds Strong

  published July 21, 2011

  Mark O'Donnell and Thomas Meehan's Hairspray is, I've decided, made of Teflon. It would appear that nothing can hurt this oft-produced... More >>

• Perry Allen's Phoenix, Appropriated Examines the Valley's Evolution

  published July 14, 2011

  My friend David and I are driving through downtown Phoenix on a Tuesday afternoon. I point to a gorgeous, frescoed façade as we whiz... More >>

• Refugee Community Training Garden Welcomes 10 Families from Bhutan and Burma

  published June 30, 2011

  I am walking through rows of radishes and kale in the two-acre refugee garden at the corner of 39th Avenue and Dunlap, and my tour guide, a... More >>

• The Golden Girls at Gay Bar the Rock Is In Desperate Need of a Laugh Track

  published June 23, 2011

  As we were leaving for a matinee this past Sunday, my spouse said to me, "This has got to be the low point in your career." It was hard to... More >>

• Surviving Another Summer in Phoenix

  published June 16, 2011

  A couple of years ago, a friend and I made a pact: We would pass an entire summer without once complaining about the heat. Each of us met our... More >>

• Eating Raoul: The Musical Packs Us Full of Over-Actors

  published June 9, 2011

  Paul Bartel's musicalization of his 1982 black comedy, Eating Raoul, is a blast. This is an excellent example of a musical theater... More >>

• Park Lee Apartments Get a Little Rehab Love

  published June 2, 2011

  Another nice old building was coming down. That's what I thought when I noticed that the Park Lee Apartments were fenced off late last... More >>

• Cannibal Run

  published June 2, 2011

  Super-square aspiring restaurateurs Paul and Mary Bland are broke. Rather than applying for a loan or mortgaging their house to raise money, they... More >>

• Abraham Lincoln's Big Gay Dance Party Is as Bad as It Sounds

  published May 26, 2011

  My friend Ruth Beaumont often says, "If the play is boring, you can always just stare at the stage décor." Unfortunately for me, the set... More >>

• Michael Goodwin's Architecture Was Green Before the Movement

  published May 19, 2011

  The week after he died, I kept bumping into Michael Kemper Goodwin everywhere I went. At a studio visit with the artist Jason Hill, I... More >>

• Outside the Box

  published May 19, 2011

  Ghost children. Failing marriages. Dying parents. The women playwrights who penned the emotionally charged contemporary works making up Arizona... More >>

• Arizona Theater Company's The Mystery of Irma Vep Is Victorian Melodrama at Its Funniest

  published May 12, 2011

  You know the economy's in the toilet when the state's largest professional theater is presenting a rerun. The Mystery of Irma Vep, the... More >>

• Holiday Party

  published May 12, 2011

  Inside a dimly lit jazz club, a lone pianist plunks the keys of an old Baldwin upright before launching into Woodrow Johnson's “I Wonder... More >>

• No One Walks in Phoenix

  published May 5, 2011

  I was recently in Ohio, where my plans included taking a walk in the snow. It would, I announced to anyone who listened, clear my head and... More >>

• Hangers On

  published May 5, 2011

  Joan Crawford had a rather infamous reputation, although it wasn’t for her acting skills. Sure, she won an Oscar for her... More >>

• Phoenix Theatre's Nine Might Just Be a 10

  published April 28, 2011

  In Venice, I've looked for evidence of movies I've seen that are set there. I'm always peeking into shop windows, looking for the timepiece... More >>

• Scottsdale's Soleri Bridge Is a Testament to the Artist -- But It Ain't Perfect

  published April 21, 2011

  I could have lived happily never having seen downtown Scottsdale's Soleri Bridge, which was completed and dedicated late last year. I'd put off... More >>

• Feet of Strength

  published April 21, 2011

  Perhaps you are a motherless British boy who has traded a pair of boxing gloves for some lovely ballet shoes. Maybe your personal struggle --... More >>

• Lenin's Embalmers Is Dead on Arrival at Theatre Artists Studio

  published April 14, 2011

  I have seen Theatre Artists Studio's Lenin's Embalmers, and, oh, the wisecracks I could make about dead comedies and performances by... More >>

• Southern Gothic

  published April 14, 2011

  Boo Radley is back -- and he’s celebrating his 51st birthday. It’s been more than a half-century since Harper Lee first... More >>

• Against All Oz

  published April 14, 2011

  Those who prefer their movie star bios to be all about tragedy might not enjoy Judy: The Musical -- From Gumm to Garland, since it chronicles the... More >>

• Let It Roll Bowl Keeps Knockin' 'Em Over in Sunnyslope

  published April 7, 2011

  I've been bowling exactly twice. Both times were when I was a kid, and my prevailing memory of the event is my horror at having to wear rented... More >>

• Top Secret

  published April 7, 2011

  Jo Masterson is just trying to establish a law practice; she’s not interested in plumbing the depths of the true meaning of love. But her... More >>

• Creature Feature

  published April 7, 2011

  Artist David Kroll’s paintings explore the relationship between humanity and nature. In hyper-realistic, oil-on-linen paintings (often... More >>