Got humanity?

 

During a week filled with heated discussions about everything from “gun control” to “the fiscal cliff,” I was especially pleased to hear from the Arizona Humanities Council, which “builds a just and civil society by creating opportunities to explore our shared human experiences through discussion, learning and reflection.”

They’re looking for folks to honor during next year’s “Sharing Words, Changing Worlds” event. Nominations for the 2013 Humanities Awards are being accepted through Friday, Feb. 15 but there’s no reason you can’t get a jump on making your nomination now. The Arizona Humanities Council is accepting nominations for three awards as follows:

The Dan Shilling Public Humanities Scholar Award — which recognizes a humanities scholar who has distinguished him/herself by enhancing public understanding of the role that the humanities play in transforming lives and strengthening communities.

The Juliana Yoder Friend of the Humanities Award — which recognizes individuals, organizations or businesses that have made lasting contributions to the cultural life of their communities through their active support of and involvement in promoting the humanities.

The Humanities Rising Star Award — which recognizes a young professional, student or volunteer with outstanding and creative approaches to engaging the public with humanities topics. Consideration for this award will focus on scholarship in the humanities, service to the humanities and other humanities-related endeavors.

The Arizona Humanities Council has been plenty busy this year, taking their “Speakers Bureau Road Scholars” program to more than 200 communities, sharing expertise on music, history, archaeology, language and more.

In November, they gathered 1,500 friends at Civic Space Park in downtown Phoenix for their second annual Arizona Humanities Festival.

And their literacy program, called “Prime Time Family Reading Time,” helped children, parents and grandparents foster a love of reading together through nursery rhymes, folk tales, poems and stories.

In 2013, the Arizona Humanities Council will mark their 40th anniversary — and their history of awarding nearly $11 million in support humanities programs in libraries, museums, schools and non-profits.

They’ll also launch the “Common Grounds” program, holding community conversations across the state about “what matters to you here and around the world.”

During the summer, they’ll kick off the Smithsonian’s touring exhibition of “Journey Stories,” a traveling exhibition focused on immigration, migration, innovations and freedom that features diverse tales of how we can our ancestors came to America.

Click here to learn more about Arizona Humanities Council programs, events and awards — and here to explore the National Endowment for the Humanities.

— Lynn

Note: The Arizona Humanities Council is accepting entries to its “Student Voices Video Contest” through Jan. 31, 2013, and is currently taking registrations for a free forum called “Politics & Religion” happening Feb. 19, 2013 at Burton Barr Central Library.

Coming up: My pet mural, Do the Caribbean, Fun with Phoenix icons

Human rights film festival

See "Miss Landmine" April 20 at 4pm at ASU

Our daughter Jennifer is an able scout for local arts and culture — often alerting me to films, museum exhibits and other good stuff at Arizona State University in Tempe.

Recently she brought home a pair of flyers, one bright purple with a film strip running across it. Three strands of barbed wire run along the strip, one tied with a small red bow resembling a delicate butterfly.

The flyer details offerings in the second annual “Human Rights Film Festival” taking place April 20-22 in Armstrong Hall, located at the Sandra Day O’Connor College of Law on ASU’s Tempe campus.

The festival is free and open to the public, and each of the nine films being shown will be followed by a discussion. Friday’s lineup includes “Miss Landmine,” “Education Under Fire,” and “Granito.”

Saturday selections include “The Truth That Wasn’t There,” “The Invisibles,” and “Stop Kony.” Also “The Dark Side of Chocolate” — which ASU professor Daniel Schugurensky suggests may be of greatest interest to our readers, given its focus on child labor and trafficking.

Two films are being shown on Earth Day — “Flow: For Love of Water” and “Overcoming Eco-Apartheid: Community Action for Environmental Justice in South Phoenix.”

It’s fitting that this year’s festival coincides with Earth Day because we forget too often that there’s a whole lot of Earth beyond the little patches some of us are lucky enough to call our own.

See "The Dark Side of Chocolate" at 4pm on April 21 at ASU

The Human Rights Film Festival is co-sponsored by Human Rights at ASU, the School of Social Transformation, the Graduate Professional Student Association at ASU and Amnesty International Tempe.

