10 Awesome Aziz Ansari GIFS

Wait. You got your Aziz Ansari tix already, right? Good. ‘Cause his Buried Alive Tour stops at Comerica Theatre on May 5. Ready for the pre-party? Here it goes: 10 GIFS of our favorite swagtastic comedian, Yeezy sidekick, and Parks and Recreation character. (Deal with it, Swansonians.) That one up…

PHX:fringe on Hiatus — “No 2013 Events”

Normally, this time of year, our theater pants would be full of PHX:fringe performances, but we’re having a much less edgy spring than we’d like. The festival’s official website, which went dark in January or February, had featured the same landing page for several months, advising fans to check back…

Legendary Comedy Club Tempe Improv to Reopen Its Doors in April

Landmark local comedy club Tempe Improv, which closed last summer after decades of hosting hundreds of superstar stand-ups, is making a return. The legendary laugh establishment, located near University Drive and Rural Road in Tempe, is scheduled to reopen its doors in mid-April. It’s just the latest development in the…

Stray Cat’s Sons of the Prophet Heats Up Tempe

The setup: Stray Cat Theatre produced two other scripts by Stephen Karam, directed by Ron May, a few seasons back, and the currently running Sons of the Prophet is the third such matchup. This is a classic example of a play that people tend not to have heard of (despite…

Th [sic] Sense Again? You Can’t Keep Perverted Sketch Comics Down

The setup: Doing anything artistic in the Valley for five straight (as it were) years is a huge accomplishment. A sketch comedy troupe that’s been performing several times a year in a dump on Grand Avenue, beginning in 2008 when the economy tanked? Hella impressive. Guess what else? They’re smart,…

Men of War Find Redemption in The Whipping Man

The ways in which revolutions disrupt the lives of the winners has been well documented. In Matthew Lopez’s The Whipping Man, we consider the losers — in this case, of the Civil War — and reside, courtesy of a strong production at the Black Theatre Troupe, with three actors whose…

Les Miserables (Not That One) at Mesa’s New Silver Star Playhouse

The setup: There’s a lot of backstory here. Broadway Palm Dinner Theatre went out of business last year, and a venerable, family-friendly Salt Lake City (well, Murray) company, Desert Star Playhouse, took over the cavernous space at Brown and Higley roads to launch a metro Phoenix branch of their silly,…

The 15 Best One-Liners of Louis C.K.

For 20 years, stand-up comic Louis C.K. has shocked, offended, and connected with audiences around the globe. His vulgar material is nothing short of hilarious as the comic continues to stun fans with new knee-slapping routines. After postponing his originally scheduled Phoenix visit in December, Louis C.K. decided to move…

Mesa Encore Theatre’s Next to Normal Is Far from Average

The setup: Next to Normal marks the first time since Rent that a musical won the Pulitzer Prize for Drama. (Interestingly, composer Tom Kitt and lyricist Brian Yorkey had written even less for the stage than had Jonathan Larson at that point.) Arizona Theatre Company mounted a production last fall,…