While we’ve sworn off purchasing new technology until it can synthesize sandwiches, we’re heartened to know that artists are pushing the boundaries that will almost get us there. The Generative Art lecture and film as part of the “Materialize” exhibition at the Shemer Art Center is Thursday, November 20.Max Chandler…

Fat Albert and the Junkyard Gang’s improvised instrument jams were always the bomb, and their spirit of ingenuity will be taken to new heights during the Epic Maker Instrumental Challenge on Saturday, November 22.DIY music org Oh My Ears throws down the gauntlet for musical innovation by having contestants create…

If you’re over chancing the First Friday chaos hoping to take in the best new work of young local artists, you should know that Third Friday is a lot more conducive to absorbing art and you can’t do better than Modified Arts. The Roosevelt Row mainstay’s opening reception for the…

We can’t be the only people bored by the Real Housewives shows, right? After nearly a decade, the duplicitous deeds and squawk-filled squabbles seem so half-hearted. If you’re ready to significantly upgrade your level of drama, the Arizona Opera’s take on Giuseppe Verdi’s 1851 masterpiece Rigoletto is playing Friday, November…

Grim visions of the future often cast technology that gets out of humankind’s hands as our ultimate conqueror. We will gladly welcome our new overlords if they are as charming as the clanky figures of Space Boy Robot’s “Musée des Roboddities,” whose opening reception is on Friday, November 7.Space Boy…

Never underestimate the magic of James Franco. The multihyphenate actor’s star power is partially behind the Tony-nominated revival of the adaptation of John Steinbeck’s 1937 novella Of Mice and Men, but it’s Franco’s creative curiosity that’s led to the National Theatre Live presenting its first Broadway-based offering this Thursday, November…

For 25 years, the Herberger Theater Center has been an oasis for the performing arts in Phoenix. It’s only right that the Herberger Theater Festival of the Arts, which takes place Saturday, November 1, is a torrent of the Valley’s best and brightest artists.The festival’s costume contest might beckon attendees…

John Oliver assailed the season’s obsession with pumpkin spice, but that hasn’t dampened our love for that big damn orange orb. Honor that exalted squash at The Great Pumpkin Festival on Thursday, October 23.If the Desert Botanical Garden were only providing hayrides to a pumpkin patch, we’d be in for…

Pete Holmes seems like he’s got more momentum than ever — despite having his late night talk show canceled this past summer. The smiley faced comedian appears in downtown Phoenix on Friday, October 24, as part of his fall tour.Being handpicked by Conan O’Brien to head up his own talk…

The gloomy works of 19th century Russian playwright Anton Chekov aren’t everyone’s cup of tea. So we’re glad that Christopher Durang’s made a spiked punch of the Russkie’s characters in Vanya and Sonia and Masha and Spike, which opens on Thursday, October 9.Durang’s got a steady hand for satirical theater…

Just as things are starting to cool down, Phoenix becomes the hot spot for word-based battling. The 2014 Individual World Poetry Slam sets the city on fire this Friday, October 10.Competition is thick with local favorites like Myrlin Hepworth and Joy Young mixing it up with lauded wordsmiths from all…

Last season, the Phoenix Suns managed to have a better year than anyone could have predicted, barely missing out on the playoffs. Their pre-season starts on Wednesday, October 8, versus Flamengo Basketball of Rio de Janeiro, Brazil.Brazil has a rich basketball history which includes the roundball branch of the Clube…

There’s a good chance your workplace’s bland lunchroom feels more like a prison than a pleasant place to dine. If you’d prefer exceptional singing to Sing-Sing, the Arizona Opera will help you break out of your midday doldrums with its brown bag lunch recital on Wednesday, October 1.Stepping out of…

The local filmmaking scene has grown by leaps and bounds over the past decade, and Running Wild Films seems to be leading the current charge forward. The latest edition of the filmmaking outfit’s FPS: Filmmakers of Phoenix Showcase shines bright this Friday, September 26.Running Wild Films might be best known…

Blood might be thicker than water but playwright Tarrell Alvin McCraney explores the fluidity of family ties in his Brothers/Sisters Trilogy. His first offering, The Brothers Size, mixes the Deep South with West African mythology on Friday, September 19.In the back roads of Louisiana, Ogun Size pours his days into…

There might be a few current pop stars that can forge a catchy tunes but it’s unlikely they’d be able to wrap it in a memorable narrative like some of the singer-songwriters of the 1960s and ’70s. The Storytellers sings their praise in the latest Lunch Time Theater production on…

We’re not sure where comedian Brian Posehn finds the time to hit the road but we’re pretty grateful to get a live taste of the jack of all trades. The masterfully funny dude visits the Valley on Friday, September 19.It was only this past May that Posehn brought his Comedy…

Fans of fright are constantly searching for experiences that will elicit goosebumps, jolts, and screams. Chambers of Fear kicks off the scream season early to slake the horror-thirst of faithful thrillseekers on Saturday, September 13.Starting out as a humble garage-based operation, the Chambers of Fear crew has 24 years of…

It took nearly 20 years to get Frank Herbert’s epic sci-fi novel Dune to the big screen but along the way, Chilean director Alejandro Jodorowsky had his chance at the helm. The 2013 documentary Jodorowsky’s Dune screens Wednesday, September 17, to give the lowdown on the surrealist’s approach.Jodorowsky might be…

On a raucous visit to a Midwestern TV morning show this past July, actor and comedian T.J. Miller asserted between bits, “I’m at that level of pseudo-celebrity where people say, ‘Hey, we went to high school together.’” Miller’s familiar face brings laughs to the opening weekend of Rick Bronson’s House…

Injustice and unrest in Ferguson, Missouri, temporarily brought out the forces of the Internet collective Anonymous and the masks of Guy Fawkes. Remember, remember the 5th of September — this Friday — for that’s when Southwest Shakespeare Company’s AriZoni-nominated production of Equivocation returns to the stage.Speculation, incomplete facts, and strategic…

Comic book movies have reigned at the box office, but it was artist Jack Kirby’s larger-than-life creations that seemed to jump off the page in cinematic ways. The King of Comics will be celebrated at Samurai Comics on Thursday, August 28, which would have been his 97th birthday.Kirby passed away…