Herbert Paine - Page 17

BUTTERFLIES, directed by Cady McClain and written by and featuring Carlotta Summers, is a riveting, emotionally powerful, and important anti-bullying allegory of survival and empowerment. BUTTERFLIES is currently on the festival circuit ~ a must see!

In Johnna Adams' play, GIDION'S KNOT (Stray Cat Theatre's current production, directed by Tracy Liz Miller), Corryn Fell (Shari Watts) is the distraught mother, desperate for answers about her son Gidion's suicide, forgoing the prescribed cycle of grief to pursue the truth about what unwound him enough to cause the fatal shot. She confronts Gidion's fifth grade teacher, Heather Clark (Alison Campbell), in a conversational struggle of attitudes and values that is as disconcerting as it is unsatisfying. The show runs through March 24th at the Tempe Center for the Arts.

The promos for Compass Players' final production of its second season, Cynthia J. Cohen's light comedy, WEST PALM PRIME, promise more than the play delivers. It's a muddled endeavor based on a thematic question that, in these 21st Century days of liberated and active seniors, seems pretty outdated: Can two people find love in the 'prime' of their lives? The show is on through March 31st at Peoria Center for the Performing Arts.

Rod McCall's tender and bittersweet drama, ROSE, features winning performances by Cybill Shepherd and James Brolin. Recently tied for the Best Feature Film-Drama in the Directors' Choice Awards at the Sedona International Film Festival, the film continues its rounds at festivals throughout the country..

Arizona Broadway Theatre presents HAIR. The beat goes on but the message has faded. Director and choreographer pulls out all the plugs to energize the 50 year old musical. On stage now through March 25th.

There are three very good reasons to see RED, Theatre Artists Studio's production of John Logan's Tony award-winning drama: The acting. The acting. The acting! Indeed, there's a fourth very good reason and that is the astute and impeccable direction of Carol MacLeod. Veteran thespian Michael Fleck delivers a roaring and riveting performance as Mark Rothko. Newcomer Quinn Johnson is captivating as the grand master's student. This must see production runs through March 25th.

Michael Oblowitz focuses on the torrid relationship of Frank Sinatra and Ava Gardner in FRANK & AVA, and in so doing has also profiled a turbulent crossroads in American history. Featuring stunning performances by Rico Simonini and Emily Elicia Low. One of the features at this year's Sedona International Film Festival.

A profile of legendary Terrie Frankel ~ songwriter, playwright, director, and producer.

In John Schaffer's revelatory and inspiring six-minute documentary, MY DAD MATTHEW, Elijah Wangeman speaks with remarkable eloquence and insight to the measure of a man, his father, who is to be defined not by his physical condition but by his character and ability to make a difference and live a full and independent life. One of the short films to be featured at this year's Sedona International Film Festival.

Journalist and filmmaker Shraysi Tandon's INVISIBLE HANDS is a gripping expose on the travesty of child labor and child trafficking as a component of corporate supply chains. A must see. One of the features at this year's Sedona International Film Festival.

David Schumacher's documentary, THE NEW FIRE, is a compelling case on behalf of Nuclear 2.0 and an invaluable addition to the discussion about our planet's future. Beyond the scientific data, the exhilarating aspect of THE NEW FIRE is Schumacher's introduction to a vanguard of young entrepreneurs who are stoking innovation and advances in nuclear energy, unbound by the emotional baggage of the past. One of the films to be featured at this year's Sedona International Film Festival.

Colin Gerard's short film, ELI, is a penetrating and heartbreaking reflection on survivor guilt, featuring a riveting performance by David Gant. One of the films to be shown at this year's Sedona International Film Festival.

Arturo Perez Torres's THE DRAWER BOY, the adaptation of Michael Healey's play, is everything you want a film to be. Meticulous in its construction, surprising in its development, dramatic in its content, and revelatory in its outcomes, the film evolves into a probing portrait of two aging friends, Angus (Stuart Hughes) and Morgan (Richard Clarkin) and the story that binds them. The film is one of the features at the Sedona International Film Festival during the week of February 25th.

The debilitating and devastating effects of bullying are poignantly portrayed in Alex Haney's CHARITY ~ a message film with an unusual and inspiring twist ~ a note of hope that is both edifying and instructive. To be featured at Sedona International Film Festival during the week of February 25th.

A constellation of stars has gathered in Molly Lajoie's divinely directed production of A CHORUS LINE. (Theater Works' latest offering of the 2017-2018 Season, running through March 4th.) Lajoie, who enjoys a notable track record as choreographer and dancer, has literally and dramatically pulled the words out of the song (One) and, with style and verve, created her own singular sensation revolving around a thrilling combination of performers.

Sabine El Gemayel's documentary, GENERATION ZAPPED, is a powerful and compelling wake-up call regarding the adverse effects of wireless technology. One of the films to be featured at the Sedona International Film Festival during the week of February 25th.

If I saw nothing else this season, Arizona Theatre Company's current production of OUTSIDE MULLINGAR would be enough to satisfy my soul. In his triumphant debut as the company's new Artistic Director, David Ivers has magnified John Patrick Shanley's Tony-nominated opus on love and birthright into a honey-sweet masterpiece of stagecraft. In so doing, he has stamped his signature as a worthy successor to the brilliant David Ira Goldstein and revealed his own distinctive artistic vision. Endowed with a brilliant cast, the show runs through March 4th at the Herberger Theater Center in Phoenix.

The very talented and versatile Sally Jo Bannow has a lot to say about the breast!...through song and vignette in THE BOOB SHOW, an original work developed in collaboration with Craig Bohmler and now premiering at Phoenix Theatre under the direction of Michael Barnard. A powerful theme ~ that defining a woman by the size and shape of her breast is demeaning and destructive ~ weaves throughout her performance but risks getting lost in periodic snarls of distraction. What a powerhouse of a one-woman show this would be if it were more focused and streamlined!

In POINT OF NO RETURN, filmmakers Quinn Kanaly and Noel Dockstader document the ambitious journey of two such pioneering spirits, Bertrand Piccard and Andre Borschberg, to fly around the Earth in a solar-powered zero-fuel plane named Solar Impulse. It is as dramatic and thrilling as any cinematic space odyssey. It will be featured at the Sedona International Film Festival during the week of February 25th.

Cady McClain's illuminating, absorbing, and intelligently crafted documentary, SEEING IS BELIEVING: WOMEN DIRECT is a powerful affirmation and celebration of women directors who struggle to overcome the systemic impediments to their artistic progress. Making its Arizona Premiere at the Sedona International Film Festival during the week of February 25th.