Folks who hit the festival Friday before the first film rolls at 4pm can get an early taste of issues related to how people in different cultures tackle tough choices. I owe this tidbit to the second flyer Jennifer shared, featuring news of the ASU Museum of Anthropology’s “Choosing the Good” exhibit.

The exhibit provides the opportunity to “discover how people in your community and from around the world resolve the same dilemmas in choosing the good.” Admission to the ASU Museum of Anthropology, open Mon-Fri 11am-3pm, is always free — so no tough choice there.

The ASU Museum of Anthropology is housed inside the School of Human Evolution & Social Change building — three buildings south of the intersection of University Dr. and College Ave.

Even those of you without a Jennifer can get your hands on news of ASU offerings in arts and culture — just click here to explore the ASU events calendar.

— Lynn

Coming up: Remembering the Holocaust, Art meets United Nations

Got scripts?

New works festivals present great opportunities for writers and audiences

Jason Tremblay of Austin won last year’s EVCT aspiring playwrights contest with “Queen Zixi of Ix, The Story of the Magic Cloak” — which was performed by East Valley Children’s Theatre just last month. It’s the adaptation of an L. Frank Baum story about two young children forced to live with a greedy aunt who moves them from country to city in search of work — and the adventures that help them bring happiness and prosperity to everyone in their new land.

Second place in last year’s EVCT playwriting contest went to Drew Ignatowski of Gilbert for “Moonprince,” and third place went to Texan Bobbi A. Chukran of Leander for “Princess Primrose & the Curse of the Big Sleep.” Cash prizes go to the top three winners each year, and the winning play is produced by EVCT (assuming it meets their criteria for performance). The deadline for 2012 submissions is Fri, March 15.

New Carpa Theater Co. recently issued a call for scripts inspired by the legacy of the civil rights movement, the United Farm Workers Union and contemporary social justice issues. They’re looking for works to present during a short plays festival they expect to hold in late May/early June as well as October. Think 5- to 10-minute stage plays, monologues, play excerpts and performance pieces. Scripts are due April 20, and can be submitted in either Spanish or English.

James E. Garcia, producing artistic director for the company, notes that eight to 10 pieces will be selected by a panel of seven local playwrights, writers and producers for staging at the festival. Additional works may also be presented for festival goers. Garcia describes the festival as “a non-partisan, grassroots, community-based project” designed to give theater artists and audiences “an opportunity to express their concerns regarding some of the most compelling human and civil rights issues of our time” — including those effecting immigrants, women and people of color.

The Utah Shakespeare Festival is now considering plays for its 2013 New American Playwrights Project. Scripts submitted for consideration must be postmarked by Nov 1, 2012. Three works (all with mature content) are being presented during the 2012 series directed by Charles L. Metten — “The Greater Love” by Frankie Little Hardin, “Turquoise Wind” by Kurt Proctor and “Play Desdemona” by Daniel Hintzsche.

Those of you who favor watching new works rather than writing them can enjoy the 15th annual Hormel New Works Festival being presented July 8-22 by Phoenix Theatre. The festival features staged readings performed by professional actors.

Phoenix Theatre also holds a “2nd Draft Series” designed to further the development of select plays presented during the Hormel New Works Festival. Three plays will get the “2nd draft” treatment in coming weeks and months — including Richard Warren’s “Pollywogs” (March 24), Kurt Shineman’s “Mother’s Milk” (April 21) and Scott McCarrey’s “The Wilds” (May 19).

The Arizona Women’s Theatre Company presents its 6th annual Pandora Festival of New Works May 18-20 at the Scottsdale Center for the Performing Arts. It features full-length plays, one-act plays and 10-minute plays written by Arizona women.

Theatre Artists Studio in Scottsdale is home to the “New Play Series and Reader’s Theatre.” Up next in their new play series is “4” by Terry Youngren (March 17). Their next reader’s theater will be presented April 23 by Drea Pruseau.

A Childsplay world-premiere read of Dwayne Hartford’s “The Color of Stars” comes to The Temple Lounge in Tucson Sat, April 14 as part of the Arizona Theatre Company’s “Café Bohemia” series. The play’s described as “a touching story about life in America during World War II with modern-day parallels about the costs of war both overseas and at home.”

Folks who prefer seeing plays fully staged and polished will be pleased to know that “The Color of Stars” is being performed by Childsplay April 22-May 20 at Tempe Center for the Performing Arts.

