Each year since 2007, Arizona Women’s Theatre Company has sponsored the Pandora Festival, an open competition for unpublished scripts by Arizona’s female playwrights. (Full disclosure: I served as a reading judge for the 2010 competition and will be paid a small stipend for my services.) Julie Amparano’s A Mother’s Will…
La Llorona is the Mexican bogeywoman, the ghost of a mother who killed her children and cries and wails in the night, especially near bodies of water. She’s a mean, crazy bitch who might just come for you if you don’t behave yourself — or is she? That’s just part…
Theater queens are no doubt rejoicing that [title of show] is playing now at the Herberger. Others, though they may see and enjoy Jeff Bowen and Hunter Bell’s charming homage to musical theater, might — even as they’re laughing and tapping their feet — be puzzled by the endless references…
Have you ever been shopping and seen a cunningly-styled, uniquely flattering, bargain-priced evening coat and been a little bummed because it’s such a lovely, accessible object of obvious quality, but who really needs an evening coat, like, ever? This is the predicament of Kennedy, a rather enjoyable and beautifully presented…
News flash: The Play About the Naked Guy has been, ahem, extended. The production now runs through Saturday, March 6.Oh, democracy, democracy, is there anything you can’t do? In the plot of David Bell’s The Play About the Naked Guy, only two of the three remaining diehard members of The…
A door slams. A man in a black unitard angrily stalks onto a bare stage, carrying a bar stool. He sets the stool down, then spends the next several minutes moving the stool from place to place and doing the sort of limbering and breathing exercises an actor might do…
I haven’t decided what the deal is with interactive murder mystery dinner theater, or whether I like it in general. It’s possible you’ll get to see me work that whole issue out, right in this virtual space, one of these days. But in the meantime, I had a swell time at…
UPDATE: Just got a note that tonight — Friday, February 12 — tickets are a recession-busting $10, but to get the deal you must call or text 602-214-4344 for more information. Franc Gaxiola’s Th [sic] Sense troupe’s sketch comedy seemed like a good fit for this column — it’s written…
I found that if I squinted, I could pretend I was watching a master acting class led by thespian Debra K. Stevens, and not a failed production of David Lindsay-Abaire’s Fuddy Meers. It was easy to keep this little fantasy going because Stevens — who’s playing the lead in Nearly…
Our need to tear down our idols didn’t start with reality stars, athletes, or even politicians. Eat a little forbidden fruit and you’re kicked out of the garden for good. And even if you’re honest and sweet, it turns out, someone will be glad to slander you for a price…
Some significant changes have taken place at our Valley’s “official” community theaters — the ones that tend to bear the name of the city or community they call home, have been around a couple of decades or more, that have some loyal subscribers and feel a duty to present relatively wholesome entertainments with…
Those of us who get our kicks collecting recordings of people who can’t sing (my current fave: Telly Savalas’ 1975 vinyl opus Who Loves Ya, Baby?) already knew about Florence Foster Jenkins, a tone deaf old songbird beloved by fans of the absurd. And those of us who’ve seen Stephen…
For some people, Arsenic and Old Lace is a beloved old film comedy starring Cary Grant. A whole bunch of other people were either in it in high school or had to go see a friend or relative in it in high school, and I mean for decades now. (Not unlike You…
Hedwig and the Angry Inch is a play that takes the form of a club rock show during which the singer/songwriter, Hedwig (né Hansel) Schmidt, imparts the story of her life (sometimes in song, sometimes in bitchysweet monologue) up to this point, which includes having undergone a quickie, incomplete sexual…
Things were not going well. I was at a holiday party, and people were doing that thing where they try to get me to talk about theater. Mostly, when this happens, it’s because people assume that I want to chat about shows I have seen or am about to see…
It’s not too late to get your holiday theatrical fix — Meet Me in St. Louis, the cozy, old-fashioned story that introduced the popular song “Have Yourself a Merry Little Christmas” and also features a great big turn-of-the-previous-century fancy-dress Christmas Eve ball, has another week to run at the Broadway…
For 18 years, my own holiday traditions with respect to Actors Theatre’s well-regarded annual production of A Christmas Carol are that I have assiduously avoided giving the company the opportunity to decide whether to cast me (because if I perform that hard around Christmas, I always get rip-roaringly ill); a grip of my personal actor…
It’s always a heartwarming surprise to see a play by a non-famous local writer — a student, recent grad, or someone just relatively new to writing for the stage — and have it turn out to be well-crafted and entertaining. I love new artists, and I love the companies who…
The irony in the failure of Stray Cat Theatre’s current production of Speech & Debate is that it falls short largely because its lead actors are so adept at playing infuriating teenagers. After close to two hours of hand-wringing and anguish from Stephen Karam’s trio of peculiar pubescents, their audience…
It’s time for Christmas shows! Nearly Naked’s Times Square Angel, Arizona Broadway Theatre’s A Christmas Carol, and Theater Works’ Miracle on 34th Street are all back with many of the same cast, designers, and directors as last year. (Check with each company for this year’s dates and times.) Fred Bornhoeft, who was reprising…
After just about a year of seeing a play a week for this column, I’m starting to catch some of the same fabulous performers over and over again, working in different companies for different directors, and realize why they get cast a lot. Choosing the cast for a play is…
Many of our favorite stories are love stories, or at least have love stories in them — the thrill of new relationships, the steam of lust, the warm comfort of a lifelong, mutual romance — but relatively few novels, plays, or movies are about love. The phenomenon. The indefinable but undeniable condition that…
