Cheap Thrills

MONKEY BUSINESS. Bisbee Repertory Theatre's Young Actors are animals--at least for the production of something called Bushveld Bibble Babble.

Bushveld is a collection of eight really funny Zulu fables by South African writer Malcolm Woolfson.

The king of the beasts will be played by Joe Wharton, making his BRT debut, and the show will feature BRT veterans Eli MacKinnon and Braden Vincent as hyenas, Samantha Silva-Muncey as a hare and Jesse Galleher and Chance Barnett as baboons. Newcomer Samantha Ruane will also play a lion, and Bailey Vincent and Luke Ward will appear as leaders of the monkey pack.

Performances are 7:30 p.m. Friday and Saturday and 3 p.m. Sunday. Tickets are just $5 at the door. Bisbee Repertory Theatre does its magic in its historic building at 94 Main Street in Old Bisbee. For more information, call 432-3786.

A VERY COOL READ. Members of Fandango 8, a Tucson writers' group, are creating something special for the University of Arizona's Museum of Art.

They'll be giving a poetry reading to celebrate the featured exhibition, A Cool Summer Evening and Related Fantasies, the summer solstice and usher in the longest day of the year.

The group, coordinated by poet Lyn Pass, is participating in Artbuzz, a program offering 30 minutes of noontime selected music, dance, storytelling, gallery talks and videos to enhance the enjoyment of exhibitions at the UA Museum of Art.

Artbuzz events are held on selected Thursdays throughout the summer.

Fandango's free presentation, Hot Days/Cool Readings, is from 12:15 to 12:45 p.m. Thursday at the UA Museum of Art, on the UA campus near the southeast corner of Park Avenue and Speedway Boulevard. Visitor parking is available at the visitor parking garage on Park Avenue, just north of Speedway. For more information, call 621-7567 or visit http://www.artmuseum. arizona.edu.

REHUMANIZE YOURSELF. The Venerable Lama Lodu Rinpoche has dropped into Tucson for a series of talks that may well change your mind.

Rinpoche will share the blessings and oral instructions of the Dakpo and Shangpa Kagyu lineages of Tibetan Buddhist meditation during the four-day event.

You can soak up some serious thinking for just 20 bucks. How's that for a cheap thrill?

The talks start Saturday with a presentation called Transforming Fear and Negativity through Love and Compassion. Rinpoche will teach the Mahayana practice of recognizing the true nature of our experience, and how to transform the confused and fearful emotions that we project onto that experience into the means to enlightenment. It starts at 10 a.m. at The Pavilion, 3705 N. Sabino Canyon Road. At 2 p.m., Identifying the Essence of Mahamudra explores the advanced practice and realization of the Kagyu tradition, encompassing the most fundamental practices as well as the highest form of Lord Buddha's teaching.

On Sunday, also at the Pavilion, talks at 10 a.m. and 2 p.m. will focus on Green Tara Empowerment--the manifestation of Perfect Wisdom and the mother of all Buddhas--and the Transmission of the Shangpa Lineage. Finally, at 7 p.m. Tuesday, Rinpoche will appear at Casbah Tea House, 628 N. Fourth Ave. for Exchanging Oneself for Others, a technique based on love and compassion. The path itself entails courageously taking upon oneself the suffering and confusion of others and giving to others one's own joy and virtue.

Admission is a donation of $20 for each teaching session, or $10 for Bodhisattva Institute members. However, no one will be turned away for lack of funds. For more information, call 325-2272.