Neil Hamburger’s set at Crescent Ballroom last night was precisely what the crowd wanted: The suited and combed-over comic (the alter ego of Gregg Turkington) went on a high-energy roll, churning through offensive pop culture jokes with unexpected, often shocking, punchlines, with plenty of mucousy throat clearing.”I’ve been diagnosed with…
I have to say right away that the heading above is a summary of the plot and theme of this play, not a critique of the acting in the current production of Lauren Marshall’s translation/adaptation of Molière’s The Misanthrope by the ASU School of Theatre and Film. The writing and…
It’s often possible to take a work of dramatic literature that’s simply dated — i.e., very much of the time when it was created, to the extent that it seems weird and awkward now — present it in a reverentially historically accurate setting, and help communicate the atmosphere or the…
There are other things to do this weekend besides shopping and decorating. In fact, it’s a great time to get out and see theater, between lots of locals being out of town and the rest of us maybe spending more time with our loved ones over a four-day period than…
Lately, it feels as though theater’s getting as insecure and vapid as some of the other arts: Everything has to be the first, the biggest, the funniest, the most shocking, or the most topical. Times are tough and competition is fierce, so I get that. But the door is now…
I like to think that after a night of being raunchy and transgressive, the sketch writer/performers of Th [sic] Sense troupe curl up by the fireside in Grammy’s old quilt with some hot cocoa and fluffy kittens to read old fairy tales. And it makes them feel naughty. Curtains has…
A year later, Space 55’s Kim Porter says one of the theater’s most sucessful fundraisers includes a lineup of returning performers and a couple of new faces. This Friday and Saturday night, Porter, as well as Lou Clark, Tawni Waters, Genevieve Rice, Dilcia Yanez, Leslie Barton and Sativa Peterson (who, full disclosure, are…
Tolstoy was right: It’s more fun watching people be miserable. And so we have David Mamet, the American playwright who has brought us the delightful anguish of Oleanna (in which a young woman accuses her professor of sexual harassment) and the stunning treachery of Glengarry Glen Ross (about disreputable realtors…
Okay, so it was on the Cracked website, but nevertheless, science is discovering that reason is as specious and arbitrary as anything else created by the human mind. It’s a set of rules we pulled out of our asses to be able to win arguments, because winning arguments is a…
Dancers and instructors, as well as fans and arts community members will host a party, dubbed Meet Me at the Barre, to introduce the new space and to discuss upcoming performances and the future of dance in the Valley. …
Oh, these troubled times–especially for the arts community, always the first to be cut loose in any kind of economic crunch. The latest arts organization to fall apart is Actors Theatre, one of a handful of professional theater companies here. The Herberger Theater Center resident, which launched its 26th season…
Need a drink this weekend? The bawdy thespians of Nearly Naked Theatre will be happy to mix up something special to wet your whistle, especially since it will help their bottom line.Thespians and crewmembers from the notorious Valley drama troupe (who have built a reputation for their risqué and clothing-optional…
People jumping fences in the middle of the night. Armed Border Patrol agents driving along a long, metal fence. Minute-men sitting in lawn chairs staring out at a vast desert landscape. These are the images we think of when we hear the word “border” — and that’s what the new multi-discinplinary…
In Bill Harris’ Stories About the Old Days, an elderly man and woman stand in an old church and recount their lives. They bemoan the passing of time and the ways in which the world has changed and slowly reveal to us the reasons they’re the broken people they’ve become…
A couple of years ago, I had the opportunity (friends’ bookcase and a head cold) to sit down and read John Irving’s Until I Find You — which should be more popular, given its “everything but bears” score on this grid. What happens to the book’s hero wound up happening to…
Kim Porter has no qualms about acting in her own play; while the local playwright and actress hasn’t been on stage with other actors for more than a decade, she jokes that she’s had her lines memorized for some time. Porter quit what she calls “straight acting” (or acting with…
When we were around 13 or 15 years old, we frequently and solemnly swore that whatever else happened, we’d remember what it was like to be a kid. We knew adults who remembered and we knew those who apparently didn’t, and we’d sooner die than grow up to be the…
For people who aren’t on the Falsettoland train, The 25th Annual Putnam County Spelling Bee is probably the William Finn musical they’re familiar with. I love William Finn with all my heart — the very first Curtains blog was a wordy, gushing review of his A New Brain.The current Broadway…
Stray Cat Theatre has kicked off its 10th season with a meandering mess of dramatic devices masquerading as a play. A murder mystery of sorts, The Sparrow has broken wings. The real mystery here is why Stray Cat’s talented artistic director, Ron May, optioned Chris Mathews and Jake Minton’s lifeless…
It’s officially autumn, and you can feel it in the morning on a good day. But we still face a good month’s worth of weather worth complaining about, and a short, silly collection of irreverent sketches and songs from Th [sic] Sense is just the ticket. Soul Invictus’ space on…
We were, as we do most Saturday nights, dressing for theater. “Why does this shirt look so nice on the hanger,” I asked my spouse, “and so dumpy on me?” “I don’t know,” he replied, pointing to my head. “But you need a haircut. Those bangs make you look like…
Arizona Opera Arizona Opera’s 41st season opens Oct. 7 with a double bill of Cavalleria Rusticana and Pagliacci. It’s been a dirty little secret for far too long that opera is not just for aging Little Lord Fauntleroys and ladies whose cats’ names begin with “Mr.” and “Mrs.” Behind the…
