Tuesday, 3 February 2015

Theatre Phoenix And The Maturing Of Western City Life

By Janine Hughes


Phoenix is not usually thought of as a culture capitol. This is so despite its size, which ranks as the fourth most populous city in the United States. Now that Arizonans have begun a habit of visiting the theatre Phoenix, already the major urban hub of the desert Southwest, takes its place as a major cultural center.

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.

TV is perhaps still more of a poison to urban culture, as it offers the numbing temptation of entertainment without so much as leaving the living room couch. Today whole generations might be savvy to quality drama on TV, but lack any notion of the thrill of live drama in front of hundreds of their fellows.

In response, the city has developed its downtown into a secret treasure and cultural corridor. Not just the venues, but the architecture itself is a delight to the eyes. The downtown is, in itself, the first course of an evening out that can include fine dining and strolling beneath the stars.

Some spaces provide world class popular entertainment, which adds sizzle to the downtown experience. The Orpheum focuses on popular, broadly loved performances, including Broadway musicals. The Comerica is a music hall and stage that entertains the public with the world's finest pop music and comedy stars.

Two treats of architecture are showcases for living drama. The Phoenix Theatre gives fresh dramas penned by the nation's best dramatists, as well as the most sophisticated new musicals. It provides classes in writing as well as acting for teenagers among a broad menu of community outreach projects to build a public appetite for drama.

The Herberger Theater Center, an intimate venue, is one of two homes for the Arizona Theatre Company, the other being in Tucson. Its program includes its own outreach programs, including programs for teachers and their students. It favors thrillers, detective dramas, and works from top tier 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.




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