Lady Killers
Grab a cocktail (or a coffee, we know how Mondays can be) and settle in for an evening of laughter during Lady Killers, a weekly all-female comedy variety show at Arcadia’s Sip Coffee & Beer Garage, 3620 East Indian School Road.
The free event starts at 8 p.m. and is hosted by comedian Hattie Hayes, who regularly produces and performs at The Storrs Objection and Lounge & Learn. Through Lady Killers, Hayes brings dozens of funny women to the stage, like Genevieve Rice, Amy Blackwell, and Leslie Barton, and regularly includes performances, like those from feminist improv duo Overtly Sensitive and storyteller Marnee Burrus. For those looking to crack into comedy, the show offers a handful of open-mic slots each night.
The lineup for Lady Killers’ first show of the new year on January 9 was being finalized at press time, so keep an eye on www.facebook.com/sipcoffeeandbeergarage for announcements. Janessa Hilliard
Gustave Baumann, Cochiti Ensemble, 1947, woodblock print
Private Collection, Courtesy Gerald Peters Gallery, Santa Fe, New Mexico.
Artist platforms have come a long way, baby. Today, creatives can sell their work on websites like Society6. But a century ago, the six artists who started the Taos Society of Artists in New Mexico didn’t have that option. Instead, they traveled exhibitions around the U.S., showing works reflecting their interest in Hispanic and Pueblo communities.
The art colony grew to include 19 members and associate members, whose work influenced artists including Georgia O’Keefe and Maynard Dixon.
See more than 80 of their artworks when Western Spirit: Scottsdale’s Museum of the West, 3830 North Marshall Way, opens “The Taos Society of Artists” exhibit on Tuesday, January 10, from 9:30 a.m. to 5 p.m. It’s free with admission, which is $13 for adults. Visit scottsdalemuseumwest.org. Lynn Trimble
Don't play yourself — see this doc.
Courtesy of the Foundation for Arts, Culture, and Education (FACE)
“If we want our children to live in a harmonious world, we have to invest in harmony” is one of those quotes that makes you tug at your shirt collar. It’s also the central tenet of a locally made film.
Arizona filmmaker Matty Steinkamp directed PLAY the DOCUMENTARY — an independent, crowd-funded film starring musicians, educators, and organizations — to showcase the importance of music education in public schools.
A special screening starts at 6:15 p.m. on Wednesday, January 11, at the Higley Center for the Performing Arts, 4132 East Pecos Road in Gilbert, with food trucks and live music. The movie starts at 7, followed by a Q&A with Steinkamp at 8. Tickets are $20 for adults, $5 for kids under 18. Call 480-279-7190 or visit faceev.org. Lauren Cusimano
Viceland at SMoCA: Russia and USA
Let others ponder the Trump-Putin bromance. Your time is better spent exploring issues at the heart of American and Russian society, and Scottsdale Museum of Contemporary Art, 7374 East Second Street, has a creative way to do just that.
The museum is screening intriguing episodes on Russia and the U.S. from the Viceland TV channel launched in 2016 by Brooklyn-based Vice Media. One addresses the domino effect of parents being incarcerated in America. The other explores fashion, misogyny, and homophobia in Russia.
The Viceland at SMoCA: Russia and USA screening starts at 7 p.m. on Thursday, January 12. Tickets are $7, and include a free post-screening discussion with experts from ASU and AZ Common Ground, an organization that helps previously incarcerated youth and adults.
Thursday’s screening is presented by both SMoCA and ASU’s Melikian Center for Russian, Eurasian, and East European Studies. Neither gets its due in Trump’s Twitter feed. Visit www.smoca.org. Lynn Trimble
Clinton Kelly
Clinton Kelly isn’t exactly one to mince words.
As the former co-host of TLC’s long-running makeover show What Not To Wear, Kelly spent the better part of a decade telling women, kindly-ish, that their style was horrible. Now as a co-host on ABC’s The Chew, he dishes on some favorite recipes while somehow avoiding constantly skewering Mario Batali’s penchant for sweater vests.
But with this week’s release of his new memoir, I Hate Everyone, Except You, Kelly brings back the snark — sort of — this time through a collection of hilarious moments and punchy essays written with his signature, gentle sass.
The best-selling author comes to Changing Hands, 300 West Camelback Road, to read from and sign copies of his new book at 7 p.m. on Thursday, January 12. Tickets ($24.99) include a hardcover copy and admission for two. Get tickets and details online at www.changinghands.com or by calling 602-274-0067. Janessa Hilliard
Kick-A Showcase
Tired of visions of sugar plums dancing through your head? Now that holiday dance traditions are safely tucked away for another year, it’s time to explore more adventurous dance fare, such as Scorpius Dance Theatre’s Kick-A Showcase.
It features 18 short dance works by several choreographers, including Scorpius founder and artistic director Lisa Starry, as well as Nicole Olson, Gavin Sisson, and Bridgette Borzillo. Pieces are set to diverse musical selections from Jimi Hendrix, Kronos Quartet, Laurie Anderson, Yo-Yo Ma, the Rolling Stones, and Andrew Lloyd Webber.
