Matthew Wiener is yelling. “Stop moving around so much!” he bellows at James Garcia and Marcelino Quiñonez, who are rehearsing a scene from El Che, Quiñonez’s new play about Marxist revolutionary Ernesto “Che” Guevara. Wiener steps between the actors, improvising a scene in which Guevara, played by Quiñonez, is reunited…
Before there was Hamilton, the latest musical to take Broadway audiences by storm, there was The Phantom of the Opera. It’s one of many shows featuring music by British composer Andrew Lloyd Webber, whose other claims to fame include Cats and Jesus Christ Superstar. Those needing proof that The Phantom of the…
Just one month after announcing it needed $50,000 to continue operations, Scottsdale-based Don Bluth Front Row Theatre has announced that it will close effective September 17 in order to focus on fundraising. The goal is to raise $50,000 in time to reopen and present a holiday production of It’s a Wonderful…
Whether lighting up backstage or in the audience, weed and stand-up are a common combination, one that often produces hilarious results. Pot is pretty funny, and that’s the idea behind the “Cannabis Comedy Tour,” an eight-city event that comes to Marquee Theatre in Tempe on Friday, July 29. The free…
Theater Works, which performs at Peoria Center for the Arts, has promoted Chris Hamby to producing artistic director and Cate Hinkle to managing director, according to a July 25 announcement. The news comes just months after Dan Schay, who joined the company as executive director in February of 2012, passed…
If there’s one thing to know about dancers, it’s that they’re seemingly always on the move. This is no exception for Jordan Daniels, a 25-year-old dancer, instructor, and choreographer. Daniels grew up performing musical theater in church, and attended high school at Arizona Conservatory for Arts and Academics. “Half of…
Ralph Remington, a theater professional and former arts administrator with both Actors’ Equity Association and National Endowment for the Arts, has been hired by the City of Tempe as its Arts and Culture Deputy Director. It’s a new position created within Tempe’s Community Services Department to further implementing its 2015…
Arizona Theatre Company, which announced on June 27 that it needed to raise $2 million to avoid closing, has reached its fundraising goal, according to a statement released on Monday, July 18. It’s good news for the Tucson-based company founded in 1966, which is Arizona’s only member of the prestigious…
Arizona Theatre Company announced late Friday, July 15, that its efforts to raise $2 million to continue operations and begin producing its 2016-17 season have fallen short by $281,195. But the company is waiting until Monday, July 18, to make and announce a final decision about the company’s future. Founded…
Although some staples of the Phoenix art scene, including Alwun House and monOrchid, won’t be open during Third Friday this month, there’s still plenty of good stuff to see – including several intriguing exhibitions and 12 performances happening in a trio of shipping container galleries where props will be the…
Arizona Commission on the Arts has awarded 239 grants totaling more than $2.2 million to Arizona nonprofit arts organizations, local arts agencies, schools, and community organizations for the fiscal year 2017, which runs from July 1, 2016, to June 30, 2017. That’s more than twice the amount it awarded during…
Don Bluth Front Row Theatre of Scottsdale needs to raise $50,000 by the end of August 2016 to continue operations, the company announced via press release on Wednesday, June 29. The news follows Arizona Theatre Company’s announcement on Monday, June 27, that it needs to raise $2 million to stay…
Playwright Kirt Shineman had a rare opportunity earlier this year, one he’s sure he’ll never have again. “It was at my wedding,” he says, “and I was watching the people I based the characters in my new play on, talking to the actors who are playing them.” That new play…
Two donors responded with significant gifts after Arizona Theatre Company’s recent announcement that it would need to raise $2 million by Friday, July 1, to stay afloat. The deadline for meeting its $2 million goal has been pushed back to Friday, July 15. Mike Kasser, president of the Tucson-based international real-estate…
Arizona Theatre Company needs to raise $2 million by Friday, July 1, to continue operations, the company announced on Monday, June 27. Founded nearly five decades ago, the company has performed at both Herberger Theater Center in Phoenix and the Temple of Art and Music in Tucson since 1990. It’s…
Take note if you’re making visual or performance art in metro Phoenix: Several local venues are looking for artists who’d like to show their works. We found 15 such opportunities for Valley artists to get a head start with finding creative places to show off. “Of Land, Sea & Sky”…
Phoenix-area dancers have been busy this year, performing in diverse settings from the Crescent Ballroom to Desert Botanical Garden. And this summer, several of the dancers you’ve seen on local stages are sharing their tips and techniques in various dance classes around town. Some classes are for experienced dancers, but…
While Arizona theater devotees are glued to their screens during Sunday, June 12’s live broadcast of the 70th annual Tony Awards ceremony on CBS, Colleen Jennings-Roggensack will watch James Corden host the show from a seat inside the Beacon Theatre in New York City. And she’ll be in good company. Others…
If you like comedy and aren’t easily offended, then you probably already know that Lisa Lampanelli is coming to Talking Stick Resort in Scottsdale on Sunday, May 29. The queen of insult comedy isn’t for the thin-skinned, but everyone in attendance this weekend knows that she’ll always make her fans…
The City of Mesa and Arizona State University are one step closer to bringing a new ASU campus to downtown Mesa after writing a formal intergovernmental agreement, which was presented during a May 26 special council meeting for the Mesa City Council. The agreement was unanimously approved at that meeting. …
Ballet Arizona returned to Desert Botanical Garden this season with a new site-specific work called Round, choreographed by artistic director Ib Andersen. His first site-specific production for the Desert Botanical Garden, titled Topia, premièred there in 2012 – and was so well-received that it returned in 2013. Topia set a…
iTheatre Collaborative, the plucky company now housed in the Kax Stage at the Herberger Theater Center, has had a tough time sticking to its announced season the last few years. An October 2015 production of Conor McPherson’s Port Authority was canceled after the troupe didn’t receive a $5,000 general operating…
