Phoenix isn't usually the first city that comes to mind when one thinks of major culture capitols, but that isn't for lack of trying. It certainly has the size, currently ranking as number four among the most populous cities in the United States. Further, Arizonans have adopted the habit of taking in theatre Phoenix, the largest city of the Southwestern United States, assumes its due place as a culture capital.
It can be challenging for a newer city, one lacking two or three centuries of background, to assert itself. But there is a lot more at stake here than civic ego. There is also the matter of building a community in a typical Western city built along highways, and the theatre is a great community builder.
Phoenix, AZ came of age during our modern era of freeways and TV. Both these commonalities of modernity, for different but dovetailing reasons, worked to retard the development of a vitalizing city life. Cities built on freeway grids lack old cities' energizing foot traffic, which offers human pleasures of strolling from place to place, and engaging fellow pedestrians and diners.
If anything, television is even more debilitating to urban life, since it offers the ultimate convenience of being entertained in one's own home. We now have several generations who might be expert in the finest television drama, but who have no idea of the unique energy of a live performance before a packed house.
Responding to this challenge, Phoenix has cultivated a cultural center right where it belongs, in the heart of the city's downtown. The first pleasure one takes in is the architecture. It delights many whose night involves little more than taking a starlit stroll after dinner at one of downtown's many fine restaurants.
Some halls provide first rate but popular entertainment, which adds to the vitality of the new downtown. The Orpheum specializes in popular, broadly loved musicals as well as other entertainments. The Comerica concert hall offers world-class popular music and comedy.
Among these treasures are two lovely spaces that provide the best in live drama. The Phoenix Theatre, located on McDowell Road, presents contemporary plays penned by some of the most gifted playwrights in the country, and the also features new musicals. To help the taste for live entertainment cross into the next generation, it offers writing and acting classes for teenagers as part of its ambitious public outreach program.
The Arizona Theatre Company, also downtown, makes its home in the small, intimate Herberger Theater Center, but it also has a site in Tucson. It also offers a full complement of outreach programs, with special attention to programs for teachers and students. Its programming runs to suspense, thrillers, and new plays written by top TV writers.
With so much sophisticated entertainment available, this desert is only a desert in its lacking water, not culture. More people are choosing to come downtown for dinner and a show, leaving the TV behind. One can always let the DVR recorder store TV fare for the some other time.
It can be challenging for a newer city, one lacking two or three centuries of background, to assert itself. But there is a lot more at stake here than civic ego. There is also the matter of building a community in a typical Western city built along highways, and the theatre is a great community builder.
Phoenix, AZ came of age during our modern era of freeways and TV. Both these commonalities of modernity, for different but dovetailing reasons, worked to retard the development of a vitalizing city life. Cities built on freeway grids lack old cities' energizing foot traffic, which offers human pleasures of strolling from place to place, and engaging fellow pedestrians and diners.
If anything, television is even more debilitating to urban life, since it offers the ultimate convenience of being entertained in one's own home. We now have several generations who might be expert in the finest television drama, but who have no idea of the unique energy of a live performance before a packed house.
Responding to this challenge, Phoenix has cultivated a cultural center right where it belongs, in the heart of the city's downtown. The first pleasure one takes in is the architecture. It delights many whose night involves little more than taking a starlit stroll after dinner at one of downtown's many fine restaurants.
Some halls provide first rate but popular entertainment, which adds to the vitality of the new downtown. The Orpheum specializes in popular, broadly loved musicals as well as other entertainments. The Comerica concert hall offers world-class popular music and comedy.
Among these treasures are two lovely spaces that provide the best in live drama. The Phoenix Theatre, located on McDowell Road, presents contemporary plays penned by some of the most gifted playwrights in the country, and the also features new musicals. To help the taste for live entertainment cross into the next generation, it offers writing and acting classes for teenagers as part of its ambitious public outreach program.
The Arizona Theatre Company, also downtown, makes its home in the small, intimate Herberger Theater Center, but it also has a site in Tucson. It also offers a full complement of outreach programs, with special attention to programs for teachers and students. Its programming runs to suspense, thrillers, and new plays written by top TV writers.
With so much sophisticated entertainment available, this desert is only a desert in its lacking water, not culture. More people are choosing to come downtown for dinner and a show, leaving the TV behind. One can always let the DVR recorder store TV fare for the some other time.
About the Author:
If you want to be a part of a great children's local theatre Phoenix residents can come to Valley Youth Theatre. To volunteer or purchase season tickets, visit our home on the Web at http://www.vyt.com today.
