We’ve reached the end of our 2017/2018 season! We are so proud and grateful to have shared another season of inspiring work with our communities and with each other. As we reflect back on this past season, we want to share some of our staff’s favorite moments with you. If you have favorite moments you’d […]
Republished with permission from Big Image Theatre Network (BITN). Christopher Gerling was literally waiting in the wings … I’d just finished a fascinating interview with Production Manager Jen Smith on their set for Man Of La Mancha, and she had strategically placed Chris just offstage to tag in so she could get back to work. […]
Republished with permission from Big Image Theatre Network (BITN). This article shouldn’t be happening, nope, not at all … I first met Brigitte Bechtel when the shop at Arizona Theatre Company contacted me to produce a digitally printed “Show Curtain” for their stellar production Man Of La Mancha. I work for Big Image Systems, the […]
VIDEO: Courtesy of Second Nature Productions, LLC. Click here to watch the video interview. Vicki Smith is the scenic designer for ATC’s production of Low Down Dirty Blues and a longtime collaborator at ATC. Most recently, she designed the set for our production of Fences in the 2015/2016 season. Other ATC credits include: Wait Until […]
Republished with permission from Big Image Theatre Network (BITN). It’s a back-of-house, production staff position, but it’s also a creative one. It’s a job that balances artistic vision with dollars and cents, realistic expectations with creative impulses, endless attention to the million details that make up a successful company. Sounds pretty straight-forward, right? But spend […]
AUTHOR: Lorraine Koleski, ATC Dramaturgical Volunteer, with Erin Treat Schauer, Dramaturg In part, Outside Mullingar revolves around four characters who are deeply tied to the traditions of Irish family farming. The characters’ essential connection to the land, to their ancestors, to each other, and to an uncertain future are all informed by traditions and practices that […]
AUTHOR: Erin Treat Schauer, Dramaturg for Outside Mullingar and ATC Online Engagement Coordinator David Ivers is in his first season as Artistic Director of Arizona Theatre Company. He was most recently the Artistic Director of the Utah Shakespeare Festival, where he has acted and directed over 50 productions in a relationship spanning 20 seasons. His […]
We’re thrilled to be producing Marisela Treviño Orta’s magical play The River Bride. The play is one of a trilogy of grim Latino fairy tales penned by the playwright, including Wolf at the Door (premiering at the New Jersey Repertory Company next fall) and Alcira. In addition to writing for the theatre, Ms. Orta is also […]
AUTHOR: Erin Treat, Online Engagement Coordinator As part of our renewed commitment to our Arizona communities, Arizona Theatre Company is proud to share the details of a burgeoning partnership with Chapel Haven West! Chapel Haven West (CHW) is a private nonprofit agency in Tucson serving individuals with mild developmental disabilities and those on the autism […]
AUTHOR: Erin Treat, Online Engagement Coordinator Marisela Treviño Orta is an award-winning playwright in her third year of study at the Iowa Playwrights Workshop. Her plays include: American Triage, Braided Sorrow (2006 Chicano/Latino Literary Prize in Drama, 2009 Pen Center USA Literary Award in Drama), Ghost Limb (2017 Brava Theater world premiere), Heart Shaped Nebula (2015 Shotgun Players world premiere), and Woman on […]
This season, Arizona Theatre Company welcomes David Ivers as our new Artistic Director and Billy Russo as our new Managing Director. You’ll have plenty of opportunities to get to know them better over the coming months, but in the meantime, they wanted to share some of their thoughts with our patrons. MR. IVERS: In May, […]
VIDEO: Second Nature Productions, LLC. Click here to watch the video interview. Marsha Mason is the director for ATC’s 2017/2018 season opener, Chapter Two. Ms. Mason returns to ATC this season after directing last season’s production of An Act of God. She has received four Academy Award nominations for her roles in the films The Goodbye […]
AUTHOR: Chloe Loos, Artistic Intern ATC’s Holmes and Watson carries on a long and storied tradition of reimagining the canon (which refers to the short stories and novels written by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle), characters, situations, and even time or location of the famous detective. Why has he survived – thrived, rather – for over […]
AUTHOR: Chloe Loos, Artistic Intern Did you know that some of your favorite songs have been in the making since the time of your great-great-(maybe even great)-grandparents? Due to America’s history of immigration and colonialism, our early music came from a wide variety of people. Known as roots music because they served as the basis […]
