Tours: Scottsdale, Arizona | Phoenix, Arizona
Theatre Tours
Actors Theatre at Herberger Theater
Attending a theater performance is a magnificent experience but the actual performance is just part of what makes this extraordinary accomplishment possible. See what goes on before the curtain goes up! Learn about the architecture, interior design, acoustics and the role it all plays in a successful performance.
This is your opportunity to go backstage and visit the dressing rooms that the performers use, see how/where the props are constructed, talk to the artistic director and learn how specific plays are chosen. Walk on stage and experience the feeling of standing in front of a large theater. Then imagine what it is like with every seat in the house filled! Now sit back and enjoy the show and a private reception with the cast members.
Actors Theatre
Actors Theatre performs six plays each season at the Herberger Theater Center that are progressive and provocative, designed to spark conversation about critical social issues.
"For up-to-the-moment plays that ask important questions about life in 21st-century America, the list starts and ends with Actors Theatre." - Arizona Republic
There are many ways this season to offer your guests a truly unique theater experience with Actors Theatre at the beautiful Herberger Theater Center in downtown Phoenix.
- A guided backstage tour. See where all the behind the scenes work goes on, the dressing rooms, rehearsal area and the actual stage area.
- A guided backstage tour and meet a cast member
- The chance to watch the play coming together with a guided backstage tour during Tech Week. Tech Week is the week before the actual performance when the props are put up, dress rehearsal takes place and all the “kinks” are worked out.
- A guided backstage tour during the run of the show and great seats for the performance.
- A guided backstage tour during the run of the show, great seats for the performance and interact with cast member(s) following the show.
Theater Schedule:
The Lieutenant of Inishmor
- September 14-30, 2007
- (Tech Week Sept 10-13)
- by Martin McDonagh
PLAYGOING DOESN’T GET ANY BETTER THAN THIS
– The Wall Street JournalAPPALLINGLY ENTERTAINING
– The New York Times
Bitterly blood curdling and breathtakingly funny. A brazen and unapologetic farce. The Lieutenant of Inishmore tells of a ruthless Irish Liberation Army enforcer and the one thing he loves more than anything else in the world . . . his little black cat, Wee Thomas. Think Monty Python meets Quentin Tarantino - - and it builds to a stunning surprise that has audiences around the world laughing in disbelief.
Please note this play contains mature themes and adult language - and violence that may be disturbing.
The Pursuit of Happiness
- Oct 26 - Nov 11, 2007
- (Tech Week Oct 22-25)
- by Richard Dresser
LAUGHS AND KNOWING NODS, ESPECIALLY FOR BABY BOOMERS.
– VarietyACUTELY ACERBIC COMEDY
– LA City Beat
Middle-class life through a funhouse mirror. Not to be confused with the Will Smith movie, this twisted new comedy is a very funny dissection of a family whose pursuit of happiness is radically counter-productive. The daughter, a bright high school senior, angrily rejects the idea of college in her college application essay. This throws her mother into a stop-at-nothing tizzy, which eventually unhinges the girl’s stoic wage-slave father as well. This family comedy, from the writer of last season’s smash hit Augusta, is the second part of Richard Dresser’s trilogy on “Happiness in America”.
A Christmas Carol
- Dec 01 - Dec 23, 2007
- (Tech Fri Nov 30, 6:30 & 11 final dress rehearsal)
- by Charles Dickens Adapted by Matthew Wiener & Michael Grady Music & Lyrics by Alan Ruch
OUR COMMUNITY’S BEST HOLIDAY PRODUCTION. FIVE STARS.
– KBAQ RadioA CAROL SUNG IN THE KEY OF JOY
– Arizona Republic
Spectacular Holiday Musical. If you haven't seen it in a while, revisit an old friend! Dickens' classic story of redemption and hope is ingeniously re-imagined as only Actors Theatre can in this spectacular musical. Celebrate the "spirits" of the holidays with the entire family. Sure to warm the hearts of children of all ages.
The Busy World is Hushed
- Jan 11 - Jan 27, 2008
- (Tech Week Jan 7-10)
- by Keith Bunin
SEARCHING, PERCEPTIVE AND ABSORBING.
– Time OutFRESH AND ENGAGING
– Theatermania
A deft mix of comedy and drama. With wisdom, humor and insight, The Busy World is Hushed is a tale of a loving mother, a troubled son, and the man who may be able to heal the breach between them. Hannah, a widowed Episcopal minister, is hoping to translate a long-lost gospel when she is challenged by both her scholarly assistant and her wayward gay son. The intricacies of faith – as well as issues of sexuality, love, and loss – are explored in this provocative and moving new play.
Please note this play contains mature themes and adult language.
9 Parts of Desire
- Mar 07 - Mar 23, 2008
- (Tech Week March 3-6)
- written and performed by Heather Raffo
AN EXAMPLE OF HOW ART CAN REMAKE THE WORLD!
– The New YorkerPOWERFUL. IMPASSIONED. VIVID AND MEMORABLE.
– The New York Times
Yearning for love and peace in a devastated world. A remarkable look at the women whose extraordinary lives have been frayed and fractured by the last 20 years of turbulent history in Iraq. It’s a portrait of a shattered community and the humanity that lights it from within. A work so compassionate, so heartbreaking, so soul-shatteringly human, that it promises to change forever the way you'll think about the people of the Mideast.
Speak Spanish to Me
- Apr 25 - May 11, 2008
- (Tech Week April 21-24)
- by Bernardo Solano
WORLD PREMIERE
Love and culture clash at ASU. Actors Theatre has proudly commissioned this World Premiere comedy/romance by award–winning playwright Bernardo Solano. It is the first day of school at ASU for the incoming freshman class. Frank Lopez, a wealthy business major from the Southwest, meets Liz Trumbel, a liberal arts major from Maine – and, romance ensues. But as they learn to grow together, their family conflicts and cultural misunderstanding threaten to tear them apart. Only the soothing sound of Spanish spoken over a pillow offers them comfort and hope.
