Tucson Weekly: City Week (November 20

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Thursday 20

CONFLICTED VISION. Like most creative types, Austrian Egon Schiele was forced to steer his ideals towards society's standards. That universal struggle is brilliantly dissected in Egon Schiele, a film presented by the UA Department of German Studies.
City Week The film details the artist's pivotal relationship with Wally Neuzil, his partner of many years. Ultimately, Schiele abandoned Neuzil and entered a bourgeois marriage to establish a social pedigree. That union symbolized the dichotomy between his desire to challenge artistic concepts and his drive for recognition.
The free screening begins at 7:30 p.m. in the UA Modern Languages Building auditorium, located north of the UA mall. For details, call 621-7385.
OKLAHOMA, OK? Manifest Destiny meets Broadway in the Desert Christian High School presentation of Rodgers and Hammerstein's prairie classic, Oklahoma! Show times are 7:30 tonight and tomorrow, and 2:30 and 7:30 p.m. Saturday, in the TCC Leo Rich Theater, 260 S. Church Ave. Tickets are $10 for evening performances, $7 for the Saturday matinee, and are available at the Desert Christian High School office, 7777 E. Speedway. For details, call 298-5817.
CONCRETE STROLL. Orts Theatre of Dance interprets the good, the bad and the sublime elements of downtown Tucson in Urban Gaits.
Downtown is home to an eclectic mix of cultures, from business people and artists to shoppers and the homeless. Urban Gaits taps into that cross-section of humanity by fusing a number of creative performance elements, including dance, music, video, visual art and the spoken word. The folks behind this adventurous production are videographer Nancy Solomon, choreographer Anne Bunker, composer Chuck Koesters, visual artist Cynthia Miller and poet Charles Alexander.
Today's performances are 10:30 a.m. and 8 p.m. in the Tucson Center for the Performing Arts, 408 S. Sixth Ave. Production continues at 10:30 a.m. and 8 p.m. tomorrow, 2 and 8 p.m. Saturday, and 2 p.m. Sunday. Advance tickets are $8, $6 for students and seniors, available at Bentley's House of Coffee and Tea, Antigone Books, Silverbell Trading, or by calling 624-3799. Tickets are $2 more at the door.

Friday 21

SOMETHING IN THE AIR. Climactic changes are the topic, dead animals the setting, when the International Wildlife Museum hosts a slide lecture by Yar Petryszyn titled The Truth About El Niño. Petryszyn, a world traveler and UA associate curator/lecturer in mammology, will discuss El Niño's causes, and how the weather system may affect southern Arizona's plants and animals.
Free lecture is at 6 p.m. in the museum's restaurant, 4800 W. Gates Pass Road. For information, call 629-0100.
SATAN'S SWITCH-HITTER. A big-time baseball fan strikes a deal with the devil to help his team beat New York's boys of summer in the classic Broadway musical Damn Yankees. John Simon of New York Magazine calls Damn Yankees "a stunning, heartening revival...one of the highlights of my musical-going life." Now the eight-time Tony Award-winning show, immortalized by such tunes as "You Gotta Have Heart," and "Whatever Lola Wants," comes to Tucson for three performances.
Show times are 8 tonight, 2 and 8 p.m. tomorrow, in UA Centennial Hall, located inside the main gate east of Park Avenue. Tickets range from $25 to $39 for evening performances, $23 to $36 for the matinee, half-price for students, seniors, and children under age 18. Get them in advance at the Centennial Hall and TCC box offices, Dillard's, or by calling 621-3341.
SEE RED. The Tucson Fire Fighters Association turns up the heat with its second-annual chili cook-off. The action will include appearances by celebrity chefs, live music, games, contests, prizes, and a boot-stompin' live broadcast with Max and Mary of KIIM-FM. Proceeds will benefit the Adopt-A-Family Program.
Event runs from 10 a.m. to 11 p.m. in the Tucson/ Pima Main Library courtyard, 101 N. Stone Ave. Admission is free. For information, call 889-3766.