AUTHOR: Chloe Loos, Artistic Intern Not many artists can say that they’ve had a music career spanning over fifty years, released 96 records across multiple different labels, and sold over 90 million copies, but Johnny Cash can. That – and his inclusion in the Nashville Songwriters Hall of Fame, the Country Music Hall of Fame, […]
Re-published with permission from OnMedia Publications. Meet Geri Silvi, Arizona Theatre Company Box Office Manager and the March Arts Hero. Geri is often the first point of contact for theatregoers, and she uses the opportunity to make their experience positive. Born and raised south of Boston, Geri was introduced to the arts through her high school […]
AUTHOR: Chloe Loos, Artistic Intern Despite the striking set design and incredible use of sound and lights in La Esquinita, USA, perhaps the most striking feature is the unique aesthetic attitude the show maintains. As the show’s first regional production, Arizona Theatre Company was able to give the artistic team more resources than it has had […]
AUTHOR: Chloe Loos, Artistic Intern La Esquinita, USA was developed at El Teatro Campesino, the longest running Chicano theatre in the United States. The company was founded in 1965 by Luis Valdez on the Delano picket lines of the United Farmworkers Union (as led by César Chávez and Dolores Huerta) and performed short, improvised scenes […]
AUTHOR: Erin Treat, Online Engagement Coordinator Krista Curry, Taylor Pearlstein, and Jennifer Wingerter play Teyve’s three eldest daughters (Chava, Hodel, and Tzeitel, respectively) in ATC’s critically acclaimed production of Fiddler on the Roof. You can learn more about their previous credits here. ATC: How did you get started in theatre? MS. PEARLSTEIN: I guess I started pretty […]
AUTHOR: Rubén C. González, Playwright / Performer of La Esquinita, USA I began writing La Esquinita, USA in 2007. I was working as a substitute teacher in Southeast Los Angeles to subsidize my acting career, when I was asked to teach a class of troubled high schoolers for ten weeks. In my head, I heard “Run […]
AUTHOR: David Ira Goldstein, ATC Artistic Director and Director of Fiddler on the Roof When Fiddler on the Roof opened on Broadway in 1964, it was instantly embraced. Fiddler became the first Broadway show to run for more than 3,000 performances, it spawned hundreds of productions all over the world in dozens of languages, the […]
AUTHOR: Arizona Theatre Company We can’t invite you directly into the rehearsal room (we wouldn’t all fit!), but we’re giving you the next best thing! Our first-ever video blog gives you a special, behind-the-scenes look at the first week of rehearsals for Fiddler on the Roof.
Looking for a way to pass the time while you wait for the next performance of ATC’s An Act of God? Try this word search, where you can find the names of all the deities who *don’t* appear on ATC’s stage. For more like this, check out the Play Guide! Download the Word Search.
AUTHOR: Erin Treat, Online Engagement Coordinator G. W. Mercier is the scenic designer for ATC’s 50th Anniversary Season-opener, King Charles III. His past work includes Head of Passes (Public Theater), for which he received Lucile Lortel and Drama Desk Award nominations; and Juan Darien: A Carnival Mass, for which he received a Tony Award nomination and […]
AUTHOR: Erin Treat, Online Engagement Coordinator Mark Gagliardi plays Charles Dickens in ATC’s much-loved production of The Gospel According to Thomas Jefferson, Charles Dickens and Count Leo Tolstoy: Discord. He has appeared on stage (and online) in The Thrilling Adventure Hour (Largo at the Coronet), among other productions; in numerous TV shows, including Drunk History, The […]
AUTHOR: Erin Treat, Online Engagement Coordinator Larry Cedar plays Thomas Jefferson in ATC’s current production, The Gospel According to Thomas Jefferson, Charles Dickens and Count Leo Tolstoy: Discord. His work spans theatre, film, television, voice acting, and more. Notable roles include: Lear in King Lear (Porters of Hellsgate), Leon in Deadwood (HBO), and a starring […]
AUTHOR: MERLE REAGLE Merle Reagle, who passed last August, was the Sunday crossword creator for the Arizona Daily Star, Los Angeles Times, Washington Post, and 50 other major papers. Merl grew up in Tucson and was a longtime friend of Discord playwright Scott Carter. Scott asked him to construct this crossword for the original production […]
AUTHOR: Erin Treat, Online Engagement Coordinator Armin Shimerman plays Count Leo Tolstoy in ATC’s latest production, The Gospel According to Thomas Jefferson, Charles Dickens and Count Leo Tolstoy: Discord. He’s best known for his work on the science-fiction series Star Trek:Deep Space Nine and the fantasy series Buffy the Vampire Slayer. He’s also an accomplished […]
