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What They’re Saying

Apr 3, 2023

Feature: Matt August Talks New Role As Artistic Director, Programming Future at Arizona Theatre Company

ATC’s new leader is no stranger to directing — or to Arizona, for that matter. By Robert Encila-Celdran. Originally published by BroadwayWorld.com. Matt August recalls his first introduction to Arizona Theatre Company as a fortuitous occasion. The year was 2015, a theater season that culminated with a show he directed – the eccentric and lengthily titled three-hander, The Gospel According […]

Apr 3, 2023

Review: Arizona Theatre Company’s ‘Pru Payne’ Shines a Light on the Complexities of Dementia

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. […]

Apr 3, 2023

Review: PRU PAYNE at Arizona Theatre Company

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’ […]

Apr 2, 2023

Review: “Pru Payne” – Arizona Theatre Company

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 […]

Mar 15, 2023

Review: Mimi Kennedy, Gordon Clapp Dazzle in World Premiere of PRU PAYNE at Arizona Theatre Company

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 […]

Feb 2, 2023

Review: ATC Production Breaks More Than Glass Figurines

THE GLASS MENAGERIE delivers a solid and heartbreaking cast at Arizona Theatre Company. By Robert Encila-Celdran. Originally published on BroadwayWorld.com. We can never know how Tennessee Williams might have fared had he remained a poet. By happy chance, his lyric acuity parlayed into a singularly rare narrative form, revolutionizing the theater landscape post-World War II. If the structure […]

Nov 15, 2022

Review: Second play in Jane Austen trilogy provides light holiday fare

By Kathy Allen. Originally published by the Arizona Daily Star. The drama isn’t always upstairs at Pemberley, the elaborate estate where Darcy and his wife Elizabeth live. It’s definitely downstairs, in the servants domain, as well. And that’s where the action takes place in Arizona Theatre Company’s “The Wickhams: Christmas at Pemberley.” This is the second […]