ATC has long been committed to inclusivity both on stage and within the organization. Everyone has a place at our theatre, and we are proud to celebrate our wonderfully diverse community. Make new friends, meet up with old ones, and bond over representation on stage and the world-class theatre being created in our own backyard.
By Kathleen Allen. Originally published by The Arizona Daily Star. This is a simple fact of life: Where there are drag queens there is joy. And there is an abundance of joy on the Arizona Theatre Company stage. The Legend of Georgia McBride, ATC’s current offering, is about Casey, a failed Elvis impersonator who turns […]
By M.V. Moorhead. Originally published by Phoenix Magazine. “Keep your mind active.” We’re often told that this is a key to long term cognitive health: doing crossword puzzles or Sudoku or Wordle, reading, writing. But being a famous, award-winning critic and essayist hasn’t kept Prudence “Pru” Payne from one of the scourges of aging: dementia. […]
By Herbert Paine. Originally published by BroadwayWorld.com. Pru Payne is a lost and found story. The title character, Prudence ‘Pru’ Payne (Mimi Kennedy), is a witty and sharp-tongued critic who, while being honored by her peers, starts showing signs of dementia. Despite losing some of her memories, she makes a few new ones with Augustus ‘Gus’ […]
By Chris Curcio. Originally published on Curtain Up Phoenix. Arizona rarely sees world premiere plays and often when plays begin here they aren’t stellar. So, it is wonderful that the Arizona Theatre Company’s Pru Payne is such a remarkable piece. Steven Drukman’s play is a sensitive and touching telling of dementia’s impacts on two very […]
Noël Peirce Coward was born in 1899 and made his professional stage debut as Prince Mussel in The Goldfish at the age of 12, leading to many child actor appearances over the next few years. His breakthrough in playwriting was the controversial The Vortex (1924), which featured themes of drugs and adultery and made his […]
By Betsy Labiner. Originally published on Taming of the Review on March 16, 2023. Pru Payne, written by Steven Drukman and directed by Sean Daniels, is a hard show to categorize. It’s timeless, firmly rooted in the 1980s but inarguably current. It’s funny, but bleak. It’s gentle and caustic in turns. It’s resigned, yet hopeful. […]
By Kathleen Allen. Originally published by the Arizona Daily Star. If Elizabeth Hardwick and Dorothy Parker had a baby, it would be Pru Payne. Pru is the acerbic, acid-tongued character in Arizona Theatre Company’s Pru Payne. Like Hardwick and Parker, Pru is a critic, a towering intellectual, and can be seriously scary when she puts pen […]
Steven Drukman’s devastatingly honest play sheds light on mental illness and the invigorating power of love. By Robert Encila-Celdran. Originally published on BroadwayWorld.com. When Arizona Theatre Company redesigned its programming two years ago, a cloud of ambivalence engulfed a complacent viewing public. The company’s commitment to supporting uncharted material by a working crop of playwrights signaled ATC’s pivot […]
ATC has had the pleasure of working with countless talented and insightful directors throughout its years as a company. With ATC’s addition of Noël Coward’s Private Lives, comes the addition of accomplished director KJ Sanchez. Growing up on a ranch as the youngest of 12, Sanchez had her sights set on becoming a physical therapist. […]