— Lynn

Coming up: Frankly speaking, So you want to be a playwright…

Once upon a shamrock

Images of three leaf clovers are popping up all over as Valley families with Irish roots prepare to celebrate St. Patrick’s Day, which honors the patron saint of Ireland. A nifty PBS “Religion and Ethics Newsweekly” multifaith calendar says he’s “credited with spreading Christianity in Ireland and abolishing pagan practices in the fourth century” — noting that he used the shamrock to “explain the mystery of the Christian doctrine of the Trinity.”

Turns out lots of religious holidays happen this month. March 8 was Purim in Judaism, Holi (the festival of colors) in Hinduism and Magha Puja Day (honoring Buddha’s birthday) in Buddhism. Scientologists celebrate the birth of founder L. Ron Hubbard on March 13, and Christians follow the March 17 celebration of St. Patrick with “Saint Joseph’s Day” in honor of “the earthly father of Jesus” on March 18.

I’m no Irish scholar, but I’ve got a Scotch-Irish spouse and green eyes that protect me from the pinch, and something tells me St. Patrick would have expected more of people than a day spent pub crawling. So while others are trolling for green beer, consider exploring family-friendly St. Patrick’s Day fare with an arts and culture twist.

Families can enjoy Irish music, dance and more at the Phoenix St. Patrick’s Day parade first held in 1983. Its purpose, according to the Irish Cultural Center in Phoenix, is “to preserve and enhance the heritage and traditions of the Irish Culture as well as share that culture with the citizens of Arizona.” For some it’s “a traditional day for spiritual renewal and offering prayers for missionaries worldwide.”

This year’s parade begins Sat, March 17 at 10am — with a parade from the Irish Cultural Center to Margaret T. Hance Park,  where the rest of the day’s activities unfold. I had a great time at last year’s festival seeing parents carting green-clad children around in decorated strollers and wagons, and watching older couples getting “jig” with it as Irish dance music floated from stage to the lovely lawns just right for dancing.

Remember, as you’re celebrating Irish arts and culture, that the Irish are but one of many groups to immigrate to America — something profoundly illustrated near the end of the musical “In the Heights” when the sign over a business sold by a Latino couple comes down only to reveal an earlier sign from a business run by Irish Americans. Circles of lifes of life, circles of culture — all worth celebrating.

The Phoenix Symphony performs “Dr. Seuss’ Green Eggs and Ham” Sat, March 17 at the Orpheum Theatre in Phoenix. Families can “follow and interact with Sam-I-Am” as he rhymes his way through the classic Seuss tale told by folks from The Phoenix Symphony and Valley Youth Theatre. Best to read “Green Eggs and Ham” rather than eat them.

Folks seeking authentic Irish fare can head to a little neighborhood joint in Scottsdale called Randy’s, or hit the MIM Cafe at the Musical Instrument Museum — where the chef often sets the mood for celebrations of holidays and world culture with special menu items created with fresh Arizona-grown ingredients.

The MIM presents a five-piece acoustic Irish band called Trotters Wake Thurs, March 15 at 6pm. I’m told they perform “new and old Irish drinking songs, rebel songs, ballads, and traditional instrumental tunes” on acoustic guitar, mandolin, fiddle and electric bass. Or hit the MIM between noon and 3pm to enjoy Tramor/Overseas performing traditional Welsh music with bagpipes, flutes, whistles, mandolins, guitar, percussion, storytelling and dance. Then tour the museum’s collection of European instruments to learn more about materials used in making bagpipes and such.

The Children’s Museum of Phoenix art studio, open from 10am to 3pm, is featuring arts and crafts with a St. Patrick’s Day vibe through Sat, March 17. Think shamrock hats, lucky leprechaun wands and green playdough. They’re also celebrating artists Georgia O’Keefe and Salvador Dali and continuing ongoing projects like painting a giant rocket, playing in the puppet theater, and exploring plenty of books and toys.

You’ll find oodles of other fun activities in print and online editions of the Raising Arizona Kids Magazine calendar — including St. Patrick’s Day events presented by Lakeshore Learning Stores, Local Lily, Shamrock Farms and Hubbard Family Swim School.