See Kick-A Showcase between Thursday and Saturday, January 12 and 14, at Hormel Theatre, which is located at Phoenix Theatre, 100 East McDowell Road. Performances start at 7:30 p.m., and tickets are $25 (plus $6 fee). Visit www.scorpiusdance.com. Lynn Trimble
Wake Up Call
You’ve probably seen a friend from another major city posting a photo of people decked out in glow paint and hula-hoops, dancing their asses off to some killer beats, all before the sun’s up. And thanks to Walter Productions, the morning dance rave trend has hit Phoenix. Get a taste of these laser-filled, sober morning workouts during the winter Wake Up Call. The theme is A Winter Wonderland, and you better believe that ugly holiday sweaters and yeti suits are encouraged.
Get your groove on starting at 6:30 a.m. on Friday, January 13, at 747 West Roosevelt Street. If you just feel like shakin’ it, tickets are $15, but add in a 5:30 a.m. yoga class, and tickets are $20. Either way, yours can be purchased at winterwakeupcall.splashthat.com. Evie Carpenter
Chandler International Film Festival
So, you’ve proven that you can binge-watch a whole TV series in a day with no problem. What can you do with more than 100 indie films over a long weekend?
Find out at the Chandler International Film Festival, a year-round award competition that selects monthly winners in different categories. The first-ever festival event is a showcase of those winning films made by independent filmmakers from all over the world. The opening night ceremony is followed by a reception where you can meet and mingle with some of the filmmakers and other attendees. Dinners, parties, workshops, and an official awards ceremony accompany the screenings throughout the weekend.
Multigenre screenings include documentaries, shorts, and full-length feature films. Strut your stuff on the red carpet at 5:30 p.m. on Friday, January 13, at SoHo63, 63 East Boston Street. The fest runs through Sunday, January 15. Admission is $39; a three-day pass is available. Visit www.chandlerfilmfestival.com. Amy Young
Read on for more things to do this week.
Star Wars: The Music
There have been quite a few highs and lows for Star Wars fans in the last month or so. From the release of the one-off prequel Rogue One to finding out the original films’ star composer John Williams has never sat through a single Star War to the tragic death of the movies’ rebel-leading princess, there’s a lot to process. Over at Phoenix Symphony Hall, you can begin to unpack all of those feelings with a special orchestral performance of Williams’ score. With favorites like the series’ main theme and the ominous “Imperial March,” audiences will be transported to times long ago in a galaxy far, far away. The special performance takes place at 7:30 p.m. on Friday, January 13, at 75 North Second Street. Tickets range in price, depending on the seat, from $69 to $109. You can purchase yours and find more information at www.phoenixsymphony.org. Heather Hoch
The Mystery of Edwin Drood
If you keep confusing The Mystery of Edwin Drood with The Mystery of Irma Vep, you need to get out more. Specifically, you need to get out and see the Tony- and Drama Desk-snagging musical also known as Drood, presented by Tuscany Theatre Company in closing performances at 3 p.m. and 7 p.m. Saturday, January 14. Based on a popular unfinished Dickens novel (as in four film versions alone), it was written by one of our favorite polymathic, multidecade content creators, Rupert Holmes, whose other projects include “The Piña Colada Song (Escape).”
Drood is the mid-’80s extravaganza where the audience chooses the ending, including the outcomes of two mysteries and a romance. (Irma Vep is Charles Ludlam’s two-hander with 35 costume changes.) Only fair, as Dickens didn’t live to choose the ending.
Follow along at 861 North Higley Road in Gilbert. For tickets, $14 to $18, visit www.tuscanytheatrecompany.com. Julie Peterson
DIY Floral Classes
It is a truth universally acknowledged that a Saturday without good plans must be filled with something stimulating. And how Austen-ian it would be to spend January 14 arranging flowers. Indeed, Cactus Flower Florists, 10822 North Scottsdale Road hosts such an opportunity, with hourly DIY floral classes focused on creating fresh-cut arrangements in votive or drinker vases from glassbaby, a Seattle company that’s popping up shop at the Scottsdale florist from 10 a.m. to 2 p.m. The classes cost $65 per person, and shoppers will get happy hour pricing (a.k.a. half off) on loose flower purchases all day. Pretty sure our fave Regency-era novelist would approve. Sign up and find more details at www.cactusflower.com. Becky Bartkowski
Sister Moses
History takes center stage this Sunday, January 15, when Desert Dance Theatre performs Sister Moses: The Story of Harriet Tubman at Chandler Center for the Arts.
The story chronicles Tubman’s (Renee Davis) life of courage and conviction as an activist who would help free more than 70 slaves using the Underground Railroad. Sister Moses weaves dance with drama, alongside accompaniment from string quartets, choral ensembles, and traditional African drumming.The 7 p.m. show at 250 North Arizona Avenue also features performances from jazz vocalist Dennis Roland, who once shared the stage with Ella Fitzgerald, and pianist Charles Lewis, an Arizona Music & Entertainment Hall of Fame inductee.
Tickets ($25) are available through chandlercenter.org or by calling the box office at 480-782-2680. See more at desertdancetheatre.org. Janessa Hilliard
Experience the Silk Road
If your knowledge of the Silk Road is limited to the fact that it was a path along which silk was sold, then it might be time to expand your understanding of the historic trade route and its cultural impact. As luck would have it, the Musical Instrument Museum presents Experience the Silk Road from 9 a.m. to 5 p.m. on Sunday, January 15. It’s an immersive event offering rattle drum-making, Chinese classical music, henna body art, a lecture on Asian instruments, and traditional Indian dance performances and workshops at 4725 East Mayo Boulevard. The event is included with museum admission, which is $20 for adults. See details at mim.org or call 480-478-6000. Becky Bartkowski
