The audience was sparse one late October evening at Herberger Theater Center in downtown Phoenix. A curtain opened to reveal dancer Lenna DeMarco seated center stage atop a simple, pine-colored chair. With her short, silver-streaked hair tucked behind her ears, the 67-year-old dance faculty emeritus with Glendale Community College wore…
Between scoping out the best holiday lights displays throughout the Valley, wrapping up last-minute shopping, and balancing out your cookie consumption with hiking, here are 11 things to add to your to-do list that’ll be totally worth it. Hannibal Buress It’s been a big year for Hannibal Buress, the stand-up comic…
Hannibal Buress had a very busy 2015 — and the comedian isn’t planning on slowing down anytime soon. He’s been on numerous episodes of Broad City, of course, where he plays the laidback Lincoln Rice (a.k.a. the on-again/off-again paramour of main character Ilana Glazer), and starred in his own Comedy…
I very much wanted to love Heathers: The Musical, which you will find screaming its head off at the Tempe Performing Arts Center for the next couple of weeks. I’ve counted Daniel Waters’ 1988 film about murderous high schoolers among my all-time favorite movies since its release, and was looking…
If you sense some magical vibrations coming off of High Street this weekend, there’s a good reason for it. Piff the Magic Dragon (the world’s funniest performing magic dragon and America’s Got Talent finalist) will be showing off his hilarious brand of magic at the House of Comedy. The magic…
I am not sleeping with actor/director Ron May. I am a happily married man who’s a sucker for a well-crafted theater performance. I mention these simple facts because, in reviewing the best theatrical events I saw in 2015, I find that I have as usual favored productions in which May…
Tempe dance company CONDER/dance has announced the 2016 edition of its annual film and dance festival Breaking Ground. Since 2007, CONDER/dance’s namesake and founder Carley Conder has organized the festival to spotlight local and international contemporary dance, choreography, and, more recently, filmmaking. Held Friday and Saturday, January 29 and 30,…
New Times picks the best art and culture events in metro Phoenix from December 11 to 13. See more on our curated calendar of events. Herakles We’d say that each performance of Orange Theatre’s Herakles is limited to 25 seats, but that isn’t quite right. More like 25 people, who…
It could have ended in Dallas last June, when 18-year-old Miami tap dancer Gaby Diaz auditioned for season 12 of the FOX reality TV competition So You Think You Can Dance. Diaz didn’t make the cut that time around, after performing a routine the judges described as way too busy…
New Times picks the best arts and culture events and things to do in metro Phoenix from December 4 to December 6. Heathers Heathers could have passed as a horror movie, but with a tender-yet-squicky love story and a trio of characters basically dressed as a traffic light, it wound up…
Need proof that the Phoenix arts scene is filled with diverse and intriguing offerings? You’ll find plenty of evidence during December’s First Friday art walk, which features artworks exploring urban decay, ice, gender identity, light, and celebrity. Here’s a sampling of shows, including one that couples visual art with dance,…
It’s easy to get a steady flamenco fix in metro Phoenix, thanks to Flamenco Por La Vida, the dance company founded in 2009 by Angelina Ramirez, who continues to perform with the company and serve as its artistic director. This week, Flamenco Por La Vida presents its third Lluvia Flamenca…
Thanksgiving is approaching and with the holiday comes visiting relatives, vacation days, and the serious consumption of deliciously starchy foods. We found a couple things to keep you and yours busy during Thanksgiving week 2015. No matter what you’re into, there’s something to keep you entertained including parties, runs, art…
Stray Cat Theatre, a Tempe-based indie theater company that presents classic and contemporary works with a smart and edgy vibe, will move to Tempe Center for the Arts in June of 2016, artistic director Ron May says. Stray Cat’s final production at its current venue, Tempe Performing Arts Center (TPAC) located…
New Times picks the best in art, culture, comedy, and theater events in metro Phoenix from November 20 to 22. For more things to do, see our curated calendar of events. Emerging Artists II There’s not enough modern dance hereabouts. Meanwhile, performing arts grad students can’t just toil away at…
The horror of Nearly Naked Theatre’s Monster has nothing to do with the macabre action of Mary Shelley’s Frankenstein, the story on which this play is based. It hasn’t anything to do with the inferior production, the sluggish acting, the slow and dull-witted direction. The real nightmare here is how…
VICE Magazine called it “Comi-Con meets burlesque nerd orgy,” while Esquire minced no words in describing it as “beautiful young women with tattoos.” Each was describing the same scene, one of shimmying Stormtroopers and scantily clad tattooed women dancing and playing dress-up with pop culture references. The show is Blackheart…
Issues related to racial injustice are prevalent in contemporary political rhetoric, as both activists and creatives acknowledge that American society has yet to keep its promise of liberty and justice for all. Artists like Kara Walker, whose large-scale cut-paper silhouettes depict scenes infused with racial stereotypes, are part of the…
Suns vs. Lakers There have always been rumblings that legendary Laker Kobe Bryant might at times be more of a liability than a luminary to his teammates. Well, in what may be Bryan’ts final season, no one is rumbling anymore. It’s obvious. On a roster chockfull of young talent, Bryant’s…
After Jessica Rajko learned about the trend of Europeans holding American-style parties complete with hot dogs and drinks served in disposable cups, she started thinking more about drinking culture among young Americans. The Tempe-based performer, choreographer, and intermedia digital media artist has since choreographed a work titled I’m Not as Think…
Los Angeles theater website Bitter Lemons published a piece by Jason Rohrer on October 23 in which Rohrer takes issue with New Times’ Robrt Pela, in particular his October 9 essay, It’s Not Okay to Review Plays After One Act, Christopher Frizzelle. Pela argued in that piece that it is…
Susan Fritzler’s kids gave her a $55 gift card earlier this year, redeemable at the recently shuttered Palms Theatre. “They fully expected I could use the gift card for dinner or for a show,” Fritzler says. But before she had a chance to enjoy a revival of Kismet, Fritzler heard…
