Theater Works’ daring and highly successful immersive theater experience CURIOUSER & CURIOUSER – developed in response to pandemic restrictions – was named Best Play and Best In-Person Production in the 2021 BroadwayWorld Phoenix Awards.
The Chris Hamby-directed CURIOUSER & CURIOUSER TOO won Best Direction of a Musical and Best Lighting Design of a Play or Musical. Jeff A. Davis was the lighting designer.
The 2021 Regional Awards honor productions which had their first performance between Oct. 1, 2020 through Sept. 30, 2021. The Regional Awards are the largest theater audience awards, with more than 100 cities worldwide participating.
“Wow!,” said Theater Works Managing Director Cate Hinkle. “What makes these awards even more meaningful and compelling for the entire Theater Works team is that they are voted on by audiences and we know that there were tremendously creative productions by other Arizona theater companies.”
Theater Works devised CURIOUSER & CURIOUSER in the fall of 2020 as a response to the COVID-19 pandemic. This production, which opened on Sept. 10, 2020, was the first of its kind in Arizona and opened to sold-out performances and national attention for its innovative response to the challenges presented to theaters by the pandemic.
For the productions, all theater stages, rehearsal halls and hallways at the Peoria Center for the Performing Arts were transformed into the dark and wild world of “Alice in Wonderland. ”The productions featured multi-media design, music, puppetry, dance, theater and visual art.
CURIOUSER & CURIOUSER TOO opened on June 3, 2021 as an extension of the original CURIOUSER & CURIOUSER. The productions were supported by the Constance W. McMillin Trust, Thom and Shelley Gyder, FirstBank, GCON and the West Valley Art Museum.
Theater Works had hoped to add A CURIOUSER NUTCRACKER to the body of work during the recent holiday season, but because of concerns about the ongoing impact of the Delta variant in combination with the growing number of individuals infected with the Omicron variant, the company decided not to move forward.
ABOUT THEATER WORKS
Theater Works at the Peoria Center for the Performing Arts is in its 37th season of providing exceptional theater to the West Valley.Theater Works is a non-profit 501(c)(3) theater of the community whose mission is to provide opportunities for children, patrons and artists to experience theater that inspires, enriches and enlightens through the experience of the performing arts with programming for every age and ability. Theater Works acts as the managing tenant for the Peoria Center for the Performing Arts which features more than 200 events a year including: live theater, music concerts, storytelling, dance, comedy, cultural events, festivals, and much more. For more information, call 623.815.7930 or visit www.theaterworks.org.For more information about Theater Works and its upcoming productions, visit www.theaterworks.org.