I’ll be celebrating by revisiting the works of great Irish writers like Oscar Wilde and George Bernard Shaw, and finishing a dark little work by Irish playwright Martin McDonagh. Now that our three kids are in college, we can indulge our drive to spend more time on reading and reflection.

Those of you with younger children can seize St. Patrick’s Day as an opportunity to read with your children about Irish history and culture, or to remind them of the many gifts immigrants continue to bestow upon our country.

The worst sin towards our fellow creatures is not to hate them, but to be indifferent to them; that’s the essence of inhumanity. — George Bernard Shaw

— Lynn

Note: If your arts and culture organization is offering a family-friendly event or activity to celebrate St. Patrick’s Day, please comment below to let our readers know. Click here to learn more about submitting event information to our calendar editor.

Coming up: Dancing with the real stars

From Tevye to Tintin

My daughter Lizabeth discovered, after heading to Times Square in New York to see the movie “Paranormal Activity 3” the night it opened, that there were no more tickets to be had.

It’s just as well from a mother’s perspective since there are plenty of other good films these days that won’t scare the bejeebers out of you — including the Julianne Hough dancefest called “Footloose,” a remake of the 1984 film that many of today’s parents enjoyed during their teens.

Also “Sholem Aleichem: Laughing in the Darkness” — an intriguing documentary with special appeal for folks interested in the lives of writers, immigration history, modern Jewish identity or a work of musical theater called “Fiddler on the Roof.” 

Seems Aleihem is the writer behind the character we all know as “Tevye,” a man with several daughters who faced countless challenges to his fervent love of tradition.

Fans of Sesame Street should take note — next month’s Loft Film Fest in Tucson includes a screening of the film “Being Elmo: A Puppeteer’s Journey” — which offers a behind-the-scenes look at Sesame Street, the Jim Henson Workshop, and the work of puppeteer and father Kevin Clash.

“The Twilight Saga: Breaking Dawn – Part I” also opens next month, though it’ll be a bit easier to find — coming to not one Arizona theater but to nearly all of them. Fans of the “Twilight” series have long had the date Nov. 18 circled, in red, on their calendars.

Legendary storyteller and filmmaker Steven Spielberg, once a student at Arcadia High School in Phoenix, has two films being released this fall — the “The Adventures of Tintin” (coming Dec. 21) and “War Horse” (coming Dec. 25). Both promise to be visual feasts that bring some of the world’s best storytelling to life.

As we all gear up for the holiday season we allow so often to become all too hectic, we should remember the power of movies to deliver us from everyday worries, to create cherished memories with family and friends, and to inspire both dreams and wonder.

— Lynn

Note: Always consult movie websites to check film ratings and age recommendations before talking children to the movies.

Coming up: Spielberg tales

Art meets community college

Head to SCC Wednesday for a film documenting the voyage of German Jews aboard a ship that no one wanted

Looking for low-cost or no-cost dance, music and theater productions? Fond of supporting the creativity of local students and those who teach them? Eager to experience art or film you won’t see elsewhere?

Then check out these offerings coming soon to Valley community colleges.

Chandler-Gilbert Community College presents…

“Get a Life” — an original CGCC production that “explores all the little things in life that drive us crazy from the cradle through the golden years.” March 24-27.

“14” — a play by Jose Casas that’s “based on interviews with Arizonans and their various different attitudes towards the contemporary issues of undocumented immigration.” Performed by Teatro Bravo April 1 & 2.

Mesa Community College presents…

“Student Art Show” — featuring diverse works of visual art. April 11-21.

“Almost Maine” — a play by John Cariani about residents of a “remote, mythical town” in which “residents find themselves falling in and out of love in unexpected and often hilarious ways.” April 22-30.

Paradise Valley Community College presents…

“Rumors” — a play by Neil Simon that recounts the adventures of four upper class couples embarrased by unexpected circumstances. April 9-17.

“Spring Dance Collection 2011” — a “compilation of dance works” choreographed by dance and adjunct faculty. Includes modern dance, jazz, ballet, hip hop, ballroom and other forms of dance. April 29 & 30.

Scottsdale Community College presents…

“Voyage of the St. Louis” — a documentary film that’s part of the SCC and Anti-Defamation League “The Many Faces of Hate” film series. It recounts the journey of 937 German Jews denied haven in 1939 by “every country in the Americas.” March 23.

