Stage Write

Six week after giving birth I braved the outside world with my daughter for the first time completely on my own. We went to a breastfeeding support group at a local hospital. I was completely overwhelmed, sleep-deprived and somehow managed to get lost in the winding corridors. The adventure ended with me in tears in an elevator. I don’t often share personal details here, but the Phoenix Theatre’s production of Cry It Out hit close to home for me. Becoming a new parent is one of the most intense things you can experience. It is exhausting and beautiful and it brings you to your knees. It’s full of barely comprehensible paradoxes. You are immediately connected to generations of women who have done this incredible thing before you. You are also isolated as you try to learn how to survive while caring for a helpless newborn. The internet becomes a resource for tips and ideas while also becoming a place full of moms making different choices, ready to tell you how you’ve screwed up. I’ve...

In May the Phoenix theater will hold its grand opening at its new location. That exciting fact makes this Xmas show particularly special. This year is the very last time audiences can see the holiday hit in the old church the Phoenix has called home for decades. There are years of new memories to be made on the new stage, but for those of us who have made A Very Phoenix Xmas part of our annual holiday tradition, there was something special about seeing this final show. The Phoenix decided to bring back some crowd favorites from the previous 11 iterations of the show. They let people vote and the winners included "Tacobel Canon" and "Don't Eat the Baby". My personal favorite, "Les Miserabelves", was just as fantastic the second time around. The mash up of the Rudolph Christmas special and Les Miserables is beyond hilarious. Paul Hansen’s rendition of "Hallelujah" backed by a chorus of hymn singing cast members was incredibly movin...

  It’s that time of year again! Christmas shows are popping up all over town and whether you’re a fan of traditional or playful, there’s something for everyone. The Phoenix Theatre’s annual Xmas show is a mix of song, dance, parody, and poems. My favorite part about it is that it’s different every year. The content is fresh and ever-changing, so while you might not love every skit, at least it’s something new! The 11th annual show focused on celebrating the holidays internationally. A narrator shared bits about unique traditions around the globe between the scenes. The set utilized multimedia screens that showed song lyrics and photos throughout the show.   During a dance sequence I felt myself appreciating that the Phoenix never constrains itself with meeting every social norm. The dancers were not a uniform body type and it was beautiful. The theatre consistently tries to represents people from many walks of life, instead of just one traditional Midwestern one. ...