by Rebecca Rudnyk – This may be wildly inappropriate. Knowingly stepping out of my lane. I write about theatre. But writers need to write, out of...
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24th Annual ‘A Winnie-The-Pooh Christmas Tail’ Lights Up Valley Youth Theatre
The holiday season is officially upon us. The fresh air is cool and crisp, with the distinctive and rare scent produced by burning fireplaces. Indoors it smells of balsam, cinnamon pine cones, and pumpkin spice candles. Wreaths adorn front doors and sparkling lights glitter both inside and outside of our homes. Thanksgiving, the most glorious and gluttonous of holidays, is in the rearview. We are in the year’s home stretch. Christmas is nearly here. And, aside from many other things, that means Valley Youth Theatre’s annual production of A Winnie-The-Pooh Christmas Tail has officially arrived…
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‘Anastasia’ at ASU Gammage
Anastasia is a Broadway musical based on the animated 1997 feature film of the same name. An exploration of the long-held rumor that the Grand Duchess Anastasia survived the Bolshevik’s murder of the Raminov family, a tale DNA evidence has debunked. Twenty years after the movie was released, its newly-envisioned stage production premiered on the Great White Way. Magical characters replaced by historically-relevant ones. Slightly less focused on the fairy tale, and more with addressing the plight of the time…
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The Canterbury Tarot at Aside Theatre Company
The Canterbury Tarot is a new play by local playwright Ashley Naftule, whose other works include Ear and The First Annual Bookburners Convention. It is a mashup of Chaucer’s classic novel “The Canterbury Tales” and characters from Alejandro Jodorowsky’s tarot deck. Our players converge in an inn that sits in the shadow of Canterbury Cathedral, sharing stories as they make their pilgrimage. Motivations unfolding as interactions do…
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Scottsdale Musical Theatre Company Presents ‘Man of La Mancha’ at Tempe Center for the Arts
Live theatre is a different kind of beast than most forms of performance art…
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‘Unmentionables’ Takes Cross-Country Trek to Space 55
by Rebecca Rudnyk
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Unmentionables is a new work written by Molly Greville and developed at Boston University in collaboration with Kirsten Greenidge, the award winning playwright of Milk Like Sugar. It premiered in 2018 at the Boston Fringe Fest, and was recently brought to Arizona, thanks to a collaboration with Space 55 in Phoenix. The production team is comprised of recent Boston University BFA graduates, almost all female, and all incredibly talented. Annie Brennan Coursey directs, and Sophie Gore is both Stage Manager and Intimacy Director…
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Stray Cat Theatre’s ‘Small Mouth Sounds’ Makes Brave Moves at Tempe Center for the Arts
by Rebecca Rudnyk
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Stray Cat Theatre’s newest production, Small Mouth Sounds, is bravely unconventional…
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Scottsdale Musical Theatre Company Presents ‘The Pajama Game’ at Tempe Center for the Arts
by Rebecca Rudnyk – The Pajama Game is a musical straight out of the Golden Age of Broadway. Based on the novel “7 ½ Cents” by...
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Pure Imagination: Charlie and the Chocolate Factory Delights ASU Gammage
by Rebecca Rudnyk
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Charlie and The Chocolate Factory is a new musical based on the beloved children’s book by Roald Dahl. A story that was woven into the everlasting fabric of our zeitgeist by the 1971 film, Willy Wonka and the Chocolate Factory. Gene Wilder’s portrayal of the odd-but-intriguing candy man left a lasting impression on an entire generation of young people. A warmth and nostalgia that, although some have tried, has never been fully replicated…
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Weird West: ‘be my little baby’ at Space 55
by Dale I. Rasmussen
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The deserts of Arizona are a place of mystery and myth.
The environs are harsh, uncompromising, and teeming with menace. However, even amidst the unyielding cruelty, there is beauty, at times, even peace. The winds whisper of both dreams unimagined and tragedies untold. Such is the backdrop and setting of Space 55’s newest offering, be my little baby, an original production by local playwright John Perovich with directtion by Ilana Lydia…
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Greek Classic, American Contemporary: Now & Then’s New Take on Antigone
by Dale I. Rasmussen
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How do we define “loyalty?”
When confronted by others whose viewpoints we find toxic or offensive, just how important is steadfast resolve to our own values? Are there prices for “being right” that are too high to pay, and if so, where is that threshold? At what point does fidelity to our responsibilities to God or country mutate into obstinate, self-serving pride?
These questions, which haunt us in 2019 America form the spine of a story first told nearly 2,500 years ago in Sophocles’ Antigone, and this shockingly contemporary work is being told anew in Now and Then Creative Company’s final show of their second season, directed by Cody Goulder…
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‘The Play That Goes Wrong’ Does Everything Right at ASU Gammage
by Rebecca Rudnyk
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The Play That Goes Wrong is a play within a play. A college production with a small but mighty cast, making due as things go devastatingly awry. Bringing back memories of shows from childhood when everyone invests their entire soul into a production, building sets from scraps and piecing together costumes from Goodwill finds and parents closets. Desperate to making it work. Improvising as things fall apart along the way. Yet this is not a cobbled-together, low budget passion project. It is a Broadway show with a Tony Award-winning set, perfectly constructed and capable of doing the unimaginable. Accompanied by a script with carefully considered errors yielding hilarious results. And as if that wasn’t enough, there are some very impressive magic tricks sprinkled in for good measure…
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