City Week


Thursday 23

GET WITH IT. It's a tale of art, drugs, casual sex and true friendship.

"Or whatever ..."

Horror Unspeakable Productions has pulled out the stops for The Exiled, a play about what happens when pop culture happens to good people.

Written and directed by Stuart E. Bousel, The Exiled features James MacEachron, Taren Carter Hines, Nat Cassidy, Morgan Stevens Gorman and a long list of Tucson actors.

In this quirky bit of entertainment, Chester, played by MacEachron, is a young man in his mid-20s who is trying to come to terms with his life as a video-store manager. Chester's a former high-school football star who now finds himself surrounded by a gang of college friends who make him wonder if perhaps their lives are a bit more interesting than his.

According to a press release, Bousel was deeply in love the summer he wrote The Exiled, a condition scary enough to convince anyone they might be a playwright, and that "ultimately the play appears to have something to do with that."

The play opens at 8 tonight at the Cabaret Theater at the Temple of Music and Art, 330 S. Scott Ave. Other shows are planned for August 24, 25, 30 and 31 and September 1. All shows begin at 8 p.m. Tickets cost $6. For more information and reservations, call 884-4967.

GIGGLES IN THE GARDEN OF GOOD AND EVIL. Gaslight Theatre is once again scratching around for a laugh.

Armen Dirtanian is the phantom haunting the theater and he hopes to scare you silly.

Will he steal Christine away from Raoul? Will good prevail over evil? Will this latest production, Phantom of the Opera, be a belly-busting hoot?

The play, which opens tonight and runs through November 3, is Peter Van Slyke's adaptation of Gaston Leroux's novel. Van Slyke also directs the show, with music direction provided by Linda Ackermann.

Phantom of the Opera starts at 7 tonight at Gaslight, 7010 E. Broadway Blvd. Regular show times are 7 p.m. Tuesdays through Sundays, with additional performances at 9:30 p.m. Fridays and Saturdays and 3 p.m. Sundays. Tickets cost $14.95 adults; $12.95 military, students and seniors; and $6.95 children. A dinner menu is available at the theater. For more information and reservations, call 886-9428.


Friday 24

TORN BETWEEN TWO WOMEN. Mind games will be played tonight.

The featured film in a free series at St. Philip's in the Hills Episcopal Church, Passion of Mind centers on a woman who is living in two different worlds--as a mother with two children living in France and a single career woman living in New York.

What's real? What's a dream? The 2000 film, staring Demi Moore, William Fichtner and Stellen Skarsgaard, seeks to answer these and other questions.

The screening is part of the ninth annual Religion in Film series, sponsored by the Tacheria Interfaith Spirituality Center.

Passion of Mind begins at 7 tonight at St. Philip's in the Hills Episcopal Church, 4440 N. Campbell Ave., at the northeast corner of Campbell and River. Snacks will be served during the free screening in the East Gallery on the St. Philip's campus.

ON A ROLL. Vyktoria Keating's guitar and vocal talents have been called "some of the most freehanded, lithe and resilient original music around."

Such words of praise are pretty tough to come by--especially in the Washington Post. But for Keating, who recently returned from England, such words are just part of a career that appears to be snowballing with success.

In 1999, Keating was whisked away on a 42-show opening tour for Jethro Tull. The entertainer, who has been overseas recording her fourth CD with the production help of Tull keyboardist Andrew Giddings, is in Tucson tonight for a rare appearance.

Listen to the singer's blend of rock, Celtic, pop and folk in a free show beginning at 7 p.m. at Bookman's Northwest, 3733 W. Ina Road. A second show, from noon to 2 p.m. Saturday, is planned for the store at 1930 E. Grant Road. For more information, call the northwest store at 579-0303 or the Grant Road store at 325-5767.


Saturday 25

OH, BEANS. Wake up, get out and smell the coffee this morning at Plaza Palomino.

Wilde Rose Coffee has joined the lineup for the weekly Saturday-morning Food Faire. Wilde Rose will be serving up hot, fresh brew to go with the brownies, pies and various breads for sale.

You'll also find fresh produce and fruit, tamales, roasting chickens, nuts, farm fresh eggs and emu on the menu during the event from 9 a.m. to 1 p.m. every Saturday.

Often, visitors also enjoy special events, which include concerts, cooking demonstrations and art exhibits.

Plaza Palomino is located at the southeast corner of Swan and Fort Lowell roads. For more information, call 622-0077.


Sunday 26

CHECK OUT THE LADIES. The works of Viennese classical women composers are among those featured today in a summer concert series.

Ensemble Versailles and tenor Wayne Glass will present a concert of chamber music and song that includes selections by Mozart, Haydn and Beethoven. It's the fourth program of the 2001 series staged by the St. Andrew's Bach Society.

Ensemble Versailles, directed by John Metz, professor of early music studies at Arizona State University, was formed in 1996, committing itself to bringing Baroque and Classical styles to life on period instruments.

The concert begins at 3 p.m. at St. Andrew's Episcopal Church, 545 S. Fifth Ave. Tickets cost $8 general admission, $6 for seniors and students. Tickets are available at the door. For more information, call artistic director Christina Jarvis at 628-8119 or e-mail her at christina@delegation.org.

PARTY FOR A PATRON. The Arizona That Never Was and The Saints in Everyday Life are the intriguing titles of two talks during a festival to honor Tucson's patron saint, St. Augustine.

La Fiesta de San Agustín features a nearly five-hour string of lectures.

Historian James Turner starts things off with The Arizona That Never Was, which explores little-known facts about Arizona's borders and how they were determined.