Saturday 22

LOCAL ROOTS. It was a mere 25 years back when the little Fourth Avenue outpost called Piney Hollow first opened its charming doors. Since then, the store's collection of beads, handmade jewelry and adornments from across the globe has outfitted generations of locals in folksy style.
But Piney Hollow's reach has always gone far beyond retail. Over time, it's become a hub for a huge, sprawling artistic family. Today, a small army of those far-flung offspring return to the eclectic nest, celebrating the store's quarter-century of down-home existence with a gallery show of their achievements.
Although originally confined to jewelry and beads, these one-time staffers have branched out to music, painting, sculpture and photography. Today, they'll take over the bead gallery to strut their stuff in tribute.
Event runs from 6 to 10 p.m. in Piney Hollow, 427 N. Fourth Ave. The gallery exhibit will continue through December 10. For details, call 623-4450.
LEGACY OF LIFE. The Southern Arizona AIDS Foundation (SAAF) commemorates its struggle to help the afflicted and celebrate the living with the ninth-annual Jerôme Beillard Festival for Life. Proceeds will benefit HIV prevention education, and direct client services for people afflicted with HIV/AIDS.
Beillard was the influential founder of the People with AIDS Coalition of Tucson (a.k.a. PACT for Life), which eventually merged with SAAF. His dedicated work and recent passing will be remembered with an auction of holiday items including decorator-designed Christmas trees, wreaths and menorahs, fine arts, gift baskets and celebrity memorabilia. Festivities will be topped off by a light dessert buffet, and music by Brad Holland of TuneSmythe.
The celebration begins at 7 p.m. in the University Park Marriott Hotel, 880 E. Second St. Advance tickets are $20, available at Borders Books and Music, Casas Adobes Flower Shop, Tucson Trunk, Hair on Broadway, or by calling 322-6226. Tickets are $25 at the door.
BEST OF TIMES. The Tucson Goodtime Singers belt their well-pitched hearts out in a rousing performance complete with the award-winning Sweet Adeline Quartet, and the equally top-notch International Women's and International Men's Barbershop quartets.
"It should be a really lively show," says Goodtime spokeswoman Lois Koch, "with lots and lots of singing."
Show time is 8 p.m. in the TCC Music Hall, 260 S. Church Ave. Tickets range from $12.75 to $15, and are available at the TCC box office, Dillard's, or by calling 747-1215.

Sunday 23

HEAVY METAL. Exotic rhythms take over campus when the UA School of Music and Dance hosts a concert by its steel drum bands.
Now in its 10th year, the steel band program is primarily comprised of music students, along with a smattering of other players from around Tucson. This outing will include the Red Band, the Blue Band, and the Gigging Band. Both the Red and Blue are performance-oriented groups boasting 16 members each, and tackling a range of drums from soprano to bass. The Gigging Band is comprised of players from the other bands, and will close the concert with a dance blast.
Join them at 3 p.m. on the stage at the west end of the UA mall. In case of rain, the concert will be moved to Crowder Hall, located in the Music Building at the south end of the pedestrian underpass on Speedway east of Park Avenue. For information, call 621-7026.
MORE MUENCH. For years, photographer David Muench has chronicled the beauty of this region's outback for Arizona Highways magazine. Now he captures his personal view of the Copper State's stunning backdrop in a new book, Arizona, featuring more than 120 full-color photos and text-thick conservationist undertones.
Muench will sign copies of Arizona from 1 to 3 p.m. at The Book Mark, 5001 E. Speedway.
ART OF CHINA. With all the controversy boiling around Sino-U.S. relations, it's refreshing to see tensions eased--at least locally--when the U.S.-China People's Friendship Association presents an exhibit and sale of Chinese art. Free event runs from 2 to 4 p.m. in the Grace St. Paul Episcopal Church Parish Hall, 2331 E. Adams St. For details, call 298-0570.

