Wanna know a secret about publicity photos? A show’s final hair and makeup designs often do not appear in them, since they’re taken weeks or months before opening night.While everyone in the above photo looks lovely, and it’s a very good photograph, these actors look even better on stage in…
Sustainability isn’t just that thing all your friends are getting a master’s in. Industry leaders from manufacturing and commerce to agriculture and the arts chase a common goal of nurturing Earth by not shooting ourselves in our massive carbon foot. Explore options for your own home or business at Southwest…
Each year since 2007, Arizona Women’s Theatre Company has sponsored the Pandora Festival, an open competition for unpublished scripts by Arizona’s female playwrights. (Full disclosure: I served as a reading judge for the 2010 competition and will be paid a small stipend for my services.) Julie Amparano’s A Mother’s Will…
La Llorona is the Mexican bogeywoman, the ghost of a mother who killed her children and cries and wails in the night, especially near bodies of water. She’s a mean, crazy bitch who might just come for you if you don’t behave yourself — or is she? That’s just part…
Have you ever been shopping and seen a cunningly-styled, uniquely flattering, bargain-priced evening coat and been a little bummed because it’s such a lovely, accessible object of obvious quality, but who really needs an evening coat, like, ever? This is the predicament of Kennedy, a rather enjoyable and beautifully presented…
We love Calaca Cultural Center’s scads of year-round, Valleywide programs and super-fun events. Look for a perfect storm of Latino and indigenous art and culture during Calaca Community Mercado. Distinctive works from local artisans, live music, muy sabroso snacks, and visits from internationally known artists and authors should be enough…
News flash: The Play About the Naked Guy has been, ahem, extended. The production now runs through Saturday, March 6.Oh, democracy, democracy, is there anything you can’t do? In the plot of David Bell’s The Play About the Naked Guy, only two of the three remaining diehard members of The…
Maricopa County community colleges are the place for the unexpected. Take a cinema class at SCC and you’ll watch the rape scene from A Clockwork Orange in the school’s miniature movie theatre. Take a wrong turn at MCC and you may barge into the life drawing class (yes, that model…
I haven’t decided what the deal is with interactive murder mystery dinner theater, or whether I like it in general. It’s possible you’ll get to see me work that whole issue out, right in this virtual space, one of these days. But in the meantime, I had a swell time at…
“Lucky and fortunate” are characteristics of Tiger, the year 4708, to which the Chinese calendar flips over on February 14. Lucky on Valentine’s Day? That would be fortunate. Meanwhile, warm up at the Phoenix Chinese Week Cultural and Cuisine Festival. Relentless entertainment will include martial arts, dragon and other dances,…
UPDATE: Just got a note that tonight — Friday, February 12 — tickets are a recession-busting $10, but to get the deal you must call or text 602-214-4344 for more information. Franc Gaxiola’s Th [sic] Sense troupe’s sketch comedy seemed like a good fit for this column — it’s written…
Poor Mesa Arts Center. They plan to host a kickass runway show called “The Black Dialect: When Fashion Speaks.” Then Game Change hits bookstores and explodes Harry Reid’s awkward-yet-valid observations about perceptions of Obama’s “dialect.” Unreal. Allow presenter Felix Asamoah to clarify: What’s happening Saturday, February 6, is “a fashionable…
Our need to tear down our idols didn’t start with reality stars, athletes, or even politicians. Eat a little forbidden fruit and you’re kicked out of the garden for good. And even if you’re honest and sweet, it turns out, someone will be glad to slander you for a price…
Some significant changes have taken place at our Valley’s “official” community theaters — the ones that tend to bear the name of the city or community they call home, have been around a couple of decades or more, that have some loyal subscribers and feel a duty to present relatively wholesome entertainments with…
For some people, Arsenic and Old Lace is a beloved old film comedy starring Cary Grant. A whole bunch of other people were either in it in high school or had to go see a friend or relative in it in high school, and I mean for decades now. (Not unlike You…
Hedwig and the Angry Inch is a play that takes the form of a club rock show during which the singer/songwriter, Hedwig (né Hansel) Schmidt, imparts the story of her life (sometimes in song, sometimes in bitchysweet monologue) up to this point, which includes having undergone a quickie, incomplete sexual…
Have some rich friends living downtown? Well, this is the time to make them do you a favor so that you can view the Fort McDowell Fiesta Bowl Parade in person. Everybody should peep a parade live at least once, and you may watch for free from any legal spot…
It’s not too late to get your holiday theatrical fix — Meet Me in St. Louis, the cozy, old-fashioned story that introduced the popular song “Have Yourself a Merry Little Christmas” and also features a great big turn-of-the-previous-century fancy-dress Christmas Eve ball, has another week to run at the Broadway…
For 18 years, my own holiday traditions with respect to Actors Theatre’s well-regarded annual production of A Christmas Carol are that I have assiduously avoided giving the company the opportunity to decide whether to cast me (because if I perform that hard around Christmas, I always get rip-roaringly ill); a grip of my personal actor…
It’s always a heartwarming surprise to see a play by a non-famous local writer — a student, recent grad, or someone just relatively new to writing for the stage — and have it turn out to be well-crafted and entertaining. I love new artists, and I love the companies who…
Food Network fan or not, you’ve likely peeped the spiky-haired chef/host of Diners, Drive-Ins and Dives Guy Fieri. (Think T.G.I. Friday’s commercials.) His flashy, rock ’n’ roll-saturated Guy Fieri Road Show hits town with support from Australian flairtender Hayden “Woody” Wood and Flagstaff chef John Conley. Culinary adventure-mongers Foodies Like…
It’s time for Christmas shows! Nearly Naked’s Times Square Angel, Arizona Broadway Theatre’s A Christmas Carol, and Theater Works’ Miracle on 34th Street are all back with many of the same cast, designers, and directors as last year. (Check with each company for this year’s dates and times.) Fred Bornhoeft, who was reprising…