Author: Katherine Monberg, Literary Associate Meet Lola! Lola is a nine-year-old shepherd mix, and our esteemed canine guest for the Tucson run of John Steinbeck’s Of Mice and Men. In the text of Steinbeck’s novella and on the stage, Lola is a symbol: of love and connection in an isolating world, of goodness, innocence, and of enduring commitment […]
AUTHOR: Lydia Lopez, Scenic Art Intern How does a scenic artist tell a story? A painter of theatrical scenery brings the set to life by way of paint color matching, style of application, texture, and surface finishes. Sometimes it’s a very realistic set, other times it’s about cleanliness and precision, and other times it’s very […]
AUTHOR: Erin Treat, Online Engagement Coordinator James T. Alfred plays Lyons in ATC’s critically acclaimed production of August Wilson’s Fences. Other ATC credits include Jitney, Ma Rainey’s Black Bottom, To Kill a Mockingbird, and most recently, The Mountaintop. We sat down with Mr. Alfred to discuss life as an actor, August Wilson’s unique voice, and more! ATC: […]
AUTHOR: Chloe Loos and Katherine Monberg “People don’t read things!” A common complaint around my desk and my dinner table, as my colleagues and family will attest, from a dramaturg whose craft revolves around literature and language. But my assertion really isn’t quite true; people do read things, at an almost unprecedented rate. However, what we […]
Among other things, Sex With Strangers deals with a writer’s life in the blogosphere. Many up-and-coming writers and artists are now getting their start online – writing blogs, self-publishing e-books, hosting podcasts and YouTube channels, etc. We asked the ATC staff to give us some recommendations on their favorite digital content. Here are some of […]
Author: Ron May, Stray Cat Theatre Artistic Director Arizona Theatre Company has added a seventh show to the 2015-16 season as it presents Sex With Strangers, a very special production from Stray Cat Theatre, one of Arizona’s leading indie theatre companies. Stray Cat Theatre has been producing contemporary theatre in Phoenix and Tempe since 2000 […]
Author: Katherine Monberg, Literary Associate August Wilson’s American Century Cycle is a collection of ten plays that chronicle a collective century of the Black American experience, with each of the ten plays set in a different decade spanning the 20th century. Nine of the ten plays are set in the Hill District of Pittsburgh, one […]
If you’re a fan of Wicked, Godspell, or Pippin, chances are you recognize some of the tunes in ATC’s latest show, Snapshots. But can you name all 28 songs? We’ve put together a playlist of some of the songs that appear in Snapshots, sung with their original lyrics, to help you “name that tune” when […]
It’s that time of year when many of us stop to take stock of our lives and express our gratitude. We asked ATC’s staff what they were grateful for this year, and here’s what they said! “I’m thankful for my husband and two adult children, as well as my ATC family.” – Debbie Archuleta, Accounting […]
John Ezell is the Scenic Designer for ATC’s exciting Arizona premiere production of Disgraced. We recently had the opportunity to sit down with Mr. Ezell to discuss his work on the production. ATC: Your original background is in painting. How did you transition from painting to scenic design? Mr. Ezell: I knew I wanted to be a […]
AUTHOR: KATHERINE MONBERG, LITERARY ASSOCIATE Hello, and welcome to the ATC blog! My name is Katherine Monberg, and I’m the Literary Manager at ATC. Among the many theatrical aspects that all combine to make a production is the wonderful world of dramaturgy: adding context and depth to the stage since theatre began! And that’s where […]
AUTHOR: KATHERINE MONBERG, LITERARY ASSOCIATE Tin Pan Alley is the designation given to the collection of music publishers and songwriters that developed and dominated the music publishing industry in the late 19th and early 20th centuries, located on Manhattan’s West 28th Street between Broadway and 6th Avenue. Known as the “King of Tin Pan Alley,” […]
AUTHOR: RON MAY, STRAY CAT THEATRE ARTISTIC DIRECTOR I’m on Facebook a lot. I tend to be a colossal smartass: my posts are rarely safe for work, I have a total potty mouth, and I also have a running gag of posting what people have called my “guy on scruff” posts. They are interactions I […]
AUTHOR: DAVID IRA GOLDSTEIN AND MATT LEHRMAN Shakespeare would say, “A rose by any other name would smell as sweet.” You know Arizona Theatre Company as “The State Theatre”: Arizona’s preeminent fully professional theatre, with a proud 48-year history of producing the rich variety of world drama – from classics to contemporary plays, from musicals […]
