courtesy of Th [sic] Sense

At first, I wasn't sure that Th [sic] Sense: No Class! has any sort of seasonal theme (not that I need my sketch comedy compilation shows to have a theme of any kind). But I couldn't discern anything about the weather being crappy or school being out (or bad blockbuster films or lamesauce grill-based holidays, or whatever summer means to you).

Now, though, as I look at the list of sketches on the show's program, I realize there was a lot of wetness. A lot of pee and poop and semen and lady-cum, a bit of saliva and, as a bonus, a sketch by Portia Beacham that features pudding, condiments, ice cream cake, and Tabasco. And keeping wet is a great way to keep cool -- not just disgusting!

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WA|HH Quantum Sensations

Because a few shots of tequila take at least 15 minutes and a power hour takes, well an hour, allow David Edwards, a French American scientist, to introduce his latest spray innovation -- an alcoholic spray that'll instantly make you drunk.

Each dose of WA|HH Quantum Sensations comes with 0.075 mililetres of alcohol. When sprayed directly into the mouth, it's enough to give you instant beer goggles that wear off within a minute.

Talk about a quick fix (with almost guaranteed social consequences).

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courtesy of PIF

It's a piece of cake for the organizers of the 11th Annual Phoenix Improv Festival to pack a lot into a little -- that's kind of a holy principle of comedy. So yes, the entire event fests your ass off between now and Sunday afternoon, April 29, and it doesn't matter whether you want to see improv, learn improv (including slam poetry and improv with puppets, which either sounds promisingly nasty or it's just the influence of the impending weekend), or learn to help other people learn improv, 'cause it's all here. (That was just a little yes and, for you insiders.)

Any performer who's ever felt extra-humbled by the realization that he or she is improv-impaired should feel better knowing that PIF has more than one workshop just to teach people how to coach you. Hallelujah fuck yeah.

Even more popular, though, are the evening performances by troupes from nearly across the U.S. who've been drawn here by the conference's sweet nectar of professional education and networking, fresh audiences, and the prospect of watching each other's sets with that heady mixture of admiration and envy. So on to that.

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courtesy of 7 Ate 9

Some of the dancers of The D&SPAIR Club, which is participating in 7 Ate 9's John Cage centennial homage Saturday night

If renowned mushroom-picking, multidisciplinary avant-garde composer John Cage were still alive, he'd be 100 this year. If his spirit was reincarnated in another being after his death, that being turns 20 this year. It's more straightforward to commemorate the former, so that's what performance collective 7 Ate 9 is doing in the third of their series of Third Saturday shows at Modified Arts, tomorrow night, Saturday, April 21, at 8 (as in ate) p.m.

The first question on everyone's lips has got to be "Is 4'33" on the program?" The answer is yes, and the musicians who will be not-performing the legendary work are Laptop Orchestra of Arizona State (LOrkAS).

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image courtesy the artist

For "When Fun Collides," Tevin King created a real-time visualizer of the music, performers, and crowd, then digitally projected the images onto the stage home.

Attendees of the 29th Annual Glendale Blues and Jazz Festival over the weekend weekend received an unexpected blast of interpretive dance, digital art, social commentary and marriageable dogs to accompany the slide guitars and saxophones on stage.

Something to Write Home About sent 28 ASU student artists, guided by Herberger Institute for Design and the Arts professors Angela Ellsworth and Gregory Sale, on a mission to explore the meaning of "home" amid two days of music, culture and beer.

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Cringe now or forever hold your peace.

Today has been dubbed World Whisky Day, and while there are no official events registered in Phoenix, whisky lovers around the world are encouraged to celebrate by grabbing their best tumbler, knocking a few back, and sending a picture or two to the holiday's official website.

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Claire Lawton

​If you survived the french fry cube, enjoyed the sad farm animals, or totally killed it playing skee ball at the annual Arizona State Fair, we have good news. More >>

Jake DeBruyckere Photography

A dancer from "Fixation," one of the sections of The Shadows Inside

Ignite Collaborative Arts states that their group exists partly to let artists from different disciplines work together and inspire one another, and that is perhaps the greatest accomplishment of The Shadows Inside: Exploring Lust, Fear, Delusion, & Misery, a compilation of dance works they're presenting at PHX:fringe.

The dancers are not remarkably good -- in particular, their movements are functional but, for the most part, not particularly expressive. However, the vehicle of this relatively polished performance also shares the work of guest choreographers, costume designers who were inspired by the dances, and a musician who was inspired by one of the choreographers. And that's kind of cool.

Meanwhile, Warehouse 1005 is a terrible place for dance, with not just its distressed concrete floor that drew blood from a soloist's foot at a serendipitously appropriate moment but also, and even worse in some ways, rotten visibility from any but the front row of seats.

This is the final Curtains review of this weekend. I look forward to a better and more vital PHX:fringe with each successive year.

The Shadows Inside continues Sunday, March 11, at Warehouse 1005, 1005 North First Street. (Enter from the alley.) Admission is $10 at the door, or call 602-254-2151. See the full PHX:fringe schedule here.

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courtesy of PHX:fringe

For six years, the ASU Herberger College of Design and the Arts' School of Theatre and Film has worked with the Tumbleweed Phoenix Youth Resource Center to bring the benefits of the arts into the lives of homeless and at-risk youth. For the past four years, the Center's clients have created public performances centered on the issues vital to their lives, in an ASU-mentored program called Asphalt Arts, and we get to experience these shows as part of PHX:fringe.

I don't believe in spending your time with art or literature merely because it's ideologically relevant. If it illuminates an issue or presents a point of view you're insufficiently familiar with, that's a good reason to experience it, but if it's poorly executed, you still might be wasting your time.

And although making theater is good for people in many ways, including the development of life skills, you're not obliged to watch unless you're a friend or family member. Luckily, Asphalt Arts' Food for Thought has just enough content and impact to make its short running time a solid investment.

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courtesy of Paisley Yankolovich

You should know that the pleated, bejeweled part of Paisley Yankolovich's costume in this photo is a vibrant, mother-of-the-groom royal blue. The rest of his clothing is black. This combo, in the manner of Proust's madeleines, will recall the ubiquitous leggings, baggy sweaters, and big hair of 1985 for anyone old enough to have been saturated with those images.

Like Madonna, as well as all the girls debarking the R train to go to Greek Orthodox high school, Paisley blends punk and glam in his public style, which, like his Christian faith, is omnipresent and undeniable, and both of which, like his singing voice, are deliberate, strong, and almost immediately comforting.

It's because he's achieving exactly what he wants, and wherever he stands emotionally and/or spiritually at any given moment, he's compelled to share what he has available and grateful for the opportunity. That's a very cool attribute for a performing artist of any stripe.

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