Brelby’s Beyond Musketeers: Two Hours of Goth-y Low Art

The opening night performance of Brelby Theatre’s Beyond Musketeers: Utopia Lost began with a curtain speech from director Brian Maticic, who warned us that the production was “super combat-heavy.” He wasn’t kidding. It seemed that nearly every scene of this occasionally entertaining retelling of Alexander Dumas’ The Three Musketeers ended…

Phoenix Poetry: 5 Reading Events to Check Out

Whether you like to participate or simply listen, poetry readings can be the perfect escape. But they can be tough to find (unless you know where to look), and often get lost in the chaos of open mic nights, where musicians tend to grab the spotlight. There are, however, a…

Scorpius Dance Theatre’s ROCK Hits the Right Notes at Phoenix Theatre

Rock ‘n’ roll is alive and kicking. And writhing, twirling, lunging, and twitching — thanks to a new dance program called ROCK that Scorpius Dance Theatre premièred Thursday, June 25. Rock hits nearly all the right notes, thanks to a genuinely entertaining blend of dance, aerial arts, live electric guitar performance,…

3 Best Things to Do in Metro Phoenix This Weekend

New Summer Shorts Body-shaming glossy magazines question whether your legs are “ready” for new summer shorts. Screw that. Your legs, along with your brain and your funny bone, are super-ready for New Summer Shorts 2015, Theatre Artists Studio’s eighth annual compilation of short plays by Studio members. This year’s lineup…

Christopher Haines Brings An Almost Holy Picture to Life

Occasionally, a fine play is overwhelmed by actors who wrestle its words to the ground or by a director who tramples the point its author meant to make. In the case of iTheatre Collaborative’s new production of An Almost Holy Picture, now on stage at the Herberger, the opposite is…

11 Best Summer Dance and Theater Events in Metro Phoenix

There’s plenty of onstage action around these parts for those who like to mix their summer heat with short escapes to other worlds created by metro Phoenix artists. This summer’s crop of dance and theater offerings include a classic play about America coming to grips with AIDS, a behind-the-scenes look…

5 Artsy Things to Do in Metro Phoenix This Weekend

Angels in America Angels in America is one of the best plays ever. Nearly Naked Theatre is a knockout theater company. We could just say, “Go,” and leave room for more ads on this page. But, for a constellation of reasons we’ll leave unexplored for now, we’ll divulge some more…

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…