Glassblowing and Suds
Fall Fantastic Beer Tasting and Stein Event
4 to 8 p.m., Saturday, Sept. 19
Sonoran Glass Art Academy
633 W. 18th St.
884-7814;
A mug, a glass or a stein—it doesn’t matter what you call it
as long as it contains beer. Combine that beer with glassblowing (who
wouldn’t?), and add in a silent auction, and you’ve got the Sonoran
Glass Art Academy’s Fall Fantastic Beer Tasting and Stein event.
SGAA is a nonprofit organization specializing in the appreciation
and awareness of glass arts. They provide glassblowing classes for
everyone to learn different styles and produce one-of-a-kind pieces.
Students can attend Hot Shop and learn traditional Italian style of
making bowls or vases. Flame Shop, also known as flame-working or
torch-working, is where glass beads and pendants are made. Then there
is Warm Shop, where you can fuse and cut glass. Student and faculty
work displayed in their gallery is on sale, and proceeds go to
SGAA.
On Saturday, event-goers can sample microbrews from Barrio Brewing
Co. and Thunder Canyon Brewery while live glassblowing demonstrations
take place. More specifically, SGAA artists will make beer steins right
before your eyes. If you like what you see, you can bid on one during
the silent auction. Viewers can also make suggestions regarding the
creation of the steins.
“You can ask for a certain color, shape, a thick handle or a curly
handle, and then bid on it,” says Paul Stout, a former glassblower at
SGAA who is now a friendly helper.
Stout says SGAA folks put two and two together while making steins
and other glasses, and asked: Why not add actual beer?
Local folk group the Silver Thread Trio will perform, and
home-cooked Mexican food will be served.
The event is open to all ages. If you’re younger than 21, it’s free.
Tickets are $20, or $10 for SGAA members. Attendees will receive a
commemorative beer stein. —A.P.
Down the Rabbit Hole
Alice in Wonderland
Various times through Oct. 4
Studio Connections
9071 E. Old Spanish Trail
(800) 745-3000;
The first thing most people think of when it comes to Alice in
Wonderland is the blonde cartoon girl, traveling through a mad
forest, in the Disney movie classic from 1951.
In the Studio Connections version, Alice takes a slightly different
journey.
Adapted by Rincon High School teacher Maryann Green, the play
combines both of Lewis Carroll’s Alice stories, Alice in
Wonderland and Through the Looking Glass. In the latter,
Alice is a pawn in a chess game; in the play, the audience watches her
move across the chessboard.
The play is geared toward younger audiences and has two messages:
First, Alice spends a lot of time wanting to play croquet, but the game
doesn’t go well. Then she is desperate to go to a tea party, but once
there, everyone is rude to her. The message: Be more cautious about
what you want, says director John Mussack.
The second message is that Studio Connections wants kids to see that
anyone can be in a theatrical performance.
“There’s no reason you can’t be involved,” says Brian Levario,
press-relations contact for Studio Connections.
Studio Connections is a local nonprofit organization that teaches
visual and theater arts. The focus is on providing classes for children
and students, ranging from painting to theater camps. The group’s main
goal is to provide for students whose arts funding may have been cut at
school.
Lesser-known characters from the Alice books will also be making
appearances. Audiences can reacquaint themselves with the Duchess, the
Cook, and the White and Black Queens of the chessboard.
“The Cheshire Cat and the White Rabbit are there too,” reassures
Mussack.
Tickets are available at www.brownpapertickets.com or by
phone at 731-1559. Admission is $15 for adults; or $10 for children,
students, seniors and military members, with scholarships and family
discounts available. —A.P.
Monty Python Invades Tucson
Spamalot
Various times, Tuesday, Sept. 22, through Sunday, Sept. 27
Tucson Music Hall
260 S. Church Ave
(800) 745-3000;
Moments before doing a scene one fateful day, Juilliard-trained
actor Patrick Heusinger decided to toss a handful of peanut M&M’s
in his mouth. Onstage, while face to face with Christopher Gurr, he
delivered the line, “Concorde! Concorde! Speak to me.”
On the “sp” of “speak,” a peanut piece flew directly into Gurr’s
nostril. The show went on, but Gurr, to this day, remains peeved.
Welcome to the touring version of Spamalot, which has been up
and running for more than 3 1/2 years.
“It’s 50 theater people traveling the country together,” Gurr says.
“Of course there is childish drama.”
While they might have moments of bickering, Gurr says the
Spamalot crew is the happiest traveling group he has ever come
across.
“It’s so silly,” he says. “When you’re clip-clopping around with
coconuts, you can’t take yourselves too seriously.”
Spamalot, the winner of multiple Tony Awards, is the
highest-profile play in which Gurr has participated, he says. He’s been
a Monty Python fan since junior high school, and a part in the play was
too tempting for him to pass up. Gurr is a character actor who gave his
first performance at the age of 6, he says. He fills one of four
different roles; he is slated to appear as King Arthur while in
Tucson.
However, the traveling troupe’s odyssey will soon come to an end, he
says. The cast will take their final bow in just a few weeks, on Oct.
18 in Costa Mesa, Calif.
“I’ll be a little sad to see the show go,” he says. “I’ll be
exceedingly sad to see the check go.”
Tickets to the play are $30 to $70.—N.M.
Women in War
Coming in Hot
7 p.m., Thursday, Sept. 24, through Saturday, Sept. 26; 2 p.m.,
Sunday, Sept. 27
Rhythm Industry Performance Factory
1013 S. Tyndall Ave.
327-2127;
www.korepress.org/powderstage.htm
When you burst on the scene with guns ready to fire, and your body
is moving as quickly as possible, you’re coming in hot. The term’s most
often used to describe a soldier in war.
But in this instance, Coming in Hot is a one-woman show
bursting on the scene. The play showcases a unique perspective: women
in the military. Actress Jeanmarie Simpson will deliver 14 monologues
from the writings of military women in different branches, and what it
was like for them in a male-dominated field.
Published by Kore Press in 2008, Powder: Writings by Women in the
Ranks, From Vietnam to Iraq became the first collection of essays
and poems by women who served in the military.
The play adaptation will bring a different experience to the
audience, says Lisa Bowden, one of the book’s editors and the play’s
director. The venue is an open space, like a dance floor. The intimate
setting will allow everyone a front-row seat.
Why make Powder into a play? “Something happens onstage that
doesn’t happen in a book,” says Bowden.
She says the play will allow conversation and bring a variety of
people together, something that can’t happen when people read the book
alone.
The story topics include a first-time airplane jump, thoughts of
suicide, heat exhaustion, an attempted rape and spiritual mediation
while preparing bodies of the fallen. The play is graphic and may not
be appropriate for minors.
Opening night, Thursday, Sept. 24, is a fundraiser for Kore Press,
and tickets are $50. On Thursday, refreshments will be provided by
Gallery of Food. All other shows are $15 for general admission, and $10
for students and seniors. Tickets are available online or by phone.
Audience discussions will follow each show. —A.P.
This article appears in Sep 17-23, 2009.
Thanks for the coverage, TW!
Just a little correction – I’m not performing 14 monologues. The play features 14 characters. Some repeat, some we only see once. Some are in dialogue, some are caught mid-action. Some are mute, but the sound is lively. Vicki Brown’s soundscape is as big as am I in the piece – it’s a collaboration, a duet.
Everybody come experience ‘Coming In Hot’ and tip a glass with us afterward.