Later in the day, in The Saints in Everyday Life, Jim Griffith will share his considerable knowledge of the folk arts of Southern Arizona.

The talks run from 12:30 to 5 p.m. today at the Rio Nuevo site, on West Congress Street, west of I-10 and the Santa Cruz River. For more information, call 621-6282 or 626-4396.


Monday 27

MARS IS MOVING ON. You have just five days to catch the MarsQuest exhibit at Park Place.

MarsQuest, which has more than 20 interactive experiences and four demonstration models that allow visitors to play the part of explorers on Mars, is an exhibit of national stature developed by NASA, the Space Science Institute of Boulder, the University of Colorado and Arizona State University.

Until Friday, visitors can send commands to maneuver a roving replica of Pathfinder's Sojourner over a simulated Martian landscape; experiment with collage puzzles to learn how scientists assemble larger planetary views from many small images; and handle simulated Martian soil from the Johnson Space Center in Houston

The exhibit is designed to provide visitors with a first-hand sense of exploration in an entertaining and exciting way. MarsQuest will inspire and motivate children and adults to share in the excitement and discoveries of this unprecedented era of Mars exploration.

This week's it, so check it out.

MarsQuest hours are 10 a.m. Monday through Friday. Tickets cost $4.50 adults, $4 seniors and $3.50 children. For more information, call 792-9985.


Tuesday 28

WHERE ARE YOUR MANNERS? Put aside some time this week for laughter.

Table Manners, part of Alan Ayckbourn's Norman Conquest trilogy, is a hilarious romp through would-be seduction.

The other characters, Norman's in-laws et cetera, act as satellites orbiting around him in this upended universe where laughter is the only certainty.

LTW produced Round and Round the Garden, another play in the trilogy, in the summer of 1999. Critics loved it, and Table Manners promises even more summertime fun.

Check out Table Manners at Live Theatre Workshop, 5317 E. Speedway Blvd. The play runs through September 2. Tickets cost $12 with discounts for students, seniors and military. For more information and show times, call 327-4242.

BETTER HAVE EXTRA FINGERS. Ever tried to count to a million?

Flandrau's exhibit about counting, measurement and graphing--Fun, 2, 3, 4: All about a Number of Things--is such fun that organizers say visitors will never know they're learning.

The show, which runs through September 5, consists of 16 hands-on exhibits designed to encourage family and group interaction.

At the "How Many is a Million?" exhibit, visitors can converse about large numbers as they try to reach a million turns of the wheel and break the goblet inside the exhibit.

Visitors can also feel how thick a millimeter really is at the "Millimeter Mystery" exhibit by using their fingers to help guess the height of an adjustable peg and comparing the results to answers at the exhibit.

Fun, 2, 3, 4 was developed by the Sciencenter in Ithaca, N.Y. as part of the TEAMS (Traveling Exhibits at Museums of Science) Exhibit Collaborative, with funding by the National Science Foundation.

Admission to the exhibit is $3 for adults and $2 for children 13 and under, or is free with the purchase of a Planetarium Theater ticket. For more information, call 621-STAR or visit www.flandrau.org.


Wednesday 29

ONE-NIGHT STAND. Arrivederci Roma, lead tenor for the OK Chorale, was found strangled with his own headphones.

Was his wife, Bea Tovin, somehow involved? How about the lovely Viola Strings, who had a not-so-secret crush on Roma? Or Dr. Basal Clef, the randy professor who teaches at the Marana extension of the University of Tanzania?

Famed homicide investigator PDQ Bach will be on the case when Music to Die For, an interactive murder-mystery, makes its world premier tonight in a one-show-only event at Hidden Valley Inn.

Sex, money, blackmail and music: Those are the ingredients for a great evening of entertainment, says the play's author and director, Hal Safron.

Safron has written the vast majority of mysteries staged by Act One, which is putting on Music to Die For.

"This was a real challenge to write," Safron said. "All mysteries have to have a good 'hook'--which is the one fact that helps the audience figure out who the real killer is."

Can you finger the killer in this one? All Safron will say in the way of clues is that the "hook" involves a piece of music.

Seating begins at 6 tonight for the show, which starts at 7 at Hidden Valley Inn, 4825 E. Sabino Canyon Road. Tickets cost $13.95. For reservations or more information, call 299-4941.

SIX WOMEN AND A SALON. It's frothy, frivolous and full of Southern exoticism.

Steel Magnolias, a play by Richard Harling, invites us to gossip and hobnob at Truvy's Beauty Salon.

The play recounts the touching story of six women facing crises. M'Lynn and her diabetic daughter, Shelby, are at the center of this acerbic comedy.

Steel Magnolias captures female sensitivity, friendships and tenderness while depicting gracious Southern women tough enough to play with charm the lousy hands life often deals them.

Amid tragedy and tears, they face their situations with humor, laughter and spirit. The story offers an amiable evening of sweet sympathies and small-town chatter.

Turn out to support the start of Arizona Repertory Theatre's 2001-02 Season. Steel Magnolias, directed by Deborah Dickey, opens at 7:30 tonight at the UA Laboratory Theatre, on the southeast corner of Park Avenue and Speedway Boulevard. Other performances are scheduled for 7:30 p.m. August 30 through September 1 and September 7 and 8. Matinees are set for 1:30 p.m. September 2, 8 and 9. Tickets are: general $19, senior citizen/UA employees $17, students $12. Tickets are available through the UA fine arts box office, at 621-1162. For more information, visit www.arts.arizona.edu/theatre.