Unique plays coming soon to Valley community colleges include SCC performances of works by Eugene Ionesco (Photo: Laura Durant)

“The Bald Chairs” — two one-act plays by Eugene Ionesco, both “from the school of drama known as the Theatre of the Absurd, a genre that often includes irony, slapstick humor and word play.”  March 31-April 9.

Each of these community colleges — as well as other community colleges in the greater Phoenix metro area — list art, dance, film, music and theater events online.

With just a little legwork, you can uncover a multitude of low-cost and no-cost events to enjoy with family and friends while supporting the budding artists in our midst.

— Lynn

Note: Our state universities — ASU, NAU and UA — also offer a wealth of visual and performance art open to the public. So stay tuned to their online calendars as well.

Coming up: More free and discounted arts events

A work in progress

Five panels of an Annette Sexton-Ruiz piece being used in a poster to promote a short-play festival featuring student and other works on the topic of immigration

Playwright James Garcia has worked for years with students at Carl Hayden Community High School on robotics and other projects.

Garcia says he learned “by coincidence” that some of the students had written a play titled “Should We Stay or Should We Go?” with teacher Trish Galindo Kiser — and that the work has themes similar to plays he’s assembling for an upcoming festival.

Garcia, who founded the New Carpa Theater Company in Phoenix, is organizing a “Performing 1070 Short-Play Festival” featuring works “centered on themes related to immigration.”

The festival will include 12 plays, chosen from 70 submissions, which vary in length from four to 12 minutes. The list of works being presented was finalized earlier this month — and you’ll have two opportunities to view them.

The “Performing 1070 Short-Play Festival” takes place Wed, March 30 at Arizona State University West (as part of an annual event examining “border justice” issues) and Thurs, March 31 on the lawn of the Arizona State Capitol.

Students from Carl Hayden High School will be working with Garcia and their teacher this week to consider which vignettes from their piece would best compliment the other plays. Chosen vignettes will be performed by students during the festival.

Works being presented by Arizona playwrights include “Freedom Trail” by Terry Tess Earp, “In Old Arizona” by Guillermo Reyes, and “Joe Arpaio Meets La Virgen de Guadalupe” by Stella Pope Duarte.

Playwrights from California, New York, Massachusetts, Texas, Pennsylvania and Idaho are also represented. Most, says Garcia, have “awards and/or professionally produced plays under their belts.”

Garcia notes that New Carpa is “especially honored” to present an excerpt from a new work by Josephina Lopez titled “Detained in the Desert.” Lopez authored the play “Real Women Have Curves” — and co-wrote the screenplay for the film version featuring actress America Ferrera.

“The purpose of this short-play festival,” shares Garcia, “is to highlight the effects of a series of state-based immigration-related legislation enacted or proposed in Arizona over the last decade.” 

Garcia describes the festival as “a non-partisan, grassroots, community-based theater project…on one of the most compelling human and civil rights issues of our time.”

Admission to the festival is free, but Garcia notes that “donations to the nonprofit New Carpa Theater Company will be accepted.” Click here for event details.

— Lynn

Note: The festival’s title refers to SB1070, an immigration-related piece of legislation signed by Arizona Governor Jan Brewer on April 23, 2010.

Coming up: East Valley high school students sound off about “Macbeth”

One road trip is never enough

I'm already planning my next mother/daughter road trip

With my youngest heading off to college this fall, the days of mother/daughter road trips may soon be behind us.

So I’m eager to find any opportunity for a weekend getaway that will give me precious time my 17-year-old Lizabeth.

I enjoyed a road trip to San Francisco with my now 19-year-old daughter Jennifer several years ago — an experience I will always cherish.

Our trips together find us enjoying funkier fare, like hole-in-the-wall cafes with Turkish coffee or spicy offerings from India and street fairs with handcrafted wares.

I love experiencing one-on-one travel time with my children, getting to know them a bit better as they journey out of childhood and ready to travel their own road through adulthood.

Several films being featured at the festival have an Arizona connection

Come February, I’m hoping to hit some of the Sedona International Film Festival offerings with Lizabeth. By then, she’ll have finished her cross-country trips for college theater program auditions.

The 17th Annual International Sedona Film Festival takes place Feb 20-27 and features more than 145 films shown at three Sedona venues, including the Sedona Harkins 6 Luxury Cinema.

