It had to happen eventually; I’m reviewing a play I’ve already reviewed (presented by a different theater company, of course). And you’ll have to click here to find out how cool I think Rupert Holmes, who co-wrote Curtains, is, because I can’t beat that horse again either. Mesa Community College’s…
We’ve officially hit the dead of summer. And we mean dead. Honestly, at this point, we’d settle for a freaking movie date to get out of the house. Thankfully, SkyyFire Productions goes above and beyond in presenting the Masquerade Ball & Fashion Show.The dress code mandates formalwear or a masquerade…
You might want to ramble over to this week’s ArtWalk in Old Town Scottsdale. Not only because it’s the city’s 30-year-old tradition that jazzes up every Thursday except Thanksgiving, but also ’cause it’s your last chance to see Eve Plumb’s “Coffee With . . .” at Bonner David Galleries. Plumb’s…
I guess Footloose definitely merits inclusion in this summer’s Festival of Uncomfortable Truths — for example, if you work too hard as a religious leader, you risk neglecting and alienating your family to the extent that your daughter takes up with someone who’ll beat her for trying to break up…
Either you’ve always longed for an urban adventure, or you can’t get enough of them. These mini-The Amazing Race-like events — unraveling clues, dashing hither and yon, rediscovering your stompin’ grounds with a teammate — are just plain fun for play-starved adults. “Ewww,” you astutely remark, “it’s a bajillion degrees.”…
“Three is a magic number,” as Schoolhouse Rock! taught us. Ever traveled or, God forbid, lived with two of your friends? If it’s not unanimous, someone always loses, and there’s always that tipping-point tension — no spare legs to keep the whole thing upright.In Yasmina Reza’s Art, currently at Desert…
Two film students, miffed that their creation didn’t make their school’s festival, did what misunderstood geniuses have since time immemorial — It Themselves. The 1st Annual Ignominious Film Gala, going down at MADCAP Theaters, presents that overlooked new classic, Carl Jensen IV and James Hamilton Mitchell’s The Ignominious Triumph of…
I’ve seen two separate companies’ productions of Forever Plaid (2.007, if you count the time someone accidentally played Plaid’s audio intro at the beginning of The Taffetas). So although I am too young to remember swooning at those late ’50s/early ’60s guy-group close harmonies, I’ve heard them sung live in…
Let’s stay up all night watching old movies, playing games, and eating snacks. How does the night before the Fourth of July sound? You in? Great! Midnite Movie Mamacita is in charge of the movie selections. They’re calling it Firecracker Film Extravaganza, but we’re calling it “best idea this summer.”One…
When you enter Chandler’s Vision Gallery on Tuesday, July 6, you could get that “I’m in the wrong restroom” feeling. Just relax and come on in. That sensation of interrupting something is just you being art instead of looking at it. And the concept radiates from the paintings in An…
Barry Manilow, for the love of God, please make sure that you’ve placed a wise, discerning person in charge of approving shows based on your songwriting catalogue in the event of your death. Of course this is an event I hope happens far, far in the future. (I am, by…
Paisley Yankolovich is a Valley institution. Not every city boasts a profoundly Christian, indie-electro-industrial glam-pop performance artist whose growly twang infuses audiences with the joy and love of a Gospel-filled hypo to the sternum. A little cross-dressing and a ministry of unconditional acceptance complete the unique and ever-shifting Magic Eye…
You are an audience member sitting in a theater, and the characters on stage are staring at a real, running wall clock. It shows the current time in the city where the theater venue is located. Another character is late for dinner — two or three hours late, the dialogue…
Just now realizing you missed National Dance Week? We’d say you’re kicking yourself, but most people limber enough to literally kick themselves were down with the annual event, originated by those who sell leotards to glorify those who wear them. (Frankly, the United Dance Merchants of America’s devotion to stretchiness,…
The bummer of civilization, in general, is that the human craving for novelty leads people to cross mountains, rivers, and seas to see what’s there and, often, rob, rape, and oppress those they encounter at their destination. However, we have a choice to do otherwise — to listen to our…
With the dwindling of both entertainment budgets and newspaper publishing (sshhhh!), you don’t always hear about a perfect place immediately. The horror! Turns out that a massive, friendly second-hand bookstore has been serving you since 2008. Dog-Eared Pages Used Books is online-shoppable and yoga-, Scrabble-, and discussion-group-hosting. The owners also…
Just like the rest of us, sometimes a family of goats has to hit the road and do a little traveling in search of greener pastures, even if there’s a scary, mean, dangerous troll waiting along the way. The basic plot of The Three Billy Goats Gruff is a rather…
Chinese Arts Academy isn’t an Arizona public school, so all sorts of learning continues to take place there. No worries about picking up any forbidden “ethnic studies”-type knowledge — sprouts and adults may absorb all they like. Visual arts, dance, music, Chinese language, and martial arts are among the subjects…
A lot goes into Curtains’ decisions about which plays to review for you. But when I opened my program for Central Community Theatre’s production of Jesus Christ Superstar and saw that Robin Vining plays guitar in the orchestra, I became Jules Winnfield in Pulp Fiction: “Shit, negro! That’s all you…
Now, as in tomorrow, is the time to snag a bunch of certified organic California raspberries, blueberries, and strawberries at two packs for $5 ($3 each, but who needs just one?) from Janna Anderson’s Pinnacle Farms. They have stalls at Roadrunner Park and Old Town Scottsdale Farmers’ Markets.BTW, tomorrow, May…
Before October 6, 1998, Judy Shepard was an average woman. Then her average 21-year-old son was savagely attacked, tied to a fence post, and beaten into a coma. Matthew Shepard died October 12. Judy became not just a bereaved mom but co-founder of the Matthew Shepard Foundation and one of…
Roald Dahl wrote a bunch of dense, sometimes sweetly twisted fiction for adults, but his works that best survived crossing the pond to the U.S. were those for children, including the deliciously cruel Charlie and the Chocolate Factory, James and the Giant Peach, Matilda, The Witches, and The BFG (short…
