September 7 - September 13, 1995
Thursday 7
RUN UPSTAIRS. Good-bye summer blockbusters, hello Tucson
theatrical community. We've missed you. Now that summer's almost
over, the live performance season is heating up. Among those returning
to the limelight is The Upstairs Theater Company, staging Eric
Bogosian's Talk Radio. Written in 1987 before the national
presence of media blowhards like Rush Limbaugh and Howard Stern,
Talk Radio tells the prophetic story of radio host Barry
Champlain and his rise to the top, the power he gleans over his
listeners and his continuing search to find out who he is when
he's not on the air.
It's a poignant glimpse at "the voice behind the mic,"
all the more relevant to those of us who, desensitized by the
tidal wave of media coverage in recent years, have accepted the
talk radio phenomenon as some measure of political "reality."
Talk Radio previews tonight at 7:30 p.m., for a mere $5
at the door. Production continues with select performances through
September 15 at the Tucson Performing Arts Center, 408 S. Sixth
Ave. Call 791-2263 for tickets and information.
VESELI HALYCHANY. Did you even try to pronounce that? Veseli
Halychany ("Jolly Ukrainians") is a troupe of 11 folk
musicians, dancers and a comedian, in full costume, performing
traditional song and dance from villages throughout Western Ukraine.
We're not sure what the comedian has planned, since stand-up may
not go over as well in our predominantly non-Ukrainian speaking
pueblo. In any event, with their "vigorous, athletic"
dancing and elaborately embroidered costumes, they sound like
a colorful act to follow.
"This is a really special event," says event coordinator
Bea Salywon of the group's first-time Tucson appearance. She reminds
us that only in the past few years have people been allowed to
leave the former Soviet-bloc country. This particular group has
performed throughout eastern Europe and the eastern United States,
and now packs up and heads west to headline the annual Ukrainian
Festival in San Diego. Veseli Halychany performs at 7 p.m. in
the Modern Languages Building auditorium on the UA campus. Tickets
are $10 for adults, $5 for students, available at the door.
DISHING IT OUT. Preview Primavera's fifth annual "Bowl-Me-Over"
auction items from 5 to 8 p.m. tonight at the Alamo Gallery, 101
W. Sixth St. Enjoy the refreshments, meet the artists and wander
through an imaginative assortment of bowls in various shapes,
sizes and media, from a large ceramic bowl "you could bathe
a baby in" to a fragile papier-mâché vessel.
They even have a dog bowl tribute to man's best friend. Other
premier items include glasswork by Tom Philabaum, a handmade lace
wall hanging and one of Jude Clark's signature spoons, which Primavera's
Bonnie Demorotsky says are "always a big hit." Interspersed
on easels throughout the exhibit will be photographs by Sandy
Smith depicting "street art" on buildings, walls and
cemeteries around Tucson.
The exhibit is free, with tickets for the October auction on
sale for $10. Proceeds will benefit the Primavera Foundation's
eight programs to assist and empower homeless and low-income residents
of our community.
Friday 8
MOON QUEST. We heard the last Moon Stroll turned into more
of a Monsoon Stroll than was expected. But tonight and Saturday
the Valley of the Moon creatures come out of hiding for a new
adventure: a quest for The Golden Key to Happiness. Let
the wizard's apprentice be your guide on this 30-minute walk through
interactive play in "the land built of rock and imagination."
Fantasy tours run from 7 to 9 p.m., barring torrential rainstorms
or other unforeseen natural phenomena. Admission is free, though
donations are gladly accepted for the restoration of this Arizona
historic site. Valley of the Moon, 2544 E. Allen Road, is north
of Prince Road and east of Tucson Boulevard. Call 323-1331 for
information.
Saturday 9
TWITCH AND SHOUT. It comes as no surprise
that this artful documentary of individuals with Tourette Syndrome
won the Best of Category award at this year's San Francisco International
Film Festival. Laurel Chiten, who was diagnosed with Tourette
Syndrome when she was 28 years old, skillfully builds the film
around the first-person narrative of Lowell Handler, a photojournalist
with TS who traveled the world taking pictures of others living
with the disorder. Handler's photographs and storytelling, combined
with the film's "live action" documentary, provide two
unique perspectives of the disorder from the inside out. Twitch
and Shout screens at 2 o'clock today and tomorrow at the Gallagher
Theater on the UA mall, and will be followed by an open discussion
with the filmmaker. Admission is $5, $10 per family. Call 622-3068
for information.
