Louis Farber News

It's a bird! It's a plane! It's… a squirrel?! An unlikely superhero is coming to town as Childsplay Theatre brings Kate DiCamillo's Newberry Award-winning book to life on the Tempe Center for the Arts stage, weekends April 22 through May 20, 2018.

After seeing HAND TO GOD, you may wish you'd brought your spiritual advisor or psychotherapist with you, either for consolation, confession, or calming your endorphins. In co-production with Phoenix Theatre, Stray Cat Theatre's Ron May has directed (in his inimitable and wizardly way) a loony and engaging descent through the gates of humor into the abyss of merciless satire, featuring awesome performances by Eric Zaklukiewicz and Elyse Wolf.

If you thought AVENUE Q was the dirtiest thing a show could do with puppets, you have to meet Tyrone.

If you thought Avenue Q was the worst thing theatre could do with puppets, you're going to want to sit down for this one. Trouble comes to Cypress, Texas in the form of a hand puppet. Jason's recently widowed mother encourages her son to join her in a Fundamentalist Christian puppet troupe, but when Jason's puppet takes on a life of its own, well... All hell breaks loose.

The 2017 awards honor productions which opened between October 1, 2016 and September 30, 2017. Nominations were completely reader-submitted and after the nomination period ended October 31, BroadwayWorld's local editors proofed the list for eligibility and errors.

The 2017 awards honor productions which opened between October 1, 2016 and September 30, 2017. Nominations were completely reader-submitted and after the nomination period ended October 31, BroadwayWorld's local editors proofed the list for eligibility and errors.

The 2017 awards honor productions which opened between October 1, 2016 and September 30, 2017. Nominations were completely reader-submitted and after the nomination period ended October 31, BroadwayWorld's local editors proofed the list for eligibility and errors.

The 2017 awards honor productions which opened between October 1, 2016 and September 30, 2017. Nominations were completely reader-submitted and after the nomination period ended October 31, BroadwayWorld's local editors proofed the list for eligibility and errors.

The 2017 awards honor productions which opened between October 1, 2016 and September 30, 2017. Nominations were completely reader-submitted and after the nomination period ended October 31, BroadwayWorld's local editors proofed the list for eligibility and errors.

The 2017 awards honor productions which opened between October 1, 2016 and September 30, 2017. Nominations were completely reader-submitted and after the nomination period ended October 31, BroadwayWorld's local editors proofed the list for eligibility and errors.

Davisson Entertainment will present two holiday show at the Hardes Theatre this season: A Tuna Christmas and The Santaland Diaries.

Uproarious and played to comic perfection, THE COMPLETE WORKS OF WILLIAM SHAKESPEARE (ABRIDGED) is opening Southwest Shakespeare Company's 24th Season with a hey, and a ho, and a hey nonino. In other words, to be quite blunt, the wit of the script and the ways of its splendid cast are as sharp as a rapier. Tour de force performances by Breona Conrad, Louis Farber, and Alexis Baigue. Directed by Debra K. Stevens.

Now & Then Creative Company is a culmination of perceived needs in the valley, coupled with opportunities for learning and growth with students at Metropolitan Arts Institute. The 'now' focuses on new play development and film production-working with local artists on the development of plays, screenplays, workshop productions, and film productions. The 'then' produces theatre classics that speak to our present time-plays that tackle large issues to provoke conversation around social concerns. Further, I imagine the classics to be interpreted with a strong vision from directors. We are interested in producing classics with strong concepts-we are not interested in producing classics in ways that feel familiar. More to that point sometimes classics begin to feel like museum pieces-once you've seen them, you've seen them. We want to nurture an exciting, vibrant, and meaningful approach to the classics.

Now and then, but not often, a theatregoer experiences theatre that is THEATRE. Not theatre that tries to be film or television, but theatre that has the audacity to be theatrical. Theatre wherein the actor looks the witness in the eye and says, 'I know you know I'm an actor, and I know you're sitting there experiencing this with me. I know you see the lights and the seams in the muslin walls and the painted wood grain on the scenery. And I feel your heartbeat, and we're all breathing this air together.'

'Creating the magic has been the best part of the process,' said Shelby Maticic, who premieres as Molly in Peter and the Starcatcher, January 20th.

About his (and Ridley Pearson's) prequel to Peter Pan, writer/humorist Dave Barry said, 'When you write for adults, unless you happen to write some kind of transcendent classic, it's pretty much forgotten within a few months. But kids read a book, and tell their friends, and tell their brothers and their sisters, and they read it again. There's a lot longer shelf life.'

'Creating the magic has been the best part of the process,' said Shelby Maticic, who premieres as Molly in Peter and the Starcatcher, January 20th.

About his (and Ridley Pearson's) prequel to Peter Pan, writer/humorist Dave Barry said, 'When you write for adults, unless you happen to write some kind of transcendent classic, it's pretty much forgotten within a few months. But kids read a book, and tell their friends, and tell their brothers and their sisters, and they read it again. There's a lot longer shelf life.'

I was attracted to Peter and the Starcatcher because of the script. It is an extremely well-crafted and an exceptionally inventive grown-up's prequel to Peter Pan where twelve actors play over 100 assorted characters, through the use animated characterization and the boundless limits of imagination. The actors enter a sparse stage and create a world for us where we face high adventure, big dreams, tough choices and flying; and the audience is asked to employ their imaginations immediately. The script is smart, tight, heartwarming and hilarious.

Molly is fierce. She's a brassy know-it-all, but she's always fighting for the greater good. She lost a parental figure at a very young age, and it's shaped her into a different person than she might have been otherwise. She's also at a turning point in her life during the course of this play. She's learning about what it means to be an adult, and to make the difficult decisions, even if you don't feel ready to. She has some of the wittiest lines in the show, and gets to be unapologetically confident. Especially when it comes to putting boys in their place.