Need plans? Here are our top picks for things to do in (and around) Phoenix this weekend.
2013 Summer Opening @ Scottsdale Museum of Contemporary Art The Scottsdale Museum of Contemporary Art's 2013 Summer Opening highlights three new exhibitions: "Learning to See," "Stocked: Contemporary Art from the Grocery Aisles," and "American Landscape and the Apocalyptic Sublime."
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Featured exhibit "Learning to See" explores artist Josef Albers' argument that colors influence other colors and can be truly understood only in the context of one another.
Photographer David Maisel's "American Landscape and the Apocalyptic Sublime" interprets large-scale images and mineral-based prints to guide the viewer through a transformation of the American West, appealing to issues of sustainability and urban sprawl.
Curated at SMoCA, "Stocked" relies on 16 artists to examine the human relationship with the mundane chore of grocery shopping, from grocery lists by Adriane Herman to Sonny Assu's reinterpretation of cereal boxes.
Join the festivities from 7 to 9 p.m. Friday, May 31, at 7374 East Second Street. Admission is free. A cash bar is available, and Djentrification performs in the SMoCA Lounge. All exhibits remain on view into September. Visit www.smoca.org or call 480-874-4666. -- Janessa Hilliard
Side Show @ Phoenix Theatre There's no denying that society has a fascination with the unusual. From the original red-and-white-striped tents to the circus that is now reality television, people can't pass up the opportunity to watch little people operating a tractors, hillbillies competing in beauty pageants, and conjoined twins tackling the day-to-day ups and downs of high school.
But before Abby & Brittany (and the backward antics of reality TV), there were Daisy and Violet Hilton. The conjoined sisters made their fame in the Great Depression era, taking their vaudeville act from Europe to America and ultimately the big screen. Based on their incredible true story, Side Show, directed by Damon Dering, is a play told almost entirely song that details the lives of two women whose bondage was both a blessing and a curse.
The show runs through Saturday, June 8, at Phoenix Theatre, 100 East McDowell Road. Showtime is 7:30 p.m. Friday, May 31. General admission costs $26 via www.phoenixtheatre.com or by calling 602-254-2151. -- Katie Johnson
"3CarPileUp" @ Modified Arts Don't bother to Google 3CarPileUp. Two reasons why: The search engine won't totally get it, and if you've paid any attention to Phoenix's art scene in the past couple decades, then you're already familiar with its members. Randy Slack, James Angel, and David Dauncey founded the artist collective in the late '90s. And, as stalwarts of Phoenix's downtown art scene, their new work is always worth a look.
Art fiends have a chance to do just that, as the threesome presents fresh pieces in the group exhibition "3CarPileUp" at Modified Arts through Saturday, June 15. The show also features an animated video installation from Perry Allen.
The free exhibition is open from noon to 4 p.m. on Saturday, June 1, at 407 East Roosevelt Street. Visit www.modifiedarts.org or call 602-462-5516. -- Becky Bartkowski
National Theatre Live: This House @ Phoenix Art Museum We are suckers for drama -- housewives drama, runway drama, and anything with hair-pulling and/or name-calling -- and you can bet your ass-like behavior that our eyes will be glued.
But our absolute favorite source of drama? The government, of course.
In James Graham's acclaimed play, This House, we follow the manipulative lives of Britain's most corrupt members of Parliament as they bend the rules and sever ties in a struggle for power behind the scenes of Westminster in 1974.
Recorded live at the National Theatre in London and presented at the Phoenix Art Museum, 1625 North Central Avenue, this show screens at 1 p.m. Saturday, June 1, and at 2 p.m. on Sunday, June 2. General admission tickets are $18. Museum members pay $15. Call 602-257-1222 or visit www.phxart.org. -- Katie Johnson
The Breakfast Club Screening @ FilmBar What do you get when you combine five teenagers from five different walks of life in one room for eight hours 28 years ago? Only the most notable and quintessential high school movie of its time. What do you get when you play that movie at an artfully decorated downtown watering hole? You get a showing of The Breakfast Club at FilmBar in Phoenix.
Director and writer John Hughes' movie spoke to a generation of lost suburbanites struggling to find their identity and self-worth during Saturday detention. The five delinquents struggle with diversity, but eventually form a common bond against blind authority. Throw in cell phones, skinny jeans, and music with wobbly bass instead of synthesizer, and it would fit right into today's generation of post-pubescence.
Don't you forget about this screening, which takes place at 2 p.m. Sunday, June 2, at 815 North Second Street. Tickets are $8. Visit www.thefilmbarphx.com or call 602-595-9187. -- Craig Smith
