On July 20, Kellie Walker and her Voices Lifted choir packed their songbooks and headed to Dobson Home — one of three homes overseen by Hospice of the Valley. Walker, along with choir members Rebecca Riggs, Nancy Wittenberg and Melissa Bush, sing regularly for a number of patients and their family…
It’s disillusioning but, ultimately, reassuring to learn that improv comedy has structure and rules and stuff like that (for its performers). The reassuring part comes when you realize that 1) “solid improv experience” is not an oxymoron and 2) dedicated application of technique makes for reliable craziness (also not an…
If you want to see Jon Stewart cry a little on the inside, ask him about his sadly brief career as an actor. The leap from stage to screen is a notoriously tricky one, best facilitated by “Saturday Night Live” and, increasingly, Stewart’s own star-making machine, “The Daily Show.” Today, comedian Nick…
Famed female pilot Betsy Coleman was a groundbreaking figure in the world of aviation. In the 1920s, she not only broke down racial and gender barriers by becoming the world’s only African-American aviatrix, but also was the first woman to ever hold an international pilot’s license. So it’s something of…
It’s difficult to pin Stray Cat Theatre down — just one thing the company has in common with actual stray cats. The troupe’s selections are often super-gay, not unlike Nearly Naked’s; they like to do shows Phoenix hasn’t seen before, which is something Actors Theatre is also superb at. Maybe…
Things were looking up, even before Nearly Naked Theatre’s Oedipus for Kids! commenced on opening night. It’s always nice to open a playbill and read that Johanna Carlisle is among the actors about to take the stage. And even nicer to read the occasional actor bio that pokes fun at…
If it sounds implausible to you that three male stagehands with 4F draft classifications would decide to impersonate the Andrews Sisters (who are quarantined in Hawaii) to bolster troop morale at the big USO show, you should know that’s not an unusual way for show-biz types to address emergencies in…
My visit to Hale Center Theatre last week marked the fifth production of Little Shop of Horrors I’ve seen in a decade — no surprise there, as this show is a musical theater staple, trotted out by Equity houses, children’s theaters and everything in between. The revelation is that this…
Like many thespians, the actors and actresses of Phoenix’s Space 55 dreamed of one day making a splash amongst the bright lights of the New York City theatre scene. They can now cross the accomplishment off their respective bucket lists, as the Valley theatre troupe traveled this month to the Big…
Update: Oedipus for Kids opens Saturday, August 20; Spring Awakening opens June 15, 2012.) The Valley theater company that swears its name is not about running around with no clothes on but manages to do it with some regularity nevertheless (and for that, we salute them) has unveiled its latest…
The nice people at Arizona Broadway Theatre sent someone to lecture me about the way I review theater. Apparently, my last review of an ABT show included a fart joke and the word “fuck” (hey, I’m not Frank Rich), so when I called to ask for a ticket to see…
For the purposes of this post, I feel I must divulge that I have watched a whole hell of a lot of MTV in my lifetime. Notice my careful wording — watched. I honestly cannot watch MTV nowadays — I’m not a 16-year-old who listens to Top 40 while waiting…
Somewhere in the universe, there’s always going to be someone whose idea of contributing to society is transcribing the dialogue of old sitcoms and posting it online. Without such people, it’d be an even rarer thing to be able to walk into a bar and see live re-creations of episodes…
This is not your stoned uncle’s Jim Breuer, that’s for sure.The 40-something year old comedian and actor noted for roles on Saturday Night Live and Half Baked took a break from the comedy scene.But now, Breuer’s back and has toured across the country, released a Comedy Central special (Let’s Clear…
While sipping on a Piña colada smoothie, local comedian Bryan Ricci bemoaned what his friends’ reactions would be had he ordered his drink’s alcoholic equivalent at a bar.”When you get a Piña colada as a guy, automatically: shit from people. You’re gonna get crap from people. From your friends, guys. It’s…
For theater so new you have to be careful not to touch its soft spot, Phoenix Theatre’s annual Hormel New Works Festival is a safe bet. It’s also one of those rare occasions that the development of art is as much fun for the audience as it is for the…
Mark O’Donnell and Thomas Meehan’s Hairspray is, I’ve decided, made of Teflon. It would appear that nothing can hurt this oft-produced musical version of the 1988 John Waters film, a Broadway winner that’s been produced here twice this season already (and is about to take the stage at the Herberger…
The Bram Stoker International Film Festival is a horror flick freak’s wet nightmare. It’s four days of indie blood splat, vampires, and sci-fi thrillers in the English town Count Dracula called home, Whitby. And for choreographer Lisa Starry, it’s an opportunity of a lifetime. Starry’s Scorpius Dance Theatre has been…
When we crave a home-town taste of the kind of theater that makes us miss New York, Seattle, Chicago, and San Francisco — more thoughtful (though often still gaspingly funny), less spectacle-driven works that audiences elsewhere have enjoyed relatively recently — Actors Theatre is the place to go. The company’s staked…
Bill Bellamy is plotting a comeback. Due to the popularity of his Ladies Night Out stand-up comedy tour, he’s bringing it back out for another round of dates — coming this weekend to the Tempe Improv. Bellamy, accompanied by fellow comedians J. Reid, D’Lai, and host Ali Siddiq, says he’s using…
In an unlikely (and totally drool-worthy) collaboration, Aji Spa at the Sheraton Wild Horse Pass Resort and ASU Gammage will host a Summer Spa Day with sneak peek visuals of the upcoming theater season. Just don’t splash the artwork. The all-day package includes a full body 50-minute Swedish Massage, lunch…
Lukas Avendaño remembers reading a book when he was a 15-year-old, growing up in Oaxaca, about a train that blew through Tucson and Phoenix on its way from Mexico. More than 15 years later, the performance artist is in Phoenix for the first time, and says the environment couldn’t be…