A special preview premiere screening of “Sedona: The Motion Picture” (shot in and around Sedona) will kick-off the festival one night early on Sat, Feb 19.

The film’s soundtrack features “indigenous sounds of the region” and performance by musicians from The Juilliard School.

Many of the films being shown address arts and culture

So what’s on the movie menu at this year’s festival? Foreign films from 18 countries. Seven films focused on the environment. A Lifetime Achievement Award for Jonathan Winters, and a tribute to character actor Rip Torn.

Films tackle diverse subjects — including border issues, indigenous cultures, gay and lesbian themes, war and politics, women’s issues, and individuals living with physical or mental challenges.

Also aging, animals, education, the worlds of children and many more — in categories that include animation, documentary, feature and short films.

I’m plenty intrigued just reading through the list of film titles, which include “Voodoo,” “Old People Driving,” “The Butterfly Circus,” “My Dog Tulip,” and “Arpaio’s America.”

Visit http://www.sedonafilmfestival.com to learn more about film offerings and ticket packages

Films titled “The Parking Lot Movie,” “Cast Me If You Can,” “The Desert of Forbidden Art,” “The First Grader,” “A Marine Story” and “The Man Who Knew How to Fly” also caught my eye.

Various types of passes and ticket packages are available, including a 10-ticket package for full-time students that runs just $80 (it will be available only through the box office and require a valid student I.D.). Individual film tickets will be available in February.

At this point, there’s really only one thing that could make a road trip to the Sedona International Film Festival any more enjoyable — news that Arizona schools are changing spring break to Feb 20-27.

–Lynn

Note: To learn more about film in Arizona, visit the Arizona Production Association

Coming up: Q & A with “Spring Awakening” cast members (who’ll perform a final Phoenix show at ASU Gammage  at 7pm on Fri, Jan 28)

Cows for a cause

Thousands of boys from Sudan immigrated to the United States during the 1990s — including the “Arizona Lost Boys of Sudan” — who are among the many children orphaned in one of the bloodiest conflicts in recent history.

Sudan might feel a world away, but who can’t imagine what it might be like to be orphaned? And who doesn’t wish there was some way they could help.

This is where the cows come in. They’re ceramic handmade cows crafted by orphaned children, and they’ll be on sale during “The AZ Lost Boys of Sudan 6th Annual Birthday Party” at Changing Hands Bookstore in Tempe.

Birth dates are rarely recorded in Sudan, so aid workers have given many orphans a Jan 1 birthday — which Changing Hands recognizes with an event featuring birthday treats and a cow sale to benefit the AZ Lost Boys and Girls scholarship fund.

If you want more info on the scholarship fund, just visit the AZ Lost Boys Center online at www.azlostboyscenter.org. Of course, they pretty much had me at “ceramic cows.”

Changing Hands Bookstore has all sorts of interesting fare this month — including a Jan 12 panel with psychologists and educators sharing “strategies on how teachers, students and parents can cope with bullying.”

Sesame Street puppeteer Noel MacNeal hits Changing Hands Jan 14, and the “Yallapalooza” — “a literary extravaganza for tween and teen readers featuring more than a dozen ‘YA’ authors — takes place Jan 29.

You can bring little ones clad in pajamas to the Jan 13 “Pajama Storytime for Preschoolers” with children’s specialist Ramie Manch, or awaken your own writing muse with one of Changing Hands’ many writing workshops and poetry roundtables.

Another “Local First Arizona” bookstore — which has stores in Mesa, Phoenix and Tucson — has diverse offerings for literature-lovers of all ages. This Sat, Jan 8, folks can head to Bookmans in Phoenix to learn the art of paper folding from the Arizona Origami Society.

Other Bookman happenings this weekend include an author signing of a new book about the Arizona-Sonora Desert Museum (Tucson), a “Silly Bandz” trading event (at the Glendale Glitters & Glow Block Party) and an anime club get together (Phoenix).

Later this month, you can enjoy several “Music Hour with Nature!” events, a Harry Potter club gathering, and a performance as part of the “Ear Candy Charity & Chicks with Picks Live Music Series!” (Store locations vary.)

Be sure and check with your local independent booksellers as well — many of whom provide an environment rich for conversation and community building. Your local bookstore is a great place to find fellow readers, writers and thinkers — and to help your children cultivate these skills in a day and age too full of distractions.

