Don't let the working week get you down, Phoenix. There's plenty to do during your off-hours this week. Here are our top five recommendations.
Beers with Friends Scrabble Party @ Handlebar Real talk. We play what probably would be classified as an excessive amount of Words with Friends. We love those triple word squares, picking up a "Q," and toiling to come up with killer plays. But, the Scrabble knockoff app doesn't live up to the real deal and often leaves us craving physical letter tiles and keeping manual score.
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To satisfy such a hankering, the cure resides at Tempe establishment Handlebar, which hosts the weekly Beers with Friends Scrabble Party. The booze-fueled tourney pits against each other teams of four and rewards gift cards, beers, and French fries for making special plays and winning.
Get your (word) game on Mondays at 7 p.m. There's no cover. Call 480-967-5244. -- Becky Bartkowski
Workaholics Half-Christmas Party @ Tempe Improv Why should the most wonderful time of the year be celebrated just once? Whether you're a fan of Comedy Central's Workaholics or someone who simply loves joy, no one can deny that Christmas in the middle of the summer is the best idea since the half-birthday.
This month, Tempe Improv and Comedy Central are teaming up to bring you a Half-Christmas Party with Blake, Adam and Ders' stamp of approval. This juxtaposed holiday party will give guests the chance to sport their holiday attire, play games, and mingle with other Workaholics fans, win prizes, and possibly partake in some Keg-Nog libations.
Remember, even though your boss doesn't recognize Half-Christmas as a real holiday, that doesn't mean you can't.
The Half-Christmas celebrations kick off at 8 p.m. Tuesday, June 25, at Tempe Improv, 930 East University Drive. Tickets are $2 for this 21-and-over event. The first 100 guests will receive a special Half-Christmas shirt. Call 480-921-9877 or visit www.tempeimprovaz.com. -- Katie Johnson
Sister Act @ Gammage Auditorium The 1970s are popular in a way they haven't been since the first time around. (Back in the '70s, the '70s were everywhere you looked.) Is it cause or effect that Sister Act the stage musical is set in that synthetic, lapel-spanning era? Either way, the sense of nostalgic innocence helps an audience get into the fun, and so does a score full of tunes by Alan Menken (The Little Mermaid, Beauty and the Beast). If that doesn't make up for chanteuse-turned-nun Deloris Van Cartier failing to teach the sisters any Motown girl-group hits, as she did in the 1992 Whoopi Goldberg film -- well, you'll always have Netflix.
Catch the old-is-new spectacular, fresh from its 2011 Broadway debut, through Sunday, June 30, at Gammage Auditorium, 1200 South Forest Avenue in Tempe. Wednesday, June 26's curtain is at 7:30 p.m. and seats start at $20 before fees at www.ticketmaster.com or 800-982-2787. -- Julie Peterson
Dan Mintz @ Stand Up Live For an unknown period of time, we were under the impression that comedians Dan Mintz and Nathan Fielder were one and the same. If you are familiar with both dark-haired jokesters known for their froggy deadpan delivery, then you know that they are voice twins and probably forgive us. Otherwise here's this: Mintz currently (and hilariously) voices tween Tina Belcher on Fox's Bob's Burgers, a show Nathan Fielder has guest-starred on. In hopes of sparing us further aural bamboozlement, it should be noted that Mintz speaks in his natural voice when playing Tina; it's not something he puts on for comedic effect.
His onstage persona is strikingly similar to that of the 13-year-old bespectacled cartoon in that both are mega-awkward and have a penchant for dropping inappropriate, bizarre truth bombs. So expect a string of non-sequiturs, uncomfortable tales, and strange observations from the comedian when he performs at Stand Up Live, 50 West Jefferson Street. Tickets are $15 to the Thursday, June 27, performance, which starts at 8 p.m. The 18-and-over show has a two-drink minimum per person. Visit www.standuplive.com or call 480-719-6100. -- Becky Bartkowski
Ziggy Stardust and the Spiders from Mars Screening @ FilmBar "When the kids had killed the man I had to break up the band," David Bowie laments.
The line, from "Ziggy Stardust," captures the dichotomy between the man behind the music and the "man" who was a direct result of it. Bowie's Ziggy, an alien messiah, comes to earth to warn of its impending doom and instead falls victim to an insatiable rock 'n' roll lifestyle -- one that proved too self-destructive for the real-life Bowie.
And so, in a self-fulfilling prophecy, break up the band he did, on July 3, 1973, at the Hammersmith Odeon in London. The full concert is captured in the documentary, Ziggy Stardust and the Spiders from Mars: The Motion Picture, which comes to FilmBar for a one-night-only showing, presented by The Unfathomable Film Freakout.
The 21-and-over screening starts at 8 p.m. Friday, June 28, at 815 North Second Street. Tickets are $8. Call 602-595-9187 or visit thefilmbarphx.com. -- Janessa Hilliard
