In recent years, the metro Phoenix theater scene has witnessed both boom and bust. Phoenix Theatre underwent significant renovations after receiving a $1 million gift from The Walton Family Foundation. But other theater companies, including Arizona Jewish Theatre and Actors Theatre of Phoenix, ceased to exist after facing financial challenges. In…
“Statement Piece” Pottery goes political at ASU Art Museum Brickyard, as curator Garth Johnson presents “Statement Piece,” an exhibition pairing works from Danish-born war objector Erik Gronborg and American veteran Ehren Tool, who served in Operation Desert Storm. Though from different backgrounds, the two have used functional ceramics in their…
If you stayed home on Sunday and missed the 8th annual Dancing with the Bars competition, you truly missed out. The event title is fairly self explanatory, only rather than pairing second rate celebrities with professional dancers, bartenders, the pros trained with local entertainers, small business owners, and drag queens…
“Bummer Summer” There are countless movies, songs, and poems about the romanticism of summer — the warm sun, the peaceful beach, the budding romance. But, honestly, sometimes the summer can suck. Artist and graphic designer Lauren Bailey has put her minimalistic spin on this darker side of summer in “Bummer…
It’s time for a curtain call, Phoenix. This week, nominees for the 2014-15 ariZoni Theatre Awards of Excellence were announced, recognizing troupes, actors, directors, writers, and costumers across the Valley. Each year the awards aim to recognize greatness in local theater performed by both adults and children, and nearly 100…
Looking for something to do during those painful weekdays before your paycheck arrives? It can be hard to find affordable, air-conditioned events that are also interesting, but they do exist. And we’re here to help you find them. Though movies, dance performances, and large-scale sporting events don’t often come cheap,…
Bar Flies If you spend time in downtown Phoenix even just occasionally and haven’t heard of Bar Flies, we suggest you take a second to reevaluate your life choices and then pay attention. Bar Flies is New Times’ monthly reading series where you’ll hear stories about everything from a lesbian’s…
Your guide to metro Phoenix’s best weekend events is here. Comedy on Fire 28 Downtown’s “longest continuously running independent comedy show,” Comedy on Fire returns with its 28th season. Boasting a laundry list of up-and-coming comics and a few recognizable features, the show promises to pack in the laughs. Things…
Promising to pack a punch alongside each laugh, Comedy on Fire returns to downtown Phoenix this Friday for its 28th show. The three-hour evening features musical and stand-up guests from across the state to offer their insights — and punchlines — to a regularly growing audience. The night of side-splitting…
While students around the state are facing the start of another year of school, we find ourselves facing an equally daunting though somewhat less cerebral challenge: figuring out what we’re going to do this week, and how we’re going to pay for it. Thankfully, there’s plenty to keep everyone entertained…
Back in May of 2014, 11 Phoenix arts and culture organizations announced they had formed the Central Arts District as a way to up their visibility in the region and increase their mutual collaboration while promoting local art and cultural offerings. The 11 organizations involved were Phoenix Art Museum, Phoenix…
Just midway through the year, we’ve already spotted several works that stand out from all the rest — from dance festival featuring emerging and established artists to a graduate art student video conjuring the spirit of a famed contemporary artist. Here are a few of the best things we’ve seen…
Hair 1968’s Hair was a groundbreaking Broadway musical with a killer soundtrack, all about hippies and love and drugs and stopping the war and resisting the Man, man. Seriously. And hair, of course. Those days might be the last time the elements of a musical drenched our culture so thoroughly…
The Book of Mormon is finally almost nearly just about here. Tempe’s ASU Gammage Auditorium will host a touring production of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints-skewering hit from October 20 through November 8. Tickets to the show will be available starting at 10 a.m. on August 3 through Ticketmaster…
Phoenix New Times’ guide to this week’s arts and culture events is here. ‘Capers Named for the Washington D.C. projects where it takes place, ‘Capers is a heartfelt, honest story about the human right to housing and struggles therein. Directed and developed by Patrick Crowley and performed by Anu Yadav…
Anu Yadav wants to start a conversation about economic inequality in America. Her one-woman show, ‘Capers, will be coming to the Phoenix Center for the Arts later this month as part of ASU’s Performance in the Borderlands series. ‘Capers focuses on the experience of residents at the Arthur Capper and…
The opening night performance of Brelby Theatre’s Beyond Musketeers: Utopia Lost began with a curtain speech from director Brian Maticic, who warned us that the production was “super combat-heavy.” He wasn’t kidding. It seemed that nearly every scene of this occasionally entertaining retelling of Alexander Dumas’ The Three Musketeers ended…
Arizona Theatre Company announced on Monday, June 29, that its 2015 National Latino Playwrighting Award and goes to Matthew Paul Olmos for his work the living’life of the daughter mira. Olmos will also receive a $1,000 prize. The NPLA was founded 20 years ago by Arizona Theatre Company artistic director David Ira…
Whether you like to participate or simply listen, poetry readings can be the perfect escape. But they can be tough to find (unless you know where to look), and often get lost in the chaos of open mic nights, where musicians tend to grab the spotlight. There are, however, a…
Rock ‘n’ roll is alive and kicking. And writhing, twirling, lunging, and twitching — thanks to a new dance program called ROCK that Scorpius Dance Theatre premièred Thursday, June 25. Rock hits nearly all the right notes, thanks to a genuinely entertaining blend of dance, aerial arts, live electric guitar performance,…
New Summer Shorts Body-shaming glossy magazines question whether your legs are “ready” for new summer shorts. Screw that. Your legs, along with your brain and your funny bone, are super-ready for New Summer Shorts 2015, Theatre Artists Studio’s eighth annual compilation of short plays by Studio members. This year’s lineup…
Jen Kirkman would like to talk about death now, please. The comedian recently released her first-ever Netflix special, titled I’m Gonna Die Alone (And I Feel Fine). It opens with a sketch featuring a woman, an old friend of Jen’s, bringing her young son backstage. What ensues is a perfectly…