Monday 24

BARD REVISITED. Flickering gaslight, painted cloths, shadowy faces and rich superstition take center stage when Tony Church presents Shakespeare and the Old Tradition.
In this one-person survey of the Old Actors and the Immortal Bard, Church traces the changes in acting styles from Burbage to Kean and Macready, from Margaret Hughes to Sarah Siddons, and from Forrest to Booth to Barrymore...all the way to the last great Shakespearean survivor, 93-year-old Sir John Gielgud.
Church, a 28-year veteran of the Royal Shakespeare Company, regularly performs with the Denver Center Theatre Company, and at Shakespeare festivals around the country.
Show time is 7:30 p.m. in the UA Laboratory Theatre, located in the Drama West Building at the southeast corner of Speedway and Park Avenue. Tickets are $15, $13 for seniors and UA employees, $11 for students, available at the UA Fine Arts box office. Call 621-1162 for information.
HIGH SONORAN SEAS. Brawny deep meets desert scrub when the Tucson Sailing Club hosts Square-rigger Voyage from Thailand to the Greek Islands via the Red Sea, a lecture by retired UA professor and former Rocky Point shrimp farmer Howard Greenseth. Tales of the sea begin at 7:30 p.m. in O'Malley's on Fourth, 247 N. Fourth Ave. Call 743-0519 for details.
NUKE REBUKE. The Women's International League for Peace and Freedom takes on the Big One with Australian activist Felicity Hill, who lectures on World Court Rules Nuclear Weapons Illegal...So?
Hill, past organizer of several United Nations conferences concerning disarmament, NATO expansion, conversion and other issues, makes her Tucson stop as part of a speaking tour to address a host of international dilemmas.
Event is at 7 p.m. in the Unitarian Universalist Church, 4831 E. 22nd St. A $5 donation is suggested. Call 908-9269 for information.

Tuesday 25

WELL-GROUNDED DISARRAY. Contemporary psychological and emotional figurative explorations dominate Temporal Discord, a new exhibit in the Philabaum Contemporary Art Glass Gallery. Exploring issues from "barbarous acts to casual reveries," the display focuses on issues surrounding the timeless human condition and other light-hearted, contemporary concerns.
Featured are works on paper by Daryl Childs, and glass art by Robert Carlson, Bonnie Biggs, Stephen Paul Day, Mark Bokesh-Parsons, Fred diFrenzi, Paul Marioni, Janusz Walentynowicz and Mary Van Cline.
Exhibit runs through January 24 in the Philabaum Gallery, 711 S. Sixth Ave. Hours are 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. Monday through Saturday. Call 884-7404 for details.

Wednesday 26

HUMBUG PLUG. Pathetic little Timmy once against rubs shoulders with gnarly old Scrooge--and liberates the old miser's crusty heart--when The Gaslight Theatre rings in the season with Dickens' A Christmas Carol.
Starring Dave Orley as Scrooge, the cast also includes a bunch of Gaslight veterans, from John Brownlee and Glenda Young to Betsy Kruse and Joe Cooper.
Show times are 6 and 8:30 p.m. in The Gaslight Theatre, 7010 E. Broadway. Production continues at 6 and 8:30 p.m. Tuesday through Thursday, 3, 7 and 9:30 p.m. Friday and Saturday, and 3 and 7 p.m. Sunday through January 3. Tickets are $12.95, $10.95 for seniors, students and military, $6 for children, and available by calling 886-9428.
SHOCKING ART. Poetry, politics and passion infuse the fantastic survey of Auguste Rodin's work, now on display in the UA Museum of Art.
By 1900, Rodin was considered the world's greatest living artist, and today ranks among the most important sculptors this side of Michelangelo. He repeatedly--and gleefully--shocked the public of his day with sculptures of body parts, nudes in sexual embrace and abstractions of the human form. Throughout, his goal was to communicate the vitality of the human spirit. He succeeded with a flourish, liberating his subject matter and style from stifling 19th-century convention.
Culled from the Iris and B. Gerald Cantor collection, this survey contains 62 bronze pieces from The Gates of Hell, The Burghers of Calais and the Monument to Balzac.
Exhibit runs through January 27 in the UA Museum of Art, located at the southeast corner of Speedway and Park Avenue. Hours are 9 a.m. to 5 p.m. Monday through Friday, noon to 4 p.m. Sunday. Call 621-7567 for details.

City Week includes events selected by Calendar Editor Tim Vanderpool. Event information is accurate as of press time. The Weekly recommends calling event organizers to check for last-minute changes in location, time, price, etc. To have material considered, please send complete information at least 11 days prior to the Thursday issue date to: Tucson Weekly, P.O. Box 2429, Tucson, Arizona 85702, or fax information to 792-2096, or email us at listings@tucsonweekly.com.

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