LUCKY STARS. It isn't easy for an association of magicians
to organize an event--some joker is always sawing the secretary
in half. Nonetheless, the Tucson chapter of the Society of American
Magicians has persevered. See what they have up their sleeve at
tonight's eighth annual "Stars of Magic" show, featuring
the internationally renown Adrian Van Vactor, winner of the 1994
Milbourne Christopher Newcomer Award for "the most promising
young magician of the future" (past recipients include Las
Vegas masters Siegfried and Roy and David Copperfield). Van Vactor
will share the stage with Mari Lynn (one of the country's few
female magicians), award-winning ventriloquist John Nolander,
and the comedic, bizarre and large-scale illusion-spinning troupe
including Gene Collins, Norm Marini, Beatriz Rasco, John Shyrock,
Bruce & Jan Spell, and Master of Ceremonies Rod Robinson.
"Stars of Magic" performs at 2:30 and 7:30 p.m. in
the TCC Leo Rich Theater, 260 S. Church Ave. Tickets are $7.50,
$5 for children 12 and under, available at Dillard's the TCC box
office and Williams Magic and Novelties, 6528 E. 22nd St. Call
791-4266 for information.
Sunday 10
GET THE BLUES. The sixth annual Tucson Acoustic Blues
Showcase is fresher than a Georgia peach and grittier than Mississippi
mud. Settle down with your favorite libations and a plate of down-home
Bar-B-Que while The Blues Kats, Earl Edmonson, Ken Tucker, Heather
Hardy and Michael Nordberg ease your desert-weary soul. Boogie-Woogie
piano, award-winning finger picking, Piedmont-style blues guitar
and "lightening virtuosity and unhindered soul" à
la violin are but a sample from the acoustic menu. Be there or
you'll be singing the blues for sure until next year's event.
Tucson's top acoustic blues talent brings down the house from
5 to 9 p.m. at the Southwest Center for Music, 2175 N. Sixth Ave.
Tickets are $5 at the door, $3 for TBS, TKMA and KXCI members.
Call 884-1220 for information.
Monday 11
SEE DOUBLE. Invisible Theatre opens its 25th anniversary
season with the Southwestern premier of Double Double,
a clever, romantic English thriller by Eric Elice and Roger Rees.
Combined with featured performances by the acclaimed acting duo
of Harold and Maedell Dixon (from last season's Love Letters),
this classic "whodunit" will have you laughing and guessing
to the final scene.
Preview tickets for tonight and tomorrow's 8 p.m. performances
are $9, available at the Invisible Theater box office, 1400 N.
First Ave. Double Double opens Wednesday, September 13,
and continues through October 1. Regular ticket prices range from
$12 to $14. Call 882-9721 for information.
Tuesday 12
GLASS HOUSES. Philabaum Contemporary Art Glass, 711 S.
Sixth Ave., presents Architectonics, an exhibition featuring
various approaches in glass which resemble architecture in structure
and organization. This unique show highlights works by artists
from across the country who find inspiration in architectural
forms, bending and reshaping their chosen medium to create a truly
spectacular vision, including architectural studies carved onto
glass sculpture and construction techniques that employ glass
elements. Architectonics continues through November 11.
Regular gallery hours are 11 a.m. to 6 p.m. Tuesday through Saturday.
Call 884-7404 for information.
Wednesday 13
Legends Of The Fall. No, we don't mean the cheesy movie
with the vapid and vainglorious peach Pitt. We're talking about
real legends and real places in the Southwest, coming alive this
fall in Saints and Legends of the Pimeria Alta, a three-week
class from 7 to 9 p.m. Wednesdays at the Arizona State Museum
on the UA campus. Jim Griffith, anthropologist and director of
the University of Arizona's Southwest Folklore Center, will discuss
some of the regional Hispanic, O'odham and Yaqui traditions and
beliefs he's compiled in his two books: Southern Arizona Folk
Arts and Beliefs and Holy Places: A Spiritual Geography
of the Pimeria Alta.
People making pilgrimages along highway 15, colorful crosses
rising out of the desert floor and Milagros pinned on the
altars of saints are sights we take for granted in the Southwest,
but each is a unique and mysterious aspect of our collective cultural
identity. Cost of the series is $35, $25 for AAHS members. Call
the Arizona Archaeological and Historical Society at 797-1248
for registration and information.
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September 7 - September 13, 1995