Thursday 28
What's in a name? If the title of the play is any indication, this Pima College production may prove to be quite ambitious.
The PCC Theater Arts Department's second effort for the 2001-02 season is Little Terrors: The Genius of the Modern French Theater, Part One: Cocteau and Tzara, which consists of two rarely performed plays representing the avant-garde movements of surrealism and dadaism: The Wedding on the Eiffel Tower by Jean Cocteau and The Gas Heart by Tristan Tzara.
In addition to these "gems," Little Terrors also includes surprise appearances by Cocteau and Tzara (simulated, of course, by living actors), holding forth on their beliefs about the new art and the "sensibilite moderniste."
The production, set in the atmosphere of a wild and wacky "Dada Soiree," will be directed by the department's Jack Halstead.
Performances begin at 7:30 p.m. Thursdays-Saturdays, tonight through March 9. Matinees start at 2 p.m. on March 3 and 10. All performances are at The Black Box Theater at the Center for the Arts on the West Campus of Pima Community College at 2202 W. Anklam Road. Tickets are $10 general admission and $8 seniors and students. To reserve tickets, call 206-6986. For more information, call 326-0045.
Girls, girls, girls. I was on a trip to Florence to pick up some knickknacks at the prison gift shop when I saw a bumper sticker that read, "A Grandma is just an antique little girl."
Thought that was cute. I admit it's an unusual segue to a blurb about the Women's Initiative for Youth and Elders, but what the hell.
Whether you're an antique little girl or a modern one, you're welcome to attend a series of workshops celebrating diversity through dance and storytelling. It's sponsored by ZUZI Move It Dance Company and it's for "girls" ages 8 to 108.
The series of four workshops are scheduled for 5:30 to 7 p.m. tonight and March 7, 14 and 21 at Zuzi, 738 N. 5th Ave., at University Blvd. in the Historic YWCA. Tuition is $25. For more information, call 629-0237.
Friday 1
Real revelations. With an indomitable legacy more than 40 years strong, Alvin Ailey American Dance Theater constantly redefines the paradigm for performance.
Tonight's your chance to check out the company that breathes with the majestic spirit and vision of the legendary choreographer Alvin Ailey, promoting the uniqueness of black cultural expression and the preservation and enrichment of the American modern dance heritage.
Alvin Ailey American Dance Theater grew from a now fabled performance in March 1958 at the 92nd Street Y in New York. Led by Ailey and a group of young black modern dancers, that performance changed forever the perception of American dance.
The Ailey company has gone on to perform for an estimated 19 million people in 48 states and 68 countries on six continents, including two historic residencies in South Africa. The company has earned a reputation as one of the most acclaimed international ambassadors of American culture, promoting the uniqueness of black cultural expression and the preservation and enrichment of the American modern dance heritage.
Ailey's landmark work, Revelations, had its world premiere at the 92nd Street Y in 1960. The piece was embraced by audiences and has become recognized as one of the masterpieces of modern dance, as well as a signature piece for the Ailey company. Revelations, an evocation of the black church services and religious faith of Ailey's Texas childhood, captures the exuberant energy of black spirituals, arranged into themes of sorrow, water and revival.
Discovered by Agnes de Mille, Judith Jamison made her New York City debut with the American Ballet Theatre. Ailey recruited her for his dance company in 1965 and went on to create roles for her in many of his best-known works, most notably the tour-de-force solo Cry, a tribute to African-American women. Jamison went on to choreograph her own works for Ailey and, upon his death in December 1989, she succeeded him as artistic director of the company.
The show starts at 8 p.m. today and Saturday at Centennial Hall, 1020 E. University Blvd. A matinee is scheduled for 3 p.m. Sunday. Tickets are $36 to $54, with discounts available for children under age 18, all students and UA faculty and staff. Tickets are available at the box office, or by calling 621-3341 or online at www.tickets.com. A free "Arts Encounter" will be held 45 minutes before the performance in the lobby of the Arizona State Museum, located directly across from Centennial Hall. Perfect pairing. Team conductor Thomas Cockrell with pianist Nicholas Zumbro and you've got yourself a hot date for the symphony.
Tonight's Arizona Symphony Orchestra concert opens with Mendelssohn's Hebrides Overture. Zumbro, the featured guest, performs Liszt's Piano Concerto No. 1. The program also includes Berlioz's Romeo Alone--Festival at the Capulets, from the dramatic symphony Roméo et Juliette, and Wagner's Prelude and Love Death from Tristan und Isolde.
