Tucson Weekly: Cheap Thrills (August 6

Cheap Thrills FROSTY FREEDOM: Escape those mind-numbing temperatures at the coolest place in town--the Iceoplex and Desert Diamond Casino "Community Skates" monthly events. These family frost-fests gather in the evening from 10:30 p.m. to 12:30 a.m. on the first Fridays of each month through October 2, in the Iceoplex Family Skating Center, 7333 E. Rosewood St. For information, call 290-8800.
LOW-RIDER LOWDOWN: Tucson Parks and Recreation and the Tucson Police Department get low-down with the Jam Zone. Teens ages 13 to 19 are invited to roll up and compete with their ground-hugging cars, bikes, and even model cars. There will be refreshments, music, great door prizes, police demonstrations, and plenty of other action all night long.
"The purpose is to give great awards, and some of the low-riders the kids bring are amazingly cool," says Parks and Rec Teen Coordinator Marty Hardy. "They often have a whole elaborate display." The model car category was added just last year, she says, "and it was incredibly popular, with more than 50 entries."
Free event runs from 5:30 to 10 p.m. Saturday, August 8, in the Hi Corbett Field parking lot, located in Reid Park between Alvernon Way and Country Club Road, south of Broadway. For details, call 791-4873.
HIGH ART: Five weeks of theater workshops for high-school students pay off in spades with the opening of A Tale of Two Cities.
Sponsored by the Arizona Theatre Company, UA Extended University and Childsplay Inc., the students rehearsed eight hours a day this summer in the Temple of Music and Art.
Larry Grubbs, senior in the UA Professional Actor Training Program, helped train the kids in the art of realistic stage combat. Jon Gentry, assistant director of Childsplay (Arizona's award-winning professional theatre company for young audiences), likewise contributed his talents, with the help of Wendy Lehr, associate director for the Children's Theatre Co. of Minneapolis.
The results promise to be stellar, with hard work by both teachers and students from as far away as Nogales, Montana and Mexico.
Free performances of A Tale of Two Cities are at 7 p.m. Thursday and Friday, August 6 and 7, in the Temple of Music and Art, 330 S. Scott Ave.
Preceding Thursday's show, the Etherton Gallery in the Temple complex will present The Art of Summer, featuring two-and three-dimensional works created by high-school students as part of the UA Extended University High-School Arts and Writing Workshops program. The opening will run from 5:30 to 7 p.m. For information, call 626-2235.

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