— Lynn

Note: Click here to learn more about Local First Arizona and its members (which include Raising Arizona Kids magazine).

Coming up: The fine art of tolerance, The art of “Sacred Places,” Art adventures: Glendale, Shrek: I’m a Believer

Theater meets history

I’m surrounded by history buffs. My husband James and 19-year-old daughter Jennifer seem to always have their nose in a good history or philosophy book, while both our daughters are loving the historical fiction books they got as holiday gifts.

This show will delight history, music and theater buffs

I thought I might be able to escape for a few hours to enjoy opening night of the Phoenix production of “Woody Guthrie’s American Song” presented by Arizona Theatre Company. But that’s like trying to avoid trees by strolling through a forest.

Turns out I sat next to a very gracious history professor and his wife, and met a 5th grade history phenom in the Herberger Theater Center lobby after the show.

I sort of knew what I was getting into, I suppose — since “Woody Guthrie’s American Song” covers the life and times of wordsmith and folk musician Woody Guthrie, who traveled from Oklahoma to California, New York and plenty of other parts.

I was surprised that I didn’t see more young people at the show. Other than a pair of teen boys seated a few rows behind me and a boy who looked to be about five years old seated just ahead of me, the crowd was mostly folks around my age (give or take a good decade).

Having once homeschooled my children, and having volunteered more than 1,000 hours in their traditional classrooms, I always have an eye out for those “teachable moments” in which experiences create rich learning opportunities.

I’d have had a ball taking my kids to see “Woody Guthrie’s American Song” when they were younger (my husband will probably take one or more of them before the show ends its run on his birthday, Jan 16).

The show features a cast of five and a three-piece band set against a backdrop that mirrors life in the Dust Bowl or along the railroad tracks, complete with a giant projection screen on each side showing black and white photos of the times.

Woody Guthrie's American Song, an ATC production at the Herberger Theater, features strong storytelling and moving music amidst a beautiful set with lovely lighting

Immigrant laborers and their children living in squalor. Job seekers moving from town to town in search of honest pay. The sticker on Guthrie’s guitar that denounces fascism. The sign offering tent space for 15 cents a week.

In an age when issues of immigrant rights and unemployment are so prominent on the political landscape, shows like “Woody Guthrie’s American Song” offer insights into ways these issues have played out in earlier times.

It’s easy to imagine coupling this show with a trip to explore one of Arizona’s history museums or a visit to the Musical Instrument Museum in Phoenix — where kids can learn more about the guitar, banjo, fiddle, mandolin, piano, harmonica and other instruments played during the show.

There’s a magnificent study guide for “Woody Guthrie’s American Song” on the Arizona Theatre Company website so parents and teachers can learn more about related topics before attending. I bought a loosely bound copy at the show for just $5, and I’m still having fun combing through it.

I ended up giving my program to a lovely woman who was singing on a corner near the theater with her service dog named “Charlie.” Like Guthrie, she’d placed a hat on the ground for tips — though Charlie seemed to be eyeing it in search of something more rewarding, like food.

Turns out she’s one of the “sopranos” referred to in a recent New York Times review of Ib Andersen’s “The Nutcracker” — though Alastair Macaulay’s dismissive comments have not, to her credit, disuaded her from her craft.

But back to all things history and theater. History, like theater, is a living experience. It never stands still and none of us escapes being part of it, though some folks choose to take a more active — even activist — role than others.

I’m hoping that Jacob, the 5th grade history buff I met after the show, will get in touch with me. I’m certain you’d enjoy his thoughts on the show more than anything I have to offer.

The mom in me was particularly struck by his observation that American youth take a great deal for granted. So many hoard high-tech gadgets unaware that others are hunting for a way to put low-tech food on the table.

Jacob is a young man we can all be proud to create history, and theater, alongside of. I imagine he’d have a mighty fine time riding the rails with Guthrie.

Kids like Jacob give me hope that future generations might do a better job of separating want from need.

— Lynn

Note: I often invite young people to contact me with their thoughts about shows they’ve seen — and am also hoping to hear from a young girl I met at the Herberger while she was there to see “Respect: A Musical Journey of Women” with her father and sister.

Coming up: New year, new exhibits