Cockrell, UA director of orchestral activities, is regarded as one of the country's most versatile young conductors, equally at home on the symphonic podium or in the opera pit. He appears regularly with the Tucson Symphony.
Renowned piano virtuoso, Zumbro has performed throughout Europe and the United States. His Liszt recording with the Royal Philharmonic received high praise. He presented the historic premieres of Ives' Concord Sonata in Amsterdam, Salzburg and other European cities.
Performances begin at 7:30 p.m. today and Saturday at Crowder Hall, Music Building, UA campus, at the south end of the pedestrian underpass on Speedway Boulevard east of Park Avenue. Tickets are $8 general admission; $6 UA employee and seniors 55 and older; and $4 students. Tickets are available through the UA Fine Arts Box Office, 621-1162. For more information, call 621-2998 or visit www.arts.arizona.edu/music.
Saturday 2
Rock, paper, scissors. Whatever your interest in art, a new exhibition at Davis Dominguez Gallery is almost bound to have something that will intrigue you.
New Abstract Works, which runs through April 6, features Fred Borcherdt's forged steel and stone sculpture and Josh Goldberg's paintings and works on paper.
Borcherdt, who recently had a one-man show at the Tucson Museum of Art, bends steel and other metals in his forge, and combines them with stone and other natural materials to form compositions of great visual and physical weight.
Although strictly non-representational, the forms conjure the elegant handcrafted metal work of heavy machinery of the turn of the 19th century, such as steam locomotives, structural iron work or agricultural implements. The massive energy required to heat and manipulate the metal is concealed in the facile, sometimes delicate twists and curves.
Goldberg has created a body of work inspired by the writings of the modern Italian poet, Eugenio Montali.
The paintings based on the poetry reflect the passions of love and longing, the loneliness of beautiful spaces and the promise of fulfillment in modern, secular society. His paintings are built upon classic Western and Eastern (Asiatic) landscape orders, with either the Western idiom of placing distances further up the canvas in ascending order of magnitude or the Eastern motif of "tilting up" the plane of the landscape so the nearest and furthest points have equal value.
An reception for artists is planned for 5 to 7 p.m. today at the gallery, 154 E. 6th St. Regular hours are 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. Tuesday through Friday and 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. Saturday. For more information, call 629-9759 or email davisdominguez@mailbug.com.
Sunday 3
Find your roots. Imagine a party where Ben Harper, Wide Spread Panic, and Dave Matthews traded licks with Ry Cooder and David Lindley . . .
A banjo and slide guitar player named Tony Furtado cranks out music that appeals to young dancers who want to groove, as well as older listeners who simply appreciate world-class acoustic music.
Furtado's brand of "New American Roots" music integrates America's roots music--blues, jazz, Appalachian folk, Celtic and rock--with his own melody, rhythm and improvisation. This guy's proven himself a leader in the rapidly expanding New American Roots movement. His band has been lighting up stages from New York to Seattle, receiving rave reviews from listeners and critics alike.
Furtado began his journey in the bluegrass world, becoming a master of the banjo by 18. He has released six albums and has recorded and toured with many of the contemporary masters of the acoustic world--Laurie Lewis, Tony Trischka, Jerry Douglas, Alison Krause and Tim O'Brien, to name a few.
Five years ago Furtado changed his musical direction after hearing Ry Cooder's classic Paradise and Lunch. He decided he would retool his live show around the slide guitar and began building an acoustic "rock" band with bass and drums.
Learn more tonight as Furtado winds up at 9 at Club Congress, 311 E. Congress. Tickets are $8 advance, $10 at the door. Tickets are available at Antigone Books, 411 N. 4th Ave., CD City at Campbell and Glenn, Hotel Congress or online at www.dotucson.com/tickets. You can also charge by phone at 297-9133.
Wine, dine and dance. A selection of wines, tasty food, great music and a silent auction are part of the fun tonight at Heart-Five.
Dance Gallery: An Evening of Wine, Hors d'oeuvres & Dance, featuring musical guest Off White, is NEW ARTiculations Dance Theatre's fourth annual wine tasting benefit.
It's an evening to mingle with company members and sample various wine and hors d'oeuvres. The company will present all new choreography, including work by Director Tammy Rosen, company members Cindy Alm, Nathan Dryden, Carolyn Merritt and Kelly Silliman.
A silent auction will feature items donated by local artisans, including visual artists Jack Eggman, Dan Repony, Julia Miller and Mary Curran, and jewelry by Pam Parrish/Velvet Moon Designs, Pierini Jewelers and Samantha Simms. Massage treatments, vacation packages, ballroom dance and Pilates lessons and a feng shui consultation are also offered.
