Scorpius Dance Theatre Opens Aerial Arts Studio Saturday

After hosting monthly aerial arts workshops for about the past year, Scorpius Dance Theatre found a permanent location to offer regular aerial arts classes in the Valley. This Saturday, January 18, from noon to 4 p.m. they’ll unveil the new space during an open house event. Attendees will be able…

Nearly Naked’s Take Me Out Fails to Hit a Home Run

Nearly Naked Theatre’s current production of Richard Greenberg’s Take Me Out, which the company also presented eight years ago, suffers in comparison to that earlier version. Watching it, I strained to forget the dynamic performances of the company’s 2006 season-opener (particularly that of Ron May, who raised his own game…

Nearly Naked Theatre’s Take Me Out Has No Balls at Phoenix Theatre

Nearly Naked Theatre’s current production of Richard Greenberg’s Take Me Out, which the company also presented eight years ago, suffers in comparison to that earlier version. Watching it, I strained to forget the dynamic performances of the company’s 2006 season-opener (particularly that of Ron May, who raised his own game…

Phoenix Improv Festival 2014 Announced for April

Better call a doctor, ’cause you’re gonna be in stitches. Or, wait, no. You’ll need stitches from the doctor because… because of side-splitting laughter. There we go. For all that to happen and for some well-constructed jokes from folks who know what they’re doing, head to the Phoenix Improv Festival…

Ballet Arizona Offers Free Dance Classes January 12

If you’re looking for fun ways to get moving in the New Year, you’ll have a chance to test run your dancing shoes this weekend when Ballet Arizona opens the doors to its state-of-the-art studios for a day of free classes. On Sunday, January 12, the professional dance company will…

5 Things You Need to Know About Sasheer Zamata

Comedian Sasheer Zamata will join Saturday Night Live this month as the show’s newest featured player, making her the show’s first black female cast member since 2007. Her midseason addition follows SNL’s search for a black woman to join the cast this winter. The long-running show came under fire after…

Arizona Sidewinders Cheerleader Auditions Begin January 5

This weekend, the audition process begins for the 2014 Arizona Sidewinders, the cheerleading and dance team for Phoenix’s arena football team, the Arizona Rattlers. Dancers and cheerleaders interested in joining the squad are invited to attend preliminary auditions this Sunday, January 5, at US Airways Center. The final auditions will…

The 10 Best Plays I Saw in Metro Phoenix in 2013

The setup: It’s that time of year to look back and remember what the most amazing and marvelous experiences of 2013 were. (You don’t have to, but it’s our job.) I am filled with a sense of personal development when I realize that at least three times this year I…

Phoenix’s Black Theatre Troupe Is Tellin’ It on the Mountain

The setup: For several if not most of the past 17 years, Black Theatre Troupe presented Langston Hughes’ seminal 1961 pageant Black Nativity as its Christmas show. I never got to see it, but I hear it’s rather awesome, and now it’s a Major Motion Picture. Meanwhile, BTT is premièring…

Ballet Arizona’s Nutcracker Is an Enjoyable Holiday Staple

If you’re like my family and me, then seeing The Nutcracker is a holiday tradition. The score is as familiar as Christmas carols, and the story as well known as a favorite bedtime book. And if you go to Ballet Arizona’s Nutcracker looking to witness the magic of the Nutcracker…

The Snow Queen Is Heartwarming at Phoenix’s Herberger Theater

Though the story of Frances Smith Cohen’s The Snow Queen isn’t exactly a holiday tale, the local show has become a Christmastime tradition for many Valley families. In it, Cohen turns the Hans Christian Andersen fairy tale of the same name into a 90-minute performance that includes students from dozens…

Space 55’s A Bloody Mary Christmas Features Killer Perfomances

BIG OL’ HOLIDAY THEATER UPDATE: Because of you people and how much you love to go to good plays, White Christmas has added two performances, one this Sunday evening, December 15, and one on Christmas freakin’ Eve! Back to our regularly scheduled weirdness: The setup: Can it be only three…

All New People at Stray Cat Theatre Is an Engaging Black Comedy

There’s a lot of cinematic shorthand, both literal and figurative, in Zach Braff’s All New People, now on stage at Stray Cat Theatre. That’s to be expected from Braff, a TV star whose first indie film, Garden State, was a huge critical and commercial success. Braff employs quippy dialogue and…