5 Cool Things to Do in Metro Phoenix This Week

“Super Heroes”  Move over Avengers — the real “Super Heroes” are here. The newest Heard Museum art exhibition offers a Native American view point on what makes a super hero. These views, mostly drawings and works on paper, include animals, humans and magical beings who fight “evil” in everyday life,…

13 Places to Try Summer Dance Classes in Metro Phoenix

Outdoor fitness options are all good and fine during days with double-digit temperatures. But a steady stream of triple digits will soon be upon us, prompting most people to think about indoor alternatives. It’s tough to hike or bike inside, so we figure dance is really where it’s at for…

5 Best Things to Do in Metro Phoenix This Weekend

Phoenix Comicon 2015 The best thing about Phoenix Comicon, the mammoth gathering of comic book, gaming, and entertainment aficianados, is how everyone from cautiously curious folks to hardcore geeks keep an eye out for Wookiees, Klingons, and gender-swapped superheroes to stamp in their games of mental Comicon bingo. Keep your…

Ron May Wows in Phoenix Theatre’s One Man, Two Guvnors

There is nothing, I have said publicly and privately for years, that could ever make me enjoy live theater’s odious and ever-growing ritual of audience participation. Calling hapless audience members up out of the audience and humiliating them has always struck me as a particularly low form of humor, gratuitous…

5 Best Things to Do in Metro Phoenix Memorial Day Weekend

“One-of-a-Kind” In a world of Dubsmash videos, #nomakeup selfies, and misattributed inspirational quotes pinned and re-pinned to infinity, originality isn’t so easily encountered. But the photographic works by artists including David Emitt Adams and Betty Hahn found in Phoenix Art Museum’s “One-of-a-Kind” are not so easily duplicated. By virtue of…

Ballet Arizona’s Innovations Is Ib Andersen’s Legacy in the Making

For many decades, major performing arts organizations including ballet companies have followed a fairly predictable path: presenting well-known repertory in large venues, while expecting contemporary audiences to sit through lengthy productions of classic works. For ballet audiences, it’s included a never-ending stream of Swan Lake, Giselle, and The Nutcracker. They’re…

ARTELPHX Loses Its Novelty Factor. So Now What?

Last fall’s ARTELPHX, the third iteration of the multi-night mash-up of visual and performance art founded in 2013 by Tara Sharpe, was fresh and funky. The event, held at The Clarendon Hotel, even earned our best arts festival praise. Still a relatively new enterprise, its foibles were easily construed as…

Chris Tucker on His Comedic Beginnings and Stand-Up Idols

Odds are, you know who Chris Tucker is. You probably first saw him in Friday, or maybe Rush Hour, and you’ve almost definitely seen him since then. What you might not have known is that Tucker will be bringing his stand-up to Celebrity Theatre on Saturday, May 16. Like many comedians,…

Deon Cole on the Success of Blackish

A lot of comedians get their start because of their love for being on stage or their desire to make the world laugh. Deon Cole didn’t start for either of those reasons. According to the comic, a friend bet him $50 to do stand-up one time, and the rest is…

Ballet Arizona Dancers Paola Hartley and Astrit Zejnati Talk Retirement

For many seasons, the spring lineup for Ballet Arizona has included a program of all George Balanchine works. It’s a reflection of artistic director Ib Andersen’s roots — which include dancing under Balanchine as a principal with New York City Ballet during the 1980s. This year’s All Balanchine opened Thursday,…

The Social Justice Project Blends Poetry, Dance, Politics at Mesa Arts Center

Local artists are putting their creative spin on social justice conversations surrounding immigration, LGBTQ rights, and the Black Lives Matter movement in a collaborative performance piece they’ll present Friday, May 1, at Mesa Arts Center. It’s part of The Social Justice Project, an ongoing enterprise in promoting community awareness and…

Childsplay Founder David Saar to Retire

Childsplay founder and artistic director David Saar announced in a press release on Wednesday, April 22, that he will retire at the end of the 2015-16 season. Saar started the acclaimed professional children’s theater company in 1977 as a graduate thesis project. Its aim has been to engage children with…

Dave Attell on Why Older Crowds Are Better Than Young Ones

Are you looking to go see a huge production involving costumes, complex special effects, and several musical numbers? Then you should stay away from Stand Up Live on April 24 and 25. If you want to see some old school raunchy comedy, definitely head there to see Dave Attell perform…

David Hallberg Talks Ballet and How Collaborations Fuel Creativity

David Hallberg, principal dancer with both American Ballet Theatre in New York City and the Bolshoi Ballet in Moscow, returns to Phoenix this April to teach master classes, coach emerging dancers, and help raise funds for his eponymous scholarship at The School of Ballet Arizona. The scholarship helps boys receive…