Funds are being raised to match a pair of grants the company received from the Arizona Commission on the Arts and Tucson Pima Arts Council for this season's Guest Artist Series. It will bring the Black Earth Collaborative Arts Company to Tucson in June for a two-week residency culminating with a public performance.
NEW ARTiculations was formed in 1997 to support emerging local choreographers.
The event starts at 6 tonight at Heart-Five, 61 E. Congress St. Cost is $25 general admission and $15 students.
Monday 4
Going to pot. Miss the crowds today and take your time seeing the great displays at Arizona State Museum, where you'll find the region's oldest and largest anthropology collection.
The Pottery Project: 20,000 Pots, 2,000 Years highlights the museum's extensive American Indian pottery collection, recently named an Official Project of Save America's Treasures. This array of intact vessels from throughout the Southwest and across the border is representative of every cultural tradition in the region. These ceramics are not to be missed.
Other exhibits include:
Paths of Life: American Indians of the Southwest showcases the origins, history and contemporary cultures of Southwestern indigenous peoples in an exciting mix of prehistoric artifacts, historic objects, commissioned artwork, video interviews and life-cast dioramas.
In Flight: Adriel Heisey's Images of Trincheras Archaeology features the spectacular images of noted photographer, aviator and author Adriel Heisey, combining aerial photography and Sonoran Desert archaeology. The museum is located in two historic buildings on the University of Arizona campus, immediately north and south of the main gate at Park Avenue and University Boulevard in Tucson. Admission is a $3 suggested donation. Exhibit hours are 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. Monday through Saturday and noon to 5 p.m. Sunday. For more information, please call 621-6302 or visit www.statemuseum.arizona.edu.
Tuesday 5
One-man show. Good food can inspire some truly terrible behavior.
No one knows that better than Sam, the hapless hero of the off-Broadway hit Fully Committed by Becky Mode. He's a struggling actor moonlighting as the reservation booker at New York's hottest new restaurant, where it's impossible to get a table less than three months in advance.
That doesn't stop the hordes of VIPs and would-be-VIPs from trying to whine, bully or buy their way into a table, by any means necessary. Bob Sorenson, who last appeared at Arizona Theatre Company in Ghosts, Art and the huge comic hit The Mystery of Irma Vep, plays dozens of characters in this witty one-man romp.
"Working with Bob Sorenson is one of the prime joys of my job," said ATC artistic director David Ira Goldstein. "I am always on the lookout for projects that can show off his prodigious skills. When I found this hilarious tour-de-force, I knew immediately that it was a natural for ATC to put in our season if Bob would agree to take on the part."
Fully Committed runs through March 23 at the Temple of Music and Art downtown. Check out the play on the cheap tonight only. ATC's serving up a "Pay What You Can" performance at 7:30 p.m. Tickets will go on sale at the Temple of Music and Art at 10 a.m. today and are limited to two tickets per order with a suggested donation of $5. Tickets for other performances range from $24-$36 and are available at www.arizonatheatre.org or by calling the ATC box office at 622-2823. Discounts are available for students, seniors and the military and anyone under the age of 25 may purchase tickets for just $10.
Wednesday 6
Rhymes with jazz. The very name "Newport" has long been synonymous with great jazz.
Almost 50 years ago, the Newport Jazz Festival made history as the first outdoor celebration devoted entirely to jazz and has since become legendary for presenting jazz immortals alongside rising young stars.
The grandfather of jazz festivals comes to Centennial Hall for one performance only--tonight.
Newport Jazz 2002 continues this grand and lasting legacy, featuring the diverse talents of Howard Alden on guitar, Justo Almario and Joe Lovano on saxophone, Terence Blanchard on trumpet, Idris Muhammad on drums, Cedar Walton on piano and Peter Washington on bass. The Newport Jazz Festival started on July 17, 1954, and soon became fabled for its unique presentation of the best and the new. In 2000, the Newport Jazz Festival Millennium Celebration spotlighted artists such as Nicholas Payton, Randy Brecker and Lew Tabackin in a performance that brought standing ovations from patrons and rave reviews from critics.
The concert starts at 7:30 tonight at Centennial Hall, 1020 East University Blvd. Tickets are $26 to $38 and are available at the box office. Hours are 10 a.m. to 6 p.m. Monday through Friday and noon to 5 p.m. Saturday. Tickets also are available online at www.tickets.com. For more information, call 621-3341.
