There’s a moment in TheatreScape’s Eleemosynary that’s so moving, so perfectly theatrical, it nearly trumps all that came before it. Following her curtain call, tiny Michelle Chin, her eyes filled with tears, crosses the stage to retrieve the paper wings that are her character’s prized possession. The play is over;…
There is a recent generation of American men who came of age too late for free love and wanton property grabbing, and too early for post-grunge emotional wankery and info-age immediacy. Stuck on their iceberg, isolated by oceans from anything real like the original punk or goth movements, or Australia’s…
Win a Date With Tad Hamilton! opens with a movie within the movie. It’s the 1940s, and a hunky, square-jawed soldier (played by Tad Hamilton, who’s played by Josh Duhamel) stops his car along the side of a damp road; a woman, dressed in virginal nursing whites, gets out of…
In 1959, as June Cleaver vacuumed in pearls and pumps, something strange and wonderful was thundering down suburbia’s streets, foreshadowing the racy rebellion that would detonate in the next decade. It was Chevrolet’s El Camino, and its newfangled façade capped off a decade driven by design. A stylish new exhibition…
Thursday, January 22 Artist Scott Snibbe uses deceptively simple wall projections and interactive computer programs to convey a sophisticated idea: emptiness, the Buddhist concept that everything defines and is defined by every other thing, that nothing exists independent from reality. In “Interdependence,” his exhibition opening at Arizona State University’s Computing…
For every industry, there is a pace setter — the event that sets the bar for the year ahead. Consider the Valley the pace car of the collector car market, as this week’s barrage of shows and auctions stretching out from Phoenix International Raceway to the Biltmore will dictate just…
Wed 1/28 As Quentin Tarantino proves, there is life for hopelessly obsessed film geeks beyond the counters of the neighborhood video rental store. Thanks to a local casting session (one of seven nationwide) hosted by the Independent Film Channel and Cox Communications, Ultimate Film Fanatic offers movie maniacs the chance…
1/26-2/1 Sell out? It’s impossible at the Phoenix — ahem — FBR Open golf tournament at the Tournament Players Club of Scottsdale, where, every Super Bowl weekend, massive hordes of golf junkies crowd the galleries and booze it up for seven days straight. But when FBR — a Washington, D.C.,…
1/24-2/15 Normally, kids need words strung together to make sense of a story. But if you throw a mad scientist on a giant video screen, with an onstage trio of clowns hoping to save the world, the kids might just sing its praises as “an achievement in theatrical concept, Mommy.”…
Fri 1/23 Think downtown after dark is black and white and dead all over? Not this Friday, January 23, when “COLORS . . . 002” coats the Old Brickhouse Grill in creativity. A collaboration between Terrence O’Connor and Mark Chai — both working DJs — the COLORS series pools the…
1/22-2/1 Great Arizona Puppet Theater’s remount of Dragons, Ladies, and Tigers, a series of three stories adapted from traditional Chinese folktales, features shadow puppets inspired by Chinese artwork. Originally commissioned to accompany an exhibition of Chinese art at the Phoenix Art Museum, Dragons has proven to be one of GAPT’s…
When we reach the end of a year, we often think back with nostalgia on the good, the bad, and the coyote uglies. Then, we drink — a lot. Sometimes to celebrate, but usually to forget. When we wake up the next morning, usually in the grip of a massive…
The free music debate rages on, with artists fuming against a digital machine that allows slobs like us to download their music for free. But John-Scott Dixon thinks he has the answer to music-royalty theft. The former senior VP of PC conglomerate Insight has built RateOurBand.com, an Internet battle of…
Instead of resolving to do something, maybe you want to resolve to quit doing something. Maybe it’s smoking, maybe it’s biting our nails, or maybe we want to walk up to the boss and tell him where to put the latest office supply order. Whatever kind of quitter you want…
Not a lot of people know this, but our word “actress” is derived from the Greek phrase strumpetos luckyos, meaning “prostitute who somehow landed an agent.” The reason that this etymological root remains largely unappreciated is that it is entirely fake, fabricated for the present purpose of irritating a lot…
Thursday, January 15 He jokingly refers to himself as “the Diaper Master” these days (ever since parenthood has given him a whole new source for jokes) but comedian Craig Shoemaker still knows how to conjure up his notoriously funny character “The Love Master” for maximum laughs. Feel the love on…
Until a month ago, painter Colin Chillag paid the bills by working as a long-haul trucker and painting during precious downtime. Chillag’s recent retirement from hitting the highway to devote himself to making art full-time may be the trucking industry’s loss. But it’s a definite gain for the art world,…
1/17-1/18 Peaceniks and doves be advised: Steer clear of Papago Park this weekend. For all others who love heavy machinery and artillery, and who long for the days before Bono and Britney turned camouflage into a fashion statement, the 13th annual Papago Military Vehicle Show on Saturday, January 17, and…
1/16-1/18 If you’re not a steer in Scottsdale this weekend, we’d bet a bucking bronco you’re a queer. But that’s the point of the 19th annual RoadRunner Regional Rodeo, which rolls into Rawhide Wild West Town from Friday, January 16, through Sunday, January 18. Sponsored by the International Gay Rodeo…
ONGOING If the words “read me a story” send you into a panic, take the Tempe Youth Library up on its offer to read to your brood, free of charge. The Book Baby Program (12 to 24 months) meets at 9:20 a.m., and 2- and 3-year-olds meet at 10:20 a.m.,…
Sat 1/17 So much for all that ginkgo biloba, meditation and PBS. Our gray matter is about to take a hit. This Saturday, January 17, The Paper Heart presents “HAZ MAT 2004: Hazardous Material for Your Mind” — and the head games are so huge that the Heart has to…
1/15-1/31 Talk to Gus Edwards, and it’s clear he has an opinion on everything under the sun. It’s also clear that he doesn’t take them or himself too seriously, leaving the subject of his latest hour-and-20-minute play, Dear Martin, Dear Coretta, in a rather precarious situation. But under Edwards